Abstract
The present paper report results of an ERP-study on German noun-noun compounds in which the influence of stress clash on stress positions within compounds is tested. In particular, it is examined whether secondary stress within a second constituent is affected by the stress pattern of a first constituent as well as by the main stress position of the second constituent. Stimuli used were polysyllabic compounds which allowed manipulating the stress positions such that alternative hypotheses about foot structure and its constraints could be tested. The main result is that the preferred position for secondary stress in German is the initial syllable. Furthermore, the distribution of secondary stresses is computed within words, not within larger con- texts: Stress clashes caused by these contexts do not influence the distribution of stresses.