Vowel Shortening and Surface Ternary Feet : Ternary Rhythm Through Strictly Binary Footing

The focus of this paper is on two types of shortening observed in recent Japanese loanwords and on the trochaic shortening in Fijian. I will argue that the Japanese shortenings take place when a metrically unstable binary foot (extrametrical foot) becomes a stray mora so as to be accommodated into one of the two proposed surface ternary foot structures whereas Fijian Trochaic Shortening occurs when a metrically unstable mora (extrametrical mora) is obligatorily accommodated into the other proposed surface ternary foot structure. I will conclude that the distinct shortening phenomena observed in the two languages can be accounted for simply on the ground of parametrical differences.