Hostname: page-component-77c78cf97d-cfh4f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-03T15:28:17.595Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Inflectional Accent in Indo-European

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2026

Paul Kiparsky
Paul Kiparsky*
Affiliation:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In Indo-European languages with mobile paradigmatic accent, fixed oxytones and movable athematic stems are accented by the same rule. When applied to syllables as accentual units, this rule generates the Sanskrit accent patterns. When applied to moras, it generates the Greek accent patterns—including, as a special case of mobility, the paradigmatic alternation of acute and circumflex. A modification of the the same rule accounts for the extension of mobility to originally oxytone -o- and -ā-stems in Bal to-Slavic, and for the rise of the Balto-Slavic acute and circumflex accents.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 49 , Issue 4 , December 1973 , pp. 794 - 849
Copyright
Copyright © 1973 by Linguistic Society of America

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Allen, W. Sidney. 1966 A problem of Greek accentuation. In memory of J. R. Firth, ed. by Bazell, C. E. et al., 8–14. London: Longmans.Google Scholar
Barber, Charles Clyde. 1932. Die vorgeschichtliche Betonung der germanischen Substantiva und Adjektiva. Heidelberg: Winter.Google Scholar
Benveniste, Émile. 1935. Origines de la formation des noms en indo-européen. Paris: Adrien-Maisonneuve.Google Scholar
Brugmann, Karl. 1897. Grundriss der vergleichenden Grammatik der indogermanischen Sprachen, I. Strassburg: Trübner.Google Scholar
Buck, Carl D. 1933. Comparative grammar of Greek and Latin. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam, and Halle, Morris. 1968. Sound pattern of English. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Cook, Eung-Do. 1971. Vowels and tones in Sarcee. Lg. 47.164–179.Google Scholar
Darden, Bill J. 1970. Accent in the Lithuanian noun declension. Baltic linguistics, ed. by Magner, T. F. and Schmalstieg, W. R., 47–52. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Dybo, V. A. 1968. Akcentologija i slovoobrazovanie v slavjanskom. Slavjanskoje jazykoznanie, VI Meždunarodnyj S'ezd Slavistov, 148–224. Moskva.Google Scholar
Ekblom, R. 1925. Quantität und Intonation im zentralen Hochlitauischen. (Uppsala Universitets Arsskrift, 1925, 1:3.) Uppsala: Lundequist.Google Scholar
Endzelin, J. 1922. Lettische Grammatik. Heidelberg: Winter.Google Scholar
Faddegon, Barend. 1951. Studies on the Sāmaveda. Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, Afd. Letterkunde, n.r., 57:1.) Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Guxman, M. M., et al. (eds.) 1962. Sravnitelnaja grammatika germanskix jazykov, I–II. Moskva.Google Scholar
Hale, Kenneth. 1973. Deep-surface canonical disparities in relation to analysis and change: an Australian example. Current Trends in Linguistics, 11. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Halle, Morris. 1971. Remarks on Slavic accentology. Linguistic Inquiry 2.1–19.Google Scholar
Halle, Morris. 1973. The accentuation of Russian words. Lg. 49.312–348.Google Scholar
Hirt, Hermann. 1895. Der indogermanische Akzent. Strassburg: Trübner.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirt, Hermann. 1929. Indogermanische Grammatik, V: der Akzent. Heidelberg: Winter.Google Scholar
Hoffmann, Karl. 1967. Der Injunktiv im Veda. Heidelberg: Winter.Google Scholar
Illič-Svityč, V. M. 1963. Imennaja akcentuacija v bal'tijskom i slavjanskom. Moskva: Izdatel'stvo Akademii Nauk SSSR.Google Scholar
Jakobson, R. 1937. Z zagadnień prozodii starogreckiej. Prace ofiarowane Kazimierzowi Woycickiemu, 73–88. (Cited from the English translation in Jakobson 1971, 262–71.)Google Scholar
Jakobson, R. 1963. Opyt fonologičeskogo podxoda k istoričeskim voprosam slavjanskoj akcentologii. American Contributions to the 5th International Congress of Slavists, 153–178. The Hague: Mouton. (Reprinted in Jakobson 1971, 664–86.)Google Scholar
Jakobson, R. 1965. Information and redundancy in the common Slavic prosodic pattern. Symbolae linguisticae in honorem Georgii Kuryłowicz, 145–151. Wroclaw: Polska Akademia Nauk. (Reprinted in Jakobson 1971, 693–9.)Google Scholar
Jakobson, R. 1971. Selected writings, I. 2nd ed. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Karttunen, Frances. 1969. On the feature [syllabic] and the notion ‘syllable boundary’. MS, University of Texas, Austin.Google Scholar
Kenstowicz, Michael. 1969. Lithuanian phonology, MS, University of Illinois. (A revised version of this work constitutes the author's dissertation, University of Illinois, 1971. A further revision appears in Studies in the Linguistic Sciences, University of Illinois, 2:2.1–85 (1972). I had not seen either of the latter versions when this paper was written.)Google Scholar
Kiparsky, Paul. 1967a. À propos de l'histoire de l'accentuation grecque. Langages 8.73–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kiparsky, Paul. 1967b. A phonological rule of Greek. Glotta 44.109–134.Google Scholar
Kiparsky, Paul. 1968. Tense and mood in Indo-European syntax. Foundations of Language 4.30–57.Google Scholar
Kiparsky, Paul. 1972. Metrics and morphophonemics in the Rigveda. New ideas in generative phonology, ed. by Brame, M., 171–200. Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Kiparsky, Paul. 1973. ‘Elsewhere’ in phonology. Festschrift for Morris Halle, ed. by Anderson, S. and Kiparsky, P., 93–106. New York: Holt.Google Scholar
Krahe, Hans. 1963. Germanische Sprachwissenschaft, I: Einleitung und Lautlehre Berlin: De Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krause, Wolfgang. 1953. Handbuch des Gotischen. München: Beck.Google Scholar
Kuryłowicz, Jerzy. 1958. L'accentuation des langues indo-européennes. 2nd ed. Wrocław: Polska Akademia Nauk.Google Scholar
Kuryłowicz, Jerzy. 1968. Indogermanische Grammatik, II. Heidelberg: Winter.Google Scholar
Leskien, A. 1919. Litauisches Lesebuch. Heidelberg: Winter.Google Scholar
McCawley, James. 1968. The phonological component of a grammar of Japanese. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
MacDonell, Anthony A. 1910. Vedic grammar. Strassburg. (Reprinted, Varanasi: Indological Book House, 1968.)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meillet, Antoine. 1937. Introduction a l'étude comparative des langues indo-euro-péennes. 8th ed. Paris. (Reprinted, University of Alabama Press, 1964.)Google Scholar
Narten, Johanna. 1964. Die sigmatischen Aoriste im Veda. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Narten, Johanna. 1968. Zum ‘proterodynamischen’ Wurzelpräsens. Pratidānam (Festschrift Kuiper), ed. by Heesterman, J. C. et al., 3–8. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Nonnenmacher-Pribić, Elisabeth. 1961. Die baltoslavischen Akzent- und Intonationsverhältnisse und ihr quantitativer Reflex im Slovakischen. Wiesbaden: Harassowitz.Google Scholar
Öhman, Sven. 1967. Word and sentence intonation: a quantitative model. Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Speech Transmission Laboratory, Quarterly Progress and Status Report 2–3, pp. 20–54.Google Scholar
Robinson, David F. 1970. Stress placement and accent classes in the Lithuanian noun. Baltic linguistics, ed. by Magner, T. F. and Schmalstieg, W. R., 119–126. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Sapir, Edward. 1930. Southern Paiute, a Shoshonean language. (Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 65.) Boston.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saussure, Ferdinand de. 1879. Mémoire sur le système primitif des voyelles dans les langues indo-européenes. Leipzig. (Reprinted in Saussure 1922, 1–268.)Google Scholar
Saussure, Ferdinand de. 1892. Accentuation lituanienne. IF 6, Anzeiger, pp. 157 ff. (Reprinted in Saussure 1922, 526–538.)Google Scholar
Saussure, Ferdinand de. 1894. À propos de l'accentuation lituanienne. MSL 8.425 ff. (Reprinted in Saussure 1922, 490–512.)Google Scholar
Saussure, Ferdinand de. 1922. Recueil des publications scientifiques. Genève: Sonor.Google Scholar
Scheller, Meinrad. 1951. Die Oxytonierung der griechischen Substantiva auf -iā. Zürich: Leemann.Google Scholar
Schwyzer, Eduard. 1939. Griechische Grammatik, I. München: Beck.Google Scholar
Senn, Alfred. 1966. Handbuch der litauischen Sprache, I. Heidelberg: Winter.Google Scholar
Shastri, Mangal Dev. 1937. The Ṛgveda-Prātiśākhya, III: English translation. Lahore: Moti Lal Banarsi Das.Google Scholar
Shevelov, George. 1964. A prehistory of Slavic. Heidelberg: Winter.Google Scholar
Silverstein, Michael (ed.) 1971. Whitney on language. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Staal, J. F., and Levy, J. 1968. The four vedas. AHM 4126. Introduction by J. F. Staal. (Asch Mankind Series Record).Google Scholar
Stang, Chr. S. 1957. Slavonic accentuation. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.Google Scholar
Stang, Chr. S. 1966a. ‘Métatonie douce’ in Baltic. IJSLP 10.111–119. (Reprinted in Stang, 1970, 216–26.)Google Scholar
Stang, Chr. S. 1966b. Vergleichende Grammatik der baltischen Sprachen. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.Google Scholar
Stang, Chr. S. 1969. La loi de Verner et la question des caractères de l'accentuation mobile en germanique. Norsk Tidskrift for Sprogvidenskap 23.7–12. (Reprinted in Stang 1970, 258–64.)Google Scholar
Stang, Chr. S. 1970. Opuscula linguistica. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.Google Scholar
Stevick, Earl. 1969. Tone in Bantu. IJAL 35.330–341.Google Scholar
Streitberg, Wilhelm. 1896. Urgermanische Grammatik. Heidelberg: Winter.Google Scholar
Szemerényi, Oswald. 1970. Einführung in die vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.Google Scholar
Thumb, Albert, and Hauschild, R. 1959. Handbuch des Sanskrit, I:2. Heidelberg: Winter.Google Scholar
Vennemann, Theo. 1972a. Rule inversion. Lingua 29.209–242.Google Scholar
Vennemann, Theo. 1972b. Syllabic phonology, MS.Google Scholar
Vyāsa, Yugalakiśora, and Śarmā, P. 1903. Śaunaka's Prātiśākhya of the Rigveda. Benares: Benares Sanskrit Series.Google Scholar
Wackernagel, Jacob. 1881. Zum Zahlwort. KZ 25.260–291. (Reprinted in Wackernagel 1969, 204–35.)Google Scholar
Wackernagel, Jacob. 1896. Altindische Grammatik, I. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.Google Scholar
Wackernagel, Jacob. 1969. Kleine Schriften. 2nd ed. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.Google Scholar
Wackernagel, Jacob., and Debrunner, A. 1930. Altindische Grammatik, III. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.Google Scholar
Watkins, Calvert. 1969. Geschichte der indogermanischen Verbalflexion. Heidelberg: Winter.Google Scholar
Whitney, W. Dwight. 1864. The Atharvaveda Prātiśākhya or Śaunakīya Caturādhyāyikā. New Haven. (Reprinted, Varanasi: Chowkhamba, 1962.)Google Scholar
Whitney, W. Dwight. 1871. On the nature and designation of the accent in Sanskrit. Transactions of the American Philological Association for 1869–70, 20–45. (Reprinted in Silverstein 1971, 261–86).Google Scholar
Whitney, W. Dwight. 1889. Sanskrit grammar. 2nd ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Williamson, Kay. 1965. A grammar of the Kolokuma dialect of Ịjọ. Cambridge: University Press.Google Scholar
Woo, Nancy. 1970. Tone in Northern Tepehuan. IJAL 36.18–30.Google Scholar
Zeps, Valdis, and Halle, Morris. 1971. Outline of the accentuation in inflectional paradigms of literary Lithuanian, with an appendix on the accentuation of nominal derivatives. Quarterly Progress Report, MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics, 103.139–158.Google Scholar