Syllable theory without syllables
The goal of this thesis is to develop a restrictive theory of syllabic structure that dispenses with constituents. It starts with a review of previous approaches, discussing how syllabic structure has been characterised by constituent labels and/or dependency relations. Although the inventory of constituents may vary from one theory to another, the status of the syllable as the maximal constituent is taken for granted in most approaches. This thesis presents two types of argument against the syllable as a constituent. First, the thesis gives a prosodic analysis of reduplication in Micronesian languages that reportedly copies an initial consonant, verifying the claim put forward in Prosodic Morphology that reduplicative templates are prosodically constrained. I show how neither the specification nor the satisfaction of the reduplicative template needs to make reference to the syllable. The second argument concerns stress in Aranda, which is reported to fall on syllables with onsets. I put forward an alternative analysis in which stress requires a foot to begin with an onset. This foot-based requirement plays a role in a wide range of languages, not just in stress assignment but also in segmental-distributional
Takahashi, Toyomi
Syllable theory without syllables. The goal of this thesis is to develop a restrictive theory of syllabic structure that dispenses with constituents. It starts with a review of previous approaches, discussing how syllabic structure has been characterised by constituent labels and/or dependency relations. Although the inventory of constituents may vary from one theory to another, the status of the syllable as the maximal constituent is taken for granted in most approaches. This thesis presents two types of argument against the syllable as a constituent. First, the thesis gives a prosodic analysis of reduplication in Micronesian languages that reportedly copies an initial consonant, verifying the claim put forward in Prosodic Morphology that reduplicative templates are prosodically constrained. I show how neither the specification nor the satisfaction of the reduplicative template needs to make reference to the syllable. The second argument concerns stress in Aranda, which is reported to fall on syllables with onsets. I put forward an alternative analysis in which stress requires a foot to begin with an onset. This foot-based requirement plays a role in a wide range of languages, not just in stress assignment but also in segmental-distributional
syllable theory without syllable goal develop restrictive theory syllabic structure constituent start review_previous approach discuss syllabic structure characterise constituent label and dependency_relation although inventory constituent may vary theory another status syllable maximal constituent take granted approach present two_type argument syllable constituent first give prosodic_analysis reduplication languages copy initial consonant verify claim_put forward prosodic morphology template constrain show neither specification satisfaction template need make reference syllable second argument concern stress report fall syllable onset put_forward alternative analysis stress require foot begin onset foot based requirement play_role wide_range language stress_assignment also segmental distributional