Quantity Sensitivity

Quantity Sensitivity

Mora (plural moras or morae) is a unit in phonology that determines syllable weight, which in some languages determines stress or timing. As with many technical linguistic terms, the definition of a mora varies. Perhaps the most succinct working definition was provided by the American linguist James D. McCawley in 1968: a mora is “omething of which a long syllable consists of two and a short syllable consists of one.” The term comes from the Latin word for “linger, delay”, which was also used to translate the Greek word chronos (time) in its metrical sense.

A syllable containing one mora is said to be monomoraic; a syllable with two moras is said to be bimoraic. Also, in rarer cases, a syllable with three moras is said to be trimoraic.

Read more about Quantity Sensitivity:  Formation

Famous quotes containing the words quantity and/or sensitivity:

    Something is infinite if, taking it quantity by quantity, we can always take something outside.
    Aristotle (384–322 B.C.)

    The sensitivity of men to small matters, and their indifference to great ones, indicates a strange inversion.
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