Accent and Rhythm
Prosodic Features of Latin and Greek: A Study in Theory and Reconstruction

This is a book of permanent importance for students of classical languages and literatures.

W. Sidney Allen (Author)

9780521108591, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 9 April 2009

412 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.3 cm, 0.6 kg

In Vox Latina and Vox Graeca Professor Allen was concerned primarily with the pronunciation of the individual vowels and consonants of classical Latin and Greek. In this major work he analyses in depth and in detail all the prosodic features of these languages: length of vowels and quantity of syllables, accent, pitch, stress and 'rhythm', with special attention to their manifestations in verse. The description and explanation of such features raise theoretical problems of very general importance and Professor Allen devotes the first part of the book to the establishment of the phonetic principles required as a frame of reference for the specific discussions of Latin and Greek. Parallels are cited from a number of other languages, including English. This is a book of permanent importance for students of classical languages and literatures and also for metricians, phoneticians and general linguists.

Preface
Part I. The General and Theoretical Background: 1. 'Prosody' and 'prosodies': the historical setting
2. Grammatical considerations
3. The Syllable: vowels and consonants
4. Length and quantity
5. Stress
6. Pitch
7. Accent
8. Rhythm
9. Metre
Part II. The Prosodies of Latin: 10. Syllable structure: quantity and length
11. Word juncture
12. Accent
Part III. The Prosodies of Greek: 13. Syllable structure: quantity and length
14. Word juncture
15. Accent
16. Stress
Appendix
Index.

Subject Areas: Linguistics [CF]