Build 1st Foot: Build 2nd Foot: Output:
õ õ õ õõ õ õ õ õ õ
|\ | | | | |\ | | | |
t o h k u r
y
e h on a t o h k u r
y
e h on a tóhkur
y
é:hona Thus, the grammar of Hixkaryana constructs iambic feet iteratively from left to right. Hayes
attributes the lengthening of stressed vowels in non-final open syllables to the fact that the grammar calls for iambic feet.
In summary, Hayes’ 1987, 1991 theory is able to account for a wide range of stress patterns using only three primitive metrical feet—the syllabic trochee, the moraic trochee, and
the iamb—plus a general prohibition against degenerate feet. Hayes’ theory provides a basis for the new theory of stress that is proposed in chapter 2.
Next, I discuss the theory of lexical phonology as it applies to this study.
1.2.3. Cyclic Linking and Delinking
Chapter 3 demonstrates that the Mayo lexicon distinguishes between accented roots, which contain a floating lexical stress autosegment, and unaccented roots, which lack this
autosegment. Evidence for the floating status of the stress autosegment comes from the observation that stress always ends up on the very first vowel of an accented word regardless of
its morphological composition, whereas second syllable stress is consistently observed in unaccented words. Chapter 5 argues that the reduplicative base is a disyllabic foot for
unaccented words but only a syllable for accented words.
In order to account for the above set of observations, it is necessary to make some minimal assumptions regarding the manner in which morphology interacts with phonology. Therefore, I
adopt the following principles which are based largely on the work of Kiparsky 1973, 1979, 1982, 1985, Mohanan 1982, 1986, and Halle and Vergnaud 1987a, 1987b.
20
First, I assume that each morphological operation triggers the application of a set of phonological rules.
21
Second, if a phonological rule is available at one point in the derivation, then it is also available at all earlier stages of the derivation i.e., it applies at any of those stages if its
structural description is satisfied. Third, a grammar may permanently “turn off” a phonological rule at any point in the derivation.
22
Applying the above three principles to Mayo, I argue for the following analysis in chapter 5. The floating stress autosegment of accented words links by rule from left to right at the
beginning of a cycle i.e., immediately following any morphological operation and undergoes
20
Many of the issues that are debated in these works are not crucial to the analysis of the Mayo data. I discuss here only those principles of lexical phonology which are needed in order to account for the Mayo data in chapters 3 and 5. Some of these
principles are also needed in order to account for the facts of Tagalog stress in section 5.3.
21
Of course, each rule applies only if its structural description is met. Since all Mayo affixes appear to be cyclic, I do not address the formal distinction between cyclic and non-cyclic morphemes that appears to be operative in some other languages such as
Russian and Sanskrit Halle and Vergnaud 1987a, 1987b.
22
See Myers 1991b for specific arguments for the latter two claims, known collectively as the Strong Domain Hypothesis.
a delinking rule at some later point in the same cycle; this process is repeated in each cycle.
23
The linking rule never gets turned off i.e., it is both lexical and post-lexical, but the delinking rule is “turned off” at the end of the lexical phase of the phonology i.e., after all word-level
morphological processes have applied. As a result, a lexical accent is always linked to the leftmost stress-bearing unit at the end of a derivation. Finally, I argue that the application of
foot-building to an accented i.e., already-stressed stress-bearing unit produces a degenerate foot rather than the usual binary foot. The empirical basis for this latter claim is presented in
section 5.1.2.
Given this set of assumptions, the facts of stress and reduplication in Mayo are readily accounted for. The above scenario does not introduce anything that is not already found in
autosegmental theory except for the claim that a linked accent affects the output of foot- building by forcing a degenerate foot to be built instead of the usual binary foot. Section 5.1.2
argues that this claim or its equivalent is needed regardless of whether or not one assumes cyclic linking and delinking.
Next, the Obligatory Contour Principle is briefly defined and discussed. This principle is invoked in a number of the analyses that are presented in the remaining chapters.
1.2.4. The Obligatory Contour Principle
