Péter Szigetvári

Unified representations for stress and the syllable

We argue that there is no need to split phonological representations into two worlds : one syllabic and another in which word stress is calculated. We show that both syllable- and stress-related phenomena can be accounted for with a single set of representations, if traditional syllabic analysis is modified in one central respect : what is traditionally taken to be a coda–onset cluster is interpreted as two independent onsets enclosing an empty nucleus. Accordingly, our proposal may be understood as a development of the idea that underlies classical metrical grids, i.e. that stress-relevant units project to higher levels and are therefore visible for stress. The units in the proposal made here, however, are uniformly nuclei. Contentful nuclei are always projected, while their empty counterparts (i.e. codas in traditional approaches) may or may not be. The weightlessness of onsets directly follows from this approach.

Dismantling syllable structure

By listing some empirical evidence and introducing theoretical considerations,this paper argues for the idea that the phonological skeleton is made up ofstrictly alternating C and V positions. The model advocated here claims thatno two consonants and no two vowels are ever adjacent inthe phonological representationif adjacency is defined at the level of the skeleton. This is rather counterintuitiveunless one accepts the possibility of empty skeletal positions. If so, theclaim acquires a new meaning: whenever adjacent consonants or adjacent vowels(that is to say long vowels or diphthongs, besides the obvious case of hiatus)are encountered their representation will involve an intervening empty vocalicor consonantal position, respectively. Accordingly, the first part of thepaper shows that the acceptance of empty skeletal positions is a viable ideaand, if looked at from a non-Indo-European vantage point, it is in fact thenull hypothesis. The second part aims at demonstrating that the argumentssupporting the status of the syllabic constituent coda are rather weak, infact, the traditional syllable structure, incorporating an onset, a nucleusand a coda, can be dismantled in favour of a simpler model involving onlyconsonantal and vocalic skeletal positions.