The role of onsets in primary and secondary stress patterns
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Laura W. McGarrity
Abstract
It is found that languages with onset-sensitive stress, in which the location of stress is dependent upon the presence or quality of an onset, exhibit the same patterns of symmetrical and asymmetrical stress assignment as languages with rime-based weight (McGarrity 2003). An OT analysis of languages with asymmetrical patterns of onset-sensitive stress (in which primary stress behaves independently of secondary stress) is presented which appeals to primary-stress-specific versions of several prominence-enhancing positional markedness constraints that require stressed syllables to have onsets of low sonority. The relative paucity of fully developed languages with onset-sensitive stress is contrasted with the fairly common tendency in children’s early words for low-sonority onsets in unstressed (deleted) syllables to relocate to the syllable bearing stress.
Abstract
It is found that languages with onset-sensitive stress, in which the location of stress is dependent upon the presence or quality of an onset, exhibit the same patterns of symmetrical and asymmetrical stress assignment as languages with rime-based weight (McGarrity 2003). An OT analysis of languages with asymmetrical patterns of onset-sensitive stress (in which primary stress behaves independently of secondary stress) is presented which appeals to primary-stress-specific versions of several prominence-enhancing positional markedness constraints that require stressed syllables to have onsets of low sonority. The relative paucity of fully developed languages with onset-sensitive stress is contrasted with the fairly common tendency in children’s early words for low-sonority onsets in unstressed (deleted) syllables to relocate to the syllable bearing stress.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword and tabula gratulatoria vii
- Introduction 1
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Section 1. Representations and contrast
- Prosodic Licensing and the development of phonological and morphological representations 11
- Covert contrast in the acquisition of second language phonology 25
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Section 2. Sources of individual differences in phonological acquisition
- Sibling rivalry 53
- Abstracting phonological generalizations 71
- Rapid phonological coding and working memory dynamics in children with cochlear implants 91
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Section 3. Cross-linguistic approaches to phonological acquisition
- What guides children’s acquisition of #sC clusters? 115
- The role of phonological context in children’s overt marking of ‘-s’ in two dialects of American English 133
- German settlement varieties in Kansas 155
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Section 4. Theoretical advances in the field
- The role of onsets in primary and secondary stress patterns 175
- A faithfulness conspiracy 199
- Superadditivity and limitations on syllable complexity in Bambara words 223
- Author index 249
- Subject index 253
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword and tabula gratulatoria vii
- Introduction 1
-
Section 1. Representations and contrast
- Prosodic Licensing and the development of phonological and morphological representations 11
- Covert contrast in the acquisition of second language phonology 25
-
Section 2. Sources of individual differences in phonological acquisition
- Sibling rivalry 53
- Abstracting phonological generalizations 71
- Rapid phonological coding and working memory dynamics in children with cochlear implants 91
-
Section 3. Cross-linguistic approaches to phonological acquisition
- What guides children’s acquisition of #sC clusters? 115
- The role of phonological context in children’s overt marking of ‘-s’ in two dialects of American English 133
- German settlement varieties in Kansas 155
-
Section 4. Theoretical advances in the field
- The role of onsets in primary and secondary stress patterns 175
- A faithfulness conspiracy 199
- Superadditivity and limitations on syllable complexity in Bambara words 223
- Author index 249
- Subject index 253