This paper presents and analyzes some aspects of the stress system of a Southwestern Saudi Arabic dialect (SSA). In an Optimality-Theoretic framework, the analysis focuses on issues related to how feet are constructed in this dialect as well as how stress is assigned in the language under the effect of geminates and long vowels. In the presented analysis, I argue that the stress pattern of SSA is a moraic trochee binary stress system in which ternary effects arise as a result of Weak Local Parsing that is responsible for the pre-antepenultimate stress in the language (Hayes, 1995). I also argue that the analysis of stress assignment under the effect of geminates and long vowels is prominence-based in such a way that stress is assigned to the heaviest syllable in the word in a scalar quantity-sensitivity stress system that gives priority to syllables that are inherently bimoraic. The analysis seeks a unified account that interacts with other aspects of the phonology in the investigated dialect such as high vowel deletion and the quality of word-final vowels.
