Word Stress in Megrelian1

The paper deals with the issues of word stress in Megrelian. In the scientific literature there is no common view regarding the position and nature of stress in Megrelian. Our study is based on experimental analysis. The experiment has revealed that in Megrelian, in two-syllable and three-syllable words the stress is on the initial syllable. However, in some case the stress falls on the penultimate syllable in three-syllable words. As for four-syllable words, the stress is on the antepenult though our experiment did not confirm the presence of the secondary stress. In five-syllable words the primary stress falls on the second syllable and the secondary stress is on the penultima. In six-syllable and seven-syllable words the primary stress is on the second syllable but in six-syllable words the secondary stress is on the antepenult while in seven-syllable words the secondary stress falls on the fourth syllable. The results of our research are also important in terms of teaching Megrelian.