CHAT: Importance of stress

No, this isn't about pressure from work, school or anything like that :),
but it is about importance of stress in conlangs.

I've always wondered how many other conlangs besides mine lay importance
on stress to indicate the correct meanings of words? I found it a nifty
feature of  Tagalog when I studied it because it seemed to allow you to
stretch out the lexicon.

In one of my Tagalog books, it illustrates how important it is to Tagalog.
Take for instance, the word "kaibigan" (ka-i-bi-gan)

- kaibígan - friend
- kaibigán - desire
- káibigán - mutual consent
- kaíbigan - sweetheart

Anyway, as you can see in Tagalog it's an important feature. Likewise in
Saalangal it's important, but the stress patter for roots is simpler,
either it's on the penult, or the last syllable. For Saalangal, I can
think of two examples that show the importance of stress in the language:

ísan - mine
isán - this

I think that having this as a feature in Saalangal keeps speakers on their
toes.

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