We may never be sure just how to accent a large class of names taken
from the Latin and Greek without knowing the length of the vowel in the
original,--such words, for example, as _Mede'a, Posi'don_ (more properly
written _Posei'don_), _Came'nia, Iphigeni'a, Casto'lus, Cas'tores, etc_.
In a general way we may assume that the chief accent lies on
either the penult or antepenult, the second syllable from the end,
or the third, and we will naturally place it upon the one that appears
to us most likely to be strong, while a slight secondary accent goes on
every second syllable before or after. If the next to the last syllable
is followed by a double consonant, we are sure it must be accented,
and if the combination of consonants is such that we cannot easily
accent the preceding syllable we need entertain no reasonable doubt.
By constant observation we will soon learn the usual value of vowels
and syllables as we pronounce them in ordinary speaking, and will follow
the analogy. If we have difficulty in determining the chief accent,
we will naturally look to see where secondary accents may come,
and thus get the key to the accent.
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