Resumen de A note on the Greek Law of Limitation
In Greek the accent can fall on one of the last three syllables of the word if the final syllable contains a short vowel, and on one of the last two syllables if it contains a long vowel or a diphthong. This restriction of the accent is known as the Law of Limitation. According to some authors, a further restriction applies: if the word ends in two consonants, the accent can only fall on one of the last two syllables. For instance, while πολυπῖδαξ ‘of many springs’ is possible, *πολύπῑδαξ is not. However, this additional restriction is not accepted by all authors. While the πολυπῖδαξ type is typically not addressed at all by these authors, a recent proposal has examined this type and suggests that it owes its penultimate accent to analogical pressure from other words with columnar accentuation. Accepting the morphological explanation of the πολυπῖδαξ type, this study explores the mechanisms leading to columnar accentuation not only in this type, but also in words like χαρίεν ‘charming’ and ἱκέτις ‘supplicant’.
