UC Santa Cruz

This work presents OT analyses of two Hindi dialects: Kelkar's Hindi and Eastern Standard. A metrical analysis of Eastern Standard is necessary since the stress pattern cannot be predicted without feet. A new constraint, S-WSP, must be added into the constraint set in order to predict the different behavior of superheavy and heavy syllables regarding non-finality and clash effects in Eastern Standard. S-WSP is similar to the familiar WSP in that it requires superheavy syllables to bear stress, but it does not require heavy syllables to bear stress, giving special status to superheavy syllables. In addition to the empirical argument from the Eastern Standard data, S-WSP is further argued for from a theoretical perspective. S-WSP and WSP should be viewed as the result of a decomposed scalar constraint on the weight of syllables in non-foot-head positions. The addition of S-WSP is not imprudent but in line with other scalar constraints.