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Chapter 4 - Word Stress in Germanic

from Part I - Phonology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2020

By
Birgit Alber
Edited by
Michael T. Putnam  and
B. Richard Page
Michael T. Putnam
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University
B. Richard Page
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University
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Summary

Following a typological classification of metrical systems, word stress in most Germanic languages can be described as characterized by trochaic rhythm, rightmost main stress, left-oriented secondary stress, and quantity-sensitivity. Most Germanic languages, after contact with languages of the Romance type and incorporation of vast amounts of loanwords into their lexicon, place main stress on one of the last three syllables of the word. For most of them it has furthermore been observed that heavy syllables influence the assignment of stress, even though not necessarily in all phonological contexts. Exceptions are Icelandic and Faroese, where main stress falls consistently on the leftmost syllable of the word and syllable weight does not play any role in stress assignment. For those Germanic languages for which secondary stress has been described, parsing of left-aligning secondary stress feet can be assumed.

Keywords

EnglishGermanDutchNorwegianDanishSwedishIcelandicFaroeseLatinRomanceFrenchGreekmain stresssecondary stresstrochaiciambicquantity-sensitivityfootnonfinalityextrametricalityloanwordsnonce word experimentProkosch‘s LawERP-experiments
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Germanic Linguistics , pp. 73 - 96
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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