ACCENT

(Lat. ad, to. and cano, I sing.) In ordinary language, the greater or le stre laid in pronouncing on each syllable of a word is termed the accent of that syllable. But the accent of a Greek syllable is a species of tone, respecting which very contradictory notions prevail among modern commentators, and of winch it is indeed lil io form any accurate conception. The history of nployment of accentual marks in writing the Greek language, is extremely obscure. They are found in manuscripts of considerable antiquity. In our pronunciation of Greek. they are wholly neglected, quantity being our only guide, iii the stre which we lay oil. the syllable of each word, lint the modern Greeks pronounce their language, in general, laying the stre on the accented syllables, and iting the quantity. The mark of the acute accent is'; of the grave '; of the circumflex, which is a compound of the other two, A, or *. Hut every syllable which has no accentual mark is said to have the itrave accent; the grave only marked on final syllables of words which have ■i, in accent on any syllable. These three accentual are also employed in the French language; but in,!v employed, for convenience, to mark a difnunciation, not in Ihe accent; the modificationsofth ds not being all of them expre ed by distinct letters. [s. 22]