Assignment Question Linguist 301 Assignment 1

The following data are taken from p. 57 of Erik Fudge's book English Word-Stress {1984, London: Ge orge Allen & Unw in).

-ant
Two distinct suffixes must be recognised .
A Ad jective -forming -ant:
  • Pre-stressed112.
Exam ples: a'bundant (bun is a strong syllable) 'consonant (so is a weak syllable) ,flam'boyant (boy is a strong syllable) Exception: gal'lant (= 'amorous') (Note that 'gallant , 'brave', follows the rule.) B Noun-forming -ant:
  • Stress-neutral when the stem is free.
Exam ples: ac'count - ac'countant de'fend - de'fendant in'habit - in'habitant Exceptions (mainly pre-stressed 1/2): 'aspirant (ctr. a'spire) 'combatant (ctr. 'com,bat with full vowel in the final syllable) 'comman,dant (ctr com'mand) 'confi,dant (ctr. con'fide) *'disputant (ctr. dis'pute) e'xecutant (ctr. 'exe,cute) 'Protestant (ctr. pro'test)
  • Pre-stressed 1/2 when the stem is not free.
Exam ples: ap'pellant (pet is a strong syllable) . 'adjutant Gu. is a weak syllable) 'celebrant (le is a weak syllable) 'occupant (cii is a weak syllable) Exceptions: ,lieu'tenant [,lef] or [,tu:-] (even though te is a weak syllable) Le'vant 'flagellant (in spite of the strong syllable -gel- arising from double 1)

The data are the author' s version of the accent-assignment rules for the English suffix -ant. You will note that he distinguishes between two types of -ant, an adjective-forming -ant and a noun-forming

-ant. The noun-forming -ant has two stress-assignment patterns: when the stem is a free form, the suffix is stress-neutral, meaning that the stress does not change, and the stress on the free form is retained; however, when the stem is a bound form, the stress pattern is "pre-stressed 1/2" meaning that a stress is assigned to the first or second syllable before the suffix, depending on the strength (i.e. weight) of the preceding syllable.

  1. Reanalyse Fudge's data to provide a simpler analysis (one with a single stress-assignment pattern, if possible, and/or fewer exceptions). Feel free to use additional words ending in the suffix -ant to support or strengthen your analysis. Couch your analysis in terms of syllable structure (i.e. heavy and light syllables), foot structure, and extrametricality, and provide a word-by-word analysis or explanation of ALL of the examples given here by
  1. The following (from Fudge (1984: 64), classifies the English suffix -cide as is "pre-stressed 2" (meaning that a stress is assigned to the second syllable before the suffix).
-cide
Pre-stressed 2.
Examples: 'in'fanti,cide
'piira'siti,cide (long i of parasite is shortened by 'trisyllabic shortening'. See Section 6.3)
Note: Some words ending in -cide are of the form [prefix+stem]:
de'cide 'co-in 'cide

He thus classifies -ant and -cide differently with respect to the stress-assignment process. Providing more examples of words ending in this suffix, discuss whether there is a need for this distinction in classification is necessary for -cide.


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