Dshang syllable structure and moraic aspiration

The syllable structure of Dschang is interesting for a variety of reasons. Most notable is the aspiration which can appear on most consonant types, including voiced stops. I shall argue that aspiration is best viewed as moraic, contributing to the weight of a syllable. An understanding of the syIIable structure also gives valuable insights into the phonemic inventory and the distributional asymmetries, and helps to explain some curious morphophonemic vowel alternations in the imperative construction.