This iambic pattern is sometimes called sesquisyllabic (lit.
Although the term may be applied to any word with an iambic structure, it is more narrowly defined as a syllable with a consonant cluster whose phonetic realization is [CǝC].
[1] Sometimes minor syllables are introduced by language contact.
Many Chamic languages as well as Burmese[2] have developed minor syllables from contact with Mon-Khmer family.
Some reconstructions of Proto-Tai and Old Chinese also include sesquisyllabic roots with minor syllables, as transitional forms between fully disyllabic words and the monosyllabic words found in modern Tai languages and modern Chinese.