| Abstract: | A seemingly idiosyncratic set of verbal prefixes in Tlingit undergo an ellipsis alternation very similar to standard cases of syncope. I argue for a constraint-based analysis of this alternation, in which ellipsis results from constraints governing metrical well-formedness. This analysis is shown to explain many puzzling nuances of the alternation, including the seemingly idiosyncratic set of prefixes it applies to. Furthermore, the metrical system proposed for Tlingit is strikingly similar to that reported for certain Athabascan languages, the sole difference resting in the relative rank of two constraints. |
