What is the prosodic accent

Words count on different accentuations, that is, syllables whose pronunciation is much stronger than that of the rest. In Spanish we can find different types of accents that will be marked by accents. These help to identify and pronounce words correctly. In this lesson a PROFESSOR we are going to tell you what is the prosodic accent and its examples. In this way you will be able to understand them better and learn to place and identify them more easily.

In Spanish we can find different types of accents, some words have an accent and others do not, but all have an accent. That is, some of the words in Spanish have an accent mark that indicates where in the word the accentuation is placed and others that do not. Although they lack an accent, these words also have their own accentuation. The different accents are:

• Prosodic accent
• Orthographic accent
• Diacritical accent

In order to understand what a diacritical accent is, we must first know how to distinguish them from the rest of accents that we can find in Spanish.

Orthographic accent

The accent or accent is a sign that it is placed on the syllables that are stressed. This identifies where the strength of the pronunciation of each of the words goes. These spelling accents are governed by a series of spelling rules that determine which words are accented and where. Let's look at some examples of words that are stressed:

• Mouse
• Truck
• Lion
• Camera

Diacritical accent

Some words have a diacritical accent, that is, their accent is not spelling. In other words, in Spanish there are words that are written with an accent even though the spelling rules indicate otherwise. This is done for a single reason, that of power distinguish words that are spelled the same. This is the case, for example of exclamatory or interrogative words. An example: the word como, despite not being stressed due to spelling rules, is stressed when it appears in an exclamatory or interrogative sentence.

• The man who lives in the second works as a truck driver What your husband.
• ¿How Can we identify the definite articles from the indeterminate ones?
• ¡How this!

Now that we know what the rest of accents are, we are going to define what the prosodic accent is and some examples to better understand it. Thus we can point out that the prosodic accent is one that allows us to identify on which syllable the tonic accent of a word is going to fall. That is, which syllable is the strongest in the word. In anyone we can find stressed syllables and unstressed syllables. This pronunciation of a syllable with more force with respect to the rest is known as an accent.

The syllable on which the accent is placed is always known as the stressed syllable, or more commonly accented. The prosodic accent may or may not be accented, as we have already seen. That is, the strong syllable of a word can be marked with an orthographic sign: the accent or tilde (´). In order to apply it there are a series of accentuation rules in which we can distinguish:

Sharp words

Acute words are those that have a prosodic accent on the last syllable and may or may not be stressed. Next we will see where the accent is in these sharp words:

• Mouse
• Motor
• Chameleon
• Instructor
• Trunk
• Baby
• Scalpel

Plain words

They are those that have the prosodic accent on the penultimate syllable. Like sharp words, they may or may not appear accented. Let's see some examples:

• Home
• Dog
• Table
• Consul
• Zodiac
• Kitchen

Words esdrújulas

On the other hand, esdrújulas words are those that have a prosodic accent on the third to last syllable. These are always accented, that is, they always have an accent. Let's see some examples:

• Bat
• Archipelago
• Ridiculous
• Esdrújula
• Fast

Words sobreesdrújulas

The prosodic accent is placed on any syllable of the word before the penultimate. They are the least frequent in Spanish, but we are going to see some examples to be able to know them:

• Tell me
• Take it
• Tell her
• Periodically
• Quickly

Next we are going to see a series of words in which we are going to indicate where the prosodic accent or stressed syllable is found. As we have already discussed previously, some are accentuated and others are not:

• Aceitea
• TOgenegives
• Tobanza
• Alambragives
• Joyíto
• To thefombra
• To theto
• Arbowl
• Carbus
• Avion
• BaI know
• Bikecleta
• ACfaith
• Shimyounes
• CalengivesRiver
• ACma
• ACmesa
• CarniECro
• Ciloan
• Coche
• Compra
• Compliestous
• Economyta
• Elehedo
• Dupesdor
• It isbelto
• Photografyto
• Gato
• Jardín
• Mantel
• Moto
• MuñeAC
• Wildebeestbe
• Olmo
• Orderdor
• Pagina
• Pantalon
• Panot
• Panet
• Puerta
• Hehave
• Sisteama
• Soledad
• Teayouphone
• Televisionon
• Teateara
• Totolla
• Hecor
• Cometana
• Zapayoulla

You already know what the prosodic accent is with examples. If you liked this lesson you can find more information about other topics that may interest you to continue increasing your knowledge about Spanish language. We encourage you to visit our sections where you will find many news.