Cupeño Stress Shift: Diachronic Perspectives

Abstract

Of all Uto-Aztecan languages, Cupeño has the most remarkable metrical system. It is particularly well known for its stress shift phenomena in constructions with “unaccented roots.” This study highlights the diachronic development of this system. It is demonstrated that Cupeño unaccented roots predominantly derive from Proto-Uto-Aztecan etyma with second-syllable stress and were also stressed on the peninitial syllable in Cupeño’s immediate predecessor, Proto-Cupan. It is argued that the behavior of unaccented roots is an archaism that can be accounted for by common cross-linguistic strategies of metrification prevalent in Proto-Cupan. These processes are no longer operative in Cupeño but appear to be mirrored by principles governing secondary stress assignment in Cahuilla, a closely related language.

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