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ROA:70
Title:Stem Disyllabicity in Guugu Yimidhirr
Authors:Rene Kager
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Abstract: Stem disyllabicity in Guugu Yimidhirr



ROA-70

disyl.ps, --.rtf, --.word,

disyl-ps.zip, disyl-rtf.zip, disyl-word.zip



Rene Kager

OTS, University of Utrecht



The phonology and morphology of Guugu Yimidhirr, a language of

Queensland, Australia (Haviland 1979), make repeated reference to a

domain that has the size of precisely two syllables, irrespective of

the quantity of the syllables involved. For various reasons this

disyllabic domain cannot be morphological in nature, e.g. root or

stem, and it must therefore be prosodic. On the one hand, it is larger

than the foot, as it may contain two monosyllabic feet [(H)(H)]. But

on the other hand, it must also be smaller than Prosodic Word, in

which it may be properly contained.



I argue that PrWd structure in Guugu Yimidhirr is recursive (Inkelas

1989, McCarthy & Prince 1993). The embedded PrWd is precisely

disyllabic because of two constraints. First, it is minimally

disyllabic because of DISYLL: both edges of PrWd must align with edges

of different syllables (McCarthy & Prince 1993). Second, it is

maximally disyllabic because of ALIGN-SYLL: every syllable must stand

at the right egde of some PrWd. ALIGN-SYLL also produces recursivity

of PrWd, e.g. [[SS]S]. Arguments for recursive PrWd structure will be

based on the complex prosodic patterns of Guugu Yimidhirr (in

particular stress, alternations of vowel length induced by suffix, and

verbal reduplication).



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Type:Paper/tech report
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Article:Version 1