Changes in Uatakassi

Irina Rempt-Drijfhout wrote:
> What happened to make acutes obsolete? I rather liked them.
Well, the deciding factor in my reform was that I kept forgetting where
the acute went on alot of words.  :-)  But anyways, for quite a while,
I've been aware of a default "second syllable of root" stress rule.
There were a number of words that violated it, but the majority, around
80% or so I'd guesstimate, followed that rule.  I had been considering
using acutes only when that rule was violated.  I'd also been
experimenting with a dialect that had made that a rigid rule.  I finally
decided that I liked the way it sounded, but that decision made acutes
obsolete.

The rule now is that the second syllable of the root is stressed.  One
syllable roots have a little complication.  If they are followed by a
syllabic suffix, that suffix is stressed.  Otherwise, a partial
reduplicant must be prefixed, the form of it being CV-; CL and C-glide
onsets take the first consonant.  For example, take the adjective _d'ia_
"bad" in, say, gender 2, using caps to show the stressed syllable

Absolutive: tidaD'IA = ti-da-d'ia = G2-PartRed-bad
Benefactive: tidi'aNA = ti-d'ia-na = G2-bad-Ben

In instances of incorporation, the incorporated word is counted as a
gramatical prefix, and is ignored in figuring stress.

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