Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and Linguistics

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Wheeler’s Law
(875 words)

Abstract

‘Wheeler’s Law’ (also known as ‘dactylic retraction’) refers to an accent retraction process reconstructed for Common Greek by which oxytone words became paroxytone if they ended in a heavy-light-light syllable sequence, e.g. *poikilós > poikílos ‘multi-colored’.

‘Wheeler’s Law’ refers to a phonologically conditioned accent retraction process reconstructed for an early pandialectal stage of Greek by which oxytone words became paroxytone if they ended in a heavy-light-light syllable sequence (‘HLL’), e.g. *poikilós > poikílo…

Cite this page
Dieter Gunkel, “Wheeler’s Law”, in: Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and Linguistics, General Editor: Georgios K. Giannakis. Consulted online on 27 March 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2214-448X_eagll_SIM_00000551>
First published online: 2013



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