Editing Yahgan language (section)

===Stress===
In recent analyses of the speech of remaining speakers, [[stress (linguistics)|word stress]] was felt to be [[minimal pair|nondistinctive]]. However, in the mid-19th century Yahga Strait dialect (which is likely not the ancestor of the surviving one) word stress was distinctive at least at the level of the individual [[morpheme]], with stress shifting in regular patterns during word formation. Certain otherwise identical [[root (linguistics)|word roots]] are distinguishable by different stress marking. No information is available about phrase or clause level stress phenomena from the Yahga dialect.

Some roots, particularly those with doubled consonants, exhibit stress on both vowels flanking the doublet. Diphthongs appear to attract stress when they are morphophonetic in origin, sometimes removing it from vowels on both sides that would otherwise be stressed. The first vowel -V- (influenced by the preceding terminal root vowel) in {{lang|yag|-Vna}} '(be) in a state' also appears to attract stress, while {{lang|yag|-ata}} 'attain' repels stress to the left. Thus the combination {{lang|yag|-Vnata}} 'get into a state' is harmonious. Diphthongal attraction often trumps {{lang|yag|-Vna}}, drawing stress further left, while two successive diphthongs often have the stress on the rightmost one (counterintuitively). Syllables reduced morphophonetically generally lose whatever stress they might have carried. The vast majority of 'irregular' stress renderings in Bridges' original dictionary manuscript seem to arise from just these five sources.

It may be that these effects help to preserve morpheme boundary and identity information. For instance, given the importance of derivation of verbs from nouns and adjectives using {{lang|yag|-Vna-}} and {{lang|yag|-ata-}}, shifted stress allows one to differentiate these morphemes from lexical {{lang|yag|-ata-}} (common enough) and those {{lang|yag|-na-}}'s that are part of lexical roots (also relatively common). {{lang|yag|-Vna}} itself will often lose stress and reduce to a tense vowel before other suffixes, leaving the shifting as a hint of its underlying presence.

Stress can also differentiate otherwise identical voice morpheme strings: {{lang|yag|tú:mu:-}} causative reflexive (get someone else to do/make one) from {{lang|yag|tu:mú:-}}(1) the causative of making oneself seem, or pretend to be in some state, and {{lang|yag|tu:mú:-}}(2) the circumstantial ({{lang|yag|tu:-}} allomorph before m-) of same (i.e. to seem/pretend at any specified time or place, with any particular tools, for any reasons, etc.). Circumstantial T has different allomorphs- some having following stressable vowel, others not- this also complicates matters for the learner but may also help disentangle morpheme boundaries for the listener.