Metrically Conditioned Vowel Length In Dagaare

Abstract

There is little evidence for stress in Dagaare, but vowel length alternations in nominal and verbal morphology reveal the presence of a word-initial metrical foot. New evidence for the foot hypothesis comes from action nominals formed with the suffix /-UU/: if the root is CV, the root lengthens and the suffix shortens; if the root is CVV the suffix shortens; if the root ends in C nothing happens. Similar length alternations appear more idiosyncratically with number and aspect suffixes. A metrical analysis provides a simple account of these vowel length alternations.