The Hidatsa, or Gros Ventres, are Siouan group that historically ranged along the Missouri River in what is now North Dakota. Until now, relatively little descriptive material has been available on the Hidatsa language and sound system. In this pioneering study, Dr. Bowers focuses on stress and accent, which have been problematic in Hidatsa and other Siouan languages.

Spectrographic analysis is used to provide a scientific study of the phonetic patterns of accent, pitch, drift, and intonation, demonstrating that they are predictable phenomena. Bowers also shows that these features can be accounted for by an ordered set of grammatically conditioned rules and by utilization of diacritics.

At the same time, he establishes the phonemes of Hidatsa and describes other predictable phonetic phenomena that allow him to posit the abstract, underlying forms of Hidatsa morphemes and words.