Re: Beauty of Old Norse (was Re: New to the list)

Nik Taylor wrote:

>Oskar Gudlaugsson wrote:
> > AFAIR, Old Norse was a pitch accent language, like Latin.
>
>Actually, Latin was a stress accent language.  Ancient Greek was pitch
>accent.
According to what I've read, Classical Latin had pitch accent, while Vulgar
Latin had stress accent. This shift to stress accent was to be an important
catalyst for changes in the language. The degree of "strength" of the stress
accent also had important implications, e.g. the Latin of Gallia had a
particularly strong stress, which has made much difference in the
development of the French language (i.e. its lack of the -o/-a endings
present in related languages). This is all according to what I recall from
my books, though I'm always willing to turn around to have my ass spanked,
in case I'm wrong ;)

I'm still waiting to see if someone will prove me wrong in saying that Old
Norse had pitch accent...that'd be more discrediting, as it's more "my
area".

Oskar
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