# Classic Greek: Contonation and Accent



## Flaminius

Hello,

Contonation is a pair of the rise and fall of pitch accent.  In Classical Greek, one or no mora should follow the contonation in a word.  This rule seems to be introduced to students because it replaces complicated Greek accent rules.  I don't understand, however, how it justifies the following:


> If *long* and accented, the *penult* has the acute if U is long, the circumflex if U is short. This variation depends on the rule of contonation and mora.



In other words, if the ultima and the paenultima are both long, the accent of the word is circumflex on the paenultima.  How does that follow from "the contonation plus no more than one mora" rule?

Thanks in advance!


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## Perseas

> In other words, if the ultima and the paenultima are both long, the accent of the word is circumflex on the paenultima.



Hi Flaminius,

if the ultima and the paenultima are both long, the accent of the word is accute on the paenultima. 
(An accented long paenultima that is followed by short ultima must have the circumflex).


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## berndf

Flaminius said:


> How does that follow from "the contonation plus no more than one mora" rule?


If the long vowel in the penultimate had a circumflex and the ultimate had a long vowel then we would have a contonation (a long vowel with a circumflex *is* a contonation) followed by two morae and that is forbidden.


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## Perseas

> If the long vowel in the penultimate had a circumflex and the ultimate had a long vowel



Long vowel in the penultimate and in the ultimate, respectively, means accute on the penultimate (if accented), berndf.
E.g. κήπων, κώμη, θήκη.

Edit: sorry, I didn't notice "forbidden".


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## Flaminius

berndf said:


> (...) then we would have a contonation (a long vowel with a circumflex *is* a contonation) followed by two morae and that is forbidden.


Oh dear.  I mis-read the page, ahm, at least 10 times.  Thanks.

But I still don't understand this.


Perseas said:


> (An accented long paenultima that is followed by short ultima must have the circumflex).


Does this also follow from the contonation rule?


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## Perseas

Flaminius said:


> Does this also follow from the contonation rule?


_An accented long paenultima that is followed by short ultima must have the circumflex_.

For example, in the word στρα-τι-ῶ-ται the contonation, i.e.the rise in pitch and the fall to the standard pitch, occurs on paenultima (ῶ). The contonation is followed by one mora because the syllable ται is short, so everything is according to the contonation rule. If ται was long, then there would be a problem, because the contonation would be followed by 2 morae, which would be against the rule.


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## berndf

Flaminius said:


> Does this also follow from the contonation rule?


Apparently not. The rule of contonation only _restricts _the circumflex but does not _force _it. The complementary rule that a circumflex is _required _on an accented long penultima, if the ultima is short is a separate rule: _In addition, it is a rule in ancient Greek that an accented long P that is followed by short U must have the circumflex_.



Perseas said:


> _..._so everything is according to the contonation rule.


Yes, it is _in accordance with the contonation rule_. But the rule only says that a circumflex is *allowed*, if the ultima is short; it doesn't say that there *must *be a circumflex.


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## Perseas

berndf said:


> Yes, it is _in accordance with the contonation rule_. But the rule only says that a circumflex is *allowed*, if the ultima is short; it doesn't say that there *must *be a circumflex.



In case of the circumflex accent "the whole contonation occurs within a single syllable.The circumflex cannot appear over a short vowel, since a short vowel is  too short to allow time for both rise and fall. It may appear on P or U,  but never on A. It may appear on P only when U is short, because of the  general rule of contonation and mora." (The *circumflex* accent)

berndf, if you are referring to the underlined "may appear", it should be "appears" or "must appear".  In addition, just below that excerpt it says "In addition, it is a rule in ancient Greek that an accented long P that is followed by short U must have the circumflex."


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## berndf

Perseas said:


> berndf, if you are referring to the underlined "may appear", it should be "appears" or "must appear".  In addition, just below that excerpt it says "*In addition, it is a rule* in ancient Greek that an accented long P that is followed by short U must have the circumflex."


Exactly, it is an *additional *rule. It does not follow from the contonation rule itself. And that was Flaminius' question. Please re-read my answer to his most recent post where I quoted exactly this passage.


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## Perseas

(In my opinion) one can not rule out that it follows somehow from the contonation rule; even this "allowed" or "may appear" denote such a relationship.



> The rule of contonation only _restricts _the circumflex but does not _force _it.



So, would it be wrong to believe that "the circumflex on the long penultima before a short ultima" follows indirectly from the contonation rule and directly from the additional rule?


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## berndf

Perseas said:


> So, would it be wrong to believe that "the circumflex on the long penultima before a short ultima" follows indirectly from the contonation rule and directly from the additional rule?


That's how I (and obviously Flaminius too) interpret the explanations on that web site.

What you _seem _to imply when you say "follows indirectly" is an argument of the kind: _"If A then B"* and "B", hence "A"_. And that is not a valid inference. Valid syllogisms are _"If A then B" and "A", hence "B" _and _"If A then B" and "non-B", hence "non-A"._
________________
* If the vowel of the penulima has a circumflex then the ultima has a short vowel.


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## Perseas

My thesis is mentioned in post #8, where I wrote that (given that the contonation rule deals with accents) this "may appear" makes no sense. It should be "must". 

Thanks for your input.


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## berndf

Nobody denies that such a rule exists but the question was explicitly, if this follows from the contonation rule as defined in the quoted web site and this is not the case.

The definition is "The general principle of Greek accentuation is that the contonation may  be followed by no more than on mora before the end of the word (or  phrase pronounced as one word unit)."

Now consider the word δῶρον and a possible alternative *δώρον. Both forms agree with the above rule as neither contain a contonation followed by more than one mora. Both forms also satisfy the condition in the original question, i.e. the penulima is long and accented. We all know that only δῶρον is correct and *δώρον is wrong. But you cannot decide this from the above rule alone. You have to introduce an additional rule.


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## Perseas

So, the kind of the accent itsself (circumflex/acute/grave) does not follow from the general rule of the contonation. With regard to the accentuation, the contonation rule is related only to the position of the accent on the word, and additional rules define explicitly its kind.


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## Flaminius

berndf said:


> Exactly, it is an *additional *rule.


Thank you.

The restriction as defined with contonation simplifies the Greek accentuation rules.  In more traditional grammars, one finds a restriction rule that the acute accent should be within three morae from the word end.  Obviously this has to allow exceptions such as λύοιμι where the acute accent is on the fourth and the fifth morae from the end.  [The book where I found this said that the final trochaic rhythm exceptionally allows the accent to move as far back as the fourth mora; what a devious explanation!]  Contonation does away with all of this.


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## Perseas

> Obviously this has to allow exceptions such as λύοιμι where the acute accent is on the fourth and the fifth morae from the end.



*λύοιμι* is accented on the antepenult (*οι* is diphthong); the case is this: λύ - οι - μι.

In addition there's a rule that no Greek word  can be accented before the antepenult.


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