Stress in Stoney

The following analysis provides a brief summary of Stoney (Assiniboine) grammar and a study of the innovative stress patterns in Alexis Stoney. Dakota languages characteristically realize stress on the second syllable and do not generau secondary stress. In Stoney, however, primary stress is predominantly realized on the penultimate syllable and secondary stress exhibits an alternating pattern applying from right to left. Lexically marked morphemes obstruct the predictable pattern of Stoney stress by suspending the alternating pattern and averting the realization of penultimate stress to the final syllable. Additionally, Stoney has a number of affixes that do not bear stress. These affixes cause further variation in the realization of stress and make developing a unified account of Stoney stress a complicated task. Within a Metrical Phonology framework (Idsardi 1992) the variability of Alexis Stoney stress is predictably generated by the construction of a metrical grid.