Universal #1040

Legacy number: 1040

 Number  1036
 Original  When stress is phonologically predictable and unlimited, the relevant syllables may only be identified in terms of heaviness or open/peripheral vowel quality, with the ‘residual’ rule, applying if the word lacks a syllable of the kind required to attract stress, almost always selecting the initial syllable.
 Standardized  When stress is phonologically predictable and unlimited, the relevant syllables may only be identified in terms of heaviness or open/peripheral vowel quality, with the ‘residual’ rule, applying if the word lacks a syllable of the kind required to attract stress, almost always selecting the initial syllable.
 Keywords  stress, syllable, accent
 Domain  prosodic phonology
 Type  no genuine implication; rather: provided that
 Status  achronic
 Quality  almost absolute
 Basis  sample of almost 200 languages in Greenberg & Kaschube 1976
 Source  Greenberg & Kaschube 1976: 7

← Back to Universals Archive

Discussion
Counterexamples
Possible counterexample: Motilon (Chibchan)- residual stress on penult (Greenberg & Kaschube1976).
Notes
1. Accent = phonetic features occurring just once or at most once in the phonological word, with cumulative or demarcative function (Greenberg & Kaschube 1976).2. For example Huastec (Mexican): stress on the last syllable with a long vowel, but if there is no syllable with a long vowel then stress falls on the initial syllable.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
1. Accent = phonetic features occurring just once or at most once in the phonological word, with cumulative or demarcative function (Greenberg & Kaschube 1976).

2. For example Huastec (Mexican): stress on the last syllable with a long vowel, but if there is no syllable with a long vowel then stress falls on the initial syllable.