[SYLLABIC AND UNSYLLABIC FUNCTION.]
[82]. Whenever two or more sounds are combined in a syllable, one of them excels in acoustic prominence: as, a in English pat; n in the group pnd in opnd (opened); l in the group tld in bottld (bottled); and s in the group pst. This sound is said to have syllabic function or to be syllabic; in the examples given, a, n, l, and s are respectively syllabic. All the other members of each group are termed unsyllabic.
[83]. Vowels are almost always used in syllabic function. When, in rare cases, they are unsyllabic, this fact is usually indicated in phonetic works by an inverted half-circle, ̭, placed under the vowel; so in the case of diphthongs to indicate the subordinate member: as ai̭, oḙ, ṷi ([49]). Latin omnia and English glorious, when pronounced as words of two syllables, would be written omni̭a ([2503]), glori̭ous. When sounds other than vowels have, in rare cases, syllabic function, this fact is noted in phonetic works by a point, . , or circle, ˳ , under the letter: as, Latin *agṛs, *agr̥s ([111, b]), English opṇd, opn̥d.
[ACCENT.]
[84]. The relative force with which the different syllables of a word are uttered varies. Such variation in emphasis is called stress accentuation.
The degrees of stress are really infinite, but for practical purposes it is sufficient to distinguish between (1.) the strongest stress (chief accent); (2.) a weaker stress (secondary accent); and (3.) absence of stress (atonic syllable). In the English contradict, the last syllable has the chief accent, a secondary accent falls on the first, and the second syllable is unstressed.
[85]. It is not customary to indicate the place of accents in Latin by special signs. When, for special reasons, signs are used, ´ denotes the chief accent, ` the secondary accent, while the unstressed syllables are left unmarked.
[THE CLASSICAL ACCENT.]
[86]. In classical Latin the place of the chief accent may be determined by the following rules.
(1.) Words of two syllables have the accent on the penult ([175]): as,