My name is Emil Kolarov alias Ardavarz from Bulgaria. I study Pali here by myself and there is a question I've wondered about, but I couldn't find an answer in the grammars and textbooks I have - these by Ven. Narada Thera, Lily de Silva and Charles Duroiselle. There is nothing said about the accent in Pali words. Is it the same as in Sanskrit? I think this is not an unimportant matter since by accent is possible to distinguish different classes of compounds and so on. Thus for example both Sanskrit proper name Gotama and the family name Gautama would sound in Pali like "Gotama" and could be distinguished in pronunciation only by laying stress on the first or final syllable. Am I right in this suggestion? If, as Ven. Narada wrote, Pali is "a lingua franca in Buddhist countries", there must be some convention regarding this issue.
Can you help me in this puzzle of mine?
Thanks.
With metta,
Ardavarz
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