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- Accent is ``prominence
given to a syllable, whether by higher musical pitch, or
by stress''. `Stress' is ``force of breath with which a
sound or syllable is pronounced''. A stressed syllable is
pronounced with a greater force of breath than an unstressed
one.
A `syllable'
has been defined as ``unit of pronunciation forming a word
or a part of a word'', and it ``contains one vowel sound
and often consonant(s) preceding or following''. The English
language has only stress accent. Vedic Sanskrit, Greek and
Old Latin had musical or pitch accent. Every syllable must
contain one vowel, and one only. Every consonant is uttered
with (``belongs to'') either a preceding or a following
vowel. Several consonants can ``belong'' to one and same
vowel.
- In Hindi, syllabic
division of a word is generally on the following lines :-
- Simple or
conjunct consonants occurring at the beginning of a word
belong to the following vowel : ܛ (ja-na) `to go',
ܣ (prani) `creature, living being', ܺ (su-na)
`heard'.
- A consonant
occurring at the end of a word `belongs' şܥ (Kamal)
`lotus', [the inherent in the being silent. See ]
- A simple
consonant occurring within a word usually belongs to the
following vowel : ܨܽ (sa-ve-ra) `morning', (na-di)
`river'.
- Of the two
or more consonants forming a conjunct which occurs within
a word, the first belongs to the preceding vowel and the
rest to the following : ܛ (mantri) `minister, secretary',
ܛ͟ (can-dra-ma) `the moon', (an-tya) `last,
final', ܣ (ak-sa-ra) (not a-ksa-ra) `syllable',
(ad-vi-ti-ya) (not a-dvi-ti-ya) `unique, unparallelled'.
- , , and
are excepted from the above rule. In fact, they are
to be treated as aspirated forms of , and ,
respectively, rather thean as conjuncts. Thus ۽ (u-nhe)`to
them', ܺܣ (tu-mha-ra) `your, yours', ť (ku-lha-ri)
`axe'. ܛ `small, tiny', however, is nan-ha.
- A syllable
is called long if it contains a long vowel or a short vowel
to which a a following consonant belongs. A syllable ending
in a short vowel is short. Also. a syllable ending in a
short vowel is short. Also, a syllable ending in a consonant
is called `close', that ending in a vowel is called `open'.
A `close' syllable is, of course, always long.
- In common with
most of the modern languages, Hindi has obly stress accent,
although it is not as distinctly audible as, for example,
in English.
The main rules
regarding accent are as follows :-
- As a general
rule, only one syllable in a word is accented.
- Of the two
or more syllables of a word, if only one is long and the
rest short, the long one (wherever it may occur) is accented.
ܡ (ga-ya)
`went or gone', (ci-ta) `pyre', ܚܺ (sa-dhu)
`saint, saintly', ں (in-du) `moon' (`in'-is long ),
ܺܨ (a-nu-bha-vi) `experienced (adj.)' ܺܽ
(a-nu-me-ya) `inferable', ܟܡ (a-na-may) `health',
ڿٹܹ (danda-vi-dhi) `criminal law' etc.
- If a word
contains more than one long syllable, the last but one,
if long, is accented : (ܛ) (ja-na) `to go', ڟ
(ad-mi) `person, man', ܉ܛ (likh-na) `to write' ,
(kar-ta) `doer, subject' ܛڣ (ban-dar) `monkey',
ܵ (in-dra-ni) `Indra's wife', ţܛ (ka-ra-na)
`to get done', ţܡ (ki-ra-ya) `rent or fare', ܺܛ
(gu-ru-a-ni) `preceptor's wife', ܊ܟ܊ܛ (jag-ma-ga-na)
`to sparkle, glitter', ōۣ (ka-cah-ri) `court'.
- But if in
a word containing more than one syllable, the last but
one is short, the syllable preceding it is accented; and
if even the last but two is short, the syllable preceding
it is accented; and so on. The last syllable is never
accented, unless, of course, it is the only long syllable
in the word [see (b) above].
ܛ͟ (can-dra-ma)
`the moon' ܌Êܹ (san-ga-ti) `company', ܹܰ
(pa-vi-tra-ta) `purity, sanctity', ܛܺ͟ (can-dra-mukhi)
`moon-faced (fem)', ܨďܹ܈ (sar-wa-ja-nik) public
(adj.)'.
- In words
consisting of only short syllables, the last but one is
accented : ܹ (ma-ti) `mind, understanding, sense',
ܹܺ (su-ma-ti)`good under standing, sound sense',
ܹ (a-vidit) `unknown'.
[ But in ܥܝ
(mat-lab) `purpose, meaning, sense', mat has the accent, since
the word has two long syllables and not four short ones. see
51 (b)].
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