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In Ancient Greek, one of the final three syllables of each word carries an accent. Each syllable contains a vowel with one or two vocalic morae, and one mora in a word is accented; the accented mora is pronounced at a higher pitch than other morae.
The accent cannot come more than three syllables from the end of the word. If the last syllable of a word has a long vowel, or is closed by two consonants, the accent usually cannot come on the antepenultimate syllable; but within those restrictions it is free.
In nouns the accent is largely unpredictable. Mostly the accent either comes as close to the beginning of the word as the rules allow, for example, πόλεμοςpólemos 'war' (such words are said to have recessive accent), or it is placed on the last mora of the word, as in ποταμόςpotamós 'river' (such words are called oxytone). But in a few words, such as παρθένοςparthénos 'maiden', the accent comes between these two extremes.
In verbs the accent is generally predictable and has a grammatical rather than a lexical function, that is, it differentiates different parts of the verb rather than distinguishing one verb from another. Finite parts of the verb usually have recessive accent, but in some tenses participles, infinitives, and imperatives are non-recessive.
In the classical period (5th–4th century BC) word accents were not indicated in writing, but from the 2nd century BC onwards various diacritic marks were invented, including an acute, circumflex, and grave accent, which indicated a high pitch, a falling pitch, and a low or semi-low pitch respectively. The written accents were used only sporadically at first, and did not come into common use until after 600 AD.
The fragments of ancient Greek music that survive, especially the two hymns inscribed on a stone in Delphi in the 2nd century BC, appear to follow the accents of the words very closely, and can be used to provide evidence for how the accent was pronounced.
Sometime between the 2nd and 4th centuries AD the distinction between acute, grave, and circumflex disappeared and all three accents came to be pronounced as a stress accent, generally heard on the same syllable as the pitch accent in ancient Greek.
Types of accent
The ancient Greek grammarians indicated the word-accent with three diacritic signs: the acute (ά), the circumflex (ᾶ), and the grave (ὰ). The acute was the most commonly used of these; it could be found on any of the last three syllables of a word. Some examples are:
ἄνθρωποςánthrōpos 'man, person'
πολίτηςpolítēs 'citizen'
ἀγαθόςagathós 'good'
The circumflex, which represented a falling tone, is found only on long vowels and diphthongs, and only on the last two syllables of the word:
σῶμαsôma 'body'
γῆgê 'earth'
When a circumflex appears on the final syllable of a polysyllabic word, it usually represents a contracted vowel:
ποιῶpoiô 'I do' (contracted form of ποιέωpoiéō)
The grave is found, as an alternative to an acute, only on the last syllable of a word. When a word such as ἀγαθόςagathós 'good' with final accent is followed by a pause (that is, whenever it comes at the end of a clause, sentence, or line of verse),[1] or by an enclitic word such as the weak form of ἐστίνestín 'is' (see below), the accent is written as an acute:
ἀνὴρ ἀγαθόςanḕr agathós '[a] good man'
ἀνὴρ ἀγαθός ἐστινanḕr agathós estin '[he] is [a] good man'
However, when the word does not come before a pause or an enclitic, the acute accent is replaced by a grave:
ἀγαθὸς ἄνθρωποςagathòs ánthrōpos 'a good person'
It is generally assumed that when a word was written with a grave it indicates that there was no rise in pitch, or only a small one.[2]
Terminology
In all there are five different possibilities for placing an accent. The terms used by the ancient Greek grammarians were:[2]
Oxytone (ὀξύτονος): acute on the final syllable (e.g. πατήρ 'father')
Paroxytone (παροξύτονος): acute on the penultimate (e.g. μήτηρ 'mother')
Proparoxytone (προπαροξύτονος): acute on the antepenultimate (e.g. ἄνθρωπος 'person')
Perispomenon (περισπώμενος): circumflex on the final (e.g. ὁρῶ 'I see')
Properispomenon (προπερισπώμενος): circumflex on the penultimate (e.g. σῶμα 'body')
The word barytone (βαρύτονος) refers to any word which has no accent (either acute or circumflex) on the final syllable, that is the 2nd, 3rd and 5th possibilities above.[3]
Placing the accent marks
In Greek, if an accent mark is written on a diphthong or vowel written with a digraph such as ει, it is always written above the second vowel of the diphthong, not the first, for example:[4]
τοῖς ναύταιςtoîs naútais 'for the sailors'
εἷςheîs 'one'
When a word such as a proper name starts with a capital vowel letter, the accent and breathing are usually written before the letter. If a name starts with a diphthong, the accent is written above the second letter. But in ᾍδηςHā́idēs 'Hades', where the diphthong is the equivalent of an alpha with iota subscript (i.e. ᾇ), it is written in front:
ἭραHḗra 'Hera'
ΑἴαςAías 'Ajax'
ᾍδηςHā́idēs 'Hades'
When combined with a rough or smooth breathing, the circumflex goes on top of the breathing, while the acute or grave is written to the right of the breathing, as in the above examples. When an accent is combined with a diaeresis mark, as in νηΐnēḯ, the accent is written on top.
Tonal minimal pairs
Whether the accent on a particular syllable is an acute or circumflex is largely predictable, but there are a few examples where a change from an acute on a long vowel to a circumflex indicates a different meaning, for example
λύσαιlúsai 'he might free' – λῦσαιlûsai 'to free'
οἴκοιoíkoi 'at home' – οἶκοιoîkoi 'houses'
φώςphṓs 'man' (poetic) – φῶςphôs 'light'
There are also examples where the meaning changes if the accent moves to a different syllable:
The three marks used to indicate accent in ancient Greek, the acute (´), circumflex (῀), and grave (`) are said to have been invented by the scholar Aristophanes of Byzantium, who was head of the famous library of Alexandria in Egypt in the early 2nd century BC.[6] The first papyri with accent marks date from this time also. In the papyri, at first the accents were used only sporadically, specifically for helping readers to pronounce Greek poetry correctly, and the grave accent could be used on any non-accented syllable. Such accents were useful, since Greek at that time was written without gaps between the words. For example, in one papyrus, the word ὸρὲιχάλκωιòrèikhálkōi 'to brass' is written with grave accents on the first two syllables, in case any reader should mistakenly read the first part of the word as ὄρειórei 'to a mountain'.[7]
In subsequent centuries many other grammarians wrote about Greek accentuation. The most famous of these, Aelius Herodianus or Herodian, who lived and taught in Rome in the 2nd century AD, wrote a long treatise in twenty books, 19 of which were devoted to accentuation. Although Herodian's book does not survive in full, an epitome (abridgement) was made of it around AD 400 which still survives.[8] Another important authority was Apollonius Dyscolus,[9] the father of Herodian.
The names of these diacritics in English, and the term "accent", are based on Latin loan-translations of the Greek terms. Latin accentus corresponds to Greek προσῳδίαprosōidía "song sung to instrumental music, pitch variation in voice"[10] (the word from which English prosody comes), acūtus to ὀξεῖαoxeîa "sharp" or "high-pitched",[11]gravis to βαρεῖαbareîa "heavy" or "low-pitched",[12] and circumflexus to περισπωμένηperispōménē "pulled around" or "bent".[13] The Greek terms for the diacritics are nominalized feminine adjectives that originally modified the feminine noun προσῳδία and agreed with it in gender.
Diacritic signs were not used in the classical period (5th–4th century BC). They were gradually introduced from the 2nd century BC onwards, but did not become commonly used in manuscripts until after 600 AD.[14]
The ancient Greek accent, at least in nouns, appears to have been inherited to a large extent from the original parent language from which Greek and many other European and Indian languages derive, Proto-Indo-European. This can be seen by comparing the accent of Greek words with the accent of words in the Vedic hymns (the most ancient form of the Sanskrit language of India). Very often these are the same, for example:[15]
Vedic pā́t, Ancient Greek πούς 'foot' (nominative)
Vedic pā́dam, Ancient Greek πόδα 'foot' (accusative)
Vedic padás, Ancient Greek ποδός 'of a foot' (genitive)
Vedic padí, Ancient Greek ποδί 'for a foot' (dative)
There are also other accentual correspondences between Greek and Vedic, for example:[16]
Vedic yugáṃ, Ancient Greek ζυγόνzugón 'yoke'
Vedic áśvaḥ, Ancient Greek ἵπποςhíppos 'horse'
Vedic śatáṃ, Ancient Greek ἑκατόνhekatón 'a hundred'
Vedic návaḥ, Ancient Greek νέοςnéos 'new'
Vedic pitā́, Ancient Greek πατήρpatḗr 'father'
One difference between Greek and Vedic, however, is that in Greek words the accent is always found in one of the last three syllables, whereas in Vedic (and presumably in Proto-Indo-European) it could come anywhere in the word.
The distinction in Greek between circumflex and acute accent appears to be a Greek development, and does not go back to Proto-Indo-European.[17]
Pronunciation of the accent
General evidence
It is generally agreed that the ancient Greek accent was primarily one of pitch or melody rather than of stress.[18] Thus in a word like ἄνθρωποςánthrōpos 'man', the first syllable was pronounced on a higher pitch than the others, but not necessarily any louder. As long ago as the 19th century it was surmised that in a word with recessive accent the pitch may have fallen not suddenly but gradually in a sequence high–middle–low, with the final element always short.[19]
The evidence for this comes from various sources. The first is the statements of Greek grammarians, who consistently describe the accent in musical terms, using words such as ὀξύςoxús 'high-pitched' and βαρύςbarús 'low-pitched'.
According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus (1st century BC), the melody of speech is confined to an interval 'of about a 5th'. This statement has been interpreted in different ways, but it is usually supposed that he meant not that it was always a fifth, but that this was the maximum normal difference between high and low syllables. It is thought probable that occasionally, especially at the end of a sentence, the interval was much smaller.[20] Dionysius also describes how a circumflex accent combines high and low pitch on the same syllable, whereas with an acute accent the high and low pitches are in separate syllables.[21]
Another indication that the accent was melodic or tonal is that in the classical period the accents of the words seem to have played no part at all in poetic metres, unlike in languages such as English which have stress-accents.[22] It was not until the 4th century AD that poems began to be written in which the accent played a role (see below).
Evidence from music
An important indication of the melodic nature of the Greek accent comes from the surviving pieces of Greek music, especially the two Delphic hymns (2nd century BC), the Seikilos epitaph (1st century AD), and the hymns of Mesomedes (2nd century AD). An example is the prayer to Calliope and Apollo written by Mesomedes, court musician to the Emperor Hadrian:
Mesomedes' Prayer to Calliope and Apollo transcribed into modern musical notation; adapted from Landels, John G. 1999. Music in Ancient Greece and Rome, p. 255. The words read: "Wise Calliope, leader of the delightful Muses, and you, wise initiator into the mysteries, Leto's son, DelianHealer, favour me with your presence." (For a recording, see External links below.)
(Further examples of ancient Greek music can be found in the articles Delphic Hymns and Mesomedes.)
As can be seen, the accented syllable of a word generally has the highest note within that word, although sometimes the syllables preceding or following the accent are also high.
When the accent is a circumflex, the music often shows a fall from a higher note to a lower one within the syllable itself, exactly as described by Dionysius of Halicarnassus; examples are the words ΜουσῶνMousôn 'of the Muses' and εὐμενεῖςeumeneîs 'favourable' in the prayer illustrated above. However, sometimes there is no fall within the accented syllable, but the circumflex is set to a single note, as in τερπνῶνterpnôn 'delightful' or ΛατοῦςLatoûs 'of Leto' above.
If the accent is a grave, there is often no rise in pitch, or else only a small one, as in σοφὲsophè above.
In this practice of closely imitating the tones of word accents in the melodies of songs, Ancient Greek resembles many living Asian and African languages that have tonal accents. For this reason, the American scholars A.M. Devine and Laurence Stephens have argued that the rises and falls found in Greek music probably give a reasonably good indication of what happened when the words were spoken.[23]
It seems, however, that the music did not always follow the accent exactly. Dionysius of Halicarnassus gives an example from the music written by Euripides for his play Orestes. In the lines which in our modern editions are written as σῖγα, σῖγα, λεπτὸν ἴχνος ἀρβύλας // τίθετε, μὴ κτυπεῖτ᾽ (sîga, sîga, leptòn íkhnos arbúlas // títhete, mḕ ktupeît᾽) 'Quietly, quietly! Place the tread of your shoe lightly, don't make a noise!',[24] Dionysius reports that in the first three words and the last there was no raised pitch, while in both ἀρβύλαςarbúlas 'of the shoe' and τίθετεtíthete 'place' there was a low note followed by two high ones, despite the accent on the first syllable of τίθετεtíthete.[25]
However, although the fragments of earlier music sometimes show a mismatch, the Delphic hymns in particular appear to show a very close relationship between the music and the word accents, with all but three of the 180 analysable words matching.[26]
Some more details of the way in which accents were set to music are given below. Note that in the musical examples the pitch is conventional, dating back to a publication by Friedrich Bellermann in 1840. In performance the pitch would have been at least a minor third lower.[27]
Acute accent
When the signs for the notes in Greek music are transcribed into modern musical notation, it can be seen that an acute accent is generally followed by a fall, sometimes extending over two syllables. Usually the fall is only a slight one, as in θύγατρεςthúgatres 'daughters', ὌλυμπονÓlumpon 'Olympus' or ἔτικτεétikte 'she gave birth to' below. Sometimes, however, there is a sharp drop, as in μέλψητεmélpsēte 'you may sing' or νηνέμουςnēnémous 'windless':
A selection of five words from Greek music showing the fall after an acute accent
Before the accent the rise on average is less than the fall afterwards.[28] There is sometimes a jump up from a lower note, as in the word μειγνύμενοςmeignúmenos 'mingling' from the second hymn; more often there is a gradual rise, as in ΚασταλίδοςKastalídos 'of Castalia', ΚυνθίανKunthían 'Cynthian', or ἀνακίδναταιanakídnatai 'spreads upwards':
Four words from ancient Greek music showing the rise before the accent
In some cases, however, before the accent instead of a rise there is a 'plateau' of one or two notes the same height as the accent itself, as in ΠαρνασσίδοςParnassídos 'of Parnassus', ἐπινίσεταιepinísetai 'he visits', ῬωμαίωνRhōmaíōn 'of the Romans', or ἀγηράτῳagērátōi 'ageless' from the Delphic hymns:
Four words from the Delphic hymns illustrating a plateau preceding the accent
Anticipation of the high tone of an accent in this way is found in other pitch-accent languages, such as some varieties of Japanese,[29] Turkish,[30] or Serbian,[31] where for example the word papríka 'pepper' can be pronounced pápríka. It would not be surprising therefore to find that it was a feature of Greek speech also. Devine and Stephens, however, quoting Dionysius's statement that there is only one high tone per word, argue that the norm in Greek words was for unaccented syllables to be low-pitched.[32]
When an acute accent occurs on a long vowel or diphthong, it is generally assumed that the high pitch was on the second mora of the vowel, that is to say, that there was a rising pitch within the syllable.[33][34] The Greek music sometimes shows exactly this, as with the word αἴθειaíthei 'it burns' in the 1st Delphic hymn, or φαίνουphaínou 'shine!' in the Seikilos epitaph, or ΣελάναSelána 'the Moon' in the Hymn to the Sun, in which the syllable with the acute is set to a melism of two or three notes rising gradually.
Three examples of a rising tone in Ancient Greek music
More frequently, however, on an accented long vowel in the music there is no rise in pitch, and the syllable is set to a level note, as in the words ἍφαιστοςHáphaistos 'Hephaestus' from the 1st Delphic hymn or ἐκείναςekeínas 'those' or ῬωμαίωνRhōmaíōn 'of the Romans' from the 2nd hymn:
Three examples of a level tone from Ancient Greek music
Because this is so common, it is possible that at least sometimes the pitch did not rise on a long vowel with an acute accent but remained level. Another consideration is that although the ancient grammarians regularly describe the circumflex accent as 'two-toned' (δίτονος) or 'compound' (σύνθετος) or 'double' (διπλοῦς), they usually do not make similar remarks about the acute. There are apparently some, however, who mention a 'reversed circumflex', presumably referring to this rising accent.[2]
Tonal assimilation
Devine and Stephens note that occasionally at the end of a word, the pitch rises again, as though leading up to or anticipating the accent in the following word. They refer to this as a "secondary rise". Examples are ἔχεις τρίποδαékheis trípoda 'you have a tripod' or μέλπετε δὲ Πύθιονmélpete dè Púthion 'sing the Pythian' in the 2nd Delphic hymn. According to Devine and Stephens, it "probably reflects a genuine process of pitch assimilation in fluent speech".[35]
Two phrases from the 2nd Delphic Hymn illustrating secondary upturn at the end of a word
In the great majority of cases in the music, the pitch falls on the syllable immediately following an acute accent. However, there are some exceptions. One situation where this can happen is when two words are joined in a plateau or near-plateau, as in the phrases ἵνα Φοῖβονhína Phoîbon 'so that Phoebus' (1st Hymn) and πόλει Κεκροπίᾳpólei Kekropíāi 'in the city of Cecrops' in the 2nd Delphic Hymn:
Two phrases from the Delphic hymns illustrating a plateau between accents.
Tonal assimilation or tone sandhi between neighbouring tones is commonly found in tonal languages. Devine and Stephens, citing a similar phenomenon in the music of the Nigerian language Hausa, comment: "This is not a mismatch but reflects a feature of phrase intonation in fluent speech."[36]
Circumflex accent
A circumflex was written only over a long vowel or diphthong. In the music, the circumflex is usually set to a melisma of two notes, the first higher than the second. Thus in the first Delphic Hymn the word ΦοῖβονPhoîbon 'Phoebus' is set to the same musical notes as θύγατρεςthúgatres 'daughters' earlier in the same line, except that the first two notes fall within one syllable instead of across two syllables. Just as with the acute accent, a circumflex can be preceded either by a note on the same level, as in ᾠδαῖσιōidaîsi 'with songs', or by a rise, as in μαντεῖονmanteîon 'oracular':
Examples of circumflex accents from the 1st Delphic Hymn
The circumflex therefore appears to have been pronounced in exactly the same way as an acute, except that the fall usually took place within one syllable.[37] This is clear from the description of Dionysius of Halicarnassus (see above), who tells us that a circumflex accent was a blend of high and low pitch in a single syllable, and it is reflected in the word ὀξυβάρειαoxubáreia 'high-low' (or 'acute-grave'), which is one of the names given to the circumflex in ancient times.[38] Another description was δίτονοςdítonos 'two-toned'.[39]
Another piece of evidence for the pronunciation of the circumflex accent is the fact that when two vowels are contracted into one, if the first one has an acute, the result is a circumflex: e.g. ὁρά-ωhorá-ō 'I see' is contracted to ὁρῶhorô with a circumflex, combining the high and low pitches of the previous vowels.
In the majority of examples in the Delphic hymns, the circumflex is set to a melisma of two notes. However, in Mesomedes' hymns, especially the hymn to Nemesis, it is more common for the circumflex to be set to a single note. Devine and Stephens see in this the gradual loss over time of the distinction between acute and circumflex.[40]
One place where a circumflex can be a single note is in phrases where a noun is joined with a genitive or an adjective. Examples are μῆρα ταύρωνmêra taúrōn (1st Delphic Hymn) 'thighs of bulls', Λατοῦς γόνεLatoûs góne 'Leto's son' (Mesomedes' Prayer to Calliope and Apollo), γαῖαν ἅπασανgaîan hápasan 'the whole world' (Mesomedes' Hymn to the Sun). In these phrases, the accent of the second word is higher than or on the same level as that of the first word, and just as with phrases such as ἵνα Φοῖβονhína Phoîbon mentioned above, the lack of fall in pitch appears to represent some sort of assimilation or tone sandhi between the two accents:
Three phrases from Greek music illustrating circumflex tones
When a circumflex occurs immediately before a comma, it also regularly has a single note in the music, as in τερπνῶνterpnôn 'delightful' in the Mesomedes' Invocation to Calliope illustrated above. Other examples are κλυτᾷklutâi 'famous', ἰοῖςioîs 'with arrows' in 2nd Delphic hymn, ζῇςzêis 'you live' in the Seikilos epitaph, and θνατῶνthnatôn, ἀστιβῆastibê and μετρεῖςmetreîs in Mesomedes' Hymn to Nemesis.[41]
Another place where a circumflex sometimes has a level note in the music is when it occurs in a penultimate syllable of a word, with the fall only coming in the following syllable. Examples are παῖδαpaîda, πᾶσιpâsi (1st Delphic hymn), λῆξεlêxe, σῷζεsôize, and ΦοῖβονPhoîbon (2nd Delphic hymn), and χεῖραkheîra, πῆχυνpêkhun (Hymn to Nemesis).
Four words from the Delphic hymns showing a level note for a circumflex
Grave accent
The third accentual mark used in ancient Greek was the grave accent, which is only found on the last syllable of words e.g. ἀγαθὸς ἄνθρωποςagathòs ánthrōpos 'a good man'. Scholars are divided about how this was pronounced; whether it meant that the word was completely accentless or whether it meant a sort of intermediate accent is unclear.[42] In some early documents making use of written accents, a grave accent could often be added to any syllable with low pitch, not just the end of the word, e.g. Θὲόδὼρὸς.[6]
Some scholars, such as the Russian linguist Nikolai Trubetzkoy, have suggested that because there is usually no fall after a grave accent, the rise in pitch which was heard at the end of a clause was phonologically not a true accent, but merely a default phrasal tone, such as is heard in languages like Luganda.[43] Other scholars, however, such as Devine and Stephens, argue that on the contrary the grave accent at the end of a word was a true accent, but that in certain contexts its pitch was suppressed.[44]
In the music, a word with a grave frequently has no accent at all, and is set to a single level note, as in these examples from the 2nd Delphic hymn, ὃν ἔτικτε Λατὼ μάκαιραhòn étikte Latṑ mákaira 'whom blessed Leto bore' and τότε λιπὼν Κυνθίαν νᾶσονtóte lipṑn Kunthían nâson 'then, leaving the Cynthian island', in which the words ΛατὼLatṑ 'Leto' and λιπὼνlipṑn 'having left' have no raised syllables:
Phrases from the 2nd Delphic hymn illustrating the grave accent
However, occasionally the syllable with the grave can be slightly higher than the rest of the word. This usually occurs when the word with a grave forms part of a phrase in which the music is in any case rising to an accented word, as in καὶ σοφὲ μυστοδόταkaì sophè mustodóta 'and you, wise initiator into the mysteries' in the Mesomedes prayer illustrated above, or in λιγὺ δὲ λωτὸς βρέμων, αἰόλοις μέλεσιν ᾠδὰν κρέκειligù dè lōtòs brémōn, aiólois mélesin ōidàn krékei 'and the pipe, sounding clearly, weaves a song with shimmering melodies' in the 1st Delphic hymn:
A line from the 1st Delphic Hymn showing the pronunciation of the grave accent.
In the Delphic hymns, a grave accent is almost never followed by a note lower than itself. However, in the later music, there are several examples where a grave is followed by a fall in pitch,[45] as in the phrase below, 'the harsh fate of mortals turns' (Hymn to Nemesis), where the word χαροπὰkharopà 'harsh, grey-eyed' has a fully developed accent:[46]
A phrase from Mesomedes' Hymn to Nemesis illustrating the grave accent
When an oxytone word such as ἀγαθόςagathós 'good' comes before a comma or full stop, the accent is written as an acute. Several examples in the music illustrate this rise in pitch before a comma, for example Καλλιόπεια σοφάKalliópeia sophá 'wise Calliope' illustrated above, or in the first line of the Hymn to Nemesis ('Nemesis, winged tilter of the scales of life'):
Example from Mesomedes Hymn to Nemesis showing an accent at the end of a clause
There are almost no examples in the music of an oxytone word at the end of a sentence except the following, where the same phrase is repeated at the end of a stanza. Here the pitch drops and the accent appears to be retracted to the penultimate syllable:
Phrase from Mesomedes' Hymn to Nemesis illustrating an oxytone word at the end of a sentence
This, however, contradicts the description of the ancient grammarians, according to whom a grave became an acute (implying that there was a rise in pitch) at the end of a sentence just as it does before a comma.[47]
General intonation
Devine and Stephens also note that it is also possible from the Delphic hymns to get some indication of the intonation of Ancient Greek. For example, in most languages there is a tendency for the pitch to gradually become lower as the clause proceeds.[48] This tendency, known as downtrend or downdrift, seems to have been characteristic of Greek too. For example, in the second line of the 1st Delphic Hymn, there is a gradual descent from a high pitch to a low one, followed by a jump up by an octave for the start of the next sentence. The words (mólete sunómaimon hína Phoîbon ōidaîsi mélpsēte khruseokóman) mean: 'Come, so that you may hymn with songs your brother Phoebus, the Golden-Haired':
A line of music from the 1st Delphic Hymn, showing how the accents gradually descend in pitch in the course of the sentence. The words read: 'Come, so that you may hymn with songs your brother Phoebus, the Golden-Haired.'
However, not all sentences follow this rule, but some have an upwards trend, as in the clause below from the first Delphic hymn, which when restored reads τρίποδα μαντεῖον ὡς εἷλ[ες ὃν μέγας ἐ]φρούρει δράκωνtrípoda manteîon hōs heîl[es hòn mégas e]phroúrei drákōn 'how you seized the prophetic tripod which the great snake was guarding'. Here the whole sentence rises up to the emphatic word δράκωνdrákōn 'serpent':
A sentence from the 1st Delphic hymn illustrating a rising intonation
In English before a comma, the voice tends to remain raised, to indicate that the sentence is not finished, and this appears to be true of Greek also. Immediately before a comma, a circumflex accent does not fall but is regularly set to a level note, as in the first line of the Seikilos epitaph, which reads 'As long as you live, shine! Do not grieve at all':
A transcription of the 1st half of the Seikilos epitaph
A higher pitch is also used for proper names and for emphatic words, especially in situations where a non-basic word-order indicates emphasis or focus.[49] An example occurs in the second half of the Seikilos epitaph, where the last two lines read 'It is for a short time only that life exists; as for the end, Time demands it'. In the second sentence, where the order is object – subject – verb, the word χρόνοςkhrónos 'time' has the highest pitch, as if emphasised:
A transcription of the second half of the Seikilos epitaph
Another circumstance in which no downtrend is evident is when a non-lexical word is involved, such as ἵναhína 'so that' or τόνδεtónde 'this'. In the music the accent in the word following non-lexical words is usually on the same pitch as the non-lexical accent, not lower than it.[50] Thus there is no downtrend in phrases such as τόνδε πάγονtónde págon 'this crag' or ἵνα Φοῖβονhína Phoîbon 'so that Phoebus', where in each case the second word is more important than the first:
Phrases from Greek music showing lack of downtrend
Phrases containing a genitive, such as Λατοῦς γόνεLatoûs góne 'Leto's son' quoted above, or μῆρα ταύρωνmêra taúrōn 'thighs of bulls' in the illustration below from the first Delphic hymn, also have no downdrift, but in both of these the second word is slightly higher than the first:
A sentence from the 1st Delphic hymn illustrating the way music imitates the accents of words
Strophe and antistrophe
One problem which has been discussed concerning the relationship between music and word accent is what may have happened in choral music which was written in pairs of corresponding stanzas known as strophe and antistrophe. Rhythmically these always correspond exactly but the word accents in the antistrophe generally do not match those in the strophe.[51] Since none of the surviving music includes both a strophe and antistrophe, it is not clear whether the same music was written for both stanzas, ignoring the word accents in one or the other, or whether the music was similar but varied slightly to account for the accents. The following lines from Mesomedes' Hymn to the Sun,[52] which are very similar but with slight variations in the first five notes, show how this might have been possible:
Three examples from Mesomedes' Hymn to the Sun showing how melodies match the word accents
Change to modern Greek
In modern Greek the accent is for the most part in the same syllable of the words as it was in ancient Greek, but is one of stress rather than pitch, so that an accented syllable, such as the first syllable in the word ἄνθρωπος, can be pronounced sometimes on a high pitch, and sometimes on a low pitch. It is believed that this change took place around 2nd–4th century AD, at around the same time that the distinction between long and short vowels was also lost.[53] One of the first writers to compose poetry based on a stress accent was the 4th-century Gregory of Nazianzus, who wrote two hymns in which syllable quantities play no part in the metre, but almost every line is accented on the penultimate syllable.[54]
In modern Greek there is no difference in pronunciation between the former acute, grave, and circumflex accents, and in the modern "monotonic" spelling introduced in Greek schools in 1982 only one accent is used, the acute, while monosyllables are left unaccented.[55]
Rules for the placement of the accent
Law of Limitation
The accent may not come more than three syllables from the end of a word.
If an accent comes on the antepenultimate syllable, it is always an acute, for example:
θάλασσαthálassa 'sea'
ἐποίησανepoíēsan 'they did'
ἄνθρωποςánthrōpos 'person'
ἄνθρωποιánthrōpoi 'people'
βούλομαιboúlomai 'I want'
Exception: ὧντινωνhôntinōn 'of what sort of', in which the second part is an enclitic word.[56]
With a few exceptions, the accent can come on the antepenult only if the last syllable of the word is 'light'. The last syllable counts as light if it ends in a short vowel, or if it ends in a short vowel followed by no more than one consonant, or if the word ends in -οι-oi or -αι-ai, as in the above examples. But for words like the following, which have a heavy final syllable, the accent moves forward to the penultimate:
ἀνθρώπουanthrṓpou 'of a man'
ἀνθρώποιςanthrṓpois 'for men'
ἐβουλόμηνeboulómēn 'I wanted'
The ending -ει-ei always counts as long, and in the optative mood, the endings -οι-oi or -αι-ai also count as long and cause the accent to move forward in the same way:
ποιήσειpoiḗsei 'he will do'
ποιήσοιpoiḗsoi 'he would do' (future optative)
The accent also cannot come on the antepenultimate syllable when the word ends in -ξ-x or -ψ-ps,[57] hence the difference in pairs of words such as the following:
φιλόλογοςphilólogos 'fond of words', but φιλοκόλαξphilokólax 'fond of flatterers'
Exceptions, when the accent may remain on the antepenult even when the last vowel is long, are certain words ending in -ων-ōn or -ως-ōs, for example:[57]
πόλεωςpóleōs 'of a city', πόλεωνpóleōn 'of cities' (genitive)
If the accent comes on the penultimate syllable, it must be a circumflex if the last two vowels of the word are long–short. This applies even to words ending in -ξ-x or -ψ-ps:
σῶμαsôma 'body'
δοῦλοςdoûlos 'slave'
κῆρυξkêrux 'herald'
λαῖλαψlaîlaps 'storm'
This rule is known as the σωτῆρα (sōtêra) Law, since in the accusative case the word σωτήρsōtḗr 'saviour' becomes σωτῆραsōtêra.
In most cases, a final -οι-oi or -αι-ai counts as a short vowel:
ναῦταιnaûtai 'sailors'
ποιῆσαιpoiêsai 'to do'
δοῦλοιdoûloi 'slaves'
Otherwise the accent is an acute:
ναύτηςnaútēs 'sailor'
κελεύειkeleúei 'he orders'
δούλοιςdoúlois 'for slaves (dative)'
Exception 1: Certain compounds made from an ordinary word and an enclitic suffix have an acute even though they have long vowel–short vowel:[59]
The third principle of Greek accentuation is that, after taking into account the Law of Limitation and the σωτῆρα (sōtêra) Law, the accent in nouns, adjectives, and pronouns remains as far as possible on the same syllable (counting from the beginning of the word) in all the cases, numbers, and genders. For example:
But an extra syllable or a long ending causes accent shift:
ὄνομαónoma, pl. ὀνόματαonómata 'names'
δίκαιοςdíkaios, fem. δικαίᾱdikaíā 'just'
σῶμαsôma, gen.pl. σωμάτωνsōmátōn 'of bodies'
Exceptions to the Law of Persistence
There are a number of exceptions to the Law of Persistence.
Exception 1: The following words have the accent on a different syllable in the plural:
ἀνήρanḗr, pl. ἄνδρεςándres 'men'
θυγάτηρthugátēr, pl. θυγατέρεςthugatéres (poetic θύγατρεςthúgatres) 'daughters'
μήτηρmḗtēr, pl. μητέρεςmētéres 'mothers'
The accusative singular and plural has the same accent as the nominative plural given above.
The name ΔημήτηρDēmḗtēr 'Demeter' changes its accent to accusative ΔήμητραDḗmētra, genitive ΔήμητροςDḗmētros, dative ΔήμητριDḗmētri.
Exception 2: Certain vocatives (mainly of the 3rd declension) have recessive accent:
ΣωκράτηςSōkrátēs, ὦ Σώκρατεςô Sṓkrates 'o Socrates'
πατήρpatḗr, ὦ πάτερô páter 'o father'
Exception 3: All 1st declension nouns, and all 3rd declension neuter nouns ending in -ος-os, have a genitive plural ending in -ῶν-ôn. This also applies to 1st declension adjectives, but only if the feminine genitive plural is different from the masculine:
τὸ τεῖχοςtò teîkhos 'the wall', gen.pl. τῶν τειχῶνtôn teikhôn 'of the walls'
Exception 4: Some 3rd declension nouns, including all monosyllables, place the accent on the ending in the genitive and dative singular, dual, and plural. (This also applies to the adjective πᾶςpâs 'all' but only in the singular.) Further details are given below.
Exception 6: The following adjective has an accent on the second syllable in the forms containing -αλ--al-:
μέγαςmégas, pl. μεγάλοιmegáloi 'big'
Oxytone words
Oxytone words, that is, words with an acute on the final syllable, have their own rules.
Change to a grave
Normally in a sentence, whenever an oxytone word is followed by a non-enclitic word, the acute is changed to a grave; but before a pause (such as a comma, colon, full stop, or verse end), it remains an acute:
ἀνὴρ ἀγαθόςanḕr agathós 'a good man'
(Not all editors follow the rule about verse end.)[1]
The acute also remains before an enclitic word such as ἐστίestí 'is':
ἀνὴρ ἀγαθός ἐστιanḕr agathós esti 'he's a good man'
In the words τίς;tís? 'who?' and τί;tí? 'what? why?', however, the accent always remains acute, even if another word follows:
τίς οὗτος;tís hoûtos? 'who is that?'
τί ποιεῖς;tí poieîs? 'what are you doing?'
Change to a circumflex
When a noun or adjective is used in different cases, a final acute often changes to a circumflex. In the 1st and 2nd declension, oxytone words change the accent to a circumflex in the genitive and dative. This also applies to the dual and plural, and to the definite article:
ὁ θεόςho theós 'the god', acc.sg. τὸν θεόνtòn theón – gen. sg. τοῦ θεοῦtoû theoû 'of the god', dat.sg. τῷ θεῷtôi theôi 'to the god'
However, oxytone words in the 'Attic' declension keep their acute in the genitive and dative:[61]
ἐν τῷ νεῴen tôi neṓi 'in the temple'
3rd declension nouns like βασιλεύςbasileús 'king' change the acute to a circumflex in the vocative and dative singular and nominative plural:[62]
βασιλεύςbasileús, voc.sg. βασιλεῦbasileû, dat.sg. βασιλεῖbasileî, nom.pl. βασιλεῖςbasileîs or βασιλῆςbasilês
Adjectives of the type ἀληθήςalēthḗs 'true' change the acute to a circumflex in all the cases which have a long vowel ending:[63]
the conjunction ὡςhōs 'as, that' (also a preposition 'to')
the negative adverb οὐ (οὐκ, οὐχ)ou (ouk, oukh) 'not'.
However, some of these words can have an accent when they are used in emphatic position. ὁ, ἡ, οἱ, αἱho, hē, hoi, hai are written ὃ, ἣ, οἳ, αἳ when the meaning is 'who, which'; and οὐou is written οὔ if it ends a sentence.
The definite article
The definite article in the nominative singular and plural masculine and feminine just has a rough breathing, and no accent:
ὁ θεόςho theós 'the god'
οἱ θεοίhoi theoí 'the gods'
Otherwise the nominative and accusative have an acute accent, which in the context of a sentence, is written as a grave:
τὸν θεόνtòn theón 'the god' (accusative)
τὰ ὅπλαtà hópla 'the weapons'
The genitive and dative (singular, plural and dual), however, are accented with a circumflex:
τῆς οἰκίαςtês oikías 'of the house' (genitive)
τῷ θεῷtôi theôi 'for the god' (dative)
τοῖς θεοῖςtoîs theoîs 'for the gods' (dative plural)
τοῖν θεοῖνtoîn theoîn 'of/to the two goddesses' (genitive or dative dual)
1st and 2nd declension oxytones, such as θεόςtheós, are accented the same way as the article, with a circumflex in the genitive and dative.
There are also some with a contracted final syllable:
ἙρμῆςHermês 'Hermes', ΒορρᾶςBorrhâs 'the North Wind'
Accent movement
In proparoxytone words like θάλασσαthálassa, with a short final vowel, the accent moves to the penultimate in the accusative plural, and in the genitive and dative singular, dual, and plural, when the final vowel becomes long:
θάλασσαthálassa 'sea', gen. τῆς θαλάσσηςtês thalássēs 'of the sea'
In words with penultimate accent, the accent is persistent, that is, as far as possible it stays on the same syllable when the noun changes case. But if the last two vowels are long–short, it changes to a circumflex:
στρατιώτηςstratiṓtēs 'soldier', nom.pl. οἱ στρατιῶταιhoi stratiôtai 'the soldiers'
In oxytone words, the accent changes to a circumflex in the genitive and dative (also in the plural and dual), just as in the definite article:
τῆς στρατιᾶςtês stratiâs 'of the army', τῇ στρατιᾷtêi stratiâi 'for the army'
All 1st declension nouns have a circumflex on the final syllable in the genitive plural:[66]
The vocative of 1st declension nouns usually has the accent on the same syllable as the nominative. But the word δεσπότηςdespótēs 'master' has a vocative accented on the first syllable:
ὦ νεανίαô neanía 'young man!', ὦ ποιητάô poiētá 'o poet'
The majority of 2nd declension nouns have recessive accent, but there are a few oxytones, and a very few with an accent in between (neither recessive nor oxytone) or contracted:
As with the first declension, the accent on 2nd declension oxytone nouns such as θεόςtheós 'god' changes to a circumflex in the genitive and dative (singular, dual, and plural):[70]
τοῦ θεοῦtoû theoû 'of the god', τοῖς θεοῖςtoîs theoîs 'to the gods'
But those in the Attic declension retain their acute:[71]
τοῦ λεώtoû leṓ 'of the people'
Unlike in the first declension, barytone words do not have a circumflex in the genitive plural:
τῶν ἵππωνtôn híppōn 'of the horses'
3rd declension
Types
3rd declension masculine and feminine nouns can be recessive or oxytone:
The accent in the nominative plural and in the accusative singular and plural is usually on the same syllable as the nominative singular, unless this would break the three-syllable rule. Thus:
χειμώνkheimṓn, pl. χειμῶνεςkheimônes 'storms'
γυνήgunḗ, pl. γυναῖκεςgunaîkes 'women'
πατήρpatḗr, pl. πατέρεςpatéres 'fathers'
ναῦςnaûs, pl. νῆεςnêes 'ships'
σῶμαsôma, pl. σώματαsṓmata 'bodies'
But, in accordance with the 3-syllable rule:
ὄνομαónoma, nominative pl. ὀνόματαonómata 'names', gen. pl. ὀνομάτωνonomátōn
The following are exceptions and have the accent on a different syllable in the nominative and accusative plural or the accusative singular:
ἀνήρanḗr, pl. ἄνδρεςándres 'men'
θυγάτηρthugátēr, pl. θυγατέρεςthugatéres (poetic θύγατρεςthúgatres) 'daughters'
μήτηρmḗtēr, pl. μητέρεςmētéres 'mothers'
But the following is recessive:
ΔημήτηρDēmḗtēr, acc. ΔήμητραDḗmētra 'Demeter'
Words ending in -ευς-eus are all oxytone, but only in the nominative singular. In all other cases the accent is on the εe or ηē:
In 3rd declension monosyllables the accent usually shifts to the final syllable in the genitive and dative. The genitive dual and plural have a circumflex:
Concerning the genitive plural of the word τριήρηςtriḗrēs 'trireme', there was uncertainty. 'Some people pronounce it barytone, others perispomenon,' wrote one grammarian.[76]
Nouns such as πόλιςpólis 'city' and ἄστυástu 'town' with genitive singular -εως-eōs 'city' keep their accent on the first syllable in the genitive singular and plural, despite the long vowel ending:[77]
ἡδύςhēdús 'pleasant', ὀξύςoxús 'sharp, high-pitched', βαρύςbarús 'heavy, low-pitched', ταχύςtakhús 'fast', βραδύςbradús 'slow', βαθύςbathús 'deep', γλυκύςglukús 'sweet'. (The feminine of all of these has -εῖα-eîa.)
The genitive plural of feminine adjectives is accented -ῶν-ôn, but only in those adjectives where the masculine and feminine forms of the genitive plural are different:
πᾶςpâs 'all', gen.pl. πάντωνpántōn 'of all (masc.)', πασῶνpasôn 'of all (fem.)'
The participle ὤνṓn 'being', genitive ὄντοςóntos, has fixed accent.
Elided vowels
When the last vowel of an oxytone adjective is elided, an acute (not a circumflex) appears on the penultimate syllable instead:[82]
δείν' ἐποίειdeín' epoíei 'he was doing dreadful things' (for δεινά)
πόλλ' ἀγαθάpóll' agathá 'many good things' (for πολλά)
This rule also applies to verbs and nouns:
λάβ' ὦ ξένεláb' ô xéne 'take (the cup), o stranger' (for λαβέ)
But it does not apply to minor words such as prepositions or ἀλλάallá 'but':
πόλλ' οἶδ' ἀλώπηξ, ἀλλ' ἐχῖνος ἓν μέγαpóll' oîd' alṓpēx, all' ekhînos hèn méga 'the fox knows many things, but the hedgehog one big thing' (Archilochus)
The retracted accent was always an acute. The story was told of an actor who, in a performance of Euripides' play Orestes, instead of pronouncing γαλήν᾽ ὁρῶgalḗn᾽ horô 'I see a calm sea', accidentally said γαλῆν ὁρῶgalên horô 'I see a weasel', provoking laughter in the audience and mockery the following year in Aristophanes' Frogs.[83]
Compound nouns and adjectives
Ordinary compounds, that is, those which are not of the type 'object+verb', usually have recessive accent:
ἱπποπόταμοςhippopótamos 'hippopotamus' ('horse of the river')
But the following, formed from ἔχωékhō 'I hold', are recessive:
αἰγίοχοςaigíokhos 'who holds the aegis'
κληροῦχοςklēroûkhos 'holder of an allotment (of land)'
Adverbs
Adverbs formed from barytone adjectives are accented on the penultimate, as are those formed from adjectives ending in -ύς-ús; but those formed from other oxytone adjectives are perispomenon:[84]
The genitive and dative of all these personal pronouns has a circumflex, except for the datives ἐμοίemoí, σοίsoí, and σφίσιsphísi:
ἐμοῦemoû 'of me', ὑμῖνhumîn 'for you (pl.)', οἷhoî 'to him(self)'
ἐμοίemoí 'for me', σοίsoí 'for you', and σφίσιsphísi 'for them(selves)'
The oblique cases of ἐγώegṓ, σύsú 'you (sg.)', ἕhé, and σφεῖςspheîs can also be used enclitically when they are unemphatic (see below under Enclitics), in which case they are written without accents. When enclitic, ἐμέemé, ἐμοῦemoû, and ἐμοίemoí are shortened to μεme, μουmou, and μοιmoi:
ἔξεστί σοιéxestí soi 'it is possible for you'
εἰπέ μοιeipé moi 'tell me'
νόμος γὰρ ἦν οὗτός σφισιnómos gàr ên hoûtós sphisi 'for this apparently was their custom' (Xenophon)
The accented form is usually used after a preposition:
ἔπεμψέ με Κῦρος πρὸς σέépempsé me Kûros pròs sé 'Cyrus sent me to you'
The pronouns αὐτόςautós 'he himself', ἑαυτόνheautón 'himself (reflexive)', and ὅςhós 'who, which' change the accent to a circumflex in the genitive and dative:
Pronouns compounded with -δε-de 'this' and -τις-tis are accented as if the second part was an enclitic word. Thus the accent of οἵδεhoíde does not change to a circumflex even though the vowels are long–short:
οἵδεhoíde 'these', ὧντινωνhôntinōn 'of which things'
The demonstratives οὗτοςhoûtos 'this' and ἐκεῖνοςekeînos 'that' are both accented on the penultimate syllable. But οὑτοσίhoutosí 'this man here' is oxytone.
When τίςtís means 'who?' is it always accented, even when not before a pause. When it means 'someone' or 'a certain', it is enclitic (see below under Enclitics):
πρός τιναprós tina 'to someone'
πρὸς τίνα;pròs tína? 'to whom?'
The accent on τίςtís is fixed and does not move to the ending in the genitive or dative.
Prepositions
ἐνen 'in', εἰς (ἐς)eis (es) 'to, into', and ἐκ (ἐξ)ek (ex) 'from, out of' have no accent, only a breathing.
ἐν αὐτῷen autôi 'in him'
Most other prepositions have an acute on the final when quoted in isolation (e.g. ἀπόapó 'from', but in the context of a sentence this becomes a grave. When elided this accent does not retract and it is presumed that they were usually pronounced accentlessly:
πρὸς αὐτόνpròs autón 'to him'
ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦap᾽ autoû 'from him'
When a preposition follows its noun, it is accented on the first syllable (except for ἀμφίamphí 'around' and ἀντίantí 'instead of'):[88]
The following prepositions were always accented on the first syllable in every context:
ἄνευáneu 'without', μέχριmékhri 'until, as far as'
Interrogative words
Interrogative words are almost all accented recessively. In accordance with the principle that in a monosyllable the equivalent of a recessive accent is a circumflex, a circumflex is used on a long-vowel monosyllable:
The words τίς;tís? and τί;tí? always keep their acute accent even when followed by another word.[90] Unlike other monosyllables, they do not move the accent to the ending in the genitive or dative:
Some of these words, when accentless or accented on the final, have an indefinite meaning:
τιςtis 'someone', τινὲςtinès 'some people', ποτεpote 'once upon a time', etc.
When used in indirect questions, interrogative words are usually prefixed by ὁ-ho- or ὅς-hós-. The accentuation differs. The following are accented on the second syllable:
ὁπότεhopóte 'when', ὁπόθενhopóthen 'from where', ὁπόσοςhopósos 'how great', ὁπότεροςhopóteros 'which of the two'
τιςtis 'someone', 'a certain', τιti 'something', τινεςtines 'certain people'
But τινέςtinés can also sometimes begin a sentence, in which case it is non-enclitic and has an accent on the final.
(e) The present tense (except for the 2nd person singular) of εἰμίeimí 'I am' and φημίphēmí 'I say':
ἐγώ εἰμιegṓ eimi 'I am'
ὡς αὐτός φησιhōs autós phēsi 'as he himself says'
These verbs can also have non-enclitic forms which are used, for example, to begin a sentence or after an elision. The verb ἐστὶestì 'is' has an emphatic form ἔστιésti. Judging from parallel forms in Sanskrit it is possible that originally when non-enclitic the other persons also were accented on the first syllable: *εἶμιeîmi, *φῆμιphêmi etc.; but the usual convention, among most modern editors as well as the ancient Greek grammarians, is to write εἰμὶeimì and φημὶphēmì even at the beginning of a sentence.[92][93]
When negative, ἔστιésti is customarily written with its strong form, but φησίphēsí is enclitic:
οὐκ ἔστιouk ésti 'he is not'
οὔ φησιoú phēsi 'he says ... not'
The strong form ἔστιésti is also written after εἰei 'if', ὡςhōs 'since', ἀλλ᾽all᾽ 'but', τοῦτ᾽toût᾽ 'this', according to Herodian.[94]
(f) Certain personal pronouns in oblique cases when non-emphatic:
μεme 'me', μουmou, μοιmoi,
σεse 'you (sg)', σουsou, σοιsoi
ἑhe 'him(self)', οὑhou, οἱhoi,
νιν/μινnin/min 'him' (poetic)
σφαςsphas 'them(selves)', σφωνsphōn, σφισιsphisi
In classical writers, ἑhe 'him' and σφαςsphas 'them' tend to be used in indirect speech referring to the speaker:
ἐκέλευσε δραμόντα τὸν παῖδα περιμεῖναί ἑ κελεῦσαιekéleuse dramónta tòn paîda perimeînaí he keleûsai 'he ordered the slave-boy to run and ask the man to wait for him' (Plato)
Some of these pronouns also have non-enclitic forms which are accented. The non-enclitic form of με, μου, μοιme, mou, moi 'me', 'of me', 'to me' is ἐμέ, ἐμοῦ, ἐμοίemé, emoû, emoí.[95] The accented forms are used at the beginning of a sentence and (usually)[96] after prepositions:
σὲ καλῶsè kalô 'I'm calling you'
ἐν σοίen soí 'in you'
Enclitic rules
When an enclitic follows a proparoxytone or a properispomenon word, the main word has two accents:
Ἕλληνές τινεςHéllēnés tines 'certain Greeks'
δοῦλός ἐστιdoûlós esti 'he's a slave'
When it follows an oxytone word or an accentless word, there is an acute on the final syllable:
εἰπέ μοιeipé moi 'tell me'
εἴ τιςeí tis 'if anyone'
When it follows perispomenon or paroxytone word, there is no additional accent, and a monosyllabic enclitic remains accentless:
ὁρῶ σεhorô se 'I see you'
λέγε μοιlége moi 'tell me'
A two-syllable enclitic has no accent after a perispomenon:[97]
ἀγαθοῦ τινοςagathoû tinos 'of some good thing'
τοξοτῶν τινωνtoxotôn tinōn 'of some archers'
But a two-syllabled enclitic has one after a paroxytone word (otherwise the accent would come more than three syllables from the end of the combined word).[98] After a paroxytone τινῶνtinôn has a circumflex:
A word ending in ξx or ψps behaves as if it was paroxytone and does not take an additional accent:[100]
κῆρυξ ἐστίνkêrux estín 'he is a herald'
A two-syllable enclitic is also accented after an elision:[95]
πολλοὶ δ' εἰσίνpolloì d' eisín 'there are many'
When two or three enclitics come in a row, according to Apollonius and Herodian, each passes its accent to the preceding word (although some modern editors have queried this):[101][102]
ἤ νύ σέ που δέος ἴσχειḗ nú sé pou déos ískhei 'or perhaps fear is holding you back'
It appears that with certain long-vowelled enclitics, such as που, πως, πῃ, πωpou, pōs, pēi, pō, Herodian recommended that they should be left unaccented when another enclitic followed. However, most modern editors ignore this second rule, and print εἴ πού τιςeí poú tis 'if anyone anywhere' rather than εἴ που τιςeí pou tis.
Verbs
In verbs, the accent is grammatical rather than lexical; that is to say, it distinguishes different parts of the verb rather than one verb from another. In the indicative mood it is usually recessive, but in other parts of the verb it is often non-recessive.
Except for the nominative singular of certain participles (e.g., masculine λαβώνlabṓn, neuter λαβόνlabón 'after taking'), a few imperatives (such as εἰπέeipé 'say'), and the irregular present tenses (φημίphēmí 'I say' and εἰμίeimí 'I am'), no parts of the verb are oxytone.
Indicative
In the indicative of most verbs, other than contracting verbs, the accent is recessive, meaning it moves as far back towards the beginning of the word as allowed by the length of the last vowel.[103] Thus, verbs of three or more syllables often have an acute accent on the penult or antepenult, depending on whether the last vowel is long or short (with final -αι-ai counted as short):
δίδωμιdídōmi 'I give'
λαμβάνωlambánō 'I take'
κελεύειkeléuei 'he orders'
ἐκέλευσεekéleuse 'he ordered'
βούλομαιboúlomai 'I want'
Monosyllabic verbs, such as βῆbê 'he went' (poetic) and εἶeî 'you are', because they are recessive, have a circumflex. An exception is φῄςphḗis or φήςphḗs 'you say'.
A few 3rd person plurals have a contracted ending (the other persons are recessive):[104]
ἀφιᾶσιaphiâsi 'they send off'
ἱστᾶσιhistâsi 'they stand (transitive)'
τεθνᾶσιtethnâsi 'they have died'
ἑστᾶσιhestâsi 'they are standing (intransitive)'
When a verb is preceded by an augment, the accent goes no further back than the augment itself:
ἐξῆνexên 'it was possible'
εἰσῆλθονeisêlthon 'they entered'
Contracting verbs
Contracting verbs are underlyingly recessive, that is, the accent is in the same place it had been before the vowels contracted. When an acute and a non-accented vowel merge, the result is a circumflex. In practice therefore, several parts of contracting verbs are non-recessive:
ποιῶpoiô 'I do' (earlier ποιέω)
ἐποίουνepoíoun 'I was doing' (earlier ἐποίεον)
ποιοῦσιpoioûsi 'they do' (earlier ποιέουσι)
Contracting futures such as ἀγγελῶangelô 'I will announce' and ἐρῶerô 'I will say' are accented like ποιῶpoiô.
Imperative
The accent is recessive in the imperative of most verbs:
In compounded monosyllabic verbs, however, the imperative is paroxytone:
ἀπόδοςapódos 'give back!'
περίθεςperíthes 'place round!'
The strong aorist imperative active (2nd person singular only) of the following five verbs (provided they are not prefixed) is oxytone:[106]
εἰπέeipé 'say', ἐλθέelthé 'come', εὑρέheuré 'find', ἰδέidé 'see', λαβέlabé 'take!' (the last two in Attic only)
However, if plural or prefixed, these imperatives are recessive:
εἴπετεeípete 'say (pl.)!', ἔλθετεélthete, etc.
εἴσελθεeíselthe 'come in!'
The strong aorist imperative middle of all verbs (2nd person singular only) is perispomenon:[107]
ἑλοῦheloû 'choose!'
γενοῦgenoû 'become!'
But the following is usually printed with an acute:
ἰδούidoú 'behold!'
As with the active imperative, the plurals always have a recessive accent:
ἴδεσθεídesthe 'see!'
Subjunctive
The subjunctive of regular thematic verbs in the present tense or the weak or strong aorist tense is recessive, except for the aorist passive:
λέγῃlégēi 'he may say'
λέγωσιlégōsi 'they may say'
λύσῃlúsēi 'he may free'
λάβῃlábēi 'he may take'
It is also recessive in the verb εἶμιeîmi 'I go' and verbs ending in -υμι-umi:[108]
ἀπίῃapíēi 'he may go away'
ἀποδεικνύῃapodeiknúēi 'he may point out'
But in the aorist passive, in the compounded aorist active of βαίνωbaínō 'I go', and in all tenses of other athematic verbs, it is non-recessive:
λυθῶluthô 'I may be freed'
φανῶphanô 'I may appear'
διαβῇdiabêi 'he may go across'
διδῶσιdidôsi 'they may give',
ἑστῶhestô 'I may stand'
παραδῶparadô 'I may hand over'
ἐξῇexêi 'it may be possible'
Optative
The optative similarly is recessive in regular verbs in the same tenses. The optative endings -οι-oi and -αι-ai count as long vowels for the purpose of accentuation:
λύσαιlúsai 'he might free'
λάβοιláboi 'he might take'
But in the aorist passive, in the compounded aorist active of βαίνωbaínō 'I go', and in all tenses of athematic verbs (other than εἶμιeîmi 'I go' and verbs ending in -υμι-umi), it is non-recessive:
λυθεῖενlutheîen 'they might be freed'
φανεῖενphaneîen 'they might appear'
διαβαῖενdiabaîen 'they might go across'
διδοῖενdidoîen 'they might give'
ἑσταῖενhestaîen 'they might stand'
παραδοῖενparadoîen 'they might hand over'
But ἀπίοιapíoi 'he might go away' is accented recessively like a regular verb.
Infinitive
The present and future infinitive of regular thematic verbs is recessive:
λέγεινlégein 'to say'
λύσεινlúsein 'to be going to free'
βούλεσθαιboúlesthai 'to want'
ἔσεσθαιésesthai 'to be going to be'
But all other infinitives are non-recessive, for example the weak aorist active:
κωλῦσαιkōlûsai 'to prevent'
κολάσαιkolásai 'to punish'
Strong aorist active and middle:
λαβεῖνlabeîn 'to take'
γενέσθαιgenésthai 'to become'
ἀφικέσθαιaphikésthai 'to arrive'
Weak and strong aorist passive:
λυθῆναιluthênai 'to be freed'
φανῆναιphanênai 'to appear'
The aorist active of βαίνωbaínō 'I go' when compounded:
διαβῆναιdiabênai 'to go across'
The present and aorist infinitives of all athematic verbs:
διδόναιdidónai 'to give'
ἰέναιiénai 'to go'
ἐξεῖναιexeînai 'to be possible'
προδοῦναιprodoûnai 'to betray'
But the Homeric ἔμμεναιémmenai 'to be' and δόμεναιdómenai 'to give' are recessive.
The perfect active, middle, and passive:
λελυκέναιlelukénai 'to have freed'
λελύσθαιlelústhai 'to have been freed'
Participles
The present, future and weak aorist participles of regular thematic verbs are recessive:
λέγωνlégōn 'saying'
βουλόμενοςboulómenos 'wanting'
λύσωνlúsōn 'going to free'
ἀκούσαςakoúsas 'having heard'
But all other participles are non-recessive. These include the strong aorist active:
λαβώνlabṓn, masc. pl. λαβόντεςlabóntes, fem. sg. λαβοῦσαlaboûsa 'after taking'
The weak and strong aorist passive:
λυθείςlutheís, masc. pl. λυθέντεςluthéntes, fem.sg. λυθεῖσαlutheîsa 'after being freed'
φανείςphaneís, masc. pl. φανέντεςphanéntes, fem.sg. φανεῖσαphaneîsa 'after appearing'
The compounded aorist active of βαίνωbaínō 'I go':
λελυκώςlelukṓs, masc. pl. λελυκότεςlelukótes, fem.sg. λελυκυῖαlelukuîa 'having freed'
λελυμένοςleluménos 'having been freed'
'I am' and 'I say'
Two athematic verbs, εἰμίeimí 'I am' and φημίphēmí 'I say', are exceptional in that in the present indicative they are usually enclitic. When this happens they put an accent on the word before them and lose their own accent:
αἴτιός εἰμιaítiós eimi 'I am responsible'
οὔ φησιoú phēsi 'he says ... not'
But both verbs can also begin a sentence, or follow a comma, or an elision, in which case they are not enclitic. In this case the accent is usually on the final syllable (e.g. εἰμίeimí, φημίphēmí).[109] When it follows an elision, ἐστίνestín is also accented on the final:
τί ποτ' ἐστίν;tí pot' estín? 'what (ever) is it?'
However, the 3rd person singular ἐστίestí also has a strong form, ἔστιésti, which is used 'when the word expresses existence or possibility (i.e. when it is translatable with expressions such as 'exists', 'there is', or 'it is possible').'[110] This form is used among other places in the phrase οὐκ ἔστιouk ésti 'it is not' and at the beginning of sentences, such as:
ἔστιν θάλασσα· τίς δέ νιν κατασβέσει;éstin thálassa; tís dé nin katasbései? 'The sea exists; and who shall quench it?'[111]
The 2nd person singular εἶeî 'you are' and φῄςphḗis 'you say' are not enclitic.[112]
The future of the verb 'to be' has its accent on the verb itself even when prefixed:[107]
ἀπέσταιapéstai 'he will be away'
Verbal adjectives
The verbal adjectives ending in -τέος-téos and -τέον-téon are always paroxytone:
κολαστέος ἐστίkolastéos estí[113] 'he needs to be punished'
κολαστέον τοὺς ἀδίκουςkolastéon toùs adíkous[114] 'it is necessary to punish wrong-doers'
The adjective ending in -τος-tos is usually oxytone, especially when it refers to something which is capable of happening:
κλυτόςklutós 'famous (able to be heard about)'
διαλυτόςdialutós 'capable of being taken apart'
ποιητόςpoiētós 'made, adopted'
Accent shift laws
Comparison with Sanskrit as well as the statements of grammarians shows that the accent in some Greek words has shifted from its position in Proto-Indo-European.
Wheeler's Law
Wheeler's Law, suggested in 1885, refers to a process whereby words with a dactylic ending () (counting endings such as -on, -os, -oi as short), if they were oxytone in Proto-Indo-European, became paroxytone in Greek. It is also known as the "law of dactylic retraction".[115]
This law is used to explain the paroxytone accent in words such as the following:
Adjectives such as ποικίλοςpoikílos 'multicoloured', ἐναντίοςenantíos 'opposite', πλησίοςplēsíos 'near'
Names such as ΑἰσχύλοςAiskhúlos 'Aeschylus'
Perfect passive and middle participles such as δεδεγμένοςdedegménos 'having received'
Paroxytone compound words with active meaning such as ἀνδροκτόνοςandroktónos 'man-slaying', βουκόλοςboukólos 'cowherd'
Dative plurals such as πατράσιpatrási 'fathers', ἀνδράσιandrási 'men'
Similar words and endings in Sanskrit are regularly accented on the final syllable, and active compounds which do not have a dactylic rhythm often have final accent, e.g. ψυχοπομπόςpsukhopompós 'soul-escorting'.
There are numerous exceptions to Wheeler's Law, especially words ending in -ικός-ikós or -ικόν-ikón (for example, ναυτικόνnautikón 'fleet'), which are always oxytone. There are also participles such as δεδομένοςdedoménos or feminine δεδομένηdedoménē 'given', which have penultimate accent despite not being dactylic. These exceptions are usually explained as being due to analogical processes.
Bartoli's Law
Bartoli's Law (pronunciation /'bartoli/), proposed in 1930, aims to explain how some oxytone words ending in the rhythm (short–long) have become proparoxytone.[116] Another name is the "law of iambic retraction". Examples are:
θυγάτηρthugátēr 'daughter', presumed to have come from an earlier *θυγατήρ*thugatḗr (compare Vedic duhitá:)
δεσπότηςdespótēs 'master', presumed to have come from an earlier *δεσποτής*despotḗs
The existence of such a law has been called into question, however, and it is argued that most or all of the words proposed as examples have other explanations.[117]
Vendryes's Law
Vendryes's Law (pronunciation /vɑ̃dʁi'jɛs]/), proposed in 1945, describes how words of the rhythm , which had penultimate accent in other dialects, came to be pronounced proparoxytone in Attic (that is, the dialect of Athens).[118] This change appears to have taken place about 400 BC, and was known to the Greek grammarians who wrote on accentuation. One ancient commentator on Aristophanes wrote: τροπαῖονtropaîon ('trophy') should be read as properispomenon in Aristophanes and Thucydides, but as proparoxytone τρόπαιονtrópaion in later poets.᾽[69]
The law affected words like the following:
τρόπαιονtrópaion, ἕταιροςhétairos 'companion', ἕτοιμοςhétoimos 'ready', ὅμοιοςhómoios 'like', ἔρημοςérēmos 'deserted', βέβαιοςbébaios 'firm', which came from an earlier τροπαῖον, ἑταῖρος, ἑτοῖμος, ὁμοῖος, ἐρῆμος, βεβαῖος
ἔγωγεégōge 'I at any rate', ἔμοιγεémoige 'to me at any rate', which came from an earlier ἐγώ γε, ἐμοί γε
The accent shift described by Vendryes's Law seems to have affected mainly adjectives. Verbs such as ἀπῆλθονapêlthon 'I went away' and participles such as λαβοῦσαlaboûsa 'having taken' were unaffected.
Dialect variations
The ancient grammarians were aware that there were sometimes differences between their own accentuation and that of other dialects, for example that of the Homeric poems, which they could presumably learn from the traditional sung recitation.
Attic
Some peculiarities of Attic, the dialect of Athens, have been noted above under Vendryes's Law.
Aeolic
The Aeolic pronunciation, exemplified in the dialect of the 7th-century BC poets Sappho and Alcaeus from the island of Lesbos, differed in that every major word (but not prepositions or conjunctions) was pronounced recessively, thus:[119]
But ἈλκαῖοςAlkaîos 'Alcaeus' was apparently pronounced ἈλκάοςAlkáos in Lesbian.[120]
The Boeotian dialect, although from the same dialect group as Lesbian, did not have this recessive accentuation, and appears not to have differed accentually from common (koine) Greek.[121]
The grammarians give no details of the Thessalian dialect (another variety of Aeolic) but it has been suggested that the dropping of certain vowels in words on inscriptions indicates that it had a stress accent at the beginning of each word.[122]
Doric
The Doric dialect also had certain peculiarities. One was that (some) properispomenon words were pronounced paroxytone. The examples given are 3rd declension nominative plural:[123]
On the other hand, it is reported that the 1st and 2nd declension accusative plural in Doric had a short vowel (-ăs, -ŏs), leading to accentuations such as:[124]
Another characteristic of Doric was that the endings -οι-oi and perhaps -αι-ai, and in verbs 3rd pl. -ον-on and -αν-an (derived from an earlier *-ont and *-ant) counted as long, leading to a paroxytone accent in:[125]
Latin is a heavily inflected language with largely free word order. Nouns are inflected for number and case; pronouns and adjectives are inflected for number, case, and gender; and verbs are inflected for person, number, tense, aspect, voice, and mood. The inflections are often changes in the ending of a word, but can be more complicated, especially with verbs.
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Someone who engages in this study is called a linguist. See also the Outline of linguistics, the List of phonetics topics, the List of linguists, and the List of cognitive science topics. Articles related to linguistics include:
The circumflex is a diacritic in the Latin and Greek scripts that is also used in the written forms of many languages and in various romanization and transcription schemes. It received its English name from Latin: circumflexus "bent around"—a translation of the Greek: περισπωμένη.
A pitch-accent language is a type of language that, when spoken, has certain syllables in words or morphemes that are prominent, as indicated by a distinct contrasting pitch rather than by loudness or length, as in some other languages like English. Pitch-accent languages also contrast with fully tonal languages like Vietnamese, Thai and Standard Chinese, in which practically every syllable can have an independent tone. Some scholars have claimed that the term "pitch accent" is not coherently defined and that pitch-accent languages are just a sub-category of tonal languages in general.
This page describes the declension of nouns, adjectives and pronouns in Slovene. For information on Slovene grammar in general, see Slovene grammar.
Proto-Balto-Slavic is a reconstructed hypothetical proto-language descending from Proto-Indo-European (PIE). From Proto-Balto-Slavic, the later Balto-Slavic languages are thought to have developed, composed of the Baltic and Slavic sub-branches, and including modern Lithuanian, Polish, Russian and Serbo-Croatian, among others.
The grammar of Old English is quite different from that of Modern English, predominantly by being much more inflected. As an old Germanic language, Old English has a morphological system that is similar to that of the Proto-Germanic reconstruction, retaining many of the inflections thought to have been common in Proto-Indo-European and also including constructions characteristic of the Germanic daughter languages such as the umlaut.
Quantitative metathesis is a specific form of metathesis or transposition involving quantity or vowel length. By this process, two vowels near each other – one long, one short – switch their lengths, so that the long one becomes short, and the short one becomes long.
Ancient Greek grammar is morphologically complex and preserves several features of Proto-Indo-European morphology. Nouns, adjectives, pronouns, articles, numerals and especially verbs are all highly inflected.
The grammar of Modern Greek, as spoken in present-day Greece and Cyprus, is essentially that of Demotic Greek, but it has also assimilated certain elements of Katharevousa, the archaic, learned variety of Greek imitating Classical Greek forms, which used to be the official language of Greece through much of the 19th and 20th centuries. Modern Greek grammar has preserved many features of Ancient Greek, but has also undergone changes in a similar direction as many other modern Indo-European languages, from more synthetic to more analytic structures.
In the Latvian language, nouns, adjectives, pronouns and numerals are inflected in six declensions. There are seven cases:
The Lithuanian language's declension system is similar to declension systems in ancient Indo-European languages such as Sanskrit, Latin or Ancient Greek. It is one of the most complicated declension systems among modern Indo-European and modern European languages.
Gothic is an inflected language, and as such its nouns, pronouns, and adjectives must be declined in order to serve a grammatical function. A set of declined forms of the same word pattern is called a declension. There are five grammatical cases in Gothic with a few traces of an old sixth instrumental case.
In the Lithuanian phonology, stressed heavy syllables are pronounced in one of two prosodically distinct ways. One way is known as the acute or falling accent: this may be described as "sudden, sharp or rough". In Lithuanian it is called tvirtaprãdė príegaidė, literally 'firm-start accent'. The second way is known as the circumflex or rising accent, which may be described as "continued, mild or smooth". In Lithuanian it is called tvirtagãlė príegaidė, literally 'firm-end accent'. Light syllables may be stressed or unstressed, but cannot be differentiated by accent.
In Ancient Greek, all nouns are classified according to grammatical gender and are used in a number. According to their function in a sentence, their form changes to one of the five cases. The set of forms that a noun will take for each case and number is determined by the declension that it follows.
Old Norse has three categories of verbs and two categories of nouns. Conjugation and declension are carried out by a mix of inflection and two nonconcatenative morphological processes: umlaut, a backness-based alteration to the root vowel; and ablaut, a replacement of the root vowel, in verbs.
In linguistics, the ultima is the last syllable of a word, the penult is the next-to-last syllable, and the antepenult is third-from-last syllable. In a word of three syllables, the names of the syllables are antepenult-penult-ultima.
The Attic declension is a group of second-declension nouns and adjectives in the Attic dialect of Ancient Greek, all of whose endings have long vowels. In contrast, normal second-declension nouns have some short vowels and some long vowels. This declension is called Attic because in other dialects, including Ionic and Koine, the nouns are declined normally.
Proto-Slavic is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately from the 2nd millennium BC through the 6th century AD. As with most other proto-languages, no attested writings have been found; scholars have reconstructed the language by applying the comparative method to all the attested Slavic languages and by taking into account other Indo-European languages.
Proto-Slavic accent is the accentual system of Proto-Slavic and is closely related to the accentual system of some Baltic languages with which it shares many common innovations that occurred in the Proto-Balto-Slavic period. Deeper, it inherits from the Proto-Indo-European accent. In modern languages the prototypical accent is reflected in various ways, some preserving the Proto-Slavic situation to a greater degree than others.
↑ Cosgrove & Meyer (2006), p.68. One word which breaks the rules is δικόρυφονdikóruphon 'twin-peaked' in the 2nd Delphic Hymn, in which the fourth syllable is higher than the 2nd.
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Gunkel, Dieter (2014). "Wheeler's Law". In Georgios K. Giannakis; etal. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and Linguistics. Vol.3, P–Z, Index. Leiden: Brill. pp.515–516.
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Miller, D. Gary (1976). "The Transformation of a Natural Accent System: The Case of the Ancient Greek Enclitics". Glotta. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht (GmbH & Co. KG). 54 (Bd., 1./2. H): 11–24. JSTOR40266345.
Pöhlmann, Egert; West, Martin L. (2001). Documents of Ancient Greek Music: The Extant Melodies and Fragments. Edited and transcribed with commentary by Egert Pöhlmann and Martin L. West. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN0-19-815223-X.
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