Nyelvtudományi Közlemények 85. kötet (1983)

Tanulmányok - Utasi-McRobbie, Zita: Adjacent Stress in Relation to Overlength 45

46 ZITA UTASI-McROBBIE F A s w kap pi sg.gen. 'cupboard, closef A s w maa: 'country' A s w w kap: pi sg.part. 'cupboard closet' F A s w w w kau: ke le 'far away' cial grammatical condition (strong grade) it is forced to be monosyllabio (538): Basic Grade Principle For M (= „word") in the Strong Grade the strongest syllable is F. That is, in Estonian Q3 appears in the strong grade ; in Lappish, the grammatical condition for the formation of a monosyllabio F is somewhat différent, as we shall see shortly. 1. As Prince's main concern is to advance a plausible explanation of the various (above mentioned) properties of Q3 as a conséquence of the metrical structure of the Estonian words, he does not consider it necessary to go into détails as to how thèse metrical factors actually enter the morphophonology of the grammar. This is to be seen, for example, in the above BGP rule, in which the question as to where and when to assign this rule, remains deliberately unanswered. Prince merely states (without going into détails) : ,,We will assume that the BGP is true of a very early stage of phonological dérivation" (539). 1.1. What foliows below is an attempt to utilize, in the area of morphophonology, Prince's fascinating findings concerning the most likely universal properties of Q3 stemming from its metrical characteristics. It will be argued that there are good reasons for assuming that, in Lappish, occurrences of Q3 are conditioned directly by prosodie rather than grammatical factors. This assumption will be elaborated on the basis of the reinterpretation of the third systematic property of Q3. It will be pointed out that an examination of Lappish data, concerning the distribution of Q3 syllables, rather suggests that it may be necessary to devise an essentially différent interprétation of the above mentioned systematic property of overlength concerning the directionality and interdependency of the main stress in the Q3 syllable and that of the stress in the foliowing syllable.