Cyclic Syllabification

Abstract

Abstract This chapter consists of three main sections. In Section 8.2 the relationship between Mora Insertion. the rule responsible for expanding light, stressed syllables, and the cyclic derivation of complex words, wil1 be discussed. I shall argue that Mora Insertion is a cyclic rule, and that long vowels and geminated consonants are retained through the cyclic level in cases where Stress Erasure and reapplication of the MSR move the stress to another syl1able. Closed Syllable Shortening wil1 also be discussed in this section. The topic of Section 8.3 is the distribution of syllabic sonorants. It will be argued that sonorants are syllabified at the cyclic level in nouns, at the word level in adjectives, and that sy11abic sonorants are blocked at both levels (as well as postlexically) in verbs. In Section 8.4 variable syllabification patterns in inflected nouns will be analysed as triggered by differences in sonority between adjacent, syllabic nuclei juxtaposed by the morphology.