in Latin is comparatively small. It is no less possible
that relations between the stress and pitch accents were
concerned. For unless we are to regard the testimony of
the ancient Latin grammarians as altogether untrustworthy
there was at least in classical Latin a well-marked pitch
as well as a stress accent. This question, which had
long slumbered, has been revived by Dr J. Vendryes in
his treatise entitled Recherches sur l'histoire et les
effets de l'intensite initiale en latin (Paris, 1902).
In English there is a tendency to throw the stress on to the
first syllable, which leads in time to the modification of
borrowed words. Thus throughout the 18th century there was
a struggle going on over the word balcony, which earlier
was pronounced balcony. Swift is the first author quoted
for the pronunciation balcony. and Cowper's balcony
in ``John Gilpin'' is among the latest instances of the old
pronunciation. Disregarding the Latin quantity of orator
and senator, English by throwing the stress on the first
syllable has converted them into orator and senator,
while Scots lawyers speak also of a curator. How far
French influence plays a part here is not easy to say.
Besides the accent of the syllable and of the word, which
have been already discussed, there remains the accent of
the sentence. Here the problem is much more complicated.
The accent of a word, whether pitch or stress, may be
considerably modified in the sentence. From earliest times
some words have become parasitic or enclitic upon other
words. Pronouns more than most words are modified from
this cause, but conjunctions like the Gr. te (``and''),
the Lat. qiie, have throughout their whole history been
enclitic upon the preceding word. A very important word
may be enclitic, as in English don't, shan't. It is to be
remembered that the unit of language is rather the sentence
than the word, and that the form which is given to the word
in the dictionary is very often not the form which it takes
in actual speech. The divisions of words in speech are quite
different from the divisions on the printed page. Sanskrit
alone amongst languages has consistently recognized this, and
preserves in writing the exact combinations that are spoken.
Accent, whether pitch or stress, can be utilized in the sentence
to express a great variety of meanings. Thus in English
a sentence like You rode to Newmarket yesterday, which
contains five words, may be made to express five different
statements by putting the stress upon each of the words in
turn. By putting the stress on you the person addressed
is marked out as distinct from certain others, by putting
it upon rode other means of locomotion to Newmarket are
excluded, and so on. With the same order of words five
interrogative sentences may also be expressed, and a third
series of exclamatory sentences expressing anger, incredulity,
&c., may be obtained from the same words. It is to be noticed
that for these two series a different intonation, a different
musical (pitch) accent appears from that which is found in the
same words when employed to make a matter-of-fact statement.
In languages like Chinese, which have neither compound words
nor inflection, accent plays a very important part. As the
words are all monosyllabic, stress could obviously not be so
important as pitch as a help to distinguish different senses
attached to the same syllable, and in no other language is
variety of pitch so well developed as in Chinese. In languages
which, like English, show comparatively little pitch accent
it is to be noticed that the sentence tends to develop a more
musical character under the influence of emotion. The voice
is raised and at the same time greater stress is generally
employed when the speaker is carried away by emotion, though the
connexion is not essential and strong emotion may be expressed
by a lowering as well as by a raising of the voice. In either
case, however, the stress will be greater than the normal.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--H. Sweet, Primer of Phonetics (1890,
now in 3rd edition), sec. 96 ff., History of English Sounds
(1888), sec. 110 ff., and other works; E. Sievers, Grundzuge
der Phonetik (1893), sec. 532 ff.; O. Jespersen, Lehrbuch
der Phonetik (1904), an abbreviated German translation of
the author's larger work in Danish, sec. 216 ff. The books
of Sievers and Jespersen give (especially Sievers) full
references to the literature of the subject. For the accent
system of the Indo-European languages see ``Betonung'' in
Brugmann's Grundriss der vergleichenden Grammatik der
indogermanischen Sprachen, vol. i. (1897), or, with considerable
modifications, his Kurze vergleichende Grammatik der
idg. Sprachen (1902), sec. sec. 32-65 and 343-350. (P. Gi.)
ACCEPTANCE (Lat. acceptare, frequentative form of accipere,
to receive), generally, a receiving or acknowledgment of
receipt; in law, the act by which a person binds himself
to comply with the request contained in a bill of exchange
(q.v.), addressed to him by the drawer. In all cases it
is understood to be a promise to pay the bill in money,
the law not recognizing an acceptance in which the promise
is to pay in some other way, e.g. partly in money and
partly by another bill. Acceptance may be either general or
qualified. A general acceptance is an engagement to pay
the bill strictly according to its tenor, and is made by
the drawee subscribing his name, with or without the word
``accepted,'' at the bottom of the bill, or across the face
of it. Qualified acceptance may be a promise to pay on a
contingency occurring, e.g. on the sale of certain goods
consigned by the drawer to the acceptor. No contingency
is allowed to be mentioned in the body of the bill, but a
qualified acceptance is quite legal, and equally binding with
a general acceptance upon the acceptor when the contingency
bas occurred. It is also qualified acceptance where the
promise is to pay only part of the sum mentioned in the
bill, or to pay at a different time or place from those
specified. As a qualified acceptance is so far a disregard of
the drawer's order, the holder is not obliged to take it; and
if he chooses to take it he must give notice to antecedent
parties, acting at his own risk if they dissent. In all
cases acceptance involves the signature of the acceptor
either by himself or by some person duly authorized on his
behalf. A bill can be accepted in the first instance only
by the person or persons to whom it is addressed; but if
he or they fail to do so, it may, after being protested for
non-acceptance, be accepted by some one else ``supra protest,''
for the sake of the honour of one or more of the parties
concerned in it, and he thereupon acquires a claim against
the drawer and all those to whom he could have resorted.
ACCEPTILATION (from Lat. acceptilatio), in Roman and Scots
law, a verbal release of a verbal obligation. This formal mode
of extinguishing an obligation contracted verbally received
its name from the book-keeping term acceptilatio, entering a
receipt, i.e. carrying it to credit. The words conveying
the release had to correspond to, or strictly cover, the
expressed obligation. Figuratively, in theology, the word
acceptilation means free remission or forgiveness of sins.
ACCESS (Lat. accessus), approach, or the means of
approaching. In law, the word is used in various connexions.
The presumption of a child's legitimacy is negatived if it be
proved that a husband has not had access to his wife within
such a period of time as would admit of his being the father.
(See LEGITIMACY.) In the law of easements, every person
who has land adjoining a public road or a public navigable
river has a right of access to it from his land. So, also,
every person has a right of access to air and light from
an ancient window. For the right of access of parents to
children under the guardianship of the court, see INFANT.
ACCESSION (from Lat. accedere, to go to, to approach),
in law, a method of acquiring property adopted from Roman
law, by which, in things that have a close connexion with
or dependence on one another, the property of the principal
draws after it the property of the accessory, according
to the principle, accessio cedet principali. Accession
may take place either in a natural way, such as the growth
of fruit or the pregnancy of animals, or in an artificial
way. The various methods may be classified as (1) land to
land by accretion or alluvion; (2) moveables to land (see
FIXTURES); (3) moveables to moveables; (4) moveables added
to by the art or industry of man; this may be by specification,
as when wine is made out of grapes, or by confusion, or
commixture, which is the mixing together of liquids or solids,
respectively. In the case of industrial accession ownership is
determined according as the natural or manufactured substance
is of the more importance, and, in general, compensation is
payable to the person who has been dispossessed of his property.
In a historical or constitutional sense, the term
``accession'' is applied to the coming to the throne of a
dynasty or line of sovereigns or of a single sovereign.
``Accession'' sometimes likewise signifies consent or
acquiescence. Thus, in the bankruptcy law of Scotland,
where there is a settlement by a trust-deed, it is accepted
on the part of each creditor by a ``deed of accession.''
ACCESSORY, a person guilty of a felonious offence, not as
principal, but by participation; as by advice, command,
aid or concealment. In certain crimes, there can be no
accessories; all concerned being principals, whether present
or absent at the time of their commission. These are
treason, and all offences below the degree of felony, as
specified in the Offences against the Person Act 1861.
There are two kinds of accessories -- before the fact, and
after it. The first is he who commands or procures another
to commit felony, and is not present himself; for if he be
present, he is a principal. The second is he who receives,
harbours, assists, or comforts any man that has done murder or
felony, whereof he has knowledge. An accessory before the
fact is liable to the same punishment as the principal; and
there is now indeed no practical difference between such an
accessory and a principal in regard either to indictment,
trial or punishment. Accessories after the fact are in general
punishable with imprisonment (with or without hard labour) for
a period not exceeding two years, but in the case of murder
punishable by penal servitude for life, or not less than three
years, or by imprisonment (with or without hard labour) to the
extent of two years. The law of Scotland makes no distinction
between the accessory to any crime and the principal (see
ART AND PART). Except in the case of treason, accession
after the fact is not noticed by the law of Scotland unless
as an element of evidence to prove previous accession.
ACCIAJUOLI, DONATO (1428-1478), Italian scholar, was born at
Florence in 1428. He was famous for his learning, especially
in Greek and mathematics, and for his services to his native
state. Having previously been entrusted with several
important embassies, he became Gonfalonier of Florence in
1473. He died at Milan in 1478, when on his way to Paris
to ask the aid of Louis XI. on behalf of the Florentines
against Pope Sixtus IV. His body was taken back to
Florence, and buried in the church of the Carthusians at
the public expense, and his daughters were portioned by his
fellow-citizens, the fortune he left being, owing to his
probity and disinterestedness, very small. He wrote a Latin
