ABSTRACT
This chapter explores evidence for the prosodic status of the mora and, more generally, for the relative independence of moraic and syllabic structure. It examines the organization of the Serbo-Croatian phonology. The chapter focuses on a special class of vowels, the so-called yers, which play an important role in this lengthening process. Tone Linking Rule is sensitive to the vowel length in the stem final syllable. Traditionally, nominal stems are classified into barytone, that is, those that have accent on the stem; oxytone, whose accent is on the ending; and mobile stems, whose declensions contain forms of both kinds. The behavior of simple stems with respect to the tone linking rule suggests two relevant dimensions in determining the accentual behavior of suffixes — one being whether the suffix is affiliated with tone, and the other whether it contains a long or a short vowel.
