Editing Geʽez (section)

=== Stress ===

There is no evidence within the script of stress rules in the ancient period, but stress patterns exist within the liturgical tradition(s). Accounts of these patterns are, however, contradictory. One early 20th-century account<ref>{{harvnb|Mittwoch|1926}}, as used by {{harvnb|Tropper|2021|loc=§&nbsp;3.5}}, and largely identical to {{harvnb|Lambdin|1978|pp=5, 29, 36, 40, 57, 97}}</ref> may be broadly summarized as follows:
* primary stress only falls on the ultima (the last syllable) or the penult (the second-to-last syllable)
* in finite verbs (including the imperative), stress falls on the penult: {{lang|gez|ቀተለት}} ''qatálat'' ("she killed"), {{lang|gez|ንግር}} ''nə́gər'' ("speak!", masculine singular), with the important exception of the 2nd-person feminine plural suffix {{lang|gez|ክን}} ''-kə́n''
* in nouns and adjectives (in citation form), and most adverbs, stress falls on the ultima: {{lang|gez|ንጉሥ}} ''nəgúś'' ("king"), {{lang|gez|ሀገር}} ''hagár'' ("city"), {{lang|gez|ግዕዝ}} ''Gə́ʽz'' ("Geʽez"), {{lang|gez|ጠቢብ}} ''ṭabíb'' ("wise"), {{lang|gez|ህየ}} ''həyyá'' ("there"); an exception among adverbs is {{lang|gez|ዝየ}} ''zə́ya'' ("here")
* the suffix ''-a'', marking the construct state or the accusative case (or both), is not stressed: {{lang|gez|ንጉሠ}} ''nəgúśa'', {{lang|gez|ሀገረ}} ''hagára'', {{lang|gez|ግዕዘ}} ''Gə́ʽza'', {{lang|gez|ጠቢበ}} ''ṭabíba''
* cardinal numbers are stressed on the ultima, even in the accusative, e.g. {{lang|gez|ሠለስቱ}} ''śalastú'' accusative {{lang|gez|ሠለስተ}} ''śalastá'' ("three")
* pronouns have rather unpredictable stress, so stress is learned for each form
* [[clitic|enclitic]] particles (such as {{lang|gez|ሰ}} ''-(ə)ssá'') are stressed
* various grammatical words (short prepositions, conjunctions) and short nouns in the construct state are unstressed
As one example of a discrepancy, a different late 19th-century account<ref>{{harvnb|Dillmann|1899}}, as cited by {{harvnb|Tropper|2021|loc=§&nbsp;3.5.2 in footnotes 45–46}}</ref> says the masculine singular imperative is stressed on the ultima (e.g. {{lang|gez|ንግር}} ''nəgə́r'', "speak!"), and that, in some patterns, words can be stressed on the third-, fourth- or even fifth-to-last syllable (e.g. {{lang|gez|በረከተ}} ''bárakata'').

Due to the high predictability of stress location in most words, textbooks, dictionaries and grammars generally do not mark it. Minimal pairs do exist, however, such as ''yənaggərā́'' ("he speaks to her", with the pronoun suffix ''-(h)ā́'' "her") vs. ''yənaggə́rā'' ("they speak", feminine plural), both written {{lang|gez|ይነግራ}}.{{sfn|Gragg|1997b|p=246}}