ABSTRACT
This chapter provides brief overview of the essential characteristics of the phonological component of a grammar. The description of stress in the Odawa dialect will follow broadly the description of English stress outlined in SPE. The occurrence of stress and certain phenomena related to it have significant consequences for an understanding of the phonology of Odawa. The rules of stress placement themselves are relatively uncontroversial, and discussion of them will therefore be kept to the minimum. Of some importance to Odawa phonological structure is a correct characterization of the nature of the boundaries, and the application of rules in relation to these boundaries. In Odawa, as in other Ojibwa dialects, there is a class of formatives which is referred to as preverbs and prenouns. The sources of geminate clusters may be lexical or these may arise through disparate phonological processes, but all geminates are subject to the phonetic rule which converts them into fortis consonants.
