Abstract: In many languages vowel insertion gives rise to opaque stress patterns. This chapter provides arguments, based on examination of loanwords in Selayarese and North Kyungsang Korean and native vocabulary in Winnebago and Iraqi Arabic, that this opacity is due either to avoidance of epenthetic material in prominent positions, or to maximization of paradigmatic contrasts.

Keywords: epenthesis,, loanwords,, syncope,, prosodic prominence,, Selayarese,, Northern Kyungsang Korean,, Winnebago,, Iraqi Arabic,