Coerced Phonological Weight in Moroccan Arabic

Coerced weight emerges under minimal or maximal quantity requirements on some prosodic units or in particular contexts (Morén, 1999/2001, 2000, 2003). In Moroccan Arabic, many instances of coerced moraicity are attested. First, context-dependent weight is shown to be a consequence of a markedness constraint demanding that the bimoraicity of CVC syllables be achieved through a vocalic mora and a codaic mora conflicting with constraints against surface consonant moraicity. The other tokens of moraic coercion are triggered from both the need to build minimally bimoraic feet and to grant prosodic licensing to otherwise unsyllabified nonmoraic consonants. In connection therewith, the moraic configuration of schwa syllables is investigated, demonstrating that the schwa vowel, which is nonmoraic in essence, is epenthesized to help a moraic consonant attain the sonority threshold imposed on prominent syllables. Next, it is argued that unsyllabified moras constitute semisyllables that, where need be, attach directly to the foot node.