The general rules of accent, then, may be thus stated:
317. In the declension of monosyllabic stems, the accent falls upon the ending in all the weak cases (without distinction of middle and weakest): thus, nāvā́, nāubhyā́m, nāvā́m, nāuṣú; vācí, vāgbhís, vācā́m, vākṣú.
a. But some monosyllabic stems retain the accent throughout: thus, góbhis, gávām, góṣu. For such cases, see below, 350, 361 c, d, 372, 390, 427. And in the acc. pl. the stem is even oftener accented than the ending, some words also admitting either accentuation.
318. Of polysyllabic stems ending in consonants, only a few shift the accent to the ending, and that in the weakest (not the middle) cases. Such are:
a. Present participles in ánt or át: thus, from tudánt, tudatā́ and tudatós and tudatā́m; but tudádbhyām and tudátsu.
b. A few adjectives having the form of such participles, as mahatā́, bṛhatás.
c. Stems of which the accented final loses its syllable character by syncopation of the vowel: thus, majjñā́, mūrdhné, dāmnás (from majján etc.: 423).
d. Other sporadic cases will be noticed under the different declensions.
e. Case-forms used adverbially sometimes show a changed accent: see 1110 ff.
319. Of polysyllabic stems ending in accented short vowels, the final of the stem retains the accent if it retains its syllabic identity: thus, datténa and dattā́ya from dattá; agnínā and agnáye from agní; and also dattébhyas, agníbhis, and so on. Otherwise, the accent is on the ending: and that, whether the final and the ending are combined into one, as in dattāís, dhenāú, agnī́n, dhenū́s, and so on; or whether the final is changed into a semivowel before the ending: thus, dhenvā́, pitrā́, jāmyós, bāhvós, etc.
a. But ām of the gen. pl. from stems in í and ú and ṛ́ may, and in the older language always does, take the accent, though separated by n from the stem: thus, agnīnā́m, dhenūnā́m, pitṝṇā́m. In RV., even derivative ī-stems show usually the same shift: thus, bahvīnā́m. Of stems in á, only numerals (483 a) follow this rule: thus, saptānā́m, daçānā́m.
320. Root-words in ī and ū as final members of compounds retain the accent throughout, not shifting it to any of the endings. And in the older language there are polysyllable words in long final vowels which follow in this respect as in others the analogy of the root-declension (below, 355 ff.). Apart from these, the treatment of stems in derivative long vowels is, as regards accent, the same as those in short vowels — save that the tone is not thrown forward upon the ending in gen. plural.
