Gothic language

===Accentuation and intonation===
Accentuation in Gothic can be reconstructed through phonetic comparison, [[Grimm's law]], and [[Verner's law]]. Gothic used a [[stress accent]] rather than the [[pitch accent]] of [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]]. This is indicated by the shortening of long vowels {{IPA|[eː]}} and {{IPA|[oː]}} and the loss of short vowels {{IPA|[a]}} and {{IPA|[i]}} in unstressed final syllables.

Just as in other Germanic languages, the free moving [[Proto-Indo-European accent]] was replaced with one fixed on the first syllable of simple words. Accents do not shift when words are inflected. In most compound words, the location of the stress depends on the type of compound:

* In compounds in which the second word is a ''noun'', the accent is on the first syllable of the first word of the compound.
* In compounds in which the second word is a ''verb'', the accent falls on the first syllable of the verbal component. Elements prefixed to verbs are otherwise unstressed except in the context of separable words (words that can be broken in two parts and separated in regular usage such as [[separable verb]]s in German and Dutch). In those cases, the prefix is stressed.

For example, with comparable words from modern Germanic languages:
* Non-compound words: ''marka'' {{IPA|[ˈmarka]}} "border, borderlands" (English ''march'', Dutch ''mark''); ''aftra'' {{IPA|[ˈaɸtra]}} "after"; ''bidjan'' {{IPA|[ˈbiðjan]}} "pray" (Dutch, ''bidden'', German ''bitten'', Icelandic ''biðja'', English ''bid'').
* Compound words:
** Noun first element: ''guda-láus'' {{IPA|[ˈɡuðalɔːs]}} "godless".
** Verb second element: ''ga-láubjan'' {{IPA|[ɡaˈlɔːβjan]}} "believe" (Dutch ''geloven'', German ''glauben'' < [[Old High German]] ''g(i)louben'' by [[syncope (phonetics)|syncope]] of the unaccented ''i'').