And wrote:
> > Would it be better expressing the general rule in these terms: the last
> > foot is stressed (considering the abovementioned foots to be
respectively a
> > trochee, a dactylus, a hiambus and a spondee?).
> &
> > Rule 1: a diphthong/long V in the ultima is stressed, otherwise--
> > Rule 2: a heavy penult (-CVC- or -CVV-, where VV marks a long vowel) is
> > stressed, otherwise--
> > Rule 3: stress the antepenult (no matter whether heavy or light)
>
> Here's my suggested formulation:
>
> Stress the rightmost bimoraic syllable or the antepenult mora, whichever
is
> the rightmost.
>
> * If 'antepenult' means antepenult mora:
> 1. Codas are moraic; hence IRmaden, irMANden, *IRmanden -- /man/ is
bimoraic.
> 2. Word-final Cs are not moraic: hence IRmaden, *irMAden.
This is a very good explanation.
> (2) could be explained by treating final Cs as onsets. A test would be
> what happens if final CC clusters are allowed.
They *shouldn't* be allowed.
> We would predict that the
> final syllable of CC-final words would attract stress because it is
bimoraic,
> e.g. irmaDENT.
I agree with you. But I really don't know if the language will allow CC
clusters word finally.
> If, though, the stress were IRmadent or irMAdent, then the story would
have
> to change. Can we have more data please?
Let's suppose that such a word would be allowed:
*i r m a: d e n t
| | /\ | |
µ µ µ µ µ µ
\/ \/ \/
s s s
/irma'dent/
But what would happen if the _a_ were short???
*i r m a d e n t
| | | | |
µ µ µ µ µ
\/ | \/
s s s
/irma'dent/
What should I do with that mora there in, alone???
Luca