Arapaho Accent

Abstract

Introduction: Arapaho is an Algonquian language spoken by a population of about 3500 in Wyoming and Oklahoma (Salzmann 1983). The accent system of Arapaho is quite complex and presents a challenge to any theory of stress/accent which attempts to account for these phenomena in a derivational manner (Salzmann 1965, Tsay 1989). In this essay it is argued that Arapaho accent involves both lexical and derivational aspects. In section 2, the phonetic characteristics of Arapaho accent are outlined. Section 3 briefly overviews Idsardi's (1992) theory of the computation of stress. In section 4, the Arapaho data are presented and the crucial generalizations are stated. Section 5 contains an analysis of these facts, utilizing Idcardi's theory. An alternative analysis is offered in section 6, and finally in section 7 the theoretical implications of the Arapaho facts are discussed.