Accents

What are accents?

Accents change the pronunciation of the vowel portion of a particular syllable in a word. Accenting systems vary based on how the pronunciation of the accented syllable changes. For example, the accented syllable might be louder or longer, as we see in English. A word like discipline has three vowels that sound the same (/i/ in IPA). However, the first vowel is accented, so it is pronounced louder and slightly longer than the other vowels. Systems like this are what we call a stress accent system. Although it often comes as a surprise to English-speakers, not all languages are like English in this respect (and in many others). Attic Greek was one such language with a different accenting system than English.

What were accents in Koine Greek?

Accents in Classical Greek operated on a pitch accent system. This means that the pitch or tone of the accented syllable was pronounced differently. It is uncertain exactly how these accents sounded, but it is generally thought that the acute accent was a high tone and the circumflex a rising and falling tone, while the tone of the grave is unknown (Allen 1987:124–126). However, this began to change in the Koine period around the 2nd century BC where we start to see evidence of a stress accent system taking over, and this led to confusion in vowel quality and spelling (Horrocks 2010:169). The idea is that if ό is pronounced longer than ο, the accented ο would begin to resemble ω, which had become a lengthened ο early in the Hellenistic period (Kantor 2023:83). These changes are evident in Judeo-Palestine as well in the 1st century BC (Kantor 2023:763).

Do accents help us understand the text?

Accents do not only help us to understand how Greek sounded and the kinds of spelling mistakes we see in ancient documents – they also help us to understand the text. Several meaningful distinctions can be seen only by different accents. In this respect, Greek and English are alike (and many other languages have pairs of words that act similarly). For example, two different words that are spelled attribute, and the only difference between them is the placement of the accent – (to) attrIbute is a verb, and (an) Attribute is a noun. A similar alternation can be found in Greek between κράτει ‘(in) strength’ (dative case) and κρατεῖ ‘(he/she) holds’ (3s). These are two different words (the first a noun and the second a verb) which differ only in how they are accented.

Accents may distinguish other meaningful elements besides words. Tense is sometimes determined only by accent placement, as in κρίνει ‘(he/she) judges’ and κρινεῖ ‘(he/she) will judge.’ This is not unique to κρίνω; this same contrast holds with an entire class of verbs we will learn in a later lesson (see 43.2.3.1). Rom 2:16 illustrates the contrast. It says ‘on the day when God κρίνει the secrets of people …’ While modern texts of the Greek New Testament read κρίνει, some manuscripts read κρινεῖ. Both make sense. The context is clearly set in the future, since the day being spoken of is Judgment Day. However, both the present and future tenses can be used to refer to future events in Greek. The present tense is used for future events that are planned or will certainly occur (see 40.1.3.2), and the future tense is used for all kinds of future events (see table, 27.3.3.2). Because both κρίνει (present) and κρινεῖ (future) are possible in this context and they are only distinguished based on accent placement, there is confusion in the manuscripts about which one is correct.

In other cases, the accent distinguishes the syntactic function of the word in the clause. The minimal pair ἔστιν and ἐστίν (both ‘be’) are best analyzed as the same word in the same tense. However, the form ἔστιν is usually found at the beginning of its clause, while ἐστίν is in the middle or at the end. The different syntactic slots affect how we interpret ἐστιν: ἔστιν is often interpreted as an existential (best translated as ‘there is’), and ἐστίν is a copula (best translated as simply ‘is’). 1 Cor 15:44 has two instances of ἔστιν where what is in question is whether something exists or not. Paul argues that ‘If there is (ἔστιν) a natural body, there is (ἔστιν) also a spiritual one.’ Only the form ἔστιν with the meaning that something exists makes sense in this context. We explore the meaning of copula and existential clauses in sections 5.4.4.2 and 16.4.3.3; 46.4.3 respectively.

Finally, some accents indicate that the word is “focused.” Again, we will look at the meaning of focus in a later section (see Syntax C), but for now you can just think of it as indicating contrast, as we would see in a sentence like Jesus went to HIS disciples (not John’s). A meaningful example is in Matt 7:4–5. There are 4 occurrences of the word σου ‘your’ in these verses, and two are accented (σοῦ), while two have no accent (σου). Representing the accents in the translation highlights the fact that Jesus is calling his disciples to be concerned with their own sin first: ‘Or how will you say to your brother, ‘Allow me to take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold there is a beam in YOUR eye. Hypocrite, take the beam out of YOUR eye first, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.’

In all of these examples, the presence or placement of the accent changes the meaning of the text. If we are serious about the meaning of the text, we should be conversant in the system of accenting we find in NT Greek.

General accenting rules

There are some accenting rules that apply universally across the entire sound system of Greek. Of Carson’s 6 general rules that he begins his book with, we have already touched on almost all of them, and the first is too riddled with exceptions, as Carson notes, to be particularly useful (that each word must have one accent). The remaining five rules are given in the following chart in the order in which they are presented in this book. Specific applications of the rules for the different parts of speech are given below in the relevant sections.

Noun/Adjective accenting rules

The placement of the accent on nouns in nominative case must be memorized. However, there are rules for how the accent shifts in other cases, as we have seen and as summarized here:

1. Normally, accents in nouns will want to match whatever accent is found in nominative case and will only move if the final syllable changes in length and forces the accent to shift.

2. For noun endings, genitive and dative, both singular and plural, are always considered long, and accusative plural is also sometimes considered long.

3. If an acute accent is found on the antepenultima in nominative, the long vowel ending in genitive, dative, and accusative plural will make the accent shift to the penultima. For example, ἄνθρωπος becomes ἀνθρώπου, ἀνθρώπῳ, etc.

4. If an acute accent is found on the penultima, no changes take place. So we have τέκνον and τέκνου with the accent in the same place even though the final vowel is long with the genitive.

5. If a circumflex accent is found on the penultima, the long vowel ending in genitive, dative, and the accusative plural will make the accent change to an acute on the penultima. For example, δοῦλος has a circumflex in the nominative, but δούλου is written with an acute accent because the long final vowel changes the previous circumflex to an acute.

6. If an acute accent is found on the ultima, the longer ending of the genitive and dative will make the accent change to a circumflex. For example, ἀδελφή, which normally has an acute on the ultima, will be ἀδελφῆς with a circumflex on the ultima in the genitive and in the other cases that have vowel lengthening.

7. 1st declension nouns in the genitive plural are accented on the ultima even when we would expect them to be accented on the penultima. For a noun like νύμφη, we would expect it to remain accented on the υ and the form to be νύμφων, since the long final vowel would not ordinarily make an accent on the penultima move. However, the form actually is νυμφῶν because νύμφη is in 1st declension. We can contrast this to a noun like κλάδος in 2nd declension. The genitive pl form is κλάδων and not κλαδῶν as we would have if the noun were in 1st declension.

Verb accenting rules

The primary rule to learn for verbs is that the accents are recessive, meaning they will normally go as far back in the word as possible (according to the general rules above). However, there are exceptions to this rule both in what verbal forms conform to the rule and in what specific verbs it applies to. With regard to the latter, verbs with an initial preposition do not conform to the rule in that an accent does not move past the primary verb even when we would expect it to (we see this in the verb εἰσῆλθε). Besides this, the verbs λέγω and ἔρχομαι are accented on the ultima in the 2s Aorist imperative (εἰπέ for λέγω and ἐλθέ for ἔρχομαι; see 22.1.3.1). In terms of the former, the below verbal forms covered in later lessons are exceptions, or apparent exceptions, to the recessive accent rule (the names of the verb forms will be understandable at the relevant lesson, but abbreviations are not used here for transparency). The row labelled “first syllable of ending” means that the accent is always on the first syllable of the ending whether the ending contains 1 or 2 syllables. When the ending contains one syllable, the accent would be on the ultima (e.g. λυθῶ), and when it contains two syllables, the accent is on the penultima (e.g. λυθῶμεν).

Enclitic/Proclitic accenting rules

Clitics are words that do not have their own accent. As we have seen, they will often affect the stress of words found before or after them. They are accented according to the following rules: