Khanty word stress is usually on the initial syllable.

The vowels *i and *o never occurred in initial syllables.

The base phone of the vowels occurs in initial open syllables with stress.

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

Word-medial simple consonants are geminated before a short initial syllable.

Short vowels can be stressed only when found in initial syllables.

See further the section on initial unstressed syllables below.

Stress on the initial syllables remained the same in quality and pitch.

The fact that such quantitative adjustment is not limited to the initial syllable can be seen from the examples in the table below:

Presumably, the initial syllable was pronounced with a heavy glottal stroke.