Torres-Tamarit and Pons-Moll to appear: Enclitic-induced stress shift in Catalan

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/content/article/files/1759_torrestamarit_1.pdf

ROA: 1344
Title: Enclitic-induced stress shift in Catalan
Authors: Francesc-Josep Torres-Tamarit, Claudia Pons-Moll
Comment: Accepted, to appear in Journal of Linguistics, 56
Length: 55
Abstract: In this paper we provide a novel and unified formal analysis of the stress
microvariation found in verb-enclitic groupings in Barcelona Catalan, with stress stability, in Formentera Catalan, with stress shift to the penultimate and the last syllable of the whole sequence, and in Mallorca and Menorca Catalan, with stress shift to the last syllable. We argue that stress shift in Formentera Catalan conforms directly to the unmarked pattern of nominal stress in Catalan, that is, a right-aligned moraic trochee, with the constraint All-Feet-Right undominated, leading to final and penultimate stress. In Barcelona Catalan, the effects of this constraint are inhibited by an anti-alignment constraint prohibiting the right edge of a foot from coinciding with the right edge of a clitic. In Mallorca and Menorca Catalan, stress shift is also understood as a strategy to meet the unmarked nominal
stress pattern of Catalan, although in these dialects the anti-alignment constraint is also undominated, leading to catalexis, in this case a melodically empty mora, and thus to final stress.
Type: Paper/tech report
Area/Keywords: Catalan; clitics; stress; stress shift