pitch accent

British  

noun

1. Also called: tonic accent.  (in languages such as Ancient Greek or modern Swedish) an accent in which emphatic syllables are pronounced on a higher musical pitch relative to other syllables

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Example Sentences

"Splendid! splendid!" he cried; "your voices, like your names, are made for one another, in quality, pitch, accent, everything."

From The Human Chord by Blackwood, Algernon

In aboriginal America also pitch accent is known to occur as a grammatical process.

From Language An Introduction to the Study of Speech by Sapir, Edward

It is possible that sporadic changes of accent, as in the Gr. meter compared with the Sanskrit mata, is owing to the shifting of the pitch accent to the same syllable as the stress occupied.

From The Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia Volume 1 of 28 by Project Gutenberg

Modern Greek has changed from pitch to stress, the stress being generally laid upon the same syllable in modern as bore the pitch accent in ancient Greek.

From The Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia Volume 1 of 28 by Project Gutenberg

In languages which, like English, show comparatively little pitch accent it is to be noticed that the sentence tends to develop a more musical character under the influence of emotion.

From The Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia Volume 1 of 28 by Project Gutenberg