Stress
Stress is phonemic in Tagalog. Primary stress occurs on either the last or the next-to-the-last (penultimate) syllable of a word. Vowel lengthening accompanies primary or secondary stress except when stress occurs at the end of a word.
Meanings of Tagalog homonyms are often distinguished, depending on stress and presence of the glottal stop at the end of the word. In general, there are four types of phonetic emphases in Tagalog, of which it is formally written with an accompanying diacritic.
| Name of Stress | Stress and glottal stop | Diacritic | Example | IPA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Malumay (gentle) | Non-ultimate stress, no glottal stop | No accent | "pito", whistle | /ˈpito/ |
| Mabilís (quick) | Ultimate stress, no glottal stop | Acute accent ( ́) | "pitó", seven | /piˈto/ |
| Malumì (grave) | Non-ultimate stress, with glottal stop | Grave accent (`) | "punò", tree | /ˈpunoʔ/ |
| Maragsâ (rushed) | Ultimate stress, with glottal stop | Circumflex (ˆ) | "punô", full | /puˈnoʔ/ |
Note that words with the "mabilís" (quick) and "malumay" (gentle) stresses may end with a consonant.
Unstressed ti, di, and si become, before a, u, e, and o.
Read more about this topic: Tagalog Phonology
Famous quotes containing the word stress:
“It is not stressful circumstances, as such, that do harm to children. Rather, it is the quality of their interpersonal relationships and their transactions with the wider social and material environment that lead to behavioral, emotional, and physical health problems. If stress matters, it is in terms of how it influences the relationships that are important to the child.”
—Felton Earls (20th century)
“A society which is clamoring for choice, which is filled with many articulate groups, each urging its own brand of salvation, its own variety of economic philosophy, will give each new generation no peace until all have chosen or gone under, unable to bear the conditions of choice. The stress is in our civilization.”
—Margaret Mead (1901–1978)
“While ... we cannot and must not hide our concern for grave world dangers, and while, at the same time, we cannot build walls around ourselves and hide our heads in the sand, we must go forward with all our strength to stress and to strive for international peace. In this effort America must and will protect herself.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)