Accent
In Ancient Greek one syllable of a word was normally accented. Unlike Modern Greek, this was a pitch accent, meaning that the accented syllable was pronounced at a higher pitch than the other syllables; Dionysius of Halicarnassus states that the interval was approximately that of a fifth in music. In standard polytonic orthography (invented in the Hellenistic age, but not adopted universally until Byzantine times), the acute accent (ὀξεῖα) is used to indicate a simple accented syllable. In long vowels and diphthongs the accent could fall on either half (or mora) of the syllable: if it fell on the first mora, so that the syllable had a high tone followed by a low tone, it is indicated in polytonic orthography by the circumflex (περισπωμένη): e.g. /ée/ = ῆ ~ /eé/ = ή.
The accent can only fall on one of the last three syllables of a word, and if the last syllable contains a long vowel or diphthong, it can only fall on one of the last two syllables. The circumflex can only fall on the last two syllables, and only if that syllable contains a long vowel or diphthong. An acute accent on a final syllable (except before a pause or an enclitic word) is regularly replaced in the orthography by a grave accent (βαρεῖα): this may indicate a lowering of tone, but the evidence from ancient authors is unclear on this point.
If the penultimate syllable is accented, it normally has the circumflex if it contains a long vowel or diphthong and the last syllable contains a short vowel, otherwise it has the acute. An accented final syllable can have either the acute (or grave) or the circumflex.
In some inflected forms, final αι and οι are treated as if they were short vowels (or, rather, combinations of a short vowel and a semivowel glide).
Read more about this topic: Ancient Greek Phonology
Famous quotes containing the word accent:
“I lost my ridiculous accent without acquiring another”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“The accent of a man’s native country remains in his mind and his heart, as it does in his speech.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)
“An accent mark, perhaps, instead of a whole western accent—a point of punctuation rather than a uniform twang. That is how it should be worn: as a quiet point of character reference, an apt phrase of sartorial allusion—macho, sotto voce.”
—Phil Patton (b. 1953)