Stress and feet

This chapter discusses two conceptions in which word stress has been represented in phonological theory, first, by means of a feature [stress] in a linear model and, second, by means of a structural position in a nonlinear model. After a brief description of the phonological nature of stress and of the notion of foot in section 14.2, section 14.3 discusses the way in which stress was accounted for in linear phonology. In section 14.4 we will provide an overview of the nonlinear metrical theory proposed by Hayes (1981) and show that it allows for a more principled way of accounting for the different stress patterns of the world’s languages.