Enclitics and accentuation

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phil96
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Enclitics and accentuation

Post by phil96 »

When an enclitic such as -ne or -que is appended to a word does it alter the word's accentuation? M&F's Glossary seems to imply it doesn't ("An enclitic ... loses its own accent").

Does that mean that "optavistis" and "optavistisne?" should both be pronounced with the stress on the third syllable, rather than on what looks like the penult of each? And that "..tisne" acts as one syllable?

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benissimus
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Re: Enclitics and accentuation

Post by benissimus »

I believe that the most commonly held belief is that word is accented on the syllable directly preceding the enclitic (the ultima of the word before the enclitic is added): optavístis > optavistísne
flebile nescio quid queritur lyra, flebile lingua murmurat exanimis, respondent flebile ripae

phil96
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Re: Enclitics and accentuation

Post by phil96 »

Gratias tibi ago.

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