Quantity, resolution, and syllable geomentry

Abstract

I want to argue in this paper that a quite simple constituency model for syllabic structure, plus assumptions about the placement of boundaries, can bring together some apparently unrelated phenomena in a satisfying way. Among these are aspects of Old English noun morphology, the phonotactics of Swedish, the nature of the neutralization of quantity in North Germanic, two apparently 'aberrant' types of alliteration-bearing syllables in Old Germanic verse, and the problem of the moric structure of 'short' diphthongs in Old English and elsewhere.