tonic accent
- noun
- /ˈtɒnɪk ˈæksɛnt/
- Specialized
- Unlike stress in English, a tonic accent depends on pitch rather than loudness.
Examples
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In certain languages, the tonic accent marks the main pitch rise on a syllable.
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Linguists study how the tonic accent changes the meaning of spoken phrases.
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In English, the tonic accent usually falls on the first syllable.
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A tonic accent can change the meaning of a word.
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In languages like Spanish, the tonic accent helps indicate which syllable is stressed in a word.
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The position of the tonic accent in a phrase can alter its interpretation in spoken communication.
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In Italian, learners must pay attention to the tonic accent to pronounce words correctly.
Synonyms
1
3.7
Stress that makes a syllable or musical note stronger
1
3.9
Emphasis on one syllable when you say a word with more than one syllable
1
8.8
A change in high or low voice on a part of a word that changes meaning
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning ('emphasis on a syllable produced by a change in pitch') is directly derivable from combining 'tonic' (relating to tone or the syllable carrying nuclear stress) with 'accent' (emphasis). This is a straightforward, technical compositional label found across languages (e.g. Spanish 'acento tónico'), so a learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Tonic accent comes from music and the idea of a tone that stands out. Think of tonic as a 'tone' and accent as the part that stands out, like one note in a song that changes its 'pitch' while the others stay the same, so the emphasis comes from 'pitch' rather than from being louder.