accentlessadj.

1807 G. H. Noehden Gram. of German Lang. (ed. 2) i. i. 88 Nor can they possibly be accentless; because it is necessary to pronounce them distinctly, and, in a manner, sonorously, to render them intelligible.

1856 Jrnl. Amer. Oriental Soc. 5 213 Other languages, to be sure, as for instance the Greek, have their classes of properly accentless words, which attach themselves more or less closely, as proclitics or enclitics, to some other more prominent word in the sentence.

1867 Lard's Q. Jan. 56 Their cruelty is manifested not only in the tasteless and accentless way of torturing the poor creatures [sc. songs], but in their protracting the torment.

1879 F. M. Müller in Academy 5 July 11/1 The Svarita, an excellent expedient to break through the ekasruti or monotonous and accentless recitation prescribed for the Sûtras.

1909 C. F. A. Williams Rhythm Mod. Mus. i. 8 In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries instruments were in an early stage of development. They were weak of tone, and for the most part accentless.

1975 J. Maw & J. Kelly Intonation in Swahili i. 10 Accent is manifested by a pitch that is high relative to surrounding accentless syllables.

2007 R. Huysmans in R. Bielmeier & F. Haller Linguistics of Himalayas & Beyond 155 Monosyllabic words are accentless when uttered in isolation.

1882 G. L. M. Strauss Reminisc. Old Bohemian II. 158 He was..a fluent, accentless speaker of seven European languages.

1887 Mrs. Molesworth Marrying & Giving in Marriage iii. 52 ‘I confess that idea has suggested itself to me, dear madame,’ he replied, with a smile, in fluent and almost accentless French.

1900 Werner's Mag. Sept. 81/2 The dramatic muse, we trow, cannot surely be accentless, and it would be interesting to know just what accent she is supposed specially to affect.

1941 Life 25 Aug. 79/2 Today, because of his London-tailored clothes and pleasing, accentless speech, [Fred] Astaire is mistaken by many of his fans for an Englishman.

1987 Daily Tel. 6 July 17/8 An American friend, of Russian ancestry and accentless in Russian, was once, in the small medieval town of Suzdal, flatteringly mistaken for a local.

2010 F. Grosjean Bilingual i. vii. 81 Early learning—acquiring a second or third language in early childhood, and using it extensively—is a good guarantee for ‘accentless’ speech. (I put ‘accentless’ in quotes because all speech is accented, by definition, although not in the sense used here.)