BOAS] HANDBOOK OF AMERICAN INDIAN LANGUAGES 747 



IT CERTAINLY SEEMED AS IF. Long vowels also shorten when placed 

 before a stressed syllable: a^Jcig^ on the ground becomes aTcigd'M- 

 imhiHc^ WHEN he looked down at the ground. 



Diphthongs undergo change of quantity. The accent of a diph- 

 thong slides downward from the first vowel, and the loss when it 

 comes is in the breaking-off of the second member: «/sa' buckskin, 

 ne'tasa'm^ my buckskin. 



Consonants show evidence of quantity also. In general, the quan- 

 tity is short; but the length of time between the stop and break in 

 g, d, and 6, is noticeable, so much so that the effect of a double sound 

 is felt. As a matter of fact, g stands for a double sound. The first 

 part is an articulation for an inner I:, and in gliding forward comes to 

 the place for g where the stoppage breaks. Assimilation tends to 

 reduce the double to a single sound. Nasal sonant in and n sound 

 double before accented I: ml'mlw^ pigeon, nl'na i. 



A syllable consists (1) of a single vowel-sound, a; (2) of two or 

 more vowels joined together into a diphthong, ^waV what?; and (3) 

 of a vowel-sound in combination with a single consonant or a cluster 

 of consonants, the vocalic sound always following the consonant: 

 nl'tci MY kind. Two or more vowels coming together, no two of 

 which are in union as a diphthong, are broken by an interval between: 

 dhi'owdHci so they said. 



§ 6. Stress 



Force is but another name for stress, and indicates energy. It is 

 not possible to lay down definite rules for the determination of stress 

 in every instance, and it is not always clear why some syllables are 

 emphasized at the expense of others. Generally, in words of two 

 syllables, stress-accent falls on the first, M'n"^ thou; for w^ords of 

 three syllables, stress falls on the antepenult, Icwl'yen"' sufficiently. 

 Beyond words of three syllables, only the semblance of a rule can be 

 suggested. The chief stress comes on the first or second of the 

 initial syllables, and the secondary stress on the penult ; the syllables 

 between follow either an even level, or more often a perceptible rise 

 and fall alternating feebly up to the penult. In accordance with its 

 rising nature the principal stress can be considered as acute ('), and 

 in the same manner the fall of the secondary stress can be termed as 

 grave Q). The sonorous tone of the voice on the penult is marked^ 



§6 



