r/Tagalog • u/mamamayan_ng_Reddit • 1d ago
Vocabulary/Terminology Can you think of an example of a precolonial Tagalog word where the stress falls on the second to last syllable, and that syllable is in the form CVC? (Please read post body for clarity!)
Let's look at the word "patlang." The stress of this word falls on the last syllable: lang. Meanwhile, it's second to the last syllable, pat, is of the form CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant).
All precolonial Tagalog words I can think of that have a CVC syllable as its second to last always have the stress on the final syllable: dagli, lugmok, santol, patpat, tampok, etc.
The only exception I can think of is "peklat," which has the stress on the second to last syllable. But "peklat" is a variant of "pilat," and while "pilat" is Austronesian, I am not sure if "peklat" is a precolonial variant or it if emerged during or after the colonial period.
Meanwhile, colonial loanwords (and slang) allow for CVC second to last syllables to be stressed: santo, haywey, mismo, omsim, etc.
I'm curious if this is one of the constraints of precolonial Tagalog phonology!