The character is also sometimes used as a symbol to denote long or heavy syllables, in metrical poetry.

She spoke again, and felt the metal solidify under the lash of the heavy syllables.

Primary Stress- This falls on the first heavy syllable in any word.

They often have heavier syllables than found in the east, while tone systems, though attested, are not as frequent.

Otherwise, it falls on the word-final heavy syllable when one exists.

If there are no heavy syllables, then the initial syllable is stressed.

The final heavy syllable of a root morpheme is stressed.

The rules for distinguishing light and heavy syllables is slightly different from Sanskrit.

The heavy syllables that can be distinguished by accent are as follows:

The stress system shows a sensitivity to syllable weight so that heavy syllables are always stressed.