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new stress system

From:Jim Grossmann <steven@...>
Date:Friday, August 18, 2000, 19:42
Hi, all,

I'm writing with the fervent hope that someone will respond.

I made some remarks about word stress in my register tone language Palo,
which I think are naive and in need of critique.   Does the following system
work?   Please read and tell me.

Thanks in advance.

1.7 WORD STRESS:    Most or all syllables in any given
word are stressed, and stress is roughly equal, as in English
phrases like "hay ride," "surf board rules," and "brand new
mouse trap."

a) In words with both high and low tones, slight primary
stress, indicated by slightly greater length and loudness, occurs
on high toned syllables.

b) In words with only high toned or low toned syllables,
slight primary stress occurs on the last stressed syllable in the
word.

c) Unstressed syllables occur in some particles and
prefixes.   All unstressed syllables have the schwa vowel, are
shorter and softer than stressed syllables, and have tone
intermediate between high and low.   This "neutral" tone is
ignored by the tone-stress rules.   For instance, the "first"
syllable given high tone is the first syllable after any unstressed
prefix.

d) Unstressed prefixes can occur consecutively.

Jim