Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Accentuation in Udugi

For at least forty years now, pitch has been in rapid decline in the Cherokee language, and it seems that a purely stress accent is taking its place. Udugi, for its part, does not use pitch at all, and only uses stress. A few simple rules will help to put the stress accent where it should go.

The most "comfortable" place for the accent in Udugi is the next-to-last syllable. For example, the tense-endings on verbs, -ase, -ise, -ose, and -use (present, past, future,and conditional) all accent the first vowel of the tense-ending: -áse, -íse, -óse, and úse, which puts the accent on the next-to-last syllable of the word. Words yhaving the objective-case ending, -ne, have the stress accent on the previous vowel, the penultimate syllable. Many words that end in -isdi, or -isgi are also accented on the penultimate syllable. BUT final syllables containing an "o" vowel are accented. Examples: osiyó (hello) and wadó (thank you). The preference for accenting the "o" vowel is so strong that it can even pull the accent to the first or other syllable. Examples: nóquisi, tiyóhali. As a general rule, it is a good idea to accent any syllable that contains an "o" or the vowel "v" (which is also nasalized, by the way). Examples: tsilV, atsilV (I can't type an accent mark over that vowel).

And finally, many three-syllable words that do not contain either the vowel "o" or the vowel "v" are accented on the first syllable. Examples: tsálagi, údugi.

In writing, no one will know if you're accenting the wrong syllable, because we don't write accents. In a way, it's too bad that we don't write them, because "amá" means water, but "áma" means salt. You just have to interpret such cases from the context.

I hope this helps. If you have a question, you can put it into a comment/comentario. Thanks.




noquisi / ꮓꮘꮟ


ᏃᏈᏏ

NOQUISI



ᎠᏯ ᎧᏁᎬᎠᏎ ᏧᏩᎫᏔᏅᏒ ᏂᏛᎴᏅᏓ
ᎠᎴ ᎠᏯ ᎨᏒᎠᏎ ᏧᏩᎫᏔᏅᏒ.
ᎠᏆ ᏚᏙᎥ ᏃᏈᏏ.
ᎯᎠ ᏃᏈᏏ ᎨᏒᎠᏎ ᎠᎴᏂᏙᎲ
ᎢᎬᏂᏏᏍᎩ ᎥᎴᏂᏙᎲ ᎨᏒᎠᏎ.
ᎪᏪᎵᏍᎩ Ꮭ ᎠᏁᏢᏗᎰᏎ
ᎠᏆ ᎧᏁᎢᏍᏗᏗᏁ.
ᎠᏯ ᎠᏓᏅᏍᏓᏎ ᏙᎯᏱᏁ ᏂᎯ ᏗᏜ,
ᎠᎴ ᎠᏯ ᎧᏁᎬᎣᏎ ᎠᏏᏉ.

aya kanegvase tsuwagutanvsv nidvlenvda
ale aya gesvase tsuwagutanvsv.
aqua dudov noquisi.
hia noquisi gesvase alenidohv
igvnisisgi vlenidohv gesvase.
gowelisgi tla anetlvdihose
aqua kaneisdidine.
aya adanvsdase dohiyine nihi didla,
ale aya kanegvose asiquo.

noquisi 1 / ꮓꮘꮟ 1

aya kanegvase tsuwagutanvsv nidvlenvda
ale aya gesvase tsuwagutanvsv.
aqua dudov noquisi.
hia noquisi gesvase alenidohv
igvnisisgi vlenidohv gesvase.
gowelisgi tla anetlvdihose
aqua kaneisdidine.
aya adanvsdase dohiyine nihi didla,
ale aya kanegvose asiquo.

ᎠᏯ ᎧᏁᎬᎠᏎ ᏧᏩᎫᏔᏅᏒ ᏂᏛᎴᏅᏓ
ᎠᎴ ᎠᏯ ᎨᏒᎠᏎ ᏧᏩᎫᏔᏅᏒ.
ᎠᏆ ᏚᏙᎥ ᏃᏈᏏ.
ᎯᎠ ᏃᏈᏏ ᎨᏒᎠᏎ ᎠᎴᏂᏙᎲ
ᎢᎬᏂᏏᏍᎩ ᎥᎴᏂᏙᎲ ᎨᏒᎠᏎ.
ᎪᏪᎵᏍᎩ Ꮭ ᎠᏁᏢᏗᎰᏎ
ᎠᏆ ᎧᏁᎢᏍᏗᏗᏁ.
ᎠᏯ ᎠᏓᏅᏍᏓᏎ ᏙᎯᏱᏁ ᏂᎯ ᏗᏜ,
ᎠᎴ ᎠᏯ ᎧᏁᎬᎣᏎ ᎠᏏᏉ.