Stress is a tricky matter in Talossan, like English, as which syllable takes the stress can
vary widely from word to word and there are no definite rules. Some general guidelines,
however, can be offered.
The stressed syllable is most often the last or the next-to-last (penultimate),
less often the third from the end (antepenultimate), but rarely further back than that.
The stressed syllable is often indicated with a written accent. See below for rules
regarding this.
If the word contains only one accented vowel then it is stressed, excepting the endings
-â, -âs, -escù, -ìci, -mînt, -päts, -phäts and the prefixes
în-, ûn-.
If a word contains two or more accented vowels it is usually the last one which is
stressed, excepting the endings -â, -âs, -escù, -ìci, -mînt, -päts, -phäts, -üm,
-üs.
The endings -at, -ats, -esc, -eschti, -etz, -iun always take the stress,
as does the infinitive ending -ar/-arë unless there is an accented vowel on the
verb stem.
If there is no accented vowel in the word and it does not end in -iun, then
the word is probably accented on the penultimate syllable.
Words ending in -amînt, -âmînt, -ici, -ìci, -ilor, -ipäts are stressed on
the antepenultimate syllable.
The participial ending -escù is always stressed on the e
despite the accent mark on the ù.
The negative prefixes în-, ûn- are never stressed.
If the word contains double ii, that is usually stressed.
If none of the preceding rules apply, then the word is most likely accented on the
penultimate syllable.
Written Accents
There are some spelling rules regarding which accents may be put on vowels to indicate the
stressed syllable. Firstly, if the vowel already has an accent which changes its
pronunciation (eg. ä, î) then no further accent can be added, and the stress
cannot be shown by orthographic means. The "plain" vowels, a, e, i, o, u,
can take one of three accents: ´ (acute), ` (grave) or
ˆ (circumflex), depending on the vowel. A, i
and u take the grave accent (à, ì, ù) at the end of a word
and the acute accent (á, í, ú) at the beginning of or within a word.
E takes the acute (é) if pronounced [e] and the circumflex
(ê) if pronounced [ê]. O always takes the circumflex
(ô).
Note that when a suffix is added to a word written accents on the part being added to
generally do not change as they are considered "part of the word". Thus the plural
of mà is màns even though the a is now
on the inside of the word. And if you add -átx to escláv, you
get esclávátx, not esclavátx, even though the stress has
shifted to the -átx.
