Introduction

The thesis of the previous chapter that there is systematic preservation of stem stresses relied in part on factual observations of Fudge (1984; henceforth simply “Fudge”). In this chapter, we will consider Fudge's descriptive apparatus in detail, and argue that the factual generalizations it establishes readily translate into our analyses. We will first consider Fudge's classification of non-neutral suffixes in terms of the distance (of one, two, or more syllables) at which the suffix “places” main stress, and argue that Fudge's “distances” result from the suffix simply behaving like any comparable sequence of syllables – a standard assumption in much of the literature. We will then consider Fudge's claim that secondary stress is sometimes assigned “by suffix,” as in e(quìvo)(c-át-ion), in which at appears to place stress two syllables away, just as it does in e(quívo)(c-àte). We will show that the phenomenon in question is just the stress preservation of chapter 6, possible in some cases, and predictably excluded in others.

Finally, preparing for our discussion of “stress-neutral” suffixes in chapters 8 and 9 (which will again rely on Fudge's detailed classification), we will consider suffixes that (in Fudge's terms) have a “mixed” behavior, being sometimes “stress-placing,” as in antágon-ist, where the stress is a fixed number of syllabes from the suffix, and sometimes neutral, as in américan-ist/propagánd-ist, where the stress is rather that of the stems américan/propagánda.