indefinitely in theory. S indicates stress, _ indicates no stress: S S _ S _ _ S _ S _ S _ S _ _ S _ S _ S _ etc. The number of syllables, and the resulting stress pattern, is important for grammatical reasons. Words with stems having an even number of syllables from the last inflect differently from words with stems having an odd number of syllables. This is detailed further in the grammar section. In compound words, which consist of several distinct word roots, each word retains its own stress pattern, potentially breaking from the normal trochaic pattern. If the first element of a compound has an odd number of syllables, then there will be a sequence of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed one, which does not occur in non-compound words. In some cases, the first element of a compound has only one syllable, resulting in two adjacent stressed syllables. Hence, stress is lexically significant in that it can distinguish compounds from non-compounds. Recent loanwords generally keep the stress of the language they were borrowed from, assigning secondary stress to the syllable that was stressed in the original word. The normal trochaic pattern can also be broken in this case, but words will still be made to fit into the even or odd inflection patterns. Words with penultimate stress ending in a consonant will follow the odd inflection: "neon" "apostle" Words with antepenultimate or earlier stress will have the stress modified, as this is not allowed in Northern Sámi: "pineapple" "Africa" "America" Final stress is not allowed, so if the original word has final stress, an extra dummy syllable (generally a) is added in Northern Sámi to avoid this. "car" "bomb" "culture" "adverb" "tomato" "lawyer" "capacity" "mathematics" As a result of retaining the original stress pattern, some loanwords have sequences of three unstressed syllables, which don't occur in any other environment: "to specialise" "to theorise" "administration" Conjunctions, postpositions, particles, and monosyllabic pronouns tend to be unstressed altogether, and therefore fall outside the above rules. Dialects Sammallahti divides Northern Sámi dialects as follows: Finnmark dialects Western Finnmark: eastern Enontekiö, northern Sodankylä and part of Inari in Finland, Kautokeino and Alta in Norway Eastern Finnmark: Utsjoki and part of Inari in Finland, Karasjok, Porsanger and Tana in Norway Torne dialects Finnish Wedge: western Enontekiö in Finland, Skibotnelva, Gálggojávri and Nordreisa in Norway Karesuando: Könkämävuoma and Lainiovuoma