ACCENT, in Grammar, a certain mark, or character, placed over a syllable, in order to direct the manage ment of the voice in pronunciation. The accents which we commonly employ, are the same that were in use among the Greeks and Romans, and are three in nun bee, viz. the acute accent marked (') which denotes the elevation of the voice ; the grave accent ), which marks the depression of the voice ; and the orcumile..1 accent (") or ("), which is composed of the grave and the acute, and indicates that the voice is to be first eleva ted and then depressed.
Different nations vary from each other greatly u the accents which they employ. The Hebrew abounds more in them than any other language, as it is reckoned to employ twenty-five tonic and four czepho2zic accents ; although authors are not perfectly agreed as to the num ber of either class. The tonic accents are intended to give the proper tone to syllables, and are divided into grammatical and musical. The euphonic accents ar: called rhetorical, and are intended to make the pronun ciation more sweet and agreeable. Of the lIebrew ac cents, sonic are placed above and some below the syl lables ; and they serve not only to regulate the variations of the voice, but also to mark the periods and members of a discourse, like our characters for punctuation. They are classed according to their dignity, or relative importance ; and have obtained the lofty titles of em perors, kings, dukes, Sze. The emperor rules over a whole phrase, and terminates the sense completely, like our full point ; the king corresponds to our colon. or semicolon ; and the duke to a comma ; but they in terchange dignities as the phrases are longer or shorter and thus the king may become a duke, and the duke a king. The office of these accents is very different in poetry front what it is in prose.
Much controversy has arisen concerning both the origin and the use of the I I elniew accents. Sonic main tain, that they serve to distinguish the sense ; others allow them no other office than to regulate the musical cadence, or melody ; alleging, that the Jews sing, rather than read, the scriptures in their synagogues.
The learned Ilennin affirms, that the Hebrew accents arc of Arabic invention ; and that they were adopted by the Jew ish doctors of the school of Tiberias, called the Masoni•rEs, especially by the celebrated Rabbi Ben Ascher. It is not, however, so easy to conceive, that this contrivance could have been of Arabic origin, when the Arabic language has no such thing as accents either in prose or verse. The most prevailing opinion among the learned is, that the invention of the Hebrew accents, as well as the vowel points, is entirely due to the INIaso rites, and took place about the middle of the sixth cen tury. The accents have been a source of great difficulty in learning the Hebrew language ; and of equal confu sion and error in its interpretation. Few of them are now of any known use, except that of distinguishing periods ; and biblical interpreters arc at great variance concerning their position, necessity, and utility. Sec Buxtorf's Thesaurus.
The Chinese and Siamese are noted for the musical accent with which they speak ; and, in their language, the accents are employed to prevent ambiguity, and to confer a peculiar meaning upon words. They consist Of a kind of modulation, or a prolongation, and, at the same time, a variation of the sound of a vowel, by raising or depressing the voice a certain pitch. The accents of the Chinese arc reckoned four or five in number, and the same sound may acquire as many different meanings, according to the accents affixed to it. Thus, the syllable eta, according as it is accented, may signify God, a wall, ercellent, stupidity, and a goose ; so that if they deviate ever so little from the accent, they say quite a contrary thing to what was intended. The Siamese alphabet begins with six characters, which are all equi valent to our k, but arc differently accented ; for, in this language, the consonants, as well as the vowels, are diversified by accents. La Loubere, tom. ii. 1. 8.