Moras are about length not about weight

• Published in: Linguistics in the Netherlands
• Main Author: Jacobs, Haike
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: John Benjamins Publishing Company 2022
• Subjects: alutiiq
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/avt.00064.jac; http://www.jbe-platform.com/deliver/fulltext/avt.00064.jac.pdf

Abstract Expressing syllable weight by moras leads to two problems. First, there are languages, such as Wolof, with long vowels and geminates, which both make a syllable bimoraic, but where only long vowels, but not geminates, count as heavy for stress. Second, there are languages in which closed syllables are light for stress, but heavy for segmental modifications (laryngeal metathesis in Cayuga and degemination in Chugach Alutiiq). It is argued that a two-layered mora model is not required and that a straightforward Harmonic Serialism is able to directly express that laryngeal metathesis and degemination make an unstressed syllable light.