On intermediate accent paradigm in Greek

The article addresses the historical problem of the Indo-European accent paradigms inherited in the ancient Greek language. The focus is made on whether the method of accent paradigms is applicable to the ancient Greek accent system, and on the problem of the number of accent paradigms in the early and later periods. The first question is answered affirmatively: without using the framework of accent paradigms, it will be impossible to describe the ancient Greek accent correctly (at least in nominal declension). It is argued that for a relatively early state in the ancient Greek nominal system, the oxytone and baritone paradigms inherited from an earlier state should be distinguished. To solve the second question, it is necessary to understand whether any other accent paradigms, except the oxytone and baritone ones, exist in ancient Greek. The article critically examines the model proposed by Ph. Probert, considering a special case of intermediate accentuation in ancient Greek classical time. 11 typical cases of such accentuation are discussed. It is argued that most of the cases considered relate to fairly recent times, therefore, for the early Greek, a system of two paradigms seems sufficient. However, to describe the later state, the number of accent paradigms is to be increased. In addition, the paper offers an updated understanding of the phenomena of oxytonesis and baritonesis in Greek, different from that of Ph. Probert. Greek oxytones retain ancient paradigmatic features, whereas baritones have many properties of categorical accent. This approach allows us to take a fresh look at the Greek accent as a whole and preserve the old paradigms, consolidating their new content.