The 'han' suffix

comborico's picture

Is the stress/accent always on the last syllable when words end with 'han':  sinultihan, basahan, dumaghan, etc.  Are there exceptions?  Does this apply also to 'hun' suffix?

There are two types of "han"

There are two types of "han" suffixes.

First, let us define the suffix in question. Actually, this suffix is [-Han]. The represents the /h/ sound that appears when the base word ends with a consonant.

There are multiple meanings of [-Han]. The general rule is when it's a verb, then the penultimate (second to the last syllable) is stressed; when it's a noun, then the ultimate (last syllable) is stressed. For example:

Verbs:

  • Saka + -Han = Sak'an --- to go up somewhere.
  • Hulug + -Han = Hulugan --- to drop somewhere.
  • Ligu' + -Han = Ligu'an --- to bathe someone.

Nouns:

  • Sulti + -in- + -Han = Sinultihán --- manner of speech.
  • Basa + -Han = Basahán --- thing to read something on.
  • Saka + -Han = Sak'an (technically it's saka'án but, due to syncope where usually the phonemes a'án get's shortened to C'an where the C denotes the previous consonant, it becomes sak'an) --- somewhere where one goes up to.