Blurb:

This chapter provides an account of stress-epenthesis interaction in Arabic dialects using the principle of contrast. Arabic dialects provide an interesting case study for the role of contrast since they differ in the way epenthesis and stress interact. To explain the differences and similarities between Arabic dialects, it is proposed that stress-epenthesis interaction is militated by a constraint on contrast. When forms with epenthetic and non-epenthetic vowels have different stress, it is argued that contrast is preserved between them despite epenthesis and is manifested as a surface stress contrast. This account is compared to several previous approaches to stressepenthesis interaction and is found to be superior in many respects. One of the core implications of the proposal is that it predicts that the so-called onset dialects are always contrast-neutralizing, which is consistent with the facts. This chapter also discusses locality of contrast preservation.