§ 61. These four sets of changes imply so great an alteration in the sounds of the original language that scholars are now agreed in thinking that they came about because the Indo-European language was acquired by a people originally quite strange to it, probably in consequence of some great conquest or invasion in Central and Northern Europe between the dates mentioned at the beginning of the last section. But whether Indo-European was the language of the invading or the invaded people has not yet been fully determined. The changes just described are generally described by German scholars as ‘the first Sound-shift’; because many hundred years later, when High German was separated from the other Germanic languages, a ‘second Sound-shift’ happened which created the most important differences between the consonants of Modern German and those of the other Germanic languages such as Danish, Dutch and English. These changes however do not come within the scope of this book.
Accent
§ 62. By an Accent we mean the degree of prominence in speaking given to one particular syllable above the other syllables of the same word or phrase. Thus in Eng. merrily the first syllable, in abandon the second syllable, in ascertain the third syllable has the Accent of the word; in hear me, or down with it the first syllable has the Accent of the phrase; in be quiet! the second syllable.
