Accentuation types of noun word forms in Old Persian

Abstract

The article deals with the problems of accentuation types of noun word forms in Old Persian. The materials from Old Persian glossaries were used to form the register with 202 noun word forms in volume. Using traditional methodology that is accepted in Iranian comparative linguistics the author distributed available lexicon to seven accentuation types, each of them consisting of noun word forms with a stressed syllable of the same quality. In addition, some word forms that show unusual accentuation patterns because of the etymological uncertainty, sporadic appearance or possible orthographical mistakes in original cuneiform texts were referred to a separate accentuation type. According to the position of the stressed syllable in a noun word form every accentuation type was divided into accentuation models, the total number of which is 20 units. The author gives a special linguistic commentary within each accentuation type that explains the conditions of the functioning and diachronic evolution of its type. In addition, this paper shows accentuation influence on morphology and morphophonology of Old Persian nouns. Besides Old Persian lexicon, the article deals with Avestan and Pahlavi noun word forms, which are closely related to Old Persian. The use of lexicon of related languages assists in more accurate diachronic analysis of accentuation processes and better demonstrates Indo-European lingual universals within the Old Persian lexicon.