Stress assignment in polysyllabic words in Levantine Arabic: An Optimality-Theoretic analysis

This paper proposes an Optimality-Theoretic analysis of stress assignment in Levantine Arabic. The proposed hierarchy incorporates two constraints, namely *EXTENDED-LAPSE-R, which restricts stress to one of the last three syllables, and ALIGN-LEFT, which demands that the left edge of the prosodic wo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Lingua Posnaniensis 2018-12, Vol.60 (2), p.7-24
Main Author: Guba, Mohammed Nour Abu
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accentuation
Arabic language
Constraints
Dialects
Foot
Grammatical aspect
Levantine Arabic
Light
Optimality Theory
phonology
Prosody
Stress
stress assignment
Syllables
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Summary:This paper proposes an Optimality-Theoretic analysis of stress assignment in Levantine Arabic. The proposed hierarchy incorporates two constraints, namely *EXTENDED-LAPSE-R, which restricts stress to one of the last three syllables, and ALIGN-LEFT, which demands that the left edge of the prosodic word be aligned with a foot. This hierarchy is superior to earlier research as it successfully accounts for stress assignment in a more comprehensive and economical way. Most interestingly, it can account for the unexpected stress on a light penult in prosodic words ending in four light syllables and the paradoxical status of foot extrametricality without ad hoc parameterization of constraints. Moreover, findings show that footing in Levantine Arabic is iterative, an indication that secondary stress is attested in Levantine dialects.
ISSN:2083-6090
0079-4740
2083-6090
DOI:10.2478/linpo-2018-0009