The emphatic accent allows us to differentiate between two words through pronunciation and the use of the accent: tea / te.
Accent , which comes from the Latin accentus , is the articulation of the voice that allows one syllable of a word to be highlighted through pronunciation. The distinction is achieved by using a higher pitch or greater intensity.
There are different types of accent, such as prosodic accent or musical accent . In this case we are going to focus on the emphatic accent , which is also known as diacritic accent .
Characteristics of the emphatic accent
This accent allows us to differentiate between two words through pronunciation and implies, in writing, the use of an accent (an oblique line ). In this way, a distinction is established between a stressed syllable and an unstressed syllable that contributes to the differentiation of two meanings.
Let's take the case of him / her . When this monosyllable is written without an accent, it is an article: "The car broke down." On the other hand, if the emphatic accent is used, the word becomes a personal pronoun: "He already knows that his doors are open to this company."
The emphatic accent is also used in other monosyllabic words, such as se ( "My wife is already gone" / "I swear I don't know" ) and te ( "I'll call you later" / "Today I'll go have tea with my grandmother" ).
With the emphatic accent, an exclamatory pronoun is differentiated from a relative pronoun or a conjunction.
Other examples
More examples that we can find regarding the use or not of the emphatic accent are the following:
-More and more. The first word functions as an adversative conjunction while the second is an adverb of quantity. Examples of sentences for both would be the following: "I want to go on that trip but my finances don't allow it" and "I ate much more than I should."
-Yes and yes. The first term is a conditional conjunction and the second is an affirmative adverb. In this way, they are used in this way: "If you come to my house to do your homework, tomorrow I will accompany you to play for a bike ride" and "When I asked him if he wanted to marry me, he answered me with a resounding yes."
-I know and I know. The first option is a personal pronoun and the second is a first person singular verb form. Examples are these: "He fell asleep during the car ride" and "I don't know what you're talking about, I have nothing to do with that matter."
In addition to all the data presented, we cannot ignore the fact that there are others that are also worth knowing about the emphatic accent, such as the following:
-It is very common that it is used to convert a stressed word into an unstressed one.
-It can be found very frequently in speeches and exhibitions of a journalistic or political nature.
Emphatic accent in exclamations and questions
Exclamatory pronouns and interrogative pronouns , on the other hand, have an emphatic accent to differentiate them from conjunctions and relative pronouns .
"It's so cold in this place!" / "I think you'll like this."; "What is your name?" / «No player is as skilled as Messi» y "Who will come to eat?" / "These are the guys I told you about last night." reflejan este uso.