Traditional approaches have regarded German stress to

be predictable by localizing the initial stem syllable.

Later, Metrical Phonology localized German stress close

to the right edge of the stem, depending on the syllable

weight. It will be shown that an algorithm based on a

polytomous scale of syllable weight rather than a

dichotomous one (heavy - light) is well able to predict

German lexical stress. However, within the word class of

proper names the algorithm fails. Here speakers of

German appear to place stress on the left rather than the

right edge of the stem. A closer look at the phenomena

shows that this is not due to a preference of initial stress in historically older proper names but rather a rhythmic preference for trochees and dactyls. This appears to be evidence for a diachronic process where the influence of syllable weight has increased and become more

important than a specific rhythmic pattern. This quantity

sensitivity has not yet reached the peak of its influence in the diachronically older proper names.