LIN376H5 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Stress Position
Document Summary
Chapter 1 the evolution of stressed vowels part 2. Identify the heavy syllables: multu, nocte, undecim, caelu, aurora, audio. The penultimate rule then looks at the next-to-last (penultimate) syllable. The rule states that if the penultimate syllable is heavy, it needs to be stressed, otherwise, the preceding syllable (called the antepenult), is the one that will be stressed. If we know the stress position (from romance reflexes), we can deduce the weight of the penultimate syllable in latin. In words with only two syllables, the penultimate is stressed unconditionally, revealing nothing about vowel quantity. Syllabify and show which syllable is stressed: difficile, inimucu, formica, mulier, aquila, directu, muliere, exemplu, rotundu. The latin system has five vowels and a quantity contrast ten phonemes in all. Out of the rearrangement, came a seven-vowel system without quantity. The low vowel /a/ lost its quantity contrast.
