1-D. Accents, Breathings



Accents

There are three kinds of pitch accents in ancient greek.

accentmarkexample
acute
circumflex
grave*

*An acute accent at the last syllable changes to a grave accent when followed by another word.

Breathings

Initial vowels of the word are pronounced with rough or smooth breathings.

breathingmarkexamplemedical term
roughholoprocencephaly
smootholigodendrocytoma

Rho () at the head of the word is always accompanied by a rough breathing.
(e.g. , rhabdos > rhabdomyosarcoma)



masasaki@iwate-med.ac.jp