Abstract

Abstract 0. It is a well-known fact that Russian stress is both free and distinctive, i. e. that it can fall on any syllable of a word and can function as a semantic or grammatical differentia of words or forms.1 Thus, insofar as purely phonological considerations are concerned, Russian stress is in general not directed or constrained by the kind of law, say, that unequivocally predetermines and limits the place of stress and the latter's range of prosodic possibilities in Latin or Classical Arabic.2 Stated in quite different but related terms, Russian stress is not motivated phonologically.3 The absence of purely phonological constraints or motivation, however, most assuredly does not imply absence of any circumscription or conditioning.