Geminates and Weight in Amharic

Abstract

Moraic Theory (Hayes 1989) predicts the existence of a language that classifies CVC syllables as light and syllables with a geminate coda (CVG) as heavy. Until now, no such language has been attested (Tranel 1991; Davis 2011). We propose that Amharic, a Semitic language spoken in Ethiopia, fits this pattern. Using data collected through eight months of fieldwork with two Amharic speakers, we demonstrate that two independent processes of the language, stress and reduplication, serve as evidence that geminate codas but not other codas are moraic in Amharic.