The Iambic Law

Quantitative Adjustment in Typological Perspective

Abstract

Many processes of Quantitative Adjustment (QA) in natural language are seen to follow from the Iambic/Trochaic Law (ITL), a basic principle of rhythmic organisation which favours quantitative evenness in trochaic systems and quantitative unevenness in iambic systems. The present paper takes issue with this claim, examining patterns of QA from the standpoint of language typology, and taking the position that evidence for the ITL is compelling only in iambic systems. The elimination of the ITL from trochaic systems — in essence reducing it to an Iambic Law — explains a number of other facts which are problematic on an ITL analysis.