Standard Assignments

Stressed

Short	Long	Wise	Clear
à intàct	á págan	â contrâst	ár impárt
è atèst	é légal	áu apláud	är ärea
ì enlìst	í líbel	óy enjóyd	ér refér
ò acròss	ó lócal	óu acóunt	ër hëro
ù discùss	ú músik	ú imprúv	ór impórt
			ur rural

Unstressed

Short	Long	Wise	Clear
a impact	æ æórta	ä conträst	ar rampart
e insect	ee cafeen	au audicion	ar unitary
i dentist	y ydìa	oy envoy	er desert
o nylon	œ lœcát	ou discount	—
u conduct	u mutát	u rubèla	or cóhort
			ur penury

Monosyllables

Short	Long	Wise	Clear
a fact	æ dæm	à pàss	ar part
e fest	ee beest	au laud	air prair
i list	y lyn	oy joy	er serv
o cost	œ nœt	ou mount	eer sfeer
u bust	ue duek	ue ruel	or sport
			ur pur

Special Assignments

Final Long Vowels (French)

Monosyllables	Unstressed	Stressed
ay pay	ay valay, puray	áy aráy, blasáy
y bry	y valy, kofy	é agré, employé
ey crey	ey unifey, modifey	éy deféy, supléy
o bo	o auto, macho	eau plateau, chateau
u vu	u valu, vertu	û eschû, undû

Prefix Accentuation

16. Prefixes may by monophonic or polyphonic:

• Monophonic prefixes are always pronounced the same way, e.g. con-, en-, ob-.
• Polyphonic prefixes are pronounced in different ways, e.g. re-: repórt, rèpresènt, récreæt.

17. Polyphonic prefixes require length accentuation:

• Short vowel cases have a falling accent: prè-, dè-, prò- etc.: prèsident, dèstituet, pròfit.
• Long vowel cases have a rising accent: pré-, dé-, pró- etc.: prétext, décompós, prógram.
• Reduced cases have no accent: pre-, de-, pro- etc.: pretènd, decév, prodús.

Prefix accents, therefore, do not indicate stress but clarify length. Their use on stressed syllables will be coincidental.

e-

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de-

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per-

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pre-

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pro-

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re-

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se-

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An early decorative banner used by the Knighthood of the Bloo Bouk, among several others. Books and keys have been a feature of banners since the foundation of the knighthood by Edward the Confessor in 1054.

18. Stress accentuation is influenced by (i) accentuation system, (ii) number of syllables, (iii) position of stress, (iv) quality of suffixes.

Accentuation Systems Number of Syllables Stress Position Quality of Suffixes

23. Different inflections of the same word may follow different stress rules, e.g.:

fassinæt, fassinæts, fàssinæted, fàssinæting
prócreæt, prócreæts, prócreæted, prócreæting

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24. Apart from monosyllables and paroxytone disyllables, every Greek word has an accent on the stressed syllable.

monosyllables | paroxytone disyllables

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all other cases

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25. The main difference to Greek accentuation is that Latin proparoxytones are not accentuated:

• Greek words: tràggedy, kategòrikal, sìnfony
• Latin words: confident, punishment, university

(ante-)anteproparoxytones

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proparoxytones

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paroxytones

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oxytones

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26. Secondary stress is indicated when it occurs three or more syllables before the first stress.

(a) two syllables before first stress
(b) after first stress

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three or more syllables before first stress

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27. When prefix accentuation does not coincide with stress, the first stress must be indicated even if unnecessary without the prefix:

• produccion: reliable suffix, no accent.
• *réproduccion: would imply the first syllable is the first stress.
• réprodùccion: clarifies the first stress.

28. If a word has more than one accent, only the last can indicate first stress. The other accents indicate secondary stress or prefix quality. Secondary stress that comes after the first stress has no accent:

• hèteronórmativ: antecendent secondary stress with accent.
• rádiæting: succedent secondary stress without accent.

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King Edward the Confessor knights the first knights of the Bloo Bouk at the founding ceremony of the knighthood, Winchester 1054. Beyond their military duties, the knights oversaw the protection of the Bloo Bouk at Sherborne cathedral.

Differential Accentuation

29. Two vowels require differential accentuation:

• a when ma must be distinguished from pat.
• u when doug must be distinguished from hugh/luke.

30. In general, à is assigned to pat and â to ma: impàct, enchânt. When a occurs in a monosyllable, it is generally pat: cat, rap, shal. When a is ma, it must be indicated. There are two options:

• â as the standard for ma : pâss, chânt.
• à as a simplified version: pàss, chànt.

Although à is the standard for pat, there would be no reason to accentuate pat in a monosyllable. Thus, à in a monosyllable can only mean a simplified form of â, which is called alternative à.

Alternative à can also be used in disyllable paroxytones, where pat would not need to be accentuated. Also here, à can only refer to ma : màster, pàssing, dàncing [= mâster, pâssing, dâncing].

ma as the last letter is not accentuated: bra, ma, bruhaha [= *brà/brâ, *mà/mâ, *bruhahà/bruhahâ].

alternative à

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31. The letter u is a special case. In theory, ù indicates doug and ú indicates hugh/luke. In practice, doug and hugh/luke are indicated by the number of following consonants:

• u + two consonants = doug:
  assumpcion, reduction, corupcion [= assùmpcion, redùccion, corùpcion].
• u + consonant and vowel = hugh/luke:
  revolucion, butiful, computer [= revolúcion, bútiful, compúter].

The accentuated forms in the above examples are called redundant ù and redundant ú. None is used.

32. When u + consonant and vowel = doug, ù is used as a differential ù: bùter, cùlor, gùvern. Here, buter, culor, guvern without an accent would be misunderstood as hugh/luke: búter, cúlor, gúvern.

differential ù

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33. In non-Nordic words, hugh and luke are not distinguished graphically. As a general rule, they occur as follows:

• luke after /r ʃ ʒ l/: rumor, parashuet, jucy, ilusion.
• hugh in all other cases: cubik, musik, assuming, unity.

34. When luke occurs in other cases, it may be indicated with ü, which is called a facultative ü: müving, sütabel or muving, sutabel.

facultative ü

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35. In monosyllables, hugh/luke is assigned the following:

• open monosyllables have u: cu, du, flu, glu, su [sü], vu.
• closed monosyllables have ue: cuet, duek, fleut, glued, suet, vued.

36. In non-monosyllables, hugh/luke in the last syllable is assigned the following:

• open stressed has û: undû, revû, acrû, tabû [tabü], imbû.
• closed stressed has ú: sedús, revúd, acrús, imbúd.

The first group can also have ú: undú, revú, acrú, imbú. The use of û upholds an aesthetic practice (the Renaissance alexandrine accentuation) to avoid a rising accent in the last letter, e.g. in Italian così instead of cosí. French only breaks this rule for final -é, while final -ú is avoided in all Romance languages.

• open unstressed has u: menu, valu, vertu, issu, rètinu.
• closed unstressed has ue: menues, values, issued, rèvenues.

For the open unstressed group, cf. Chaucer valu, vertu, issu. In the closed unstressed group, u could be confused with unstressed doug in the last syllable. Hence pròduct with doug and pròdues with hugh/luke.

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Monks at Sherborne Abbey update the Bloo Bouk with revised spelling keys to reflect the grammar of a new emerging language (now known as Middle English), late 13^th century.