Information > David's Dothraki blog
Smaller Questions
Hrakkar:
Is zichome an example of a word where the stress goes on the penultimate syllable? It is the only word I have run into so far (other than the example given, a GRRM word, Tolorro that has the stress on the penultimate syllable.) where it is very obvious that the penultimate syllable is 'heavy'.
ingsve:
--- Quote from: Hrakkar on July 06, 2012, 10:50:22 pm ---Is zichome an example of a word where the stress goes on the penultimate syllable? It is the only word I have run into so far (other than the example given, a GRRM word, Tolorro that has the stress on the penultimate syllable.) where it is very obvious that the penultimate syllable is 'heavy'.
--- End quote ---
No, zichome has the stress on the first syllable. Words are stressed on the penultimate syllable if they end in vowel-consonant-consonant-vowel.Other examples include haqeqqe, zhokakkwa,khalakka, kifindirgi, mawizzi etc.
Qvaak:
--- Quote ---Is zichome an example of a word where the stress goes on the penultimate syllable? It is the only word I have run into so far (other than the example given, a GRRM word, Tolorro that has the stress on the penultimate syllable.) where it is very obvious that the penultimate syllable is 'heavy'.
--- End quote ---
--- Quote ---No, zichome has the stress on the first syllable. Words are stressed on the penultimate syllable if they end in vowel-consonant-consonant-vowel.Other examples include haqeqqe, zhokakkwa,khalakka, kifindirgi, mawizzi etc.
--- End quote ---
It's a bit more complicated than that.
When you determine syllabe weigth in Dothraki*, only the coda, the consonants following the vowel, matter. Zichome breaks down as zi-cho-me, so no consonants in any coda, no heavy syllabes.
Incidentally, ch is actually a digraph for a sigle phoneme, albeit affricate, so every syllabe is actually built roughly the same. On the other hand, idrie, for example, breaks down as i-dri-e, and the mid syllabe has truly a two consonant cluster on its onset. But while the middle syllabe is slightly more complex, it's still light and the stress is thus on the first syllabe.
[* As far as I understand, this isn't even that much language specific; it seems at least most languages are best analysed in this way, as far as syllabe weight is of concern.]
What makes things complicated is that it's not a trivial task to determine, whether a syllabe ends in consonant or not. Well, it's easy almost always - if there is less than two consonants between vowels, the former syllabe is always light; if there is a doubled consonant or more than two different consonants, the former syllabe is always heavy. But if there are two different consonants, you need to know the full syllabification system, sonority levels and all: http://wiki.dothraki.org/dothraki/Syllabification_and_Stress.
zi·cho·me
i·dri·e
am·mi·thra <- hard to determine
as·sam·va <- hard to determine
ki·fin·dir·gi <- hard to determine
ma·wiz·zi
zho·kak·kwa
Death:
--- Quote from: ingsve on July 01, 2012, 02:35:26 pm ---I thought I'd put this forum section to use since we actually have it.
I have a question regarding whether it works to stress certain words in a sentence in Dothraki to highlight a specific meaning in what you're saying.
In English for example a sentence can take on slightly different meaning depening on what word in the sentence is emphasized:
Yes, that is my hat.
Yes, that is my hat.
Yes, that is my hat.
Yes, that is my hat.
Yes, that is my hat.
Does this work in exactly the same way in Dothraki or are there occasions when you have to add words or change something to illustrate this type of slight difference in meaning?
--- End quote ---
If I may, I believe that since Dothraki is based on cases, and thus, markers, it depends on the sentence order. I believe it's even written in the syntax.
If that's what you've meant.
Hrakkar:
Keep in mind with Dothraki though, even though it does use noun cases, it does not have free word order. So, some other mechanism need to be used to emphasize an indea, such as choice of words, or perhaps verb classes.
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