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English stress preservation: the case for ‘fake cyclicity’1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 2008

SARAH COLLIE
SARAH COLLIE*
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics and English Language, University of Edinburgh
*
8/8 High Riggs, Edinburgh EH3 9BX, Scotlandsejcollie@hotmail.com
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Abstract

Kiparsky (1979) proposes that the relative prominence contours of feet are preserved under morphological embedding, e.g. sènsátional → sĕnsàtionálity; àntícipate → ăntìcipátion. Kiparsky's opponents point out the existence of exceptions to such relative prominence preservation, e.g. ìnférior → ìnfĕriórity~ĭnfèriórity. In this article, it is shown that relative prominence preservation is a gradient phenomenon, which is probabilistically predicted by word frequency. This observation necessitates the rejection of the phonological cycle as the mechanism for handling relative prominence preservation – the phonological cycle predicts that relative prominence preservation should be consistently successful. In particular, it is proposed, following Bermúdez-Otero & McMahon (2006) and Bermúdez-Otero (in preparation), that the phonological cycle which applies internal to stratum one in models of Lexical Phonology should be rejected, and replaced by the mechanism of ‘fake cyclicity’. Through its resemblance to the dual-route model of lexical access, fake cyclicity can capture the probabilistic nature of relative prominence preservation.

Type
Research Article
Information
English Language & Linguistics , Volume 12 , Issue 3 , November 2008 , pp. 505 - 532
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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Footnotes

1

This article has benefited immeasurably from discussions with Heinz Giegerich, Patrick Honeybone and Ricardo Bermúdez-Otero, and from the comments of three anonymous reviewers. Responsibility for any omissions or errors is mine alone.

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