examples of languages with left-stressed and right-stressed moraic feet, respectively. The autosegmental analysis of Cairene Arabic is compared to other analyses that have been
proposed in Halle and Vergnaud 1987b, Halle 1990, and Hayes 1991, arguing that these analyses are notationally equivalent to one another in most respects. The autosegmental
analysis of Turkish is compared to the analyses found in Kaisse 1985, Hammond 1986, Halle and Vergnaud 1987b, and Hayes 1991. It is argued that the autosegmental analysis of
Turkish captures the facts in a uniform manner, whereas the other analyses do not. Finally, section 3.1.3 discusses Hixkaryana as an instance of a language with right-stressed asymmetric
i.e., iambic feet.
3.1.1. Syllabic Feet
Syllabic feet, as the name implies, consist of two syllables; syllable weight does not play a role in their construction. Warao is discussed first as a simple example of a language in which a
stress autosegment links to syllabic feet from left to right. Mayo is then presented as a language whose stressed feet are the mirror image of stressed feet in Warao. That is, whereas Warao
exhibits left-stressed syllabic feet, Mayo has right-stressed syllabic feet. Hayes 1991 claims that this foot type does not exist, but its existence is predicted by the autosegmental theory of
stress. Furthermore, it is pointed out that approximately half of Mayo’s words have a lexical accent which exhibits autosegmental behavior. This constitutes another argument for the claim
that stress is autosegmental.
3.1.1.1. The Stress Pattern of Warao
The stress system of Warao provides a simple example of the assignment of a stress autosegment to purely syllabic binary feet. Primary stress in Warao falls on the penultimate
syllable in most words, and secondary stress occurs on every other syllable preceding primary stress, as illustrated in 104.
64
104 Warao Osborn 1966: tíra
woman apáu
well placed koránu
drink it rùhunáe
he sat down yiwàranáe
he finished it nàhoròahàkutái
the one who ate yàpurùkitàneháse
verily to climb This pattern is accounted for by the following set of rules in 105.
64
Osborn reports a few instances of primary stress occurring on the final syllable or on the antepenultimate syllable, but the alternating secondary stresses are always determined by the placement of primary stress. I assume that the instances of
exceptional final stress may be accounted for by the presence of lexical accent on the final syllable, and the instances of antepenultimate stress seem to be conditioned by the morphology, i.e., certain suffixes apparently enter the derivation after foot-
building has applied.
105 Stress Assignment in Warao: a. Build syllabic feet iteratively from right to left.
b. Insert in each foot and link from left to right.
65
Words containing an even number of syllables will be exhaustively footed, as illustrated in 106.
66
106 Input: Build Feet:
Insert Link : Output: | |
õ õ õ õ õ õ õ õ
õ õ õ õ | | | |
| | | | | | | |
r u h u n a e r u h u n a e
r u h u n a e rùhunáe
However, any word that has an odd number of syllables will end up with an unfooted initial syllable, as in 107.
107 Input: Build Feet:
Insert Link : Output: |
õ õ õ õ õ õ
õ õ õ | | |
| | | | | |
k o r a n u k o r a n u
k o r a n u koránu
Recall from chapter 1 that Hayes 1991 accounts for the Warao stress pattern in essentially the same way, except for the fact that Hayes utilizes inherently headed feet rather than using
headless feet and assigning stresses to them in a separate step as I have done. The Warao data do not seem to provide any means of testing between these two approaches to stress
assignment.
Thus, Warao may be viewed as a language in which syllabic feet are built iteratively from right to left and a stress autosegment is inserted into each foot and linked from left to right.
3.1.1.2. The Basic Stress Pattern of Mayo
