| ROA: | 70 |
|---|---|
| Title: | Stem Disyllabicity in Guugu Yimidhirr |
| Authors: | Rene Kager |
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| Length: | |
| Abstract: | Stem disyllabicity in Guugu Yimidhirr ROA-70 disyl.ps, --.rtf, --.word, disyl-ps.zip, disyl-rtf.zip, disyl-word.zip Rene Kager OTS, University of Utrecht The phonology and morphology of Guugu Yimidhirr, a language of Queensland, Australia (Haviland 1979), make repeated reference to a domain that has the size of precisely two syllables, irrespective of the quantity of the syllables involved. For various reasons this disyllabic domain cannot be morphological in nature, e.g. root or stem, and it must therefore be prosodic. On the one hand, it is larger than the foot, as it may contain two monosyllabic feet [(H)(H)]. But on the other hand, it must also be smaller than Prosodic Word, in which it may be properly contained. I argue that PrWd structure in Guugu Yimidhirr is recursive (Inkelas 1989, McCarthy & Prince 1993). The embedded PrWd is precisely disyllabic because of two constraints. First, it is minimally disyllabic because of DISYLL: both edges of PrWd must align with edges of different syllables (McCarthy & Prince 1993). Second, it is maximally disyllabic because of ALIGN-SYLL: every syllable must stand at the right egde of some PrWd. ALIGN-SYLL also produces recursivity of PrWd, e.g. [[SS]S]. Arguments for recursive PrWd structure will be based on the complex prosodic patterns of Guugu Yimidhirr (in particular stress, alternations of vowel length induced by suffix, and verbal reduplication). :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: |
| Type: | Paper/tech report |
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| Article: | Version 1 |