Refining and Formalizing the Tahitian Stress Placement Algorithm

Tryon 1970 states that primary stress in Tahitian falls on the first V of a long vowel or other VV sequence, and barring any such, on the penultimate vowel. Others (Coppenrath and Prevost [1975], Lemaître [1994]) disagree as to (1) which particular vowel sequences play a role in attracting stress, (2) whether this role is identical to that of long vowels, and (3) whether it is the rightmost or leftmost long vowel that receives primary stress in forms with more than one long vowel. None of the existing accounts address in any depth (1) the existence of secondary stress and (2) morphological influences on stress placement. This paper addresses each of the above points of concern and provides a formal account of the facts within Hayes's (1995) framework, on the basis of the pronunciation of words and phrases elicited from four native speakers. Diphthongs and long vowels are shown to play similar but distinct roles in attracting main stress in Tahitian. Specifically, stress falls on the final syllable if it contains a diphthong or long vowel; otherwise on the antepenultimate if it contains a long vowel and the penult is light; otherwise on the penultimate syllable. Furthermore, it is shown that, in morphologically complex forms, the location of main stress as well as subsidiary stresses are accounted for straightforwardly only if the stress rules are assumed to apply cyclically.