Pitch Accent

[Rankin, Robert L]

Actually Deloria says Dakotan speakers listen primarily for pitch.  I
ran across her statement in B&D 1941.

As far as I can tell in my field recordings, falling pitch on a final
syllable is automatic unless some other syllable is accented. Falling
pitch on an initial syllable entails the presence of a long vowel in Kaw
-- actually, an over-long vowel, as the contour pitch seems to cause
extra lengthening of the syllable (This is for non-monosyllables).  More
to come as I encounter it.

I think the nature of accent is one of the biggest holes in Siouan
phonological studies.  Unfortunately a lot of our (read: my) recordings
don't or didn't make the necessary attempts to avoid list-intonation,
especially when going over minimal pairs with speakers.

Bob

> I thought this might be interesting in view of our wa-prefix
discussions and pondering whether some of the wa-prefixes might contrast
in form as well as function.  We had considered only length, not pitch
behavior. Of course, this won't help the Dakotanists, as they report
non-pitch-based accent.