Weight gradience and stress in Portuguese

(Garcia, 2017)


Abstract

This paper examines the role of weight in stress assignment in the Portuguese lexicon, and proposes a probabilistic approach to stress. I show that weight effects are gradient and monotonically weaken as we move away from the right edge of the word. Such effects depend on the position of a syllable in the word as well as the number of segments the syllable contains. The probabilistic model proposed in this paper is based on a single predictor, namely, weight, and yields more accurate results than a categorical analysis, where weight is treated as binary. Finally, I discuss implications for the grammar of Portuguese.

Keywords: stress, weight, onsets, probabilistic grammar, Portuguese

Copyright © 2024 Guilherme Duarte Garcia

References

Garcia, G. D. (2017). Weight gradience and stress in Portuguese. Phonology, 34(1), 41–79. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0952675717000033