In
linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
, the ultima is the last
syllable
A syllable is a basic unit of organization within a sequence of speech sounds, such as within a word, typically defined by linguists as a ''nucleus'' (most often a vowel) with optional sounds before or after that nucleus (''margins'', which are ...
of a word, the
penult
''Penult'' is a linguistics term for the second-to-last syllable of a word. It is an abbreviation of ''penultimate'', which describes the next-to-last item in a series. The penult follows the antepenult and precedes the ultima. For example, the ...
is the next-to-last syllable, and the antepenult is third-from-last syllable. In a word of three syllables, the names of the syllables are antepenult-penult-ultima.
Etymology
Ultima comes from Latin ''ultima (syllaba)'' "last (syllable)". Penult and antepenult are abbreviations for ''paenultima'' and ''antepaenultima''. Penult has the prefix ''paene'' "almost", and antepenult has the prefix ''ante'' "before".
Classical languages
In
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
and
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
, only the three last syllables can be accented. In Latin, a word's
stress is dependent on the
weight
In science and engineering, the weight of an object is a quantity associated with the gravitational force exerted on the object by other objects in its environment, although there is some variation and debate as to the exact definition.
Some sta ...
or length of the penultimate syllable. In Ancient Greek, the place and the type of accent are dependent on the length of the vowel in the ultima.
See also
*
Pitch accent
A pitch-accent language is a type of language that, when spoken, has certain syllables in words or morphemes that are prominent, as indicated by a distinct contrasting pitch (music), pitch (tone (linguistics), linguistic tone) rather than by vol ...
**
Acute accent
The acute accent (), ,
is a diacritic used in many modern written languages with alphabets based on the Latin alphabet, Latin, Cyrillic script, Cyrillic, and Greek alphabet, Greek scripts. For the most commonly encountered uses of the accen ...
***
Oxytone
In linguistics, an oxytone (; from the , ', 'sharp-sounding') is a word with the stress on the last syllable, such as the English words ''correct'' and ''reward''.
It contrasts with a paroxytone, stressed on the penultimate (second-last) syll ...
,
paroxytone
In linguistics, a paroxytone (, ') is a word with stress on the penultimate syllable, that is, the second-to-last syllable, such as the English language, English word ''potáto''.
In English, most words ending in ''-ic'' are paroxytones: ''músic ...
,
proparoxytone
In linguistics, a proparoxytone (, ) is a word with stress on the antepenultimate (third to last) syllable, such as the English language, English words "cinema" and "operational". Related concepts are paroxytone (stress on the penultimate syllable) ...
**
Circumflex
The circumflex () is a diacritic in the Latin and Greek scripts that is also used in the written forms of many languages and in various romanization and transcription schemes. It received its English name from "bent around"a translation of ...
***
Perispomenon
In Ancient Greek grammar, a perispomenon ( ; ) is a word with a high-low pitch contour on the last syllable, indicated in writing by a tilde diacritic () or an inverted breve accent mark () in native transcriptions with the Greek alphabet, or ...
, properispomenon
**
Grave accent
The grave accent () ( or ) is a diacritical mark used to varying degrees in French, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian, Catalan and many other Western European languages as well as for a few unusual uses in English. It is also used in other ...
***
Barytone
In Ancient Greek grammar, a barytone is a word without any accent on the last syllable. Words with an acute or circumflex on the second-to-last or third-from-last syllable are barytones, as well as words with no accent on any syllable:
*τις ...
*
Rhyme
A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds (usually the exact same phonemes) in the final Stress (linguistics), stressed syllables and any following syllables of two or more words. Most often, this kind of rhyming (''perfect rhyming'') is consciou ...
*
Stress (linguistics)
In linguistics, and particularly phonology, stress or accent is the relative emphasis or prominence given to a certain syllable in a word or to a certain word in a phrase or Sentence (linguistics), sentence. That emphasis is typically caused ...
*
Syllable
A syllable is a basic unit of organization within a sequence of speech sounds, such as within a word, typically defined by linguists as a ''nucleus'' (most often a vowel) with optional sounds before or after that nucleus (''margins'', which are ...
References
*
Herbert Weir Smyth
Herbert Weir Smyth (August 8, 1857 – July 16, 1937) was an American classical scholar. His comprehensive grammar of Ancient Greek has become a standard reference on the subject in English, comparable to that of William Watson Goodwin, whom h ...
. ''Greek Grammar''
par. 166, 167
Phonology
Greek grammar
Ancient Greek
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