Re: CHAT: Importance of stress

> From: Matt Pearson
>
> Dirk wrote:
>
> >The preference for syllables to coincide with morpheme
> >boundaries seems also to be operative in Amman Iar, but in that
> >language, the resolution of the conflict is different. Rather
> >than delete consonants which find themselves on the wrong side
> >of the morpheme=syllable boundary, Amman Iar instead prefers to
> >violate NoCoda; that is, the congruence of syllable and morpheme
> >boundaries takes precedence over an unmarked syllable structure.
> >
> >I think this is rather cool, myself.
>
> So do I!  So Dirk:  How can we reconcile all of this with the
> tantalising similarities between the Amman Iar stress rule
> and the Latin stress rule, as well as the operation of the
> Amman Iar gemination rule?
>
> How about this: Inflected words in Amman Iar are initially
> syllabified in accordance with NoCoda and other constraints
> which enforce an unmarked syllable structure.  Stress
> assignment and gemination then operate on the basis of
> that representation.  Finally, a "syllable-boundary
> readjustment" rule (SBRR) is applied, which reassigns
> certain onset consonants to coda position, in accordance
> with a constraint which enforces congruence between
> morpheme and syllable boundaries.  A sample derivation
> would look like this:
>
> Take a noun like "adhan" = "man":
>
>         'a.dhan
>
> Adding the ergative suffix "-e" triggers a stress shift
> to the right, together with resyllabification:
>
>         a.'dha.ne
>
> Because of a constraint against stressed penultimate
> syllables being light, gemination takes place:
>
>         a.'dhan.ne
>
> Finally, the SBRR is applied, yielding the correct surface
> form:
>         a.'dhann.e
>
> Something like this might work, yes?
Well, it certainly works and accounts for both the bizarre syllabification
and the stress rule.  I think I like it.

The application of SBRR, BTW, actually results in adh.'ann.e.  This is due
to an interesting deriviation that derives the word for "man" from the root
ADH=two and a masculine suffix -an.  Literally "2-man" or "second man", a
cultural borrowing from the Sindarin "Second People".  For those of you
unfamiliar with the related conculture, the speakers of amman iar are the
descendants of a people who intermingled with a shipload of Dunedain sailors
shipwreaked on Amman after escaping the fall of Numenor.

David

David E. Bell
The Gray Wizard
dbell@graywizard.net
www.graywizard.net

en aran urren vorneth;
edhain ernordharel an engdarian orui minthille
en balan alanion ennonnar ascalennen ordhmarrion,
en cam alanion orimronniar na taurriar.
carilen alanion les geth, sarcil alanion galen deth
itair geceleb and meth na brand veth,
eni galen elennion tengelar ordirdhirar alanion,
an ithil entagon minthille o an anor encelmon.