SYLLABICATION—ACCENTS. 
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SYLLABICATION. 
§ 3. Syllables in the Dakota language terminate in a pure or nasalized 
vowel, as ti-pi, house, tan-yay, well. To this rule there are some excep- 
tions, viz. : 
a. The preposition ‘en,’ iz, and such words as take it for a suffix, as, 
petan, on the fire, tukten, where, etc.; together with some adverbs of time, 
as, dehan, now, hehan, then, tohan, when, ete. 
b. When a syllable is contracted into a single consonant (see § 11), 
that consonant is attached to the preceding vowel; as, om, with, from o-pa, 
to follow; way-yag, from wan-ya-ka, to see; ka-kis, from ka-ki-za, to suffer ; 
bo-Sim-si-pa, to shoot off, instead of bo-Si-pa-si-pa. But, in cases of contrac- 
tion in reduplication, when the contracted syllable coalesces readily with 
the consonant that follows, it is so attached; as, Si-ksi-éa; sa-psa-pa. 
c. There are some other syllables which end in §; as, is, he, nis, thou, 
mis, J, nakaes, indeed, ete. ‘These are probably forms of contraction. 
ACCENTS. 
PLACE OF ACCENT. 
§ 4. 1. In the Dakota language all the syllables are enunciated plainly 
and fully; but every word that is not a monosyllable has in it one or more 
accented syllables, which, as a general thing, are easily distinguished from 
such as are not accented. The importance of observing the accent is seen 
in the fact that the meaning of a word often depends upon it; as, mdga, a 
field, maga, a goose; dkiya, to aid, okiya, to speak to. 
2. More than two-thirds, perhaps three-fourths, of all Dakota words of 
two or more syllables have their principal accent on the second syllable from 
the beginning, as will be seen by a reference to the Dictionary; the greater 
part of the remaining words have it on the jirst. 
3. (a) In polysyllabic words there is usually a secondary accent, which 
falls on the second syllable after the primary one; as, hewdéskantttya, in a 
desert place; iGiyépeya, to barter. 
(b) But if the word be compounded of two nouns, or a noun and a 
verb, each will retain its own accent, whether they fall two degrees apart 
or not; as, agtiyapi-idapan, (wheat-beater) a flail; inmu-stnka, (cat-dog) a 
domestic cat; akidita-nadzin, to stand guard. 
REMOVAL OF ACCENT. 
§ 5. 1. Suffixes do not appear to have any effect upon the accent; but 
a syllable prefixed or inserted before the accented syllable draws the accent 
