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Syllable stress in Workbook answer key


Syllable stress in Workbook answer key

Postby seminomadic » Thu Feb 13, 2014 6:11 am

In the Wheelock's workbook (3rd ed. rev) from unit 1, my answer key says that the LAST syllable in several items is stressed:

20 (b) sal ve RE
20 (e) an ti QUA
20 (f) iu va TE

However, the intro to Wheelock's (p. xliv) reads: In a word of three or more syllables (a) the accent falls on the next to last syllable (sometimes called the "penult"), if that syllable is long
(ser-VA-re, con-SER-vat, for-TU-na); (b) otherwise, the accent falls on the
syllable before that (the "antepenult": MO-ne-o, PA-tri-a, pe-CU-ni-a,

and so I had...
20 (b) sal VE re
20 (e) an TI qua
20 (f) iu VA te

Safe to assume this is a repeating mistake by the workbook's creators, or am I misapplying the stress rule?
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Re: Syllable stress in Workbook answer key

Postby michelb » Wed Mar 19, 2014 9:17 am

No, you're not going crazy. I remember noticing the same issue for numerous vocabulary words throughout the Wheelock textbook (not the workbook), but attributed it to typography errors in the Kindle edition and in some cases accepted the possibility that those might be loan words from other languages (for example, Greek or Etruscan) where the rules for long vowels were possibly different (knowing neither of those, I can't say for certain).

It's a shame, really, because remembering the macrons makes some parts of learning Latin much easier. A great example for me was the long e in 2nd conjugation verbs and the short e in 3rd/3rd iō. Asking, "Why does habeō keep the e but agō drops it?" and getting the answer, "It just does. Memorize it and move on." was not very satisfying and one of the reasons why I later much preferred studying on my own. It also explains better the etymology of some words, for example nīl being the outcome of centuries of lazily pronouncing nihil until the i's turned into one drawn-out sound. Call me boring, but I find that kind of stuff fascinating.

By the way, the exact same question was posted once before: http://www.textkit.com/greek-latin-forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=12197
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