Article published In: Linguistics in the Netherlands 2022
Edited by Jorrig Vogels and Sterre Leufkens
[Linguistics in the Netherlands 39] 2022
► pp. 103–121
Moras are about length not about weight
Cayuga laryngeal metathesis, Chugach Alutiiq degemination and Wolof stress
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.
For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.
Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with Radboud University Nijmegen.
Published online: 4 November 2022
https://doi.org/10.1075/avt.00064.jac
https://doi.org/10.1075/avt.00064.jac
Abstract
Expressing syllable weight by moras leads to two problems. First, there are languages, such as Wolof, with long
vowels and geminates, which both make a syllable bimoraic, but where only long vowels, but not geminates, count as heavy for
stress. Second, there are languages in which closed syllables are light for stress, but heavy for segmental modifications
(laryngeal metathesis in Cayuga and degemination in Chugach Alutiiq). It is argued that a two-layered mora model is not required
and that a straightforward Harmonic Serialism is able to directly express that laryngeal metathesis and degemination make an
unstressed syllable light.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Laryngeal metathesis in Cayuga and degemination in Chugach Alutiiq
- 3.Stress, long vowels and long consonants: The case of Wolof
- 4.A unified Harmonic Serialism solution
- 5.Conclusion
- Notes
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