Kovol texts do not mark prominence with many surface structure features. Most prominence is natural thematic prominence based on contents. There is no easy way to background information.
- Most prominence is unmarked thematic prominence.
- Narratives chain Sequential and Circumstance-head on the theme line.
- A theme statement "I am going to talk about..." can add prominence.
- Additive relationships can be used to add prominence (stacking details)
- emi can be used for emphasis.
- Nom and om can be used for prominence, but mostly Cohesion
- Speech quotations are prominent.
Prominence devices according to Larson
Seen in Kovol
- Theme statements
- Quotes
- Repetition
- Pronouns (Nom and om)
- Performatives (I am saying - ege aminim type sentences)
Not seen in Kovol
- Change of sentence order, fore fronting.
- Nominalization
- Particles, special words
- Sentence length
- Clause type