1 70 BULLETIN OF DENISON UNIVERSITY. 
oris the first syllable in the word; otherwise, on the third before the 
primary. Alopecurus (a-16p"-e-cu'-rus, 4; 8,c) Eleocharis (e"-le-6k'-a-ris, 
17, e; 18, c). 
The accent, both primary and secondary, is of the highest impor- 
tance, as by it the sounds of the vowels are largely decided. In order 
to know how to pronounce a polysyllable, we need to know the clas- 
sical length of the penult, which fixes the primary accent. In some 
long words, we must also know the classical length of the second syl- 
lable before the primary accent, thus fixing the secondary accent. 
4. It is to be borne constantly in mind that, after the accent is 
determined, the English pronunciation of a word has absolutely noth- 
ing to do with the classical quantities of its syllables. The sound of a 
vowel will depend partly on its being accented or not, partly upon 
the letters following it, sometimes on peculiarities of English words of 
similar form, but never directly upon its ancient length. As a matter 
of fact, most syllables classically long are in English pronounced short, 
and very many anciently short are pronounced long. 
The classical length of the penult is generally obvious ; but in 
numerous cases a Greek or Latin Dictionary must be consulted. The 
following rules cover most cases : they refer to the ancient length of 
syllables, not to the English sounds of the vowels, and are to be used 
only in deciding the accent. 
5. A syllable is long, if it contains (a) a diphthong {e.g. Spi-rae'-a); 
or (b) a vowel representing a diphthong {e.g. Sci-u'-rus, from skia, shad- 
ow, and ouratail ; Er-e-ge-nl-a, from the Greek Erigeneid)\ or (c) a vowel 
naturally long {e.g. a-try'-pa, trupa, a hole; such words are few); or 
(d) a vowel followed by j, x, z, or any two consonants, in which case 
the vowel is ^‘long by position” {e.g. Leu-co'-jum, Hy-pox'-is, Os-mor- 
rhL-za, Gym-no-sper^-mae); but (e) note that when 1 or r follows f or 
any mute (p, b; t, d; c, g; ph, th, ch), the two are counted as one 
consonant, and do not make a short vowel long by position \ cf. 
and 17 d. 
