The Prosodic Morphology of Jamaican Creole Iteratives

The input of a reduplicative word formation process in Jamaican Creole (JC) is restricted prosodically. In this paper, the prosodic restrictions are analyzed in terms of constraints that are generally operative in the JC prosodic system. The study therefore provides empirical support for the Prosodic Morphology Hypothesis of McCarthy & Prince 1986. Investigation of the constraints operative in JC prosody leads to two further conclusions. First, on the basis of stress facts and various morpho-phonological phenomena, it is argued that the JC foot is a moraic trochee, a member of a restrictive inventory of foot types. Second, the analysis of various restrictions on the reduplicative base requires a loosening of the principles governing the layering of prosodic categories in the Prosodic Hierarchy.The definitive version of this article was published in University of Massachusetts Occasional Papers 20, The UMOP on Indigenous Languages (2001), pp. 29-50