Page:A Concise Grammar of the Malagasy Language.djvu/19

 Sometimes it is difficult to find out the root, owing (1), to the loss of its first consonant; or (2), to a change in its vowel; or (3), to a change in the consonant of its final syllable.

I. Roots, both primary and secondary, seem always to have the accent on the first syllable of the primary root, whether the root be two-syllabic or three-syllabic.

N.B.—A secondary root may be regarded as a primary root plus a monosyllabic prefix, which does not alter the place of the accent.

Reduplicated roots.—As only the primary root (and not a prefix) is reduplicated, the above rule still holds good in these cases, whether there be, or be not, any contraction of the reduplicated word.

N.B.—Only tri-syllabic roots ending in -ka, -na, or -tra, are contracted when reduplicated, although they may sometimes be reduplicated without contraction. No change of letters in the reduplicated word alters the place of the accent.

II. Derivatives.—No prefix alters the place of an accent; but affixes always cause the accent to advance one syllable nearer to the end of the word (generally bringing the accent on to the antepenult).

N.B.—A few roots (chiefly monosyllabic) do not allow the accent to shift at all; and in a few cases the accent (apparently contrary to the above rule) goes off the root on to the first syllable of the affix (as in the word ànka-toàvina, from root to).

But even in these cases the accent still rests on the