1 Ranko Matasović University of Zagreb E-mail: rmatasov@ffzg.hr THE ACCENTUATION OF BALTO-SLAVIC VRDDHI FORMATIONS 1 1. Theories of the origin of Balto-Slavic acute There are three current theories about the origin of the Balto-Slavic acute intonation: a) the traditional theory: acute develops on all long vowels, whether apophonic or secondarily lenghtened after the loss of laryngeals (e.g. Carlton 1991). b) The Leiden school approach (Kortlandt 2011, Derksen 1996, Pronk 2012): the acute develops from glottalization, which in turn occurs on vowels preceding laryngeals and voiced (< glottalized) stops (by Winter's law). All apophonic long vowels are circumflexed. c) Villanueva-Svensson's theory: apophonic long vowels are circumflexed in non-initial syllables and monosyllables, but acuted in initial syllables. Vowels lengthened by the loss of laryngeals are acuted (Villanueva Svensson 2011). d) The present writer's opinion (Matasović 2008): the Leiden school is correct with respect to PIE lengthened grade vowels, which are circumflexed. However, new, morphologically derived lengthened grades in Balto-Slavic receive the acute. This is the ‘Balto-Slavic Vr ddhi’, to which this paper is dedicated. 2. Vr ddhi in PIE? Vr ddhi is a formation of denominal adjectives by lengthening the root syllable. The process is best attested in Indo-Iranian, especially in Sanskrit, cf. Skt. sákhi- ‘follower, friend’ vs. sākhyá- ‘society’, víś- ‘village, settlement’ vs. váiśya- ‘member of the vaiśya caste’, mā nua- ‘connected with men’ vs. mánua- ‘man’. 1 This paper was read ad the conference of the Indogermanische Gesellschaft in Leiden, in July 2013. Thanks to Tijmen Pronk, Frederik Kortlandt and Sasha Lubotsky for their comments.