The syllable _ic_ is very weak, but
the obscure _er,_ or, _ur_ is still weaker, and so we have _rhet'-or-ic_.
In _his-tor'-ic_ the first syllable is too weak to take an accent, and we
strengthen its second syllable, giving _o_ the _aw_ sound.
It will be seen that in words of two or more syllables there may be a
second, and even a third accent, the voice dwelling on every other
syllable. In _pe'-ri-od_ the dwelling on _od_ is scarcely perceptible,
but in _pe'-ri-od'-ic_ it becomes the chief accent, and it receives this
special force because _ic_ is so weak, In _ter'-ri-to-ry_ the secondary
accent on _to_ is slight because _ri_ is nearly equal and it is easy to
spread the stress over both syllables equally.
The principles above illustrated have a decided limitation in the fact
that the value of vowels in English is more or less variable, and the
great "principle of derivation," as Webster calls it, exercises a still
potent influence, though one becoming every year less binding.
The following words taken bodily from the Greek or Latin are accented
on the penult rather than the antepenult (as analogy would lead us to
accent them) because in the original language the penultimate vowel was
long: abdo'men, hori'zon, deco'rum, diplo'ma, muse'um, sono'rous,
acu'men, bitu'men; and similarly such words as farra'go, etc.
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