Morphophonemics of prosodic reduction in Tripura Bangla

Abstract

Tripura Bangla (TB) constructs Trochees from left to right with lapse(s) resulting in ternary rhythm. The condition of word minimality is fulfilled at the syllabic level except in monosyllables where phonetic lengthening takes place at SR for mora epenthesis and the Trochee is bimoraic. To meet the demands of the disyllabic word minimum TB adopts a plethora of methods tagging in multiple morphological and phonological changes. And the net result is prosodic reduction or reduction of longer sequences in deference to the prosodic grammar. The present article traces the modus operandi of these processes at levels segmental, syllabic, foot, word, phrase and offers an OT account of them.