Re: CHAT: Importance of stress

Matt Pearson wrote:
> (1)  VCV is almost always syllabified as V.CV, not VC.V
Unless there's some resyllabification rule, like English /'h&p.i/ (which
can be shown by the fact that it's ['h&pi] and not [h&:p_hi])

> (2)  VCCV is typically syllabified as VC.CV, not V.CCV or VCC.V
From what I've learned the tendency is more to put as many consonants at
the front as legal, so that /riklejm/ is divided as /ri.klejm/, even tho
/rik.lejm/ would not violate any phonotactics in English.

> For example, when asked to break up the word "happy" [haepi] into
> syllables, many native speakers will hesitate between [hae.pi] and
> [haep.i].
But it's pronounced as the second, as shown by the allophones.
Syllable-initial voiceless stops are aspirated, and vowels followed by
voiceless obstruents are shorter.  /h&.pi/ would be [h&:p_hi], while
/h&p.i/ is [h&pi], the way it actually is.

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