Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!ll-xn!ames!oliveb!jal
From: jal@oliveb.UUCP (Tony Landells)
Newsgroups: comp.std.internat,sci.lang
Subject: Re: Computers and human languages (was Re: What is a byte)
Message-ID: <4950@oliveb.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 11-Sep-87 05:49:10 EDT
Article-I.D.: oliveb.4950
Posted: Fri Sep 11 05:49:10 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 12-Sep-87 16:08:23 EDT
References: <218@astra.necisa.oz> <142700010@tiger.UUCP> <2792@phri.UUCP> <2351@mmintl.UUCP>
Organization: Olivetti ATC; Cupertino, Ca
Lines: 33
Summary: definition of an accent
Xref: mnetor comp.std.internat:226 sci.lang:1334

In article <2351@mmintl.UUCP>, franka@mmintl.UUCP (Frank Adams) writes:
> >>I was told once (by a respected linguist, as I recall) that English and
> >>Russian are the ONLY two languages written with unaccented alphabets.
> 
> The Russian alphabet does have two accented letters, although the accents
> are often omitted.  How common this omission is, or whether it is getting
> more common, I don't really know.

I think this depends how one defines an accent.  It is a long time since I
studied Russian, and thus I may have forgotten something, but as I recall,
it went like this:

Russian has two letters that could be considered accented, as they look the
same as other letters in the alphabet, save small "things" placed above them.

I would refrain from calling them accents, however, as the two letters
actually occupy places in the alphabet.  To my mind, an accent is something
you place over a normal letter of the alphabet to modify the sound or mark
stress in the word, or whatever, but that is not normally seen in the
alphabet.

If this is unclear, consider that the Greek alphabet has stress accents, but
they are never printed in the alphabet (though a character set would have to
have them).  French has accents to change the pronunciation of various
letters, but these aren't placed in the alphabet either.

Thus my premise is that the two apparently accented letters of Russian are,
in fact, separate letters in their own right.

Tony Landells.
-- 
"Holy olio, Batman!!"
"Why Boy Wonder; I didn't know you could l.any y