And the beat goes on

This paper addresses microvariation within verb cluster constructions in varieties of German, focusing on Verb Raising and Verb Projection Raising in Alemannic. It is argued that the difference in the syntax of verb clusters arises because of differences in the prosodic systems of the dialects (stress-timed vs. syllable-timed languages). The paper includes an overview of the empirical properties of the Alemannic phonological phrase and an analysis of the syntax of verb clusters based on PF-requirements.