Re: A sketch of Old Albic 1/4: Phonology

On Mon, 21 Jun 2004 16:33:36 EDT, David Peterson <ThatBlueCat@...>
wrote:
> <<This accent rule can be formulated in a more concise manner using the
> concept of the mora. A mora is a metric unit below the syllable. A
> light syllable consists of one mora, a heavy syllable of two. In light
> of this, it is the third-last mora that carries the accent in Old
> Albic.>>
>
> This strikes me as odd.   Any natlangs that count morae in this way?
Actually, this is a quite frequent phenomenon.  Stress-systems tend
to mark final syllables (whatever their moraic weight) as extrametrical,
which pushes the assigment of stress back at least one if not more
syllables.  Latin is an example:  no final syllables are ever stressed;
if the penult has a long vowel or has a coda (i.e., is heavy), it
receives primary stress.  If neither of these conditions is met,
stress moves to the antepenult.  In both cases, the metrical foot
is a bimoraic trochee.

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