Universal #1053

Legacy number: 1053

 Number  1049
 Original  We would expect that a system which stresses the initial syllable as the elsewhere case (i.e., if words lack a long vowel, full vowel, or heavy syllable that would attract stress) would be more common than a system which places stress on the final syllable in the elsewhere case, regardless of whether stress on strong syllables is determined from the left or from the right.
 Standardized  We would expect that a system which stresses the initial syllable as the elsewhere case (i.e., if words lack a long vowel, full vowel, or heavy syllable that would attract stress) would be more common than a system which places stress on the final syllable in the elsewhere case, regardless of whether stress on strong syllables is determined from the left or from the right.
 Keywords  stress, syllable
 Domain  prosodic phonology
 Type  unconditional
 Status  achronic
 Quality  absolute
 Basis  survey of some 20 languages
 Source  Odden 1979: 162

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Discussion
Counterexamples
Komi Jazva (Permic, Uralic) (analyzed in Kiparsky 1973)