Main stress in Italian nonce nouns
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Martin Krämer
Abstract
In Italian, main stress can be found on any of the last three syllables of a word. There is general consent that this is due to lexical stress. The analyses on default stress assignment diverge. Authors disagree on whether the language is quantitysensitive or not and on whether default stress falls on the second- or third-last syllable. In this paper, I present data from a nonce word test conducted with native speakers that show that speakers face the same dilemma as linguists do when analysing the system. They divide into three groups, speakers who consistently stress the third-last syllable, speakers who consistently stress the second-last syllable and those who show variation with an even split between the two options. All speakers consistently stress penultimate heavy syllables. Intra-speaker variation is analysed in the framework of Optimality Theory as ad hoc rankings of unranked constraints.
Abstract
In Italian, main stress can be found on any of the last three syllables of a word. There is general consent that this is due to lexical stress. The analyses on default stress assignment diverge. Authors disagree on whether the language is quantitysensitive or not and on whether default stress falls on the second- or third-last syllable. In this paper, I present data from a nonce word test conducted with native speakers that show that speakers face the same dilemma as linguists do when analysing the system. They divide into three groups, speakers who consistently stress the third-last syllable, speakers who consistently stress the second-last syllable and those who show variation with an even split between the two options. All speakers consistently stress penultimate heavy syllables. Intra-speaker variation is analysed in the framework of Optimality Theory as ad hoc rankings of unranked constraints.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Foreword v
- Table of contents vii
- Unpronounced MUCH and the distribution of degree expressions in Spanish 1
- The status of the (supposed) expletive in Brazilian Portuguese existential clauses 17
- On the linearization of adjectives in Romanian 33
- Prepositionless genitive and N+N compounding in (Old) French and Italian 53
- Vowel elision in spoken Italian 73
- Acoustic correlates of phonological microvariations 89
- Romance lenition 111
- Main stress in Italian nonce nouns 127
- Negative concord as feature sharing 143
- Appositive sentences and the structure(s) of coordination 159
- Cleaving the interactions between sluicing and P-stranding 175
- Another look at wh-questions in Romance 199
- Index of subjects and terms 259
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Foreword v
- Table of contents vii
- Unpronounced MUCH and the distribution of degree expressions in Spanish 1
- The status of the (supposed) expletive in Brazilian Portuguese existential clauses 17
- On the linearization of adjectives in Romanian 33
- Prepositionless genitive and N+N compounding in (Old) French and Italian 53
- Vowel elision in spoken Italian 73
- Acoustic correlates of phonological microvariations 89
- Romance lenition 111
- Main stress in Italian nonce nouns 127
- Negative concord as feature sharing 143
- Appositive sentences and the structure(s) of coordination 159
- Cleaving the interactions between sluicing and P-stranding 175
- Another look at wh-questions in Romance 199
- Index of subjects and terms 259
