This squib provides evidence from the superlative in support of Wiese’s (1996) position that s (sibilant) + stop sequences in German behave as complex segments. With the exception of the sequence /sk/, the consonants that require schwa epenthesis before the superlative suffix are all coronal obstruents: nettest- [ˈnɛtəst] ‘nicest’, süßest- [ˈzyːsəst] ‘sweetest’, frischest- [ˈfrɪʃəst] ‘freshest’, brüskest- [ˈbrʏskəst] ‘most abrupt’. If one assumes that the sequence /sk/ is a single, complex segment with the feature [coronal] as well as [dorsal], the formation of the superlative can be accounted for with a simple rule of schwa epenthesis.*

Bidirectional stress systems with internal lapses are rare and their existence has been recently called into question (Newlin-Łukowicz 2012). The present paper reports an acoustic study of secondary stress in Ukrainian based on polysyllabic words with lexical stress located at or near the right edge of the word. The results indicate that Ukrainian has an iteration of secondary stresses from the left edge towards the lexical stress, rather than in the opposite direction. This characteristic makes it metrically related to bidirectional stress systems with internal lapses (e.g. Polish), which invalidates the argument against such systems and proves the empirical adequacy of the metrical theories designed to account for these stress patterns.