Sreasra Mdatla: Phonology: Fixed Stress Locations: Penultimate
Stress falls, with occasional exception, on the second to last syllable of each word. For example: sreASra mDAtla where the capitalized syllables in each word are those which are stressed. Occasionally words have ultimate stress. This occurs most commonly on two-syllable words but does have exceptions. Occasional situations occur wherein the first syllable of a multisyllabic word is stressed following a single syllable word which is left unstressed. This occurs in phrases and common parts of speech. For example the greeting "Kipe. I svare." would be stressed thusly: kiPE. i SVAre.
