An optimality theoretic account of word stress in Hindi

Abstract

In this paper, I present a new account of word stress in Hindi. I begin with the attempt to show that the apparently different patterns of Hindi stress described in the literature are in fact bound by one core pattern. The core pattern crucially involves an interdependence between rhythm and quantity in the placement of stress within a window of three syllables from the right. The Hindi data pose the following challenge to metrical stress theory and OT: ternary feet arise not from Extrametricality or Nonfinality but from a weight and rhythm-based foot structure in which both the factors are integrated. The new analysis presented in this paper meets the challenge in terms of the constraints Window (Kager, 2012), PERFECTGRID and PG – FORWARDPULL. The latter constraints are proposed following the insights in Prince (1983) and Hayes (1995).