INTRODUCTION* 
7 
Because the words which form a compound throw off 
their articles before being joined together, most of the 
compounds consist of only two syllables. In these the first 
syllable generally has the stress. Examples: chumig , 
well ; rkcing'lag , limb ; lagshub , glove ; ' nyinlam , day’s 
march; tang'rag, thanks. 
From the above it follows that the trochee is at 
the root of all Ladakhi poetic metre. Besides this the 
dactyl is also rather frequent; for, if a suffix is joined 
to a compound consisting of two syllables, a dactyl is 
obtained. 
There exist a few dissyllabic words in Ladakh 
which have the stress on the second syllable; for instance : 
khathog above; nyerang , you, respectfully ; ona , yes (but 
the latter not in all cases). 
