New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-07-29
PH1LOLOGY.

GREEK AND SANNkRlT ACCENIIAIlON-NA
TIVE AMERICAN NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
GRRMAN-THE BREITMAN BALLADs-PRo-
GRESs OF PATHOLOGICAL SCIENCE.
ROCHESTER, July 27.-The Convention was
called to order this morning by Dr. Crosby In the pres
of but a small audience of outsiders These meet
ings Of course specially intended for the edncaoh
the fraternity The Greek and sansrt accentuatons
not peculiarly adapted TO charm the OF poo ana as
for the construction of on me- it would drive orGna!
heads into the state characterized by that charm
ing bear Lander, craving knowhol""e
ness" Consequently the men ana "on'"
of Rochester attend only in sP"i.. CIV.
right cordial and friendly spirit 1t is as the ract 'ha'
the city entertans the Association proves very pro-
found are these gentemen nevertheless, they are caa
BILE Of jovia relaxation. In the intervals OF er
Joys they cluster like schooboys and indulge IN re-
nniscences udicrous and otherwise SOMEBODY Ieus Vi
the ancient Conundrum Club OF knickerbocker days
that club I'm which prizes given to the three grades
OF "conundra" the Proper Good, the Proper Bad and
the souawks OF the the Proper Bad always got
Che first prize Another somebody discOurses mildly OF
that solecism perpetrated by Professor Longfel-
low in his New-England tragedies in which the
Indian witch appears with her basket OF mag-
cal plants culled for her incarnation, and
every one OF which is a native Europeani knot OF
scholars discusses the pronunciation Of some outrage
ousy mpronounceable name, which Jolly member adj
vises should be uttered by Of three coughs and
couple Of sneezes.
Among the sayants arc few ladies' professors OF grace
ful and amiable aspect Horace Walpole himself might
never guess by glance at rather pretty and dlgn
fed woman that She is a confirmed Questioning,
teacher Of Greek and Latin and good one at that
The paper Of the morning that Of Prof. Hadley
Of New-Haven, which had been read last Octopcr
10 the American oriental Society," on The Nature ana
Theory OF the Greek Accent"
THE CREEK ACCENT.
lie described the Greek accent consisting in the
higher pitch the accented syllable. The lower pitch OF
the other syabes not represented But where the
higher pitch Of a final syllable before other words sunk
to lower, this lower pitch represented by grave
accent. And where higher pitch was followed by
lower in the same long vowel dphhOng the two were
represented by the combined acute and grave Of the cir
cumiiex accent The interval between the higher and
lower tones is given by Douysius as equal to musical
NTH three tones aud seInOne The ancient WilttTs
do not speak Of the higher pitch OF the accented
accompanied by any greater stress or force OF utter
much les tian in English or in Modern Greek, was
argued from the absence Of those weakening effects
which decided stress-accent causes in syabes that
the wordacccnt in the construction Of ancient
Greek verse. Prof H. discussed "a, at cob con
had a middle tone Intermediate between the acute and
the ordinary crave some ancient TTles sea bc oI suc
theory recently propouuded ny German %rlIer u rhz
fions and variations Of his own 1t was shown that all
general laws of the Greek accent might be explained
nj became fond Of the succession high tOn
middle tone, short ioD tone as the closing cadence Of
be- secured without throwing back the And
Tn9ie 70 throw back Inc accent in order to secure this
cadence, much Of it possible, in all words
i6e saeeasion, III tSss short middle tone tone
as the iayoric closing cadence and to suppose that the
foryri hut Cike the 'i..l backward, where this
in the Sansrt might stand on syllable OF
the word There would seem TO have arisen among the
Iacco Latin race the common ancestors OF Greeks ana
Iatns, unvulnguess 10 near more tdn one lOW-tohe
To tlp asst
Nv which final low tone in Greek and in Latin the
middle tone before final low tone, must be short could
not have until after the separation Of the Greek
and Italian languages In conclusion Prof H. pointed
with tie probabilities which favor 1t as a hypothesis
THE sANsKRIT ACCENT.
Prof Whitney gave, by way Of appendix and support
20 Prof Hadlcys paper, account Of the accent in
sanskt The authorities for knowledge OF it are the
Hindu cramIlarians themselves, who have worked out
it's theory with great elaborateness and even de
gree of oycrrefnenent quite characteristic of the Hindu
mind The sanskrit three, and agree pre-
escy their character with the Greek To the Greek
Hace corresponds the tddtt, that is the elevated
syllable of higher tome t. the grave corresponds
the doudotG, "uOn-clevated; 10 the crcumhex" cor
responds the Srdritd, term OF which proper meaning
is much disputed. The so9r7@ Is uniformly
tone within the limits Of the same syllable,
and IL is thus phOuctCay precisely the with the
crcumeX but its laws of occurrence in sanskrlt are
very different. 1t occurs only where two sylabes, the
into one. EtymOogy, not euphony, determines its oc-
cuencc And with the place of the accent generally
put IT, aud no general euphonc tendencies have ever
been active 10 displace it, For example the augment in
verbs has everywhere, without exception the accent
which belonged e. when II was an adYerb OF time set
before verb and not yet combined with the verb.
This complete CORRESPONDENCE between the Sanskrit
accents as described by the Hmdus, and the Greek
defined by the Greeks, Is enough to prove, if
description and to establish the character OF the Greek
ans do not however as Prof Hadey, after his auhor-
ties has stated admit middle tone following the
acute, and leading the voice down to level OF grave
they describe the syllable following the acute be-
ing crcumilrN. and they completely identity this encc
oircumileX with the independent crcuHnex already no,
ticed Perhaps they were wrong IN This, and should
The zone cannot he made TO rest at all upon their
authority; the proof must be carried II at all in the
Tie occurrence Of the accents in Greek and sanskrt
words AID forms far corresponds as to show very
gulges and prove that they have been most truly
preserved in the SsTit and most altered In the Greek
The correspondence have been fully and instructyey
drawn out by BOpp IN ms AccchduoHS SySie" athOugh
Bopps theory the nature and value of the accents is
Dr. Hadrnann, in reference to the "hidden accent"
said that there were not an accent we could not have
got in our modern languages Ana whatever was IN
Greek must have been N Latin lie referred TO Prof
OF the foot in hcXameters. a modern German
superior to HAT of the ancients. Lon inus
condemns certain meters because the listener not only
always do HAT ia heNametr either in Greek Latin
This proves that there Is not an accent at the beginning
OF each foot we got these ideas from modern
oentcd music. He did not deny that there may have
D9Ur instance NAV be fouId to Uiuee in certain
undudtiou tone SO with the scotch And in the Wy
andOtc language there is name initiating the cry of "A
bird which and falls. To certain extent we must
judge Of Greek by Latin. All languages have accents
more or less.
Dr. thought It desirable to study language at
that golden period when it is spoken with least OF vara
ton i'm tone French is the only language al the present
day that has aCcentuaton. BY studying the French we
Doe able TO better understand this subject Of poetry
set 10 music ana poetry alone. Dr. KendTck had always
supposed that Greek accent was matter Of pitch and
NOT Of stress lie thought probable that refnemens
delicate those Of high, middle and low tones should be
adopted by the Greeks with their extraordinary decacy
OF organization.