Accentual movements in the present tense of mulitsyllable Russian and Cakavian verbs

Abstract

In an effort to investigate the relationship between the Russian and čakavian accent the article analyses the accentuial movements in the present of mulitsyllabic čakavian and Russian verbs. Allhough the author in the infinitive perceives a significant correspondence (arround 85%) in the position of the accent, in the present tense, due to the movement of the accent, this relationship undergoes changes. An analysis of the tergeted material (358 pair of multisyllabic verbs) shows dial in the infinitive 302 pairs have the accent inlhe same position. The movement of the accent in the present has lead to the formation of a number of types of accent groups. The number of verbs of a particular type is expressed in percentages. A complete correspondence in the position of the accent in trie present tense is shown liy 44% of the material (39% of verbs which in the present retain the same position of the accent as in the infinitive and 5% of verbs which in both systems undergo a movement of the accent from the root syllable to the suffix). A total discrepancy in the position of the accent in tire present is visible in 26% of the verbs (these are verbs where the accent is moveable in one system and fixed in the other). Partial correspondence is evident in 30% of the verbs in our corpus of examples (primarily because of Russian verbs which frequently in the first person singular have their accent on the suffix while in the other cases the accent is on the root).