Some words have the same spelling, but different intonations change the word's meaning, and therefore accents are important. Here, a stressed syllable will be marked with an acute accent. Words without a visible accent are stressed on the second syllable. When two or more basic vowels are written together , each vowel is pronounced separately . When a basic vowel and a nasal vowel are written together , each vowel is pronounced separately .
Lakhota words have the same number of syllables as they have vowels.
However, despite the pronunciation, one does not write the nasal vowel. However, the word is still spelled with the Lakhota nasal vowel. Nasal vowels are absent in English. In fact, gh before i is pronounced almost as the French r , but with more aspiration. These are the consonants p , t , c , and k plus aspiration .