Three models of metrical stress assignment in the Arabic dialect of Damascus (Halle and Vergnaud 1978; McCarthy 1979a, b; Hayes 1979) are considered. On the basis of anomalies in the stressing of third person feminine singular perfective verbs with pronominal suffixes, it is shown that the mora-counting ternary foot model of McCarthy (1979a, b) is superior. In addition, support is provided for cyclic assignment of metrical structure (Kiparsky 1979).