Stress in Georgian dialects is much more accented and obvious than in standard Georgian. Stress in one group of dialects is fixed in reference to the beginning of a word or of a rhythmic group and in another group of dialects to the end of a word (or rhythmic group). Stress in different dialects differs not only by its place, but by its parameters too. The main feature distinguishing the accented syllable (or syllable perceived as accented) from others, is intensity in some dialects and duration in others.

Stress in standard Georgian does not cause reduction, but in one group of dialects the stress fixed in reference to the beginning of a word (or rhythmic group) causes reduction of a vowel in the absolute end of the word which in its turn caused the changes in morphological inventory of Iterative tense/aspect forms (more information: Morphonological changes caused by stress: the iterative tense/aspect forms in dialects)

Stress with a distinctive function in dialects
In Pshavian and Khevsurian dialects the lost vowel -a is ompensated for by a stress which has acquired distinctive function: k'ac-i (a short i) means a man, while k'aci (the stress is on i) means "the man is".  (Giorgi Cocanidze, Pshauri dialekt'i [Pshavian Dialect], Tbilisi, Mecniereba, 1978), T. Uturgaidze, 1976).