Final Extrametricality in Latin and Manam

Extrametricality has played an important role in metrical theory since its beginnings (cf. Liberman and Prince 1977), but its formal representation has been quite varied. Examples of its application to syllables range from a simple diacritic on the syllable (Hayes 1979, 1981) to exclusion of that syllable and its segmental content from the domain of rule application (Inkelas 1989). In the extended bracketed grids theory of Idsardi (1992), extrametricality results from the insertion of a foot edge that leads to exclusion of a syllable from foot structure. While this approach is appealing in its elegance, I argue that it cannot account adequately for the interaction of extrametricality with quantity sensitivity. The argument is based on two languages with the same foot structure — moraic trochees constructed at the right edge of the word — and similar, but importantly distinct, roles for extrametricality. Section 1 outlines Latin stress and extrametricality and its theoretical analysis, while section 2 demonstrates problems that this analysis encounters in treating the similar facts in Manam. (The discussion is restricted to primary stress.) Section 3 shows that in Optimality Theory a unified and principled treatment of the two languages is easily available