Editing Mongolian language (section)

=== Stress ===
[[Stress (linguistics)|Stress]] in Mongolian is non-phonemic (does not distinguish different meanings) and is thus considered to depend entirely on syllable structure. But scholarly opinions on stress placement diverge sharply.<ref>Svantesson ''et al.'' (2005): 95–97</ref> Most native linguists, regardless of which dialect they speak, claim that stress falls on the first syllable. Between 1941 and 1975, several Western scholars proposed that the leftmost heavy syllable gets the stress. Yet other positions were taken in works published between 1835 and 1915.

Walker (1997)<ref>elaborating on Bosson (1964) and Poppe (1970).</ref> proposes that stress falls on the rightmost [[Syllable weight|heavy syllable]] unless this syllable is word-final:

:{|
| H'''ˈH'''LL || {{lang|mn|бай'''гуу'''лагдах}} || {{IPA|[pæ.ˈɢʊ.ɮəɢ.təx]}} || 'to be organized'
|-
| LH'''ˈH'''L || {{lang|mn|хөндий'''рүү'''лэн}} || {{IPA|[xɵn.ti.ˈɾu.ɮəŋ]}} || 'separating' (adverbial)
|-
| LHH'''ˈH'''L || {{lang|mn|Улаанбаат'''рын'''хан}} || {{IPA|[ʊ.ɮan.paːtʰ.ˈrin.xəŋ]}} || 'the residents of Ulaanbaatar'
|-
| H'''ˈH'''H || {{lang|mn|уур'''тай'''гаар}} || {{IPA|[ʊːr.ˈtʰæ.ɢar]}} || 'angrily'
|-
| '''ˈH'''LH || {{lang|mn|'''уйт'''гартай}} || {{IPA|[ˈʊɪtʰ.ɢər.tʰæ]}} || 'sad'
|}

A "heavy syllable" is defined as one that is at least the length of a full vowel; short word-initial syllables are thereby excluded. If a word is bisyllabic and the only heavy syllable is word-final, it gets stressed anyway. In cases where there is only one phonemic short word-initial syllable, even this syllable can get the stress:<ref>Walker's evidence is collected from one native informant, examples from Poppe (1970) and consultation with James Bosson. She defines stress in terms of pitch, duration and intensity. The analysis pertains to the Khalkha dialect. The phonemic analysis in the examples is adjusted to Svantesson ''et al.'' (2005).</ref>

:{|
| L'''ˈH''' || {{lang|mn|га'''луу'''}} || {{IPA|[ɢa.ˈɮʊ]}} || 'goose'
|-
| '''ˈL'''L || {{lang|mn|'''унш'''сан}} || {{IPA|[ˈʊnʃ.səɴ]}} || 'having read'
|}

More recently, the most extensive collection of phonetic data so far in Mongolian studies has been applied to a partial account of stress placement in the closely related Chakhar dialect.<ref>Harnud [Köke] (2003).</ref><ref>Harnud (2003) was reviewed by J. Brown in ''Journal of the International Phonetic Association'' (December 2006). 36(2): 205–207.</ref> The conclusion is drawn that di- and trisyllabic words with a short first syllable are stressed on the second syllable. But if their first syllable is long, then the data for different acoustic parameters seems to support conflicting conclusions: [[Intensity (physics)|intensity]] data often seems to indicate that the first syllable is stressed, while [[Fundamental frequency|F0]] seems to indicate that it is the second syllable that is stressed.<ref>Harnud [Köke] (2003): 44–54, 94–100.</ref>