Why metrical approaches to tonal accent are worth pursuing

Abstract

Unlike existing analyses with lexical tone, metrical foot-based approaches to tonal accent in Franconian not only focus on an explicit analysis of the tonal contours, but are also equipped to account formally for morphological alternations and other predictable correlates. Examples are interactions of tonal accent with duration, vowel and consonant quality. The existence of such additional correlates is in line with a foot-based analysis, since it mirrors correlates of stress and foot structure found in Germanic languages and elsewhere.