[INDOLOGY] Greek accent

[Madhav Deshpande]

Thanks, Matthew.  Will look up Probert's book.  Best,

Madhav

Madhav M. Deshpande
Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and Linguistics
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Senior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies

[Residence: Campbell, California, USA]


On Sat, Oct 12, 2019 at 5:31 AM Matthew Scarborough <
matthew.scarborough at cantab.net> wrote:

> Dear Madhav,
>
> Normally in Greek the rules of verbal accentuation are different from
> Sanskrit, where the prosodic accent is retained, has become recessive,
> limited to the final three syllables, and placement conditioned by the
> syllabic weight of the two.
>
> However, there are two verbs that do not obey these rules – εἰμί 'I am' (=
> ásmi < *h₁es-) and φημί 'I say' (< *bʰeh₂-) – which are enclitic in the
> indicative and *do* behave similarly to Vedic where they loose their
> prosodic accent when followed by a non-verb. One exception to this is that
> ἐιμί normally bears an accented as ἔστιν 'there is' when clause-initial and
> has existential meaning. I think this is the same as verbal accentuation in
> Vedic, if I am recalling how verbal accentuation in Vedic works correctly.
>
> From the historical point of view, as far as I recall I think it's
> generally regarded that these two enclitic verbs continue an inherited
> situation shared with Sanskrit since it seems fairly clear that the law of
> limitation – which with a few exceptions normally affects all nominal as
> well as (finite) verbal accentual placement – clearly appears to be a
> secondary innovation on the part of Greek.
>
> As a good recent descriptive guide to Greek accentuation, I would
> recommend Philomen Probert's *A New Short Guide to the Accentuation of
> Ancient Greek* (Bristol, 2003).
>
> I hope this helps clarify your question.
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Matthew
> ---
> Dr. M. J. C. Scarborough
> Sessional Lecturer (Classics)
>
> Department of the Humanities
> MacEwan University
> Room 7-353C, City Centre Campus
> 10700 104 Ave, Edmonton AB, T5J 4S2
>
>
> On 2019-10-12 05:05, Madhav Deshpande via INDOLOGY wrote:
>
> Someone asked me if Greek verb accent has the prosodic loss of accent, if
> it comes after a non-verb, like the Sanskrit verb accent [cf. Pāṇini: तिङ्
> अतिङ:]?  I have only secondary knowledge about Greek, and could not answer
> this question.  Hope someone can clarify this issue to me.  Best,
>
> Madhav M. Deshpande
> Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and Linguistics
> University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
> Senior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies
>
> [Residence: Campbell, California, USA]
>
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