ABSTRACT
Changes in the phonological component differ considerably according to the kind of accent. Languages, like Japanese, with pitch rather than stress accent, tend to maintain all the elements of words, including final vowels. Languages, like the Germanic, on the other hand, have undergone many changes, as we have noted above. Some of these changes have resulted from the strong initial stress accent that was introduced into Proto-Germanic before our era. We can determine the Germanic changes by comparing cognates in Sanskrit, Greek and early Latin from the period when they had a pitch accent. Baltic and Slavic languages also maintained a pitch accent for a long period, as Lithuanian does today, and accordingly they maintain many final syllables. By noting forms in these languages we determine losses that the Germanic cognates have undergone. We find support for our conclusions in Finnish borrowings taken from Proto-Germanic or one of the early dialects, such as kuningas, cf. ON konungr “king.” We also have evidence in forms recorded in the runic inscriptions, as in the form stainaR, cf. Goth, stains, and in forms cited by classical authors.
