DIACRITICAL ACCENT: TYPES AND EXAMPLES - LITERATURE - 2024

The diacritical accent is a punctuation mark that is used to distinguish the grammatical office from homograph words. In general, an accent or accent marks the phonic emphasis that is made on a syllable of a word.

For their part, homograph words are those that, although different, have the same spelling; that is, they are written the same.

Example of diacritical accent

Now, in words with more than one syllable, there is a stressed syllable - pronounced with a greater voice intensity and unstressed syllables. At the written level, this marked intonation is indicated by a small inclined line known as a tilde or orthographic accent. However, the diacritical accent, or emphatic accent, has a different function.

In the first instance, this is used in monosyllabic words (words with a single syllable) to distinguish them from others of a different category that are written the same.

This can be seen in the prayers: He came to Mass and The wine is extracted from the grape. Clearly, the accent serves to differentiate the personal pronoun he from the article el.

The same phenomenon is observed in: He wants me to give wine to the guests and He gave a bottle of wine. The word with the diacritical accent indicates that it is a form of the verb give, while the other is the preposition. It can be noted that this does not happen with the words wine (from the verb to come) and wine (the noun).

In addition, interrogative and exclamatory pronouns have a diacritical mark. This distinguishes them from relative pronouns, relative adverbs, and from conjunctions.

Thus, for example, the pronoun when has an accent: When are you going to forgive me? But the conjunction does not: He says he does not know, when the truth is that he was there all the time.

Types and examples

-Diacritical accent in monosyllables

The rules currently in use state that monosyllabic words, in general, do not carry an accent. However, some monosyllables have a diacritical accent to distinguish them from other words with the same spelling.

Now, the criterion for using the accented form or not is its grammatical category. These grammatical categories express notions such as noun, verb, adjective, among others.

Examples

Note how the diacritical accent is used in the following examples:

-You need me to give you the phone number of all providers whose companies start with from. (Give as a verb, as a preposition and as a noun).

He thinks that everything will be resolved no later than the Monday. (He as a personal pronoun and he as an article).

-She was the most qualified for the position, but she did not trust her own abilities. (More like an adverb and more like an adversative conjunction).

-I was desperate to earn more money, but could not work anymore. (More like an adjective, more like an adversative conjunction and more like a pronoun).

-Of course it should be read five plus two equals seven, but you must put the plus. (More like conjunction with addition value, more like adversative conjunction and more like noun).

-For me, something is not right with the my of my piano. (Me as a personal pronoun, my as a noun that denotes a musical note and my as a possessive adjective).

I know that was cut with scissors and not be told. (I know as a verb, I know as a reflexive pronoun and I know as a personal pronoun).

-It feels good knowing what I know. (I know with impersonal value and I know as a verb).

-Yes, if you sing it in B major, it sounds much better. (Yes as an adverb of affirmation, if as a conjunction and if as a noun that denotes a musical note).

-He said that if she didn't say yes, he would feel ashamed of himself. (If as a conjunction, yes as a noun that indicates approval and yes as a reflexive personal pronoun).

-I asked you if you want me to make a cup of tea. (Te as a personal pronoun and tea as a noun).

Do you want me to update your personal agenda? (You as a personal pronoun and you as a possessive adjective)

-Interrogative and exclamatory

The interrogative and exclamatory relative pronouns must have the diacritical accent. These are used to enter the question mark and exclamation mark, respectively.

This same rule applies when they are used as nouns. In the case of interrogation, this can be direct or indirect, but it is always accentuated.

On the other hand, when they function as relative, the words that, who, who, which, which, where, where, how, which, when, when and how much do not have an accent. Nor are they accentuated when they function as a conjunction.

Examples

In the following sentences you can see the application of this set of rules with some of these grammatical categories:

-¿ do you think of the new neighbor? (Direct interrogative relative pronoun).

-I want to know what you think of the new neighbor. (Indirect interrogative relative pronoun).

-¡ What amazing! (Relative exclamatory pronoun).

-The things he said didn't make much sense. (Relative pronoun).

-I'm glad you think so. (Conjunction).

-I didn't want to know what, but how much. (Nouns).

-¿ Who translated these texts? (Direct interrogative relative pronoun).

-It is necessary to find out who translated those texts. (Indirect interrogative relative pronoun).

-¡ Who saw you now! (Relative exclamatory pronoun)

-Santiago, who remained silent during the meeting, knew all the details. (Relative pronoun).

-Don't trust someone who says one thing and does another. (Conjunction).

-He was tormented by the who, when and how of the next betrayal. (Nouns).

-Even / still

In the case of the pair even / even, the accented form is used when changing it to the word still does not alter the meaning of the sentence. The other form is used when it has the same value of also, until, even or even (the latter with the negation nor).

Likewise, it is written without an accent when it has a concessive value, either in the conjunctive expression even when (equivalent to although), as well as if it is followed by an adverb or a gerund.

Examples

In the following sentences you can see the use of these rules:

-He still asks me to give him some kind of explanation. (Still asking…).

-This way of preparing fish is even easier. (.. it's even easier.).

-We prepared as much as we could, but we think we should study even more. (… Study even more.).

-Everyone received an award, even those who made no effort. (… Even those who made no effort.).

-He was very hostile, and even dared to question his methods, but then he accepted defeat. (… And he even dared to question his methods…).

-Not even up close I could see what was written there. (Not even close…).

-Even if you don't tell me, I'll know. (Even if you don't tell me…).

-Even knowing its financial limitations, decided to undertake the project. (Although knowing its economic limitations…).

-They offered their help disinterestedly, even so they did not accept it. (… Even so they didn't accept it.).

-Just alone

Currently, the Royal Spanish Academy recommends not using the diacritical accent to distinguish between the adverb and the adjective.

Solo, as an adverb, equates to only. Meanwhile, as an adjective it means without company. It is a plain word ending in a vowel. Therefore, the general rules of accentuation indicate that it should not have an accent.

However, it was previously thought that these could be misinterpreted. Therefore, to eliminate possible ambiguity, the mandatory rule was to accentuate the adverb (only). This would make it possible to distinguish between Drank only one beer (without company) and Drank only one beer (only one).

Later, the institution that ensures compliance with a standard common to all Spanish speakers decided that the possibility of this happening is minimal. Thus, taking into account the simplicity of the rules, this diacritical accent is no longer mandatory.

Even in the beginning the recommendation was to use this accent only in cases where there could be the possibility of an ambiguous interpretation.

However, since context and other alternate forms can dispel this ambiguity, the tilde is no longer required to make the distinction.

-Demonstrative

Demonstratives are words that determine the meaning of the name, or noun, through a relationship of place. The group is made up of this, that, that, this, that, that, these, those, those, these, those, those, this, that and that.

Except the last three, the demonstratives can have the function of adjectives (It is this building) or pronoun (The building is this). Previously, the rules of the Royal Spanish Academy, as with the adverb solo, required the use of the diacritical accent to differentiate both uses.

Thus, when these functioned as pronouns that accent should be used. For example, in sentences like * That one is a sacred tree or * Give me one of those, the demonstratives should be accentuated. Its use avoided ambiguities in the interpretation of the texts.

These ambiguities were present in propositions such as: Why did they want those video games? With the accent, those would be the subject of the sentence. Without it, it would be a demonstrative adjective.

Again, the criterion was imposed that the diacritical accent was not necessary. The institution of the language considers that there is no justification for its use.

The main function of this tilde is to oppose stressed words to unstressed words that are identical in form. But this condition is not given neither in the demonstratives nor in the case of the two forms of the adverb alone.

References

1. Veciana, R. (2004). The Spanish accentuation: new manual of the accentual norms. Santander: Editions University of Cantabria.
2. University of Palermo. (s / f). Orthographic manual of the Spanish language. Taken from fido.palermo.edu.
3. Marín, E. (1999). Spanish grammar. Mexico DF: Editorial Progreso.
4. The Country (2014). El País style book: New updated edition. Barcelona: Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial España.
5. Royal Spanish Academy. (s / f). The adverb alone and the demonstrative pronouns, without accent. Taken from rae.es.
6. Accent mark. (2005). Pan-Hispanic Dictionary of Doubts. Taken from lema.rae.es.
7. Traill, EL; Vigueras Avila, A. and Baez Pinal, GE (2005). Basic dictionary of linguistics. Mexico City: UNAM.
8. Palacio Rivera, J. (2010). Spelling, practical manual to write better. Madrid: RC Libros.