A. Accenting long vowels: 2nd-last, long vowels are always accented: knó:haˀ ‘mother’, hahé:haˀ 'he sets it'

B. Accenting (and lengthening*) short vowels - follow these rules in order:

  • Rule 1: If the 2nd-last vowel is even-numbered, accent it. Also lengthen* it - de̲hǫgwe̲ˀdí:yo: ‘he is not a nice man’

  • Rule 2: If the 2nd-last vowel is odd-numbered, accent it - agatǫ́deˀ ‘I heard it’, ęhsnaˀjódęˀ ‘you will boil it’ - unless

    • It’s a short A

      It’s followed by more than one consonant.

    • It’s followed by T, K, J, H, or ˀ.

  • Rule 3: If Rule 2 can’t apply, accent the third-last vowel instead:

    • Short A - asatgǫ̲hsóhae:ˀ ‘you have washed your face’

    • More than one consonant - gatgę́hetsaˀ ‘a handle’

    • T, K, J, H, or ˀ - hoyánetaˀ ‘the chief's clan mother’

  • Rule 4 (lengthening): If Rule 2 does apply, lengthen* both the 2nd- and 3rd-last vowel: aga:tǫ́:deˀ ‘I heard it’, ęhsnaˀjó:dęˀ ‘you will boil it’

  • Rule 5 (Accent shift): whenever the result is AÁ (an unaccented vowel followed by an accented vowel), change it to ÁA (an accented vowel followed by an unaccented vowel): sayaˀdodrǫhgwáǫnihs ‘you are shivering’

  • Lengthen* means ‘lengthen, if possible’: vowels cannot be lengthened if they are followed by H, ˀ, or another vowel.

  • The words in Rule 2 are spelled incorrectly, in order to show only accent placement. The correct spelling, with both accent and lengthening, is in Rule 4.