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- Title
How word stress is realized in Thai: evidence from the ordering of coordinate compounds.
- Authors
Sirintranon, Noppakao; Hsieh, Feng-fan
- Abstract
This study challenges the widespread belief that Thai lacks word stress, demonstrating its pivotal role in morphophonology. Through a Maximum Entropy analysis, we investigated how specific segmental properties statistically influence speakers' choices of word order in coordinate compounds. Results indicate a significant effect of phonological weight on the ordering patterns. Specifically, the dispreference for stop codas in final positions and the preference for long or low vowels word-finally converge to differentially distribute phonological weight, ensuring that final syllables are heavier in accordance with the Stress-to-Weight Principle. Additionally, a marginal affinity is observed between the final syllable and the (historical) high-register tone, aligning with the well-documented tone-stress interaction where high tones gravitate towards stressed syllables. These findings provide compelling evidence for the existence of word stress in Thai: compound stress necessarily coincides with word stress, as dictated by the Continuous Column Constraint. Thus, this work suggests that relying solely on phonetic cues is insufficient for identifying stress; instead, a comprehensive analysis incorporating "phonological exponents" is essential to capture the greater phonological contrasts licensed in stressed syllables. This study also contributes to a deeper understanding of metrical and prosodic prominence, revealing that word stress can sometimes be masked by higher-level prominence.
- Subjects
STRESS (Linguistics); WORD order (Grammar); JOB stress; MORPHOPHONEMICS; VOWELS
- Publication
Linguistic Review, 2024, Vol 41, Issue 2, p225
- ISSN
0167-6318
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1515/tlr-2024-2008