Word stress in the Spanish language

The word stress or the word accent ( Spanish acentuación del idioma español ) usually takes place on the last or penultimate syllable. If the word ends in a vowel or the letter “n” or “s” and does not have an accent mark, then the penultimate syllable is stressed. On the other hand, if the word ends in a consonant (except for “n” or “s”) and has no accented mark, it is stressed on the last syllable. In all cases that deviate from this, the stress is replaced by an accent , acento ortográfico ( acute) above the vowel of the stressed syllable. However, the rules of accent writing for diphthong and hiatus ( see below ) take precedence over this spelling rule for the accented character .

The accented sign is an acute accent (á, é, í, ó, ú) and stands above the vowel of the stressed syllable.

A distinction is made between the following:

prosodic accent (acento prosódico)
orthographic accent (acento ortográfico)
diacritical accent (acento diacrítico)
emphatic accent (acento enfático).

The prosodic accent is the stress (the accent , word accent ) of the spoken word. Every polysyllabic word has a stress - as part of prosody . The orthographic accent is the emphasis given in the written language. For numerous Spanish words, an accent mark ( diacritical mark ) must be written to mark the stress ; it corresponds graphically to the French accent aigu . The diacritical accent is used in some Spanish words to indicate a difference in meaning. The emphatic accent marks question words ( interrogative pronouns ) and exclamation pronouns on the stressed syllable.

The vast majority of words in the Spanish language are stressed on the penultimate syllable, such as persona . The second most common accent position is on the last syllable. Depending on the position of the stressed syllable in the word, the Spanish vocabulary can be divided into the following groups:

Oxytona : the last syllable is stressed. - example:

consulté

Paroxytona : the penultimate syllable is stressed. - example:

persona

3. Proparoxytona : the third from last syllable is stressed. - example:

rápido

4. Superproparoxytona : the fourth from last syllable is stressed. - example:

cómpranselo

5. Emphasis on the fifth from last syllable. - example:

castíguesemelo

Free word accent

Spanish has free accentuation of words. This flexible accent is therefore not tied to a specific syllable. Because of the flexible word stress, the stress in Spanish can have a differentiating function, just as it does in German.

Examples:

término ['tér-mi-no] (deadline)
termino [ter-'mi-no] (I'm finishing)
terminó [ter-mi-'nó] (he / she finished, you finished)
célebre ['cé-le-bre] (solemn)
celebre [ce-'le-bre] (he / she is celebrating, you are celebrating [subjuntivo])
celebré [ce-le-'bré] (I celebrated)

In addition to Spanish, German , English, Italian, Portuguese and Russian also have a free word accent.

In contrast, in Icelandic, Finnish, Hungarian or Czech, the first word syllable is always stressed. In Polish the penultimate syllable is always emphasized, in Greek the penultimate syllable. In Turkish, the last word syllable is always stressed. In French, too, the last word syllable seems to be emphasized, but it is more a phrase accent than a word accent - the last syllable of the meaning group is emphasized.

Hyphenation in the Spanish language

The rules of hyphenation in the Spanish language require that every syllable must contain at least one vowel. A consonant that stands between two vowels is counted as part of the second syllable. If there are two consecutive consonants, the first is assigned to the first syllable and the other to the second syllable. The consonant connections ll, rr, ch, bl, cl, fl, gl, kl, pl, br, cr, dr, fr, gr, kr, pr and tr are not written in two syllables. If there are three consecutive consonants, the first two belong to the front syllable and the third to the back syllable. If there are four consecutive consonants, the first two belong to the front syllable and the last two to the back syllable. The hyphenation of vowels is explained in the section: Stress in vowel doubles (diphthong, hiatus) and triphthong .

Prosodic accent

The following rules of stress apply to the pronunciation of Spanish words:

1.) If the word ends in a vowel or the letter "n" or "s", then the penultimate syllable is stressed. Examples:

amig a [a-'mi-ga] (girlfriend)
chicl e ['chi-cle] (chewing gum)
diner o [di-'ne-ro] (money)
jove n ['jo-ven] (young)
nosotro s [no-'so-tros] (we)

2.) If the word ends in a consonant (except for “n” or “s”), then the last syllable is stressed. Examples:

amista d [a-mis-'tad] (friendship)
juventu d [ju-ven-'tud] (youth)
hote l [ho-'tel] (hotel)
baila r [bai-'lar] (dancing)
arro z [a-'rroz] (rice)

3.) In all cases, the emphasis deviating by an accent stroke ( acute ) appears standing over the vowel of the stressed syllable. Examples:

camión [ca-'mión] (truck)
café [ca-'fé] (café)
compás [com-'pás] (circle)
dominó [do-mi-'nó] (domino)
volcán [vol-'cán] (volcano)
víctima ['víc-ti-ma] (sacrifice) - esdrújula
fútbol ['fút-bol] (football)
álbum ['ál-bum] (album)
césped ['cés-ped] (lawn)
Pérez ['Pé-rez] (a family name)

Orthographic accent

In Spanish, the stressed syllable of a word is marked consistently if it deviates from the basic rules. Its pronunciation can be clearly derived from the spelling of a Spanish word. In Italian, for example, there is no continuous marking of the stressed syllable.

The spelling rules for the accent mark, when it has to be written and when not, are based on the three stress categories with the four parts of speech:

palabra aguda (words that are stressed on the last syllable) - short: aguda
palabra llana (words that are stressed on the penultimate syllable) - in short llana - as palabra grave referred
palabra esdrújula (words that are stressed on the penultimate [i.e. the third from last] syllable) - in short: esdrújula
palabra sobreesdrújula (words that are stressed on the fourth from the last syllable) - short: sobreesdrújula

In Spanish, words that are stressed before the third to last syllable are called palabras esdrújulas . Words that are stressed on the penultimate syllable are called palabras llanas (also known as palabras graves ). If the emphasis is on the last syllable, these words are called palabras agudas .

Since most Spanish words are stressed on the penultimate syllable (Llana), these words are also known as voces comunes (common words) . The frequency is followed by the words with the stress on the last syllable (Aguda) and much less often with the stress before the penultimate syllable (Esdrújula).

In addition, there are rules regarding the spelling of the accented mark if the stressed syllable or one of the following word syllables contains a double vowel.

For Spain, the stress and the spelling of the accented mark, like all spelling rules of the Spanish language, are bindingly regulated by the Real Academia Española . For Latin America, these rules have been adopted by the respective language academies in the individual Spanish-speaking countries ( Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española ). The spelling of the accented characters, which are called tilde in Spanish, causes difficulties for many Spaniards, similar to the spelling problems in Germany. When teaching Spanish accentuation (for schoolchildren and language students), especially when the accent is emphasized by the speaker, this is demonstrated by native speakers by a very long stretch of the stressed vowel. In contrast to Germany, where the emphasis is made clearer by the louder (stressed) pronunciation of the respective syllable.

In German technical language, the Greek technical terms are used for the designation of the main accent syllables (syllable position ) for Romance languages :

Oxytonon - main accent on the last syllable
Paroxytonon - main accent on the penultimate syllable
Proparoxytonon - main accent on the penultimate syllable.

Aguda

"Aguda words" ( palabra aguda ; usually only briefly aguda ) are words that are stressed on the last syllable.

Words that end in a consonant (other than “n” or “s”) are stressed on the last syllable. However, words that end in a vowel or “n” or “s” and are stressed on the last syllable must be written with an accent mark.

Examples of Aguda words without stress marks:

estoy [es-'toy] (I am)
ingratitud [in-gra-ti-'tud] (ingratitude)
niñez [ni-'ñez] (childhood)
papel [pa-'pel] (paper)
recordar [re-cor-'dar] (remember)

Examples of Aguda words with stress marks (without the accent mark the reader would otherwise automatically accentuate the penultimate syllable according to the Llana rule):

bebé [be-'bé] (baby)
está [es-'tá] (is)
mum mum mum)
revolución [re-vo-lu-'ción] (revolution)
sofá [so-'fá] (sofa)

Llana

"Llana words" ( palabra llana ; usually only short llana ) are words that are stressed on the penultimate syllable.

Words that end in a vowel or the letter “n” or “s” are stressed on the penultimate syllable . However, words that end in a consonant (except "n" or "s") and are stressed on the penultimate syllable must be written with an accent mark.

Examples of unaccented Llana words:

farmacia [far-'ma-cia] (pharmacy)
italiano [i-ta-'lia-no] (Italian, Italian)
plano ['pla-no] (level)
trabajan [tra-'ba-jan] (they work)
zapato [za-'pa-to] (shoe)

Examples of accented Llana words:

árbol ['ár-bol] (tree)
carácter [ca-'rác-ter] (character)
lápiz ['lá-piz] (pencil)
móbil ['mó-bil] (mobile home)
trébol ['tré-bol] (clover)

Esdrújula and Sobreesdrújula

"Esdrújula words" ( palabra esdrújula ; usually just esdrújula for short ) are words that are stressed on the penultimate syllable. Due to different developments, this stress pattern is much rarer in Spanish than in Italian, for example, which has mostly received the Latin stress. "Esdrújula words" and "Sobreesdrújula words" are subject to the same rules for accenting: they are always written with accented characters. Palabras sobreesdrújulas are words that are stressed on the penultimate syllable. They only appear in compositions.

This distinction between “Esdrújula words” and “Sobreesdrújula words” does not make any difference for the writing of the accented character, since both are always written with accented characters. When teaching the accenting rules, the separate description of the "Sobreesdrújula words" is therefore often omitted. These are then tacitly assigned to the "Esdrújula words", with the spelling rule: The stress on the third from last syllable or even further in front of the word is always marked with accented characters.

Examples of Esdrújula words:

bárbaro ['bár-ba-ro] (cruel, great)
enciclopédico [en-ci-clo-'pé-di-co] (encyclopedic)
esdrújulo [es-'drú-ju-lo] (word stressed on the third from last syllable)
húmedo ['hú-me-do] (wet)
informática [in-for-'má-ti-ca] (computer science)
médico ['mé-di-co] (doctor)
teléfono [te-'lé-fo-no] (telephone)

Examples of Sobreesdrújula words:

dígaselo ['dí-ga-se-lo] (tell him)
cuéntamelo ['cuén-ta-me-lo] (tell me)
corríjasele [co-'rrí-ja-se-le] (correct it!)
prepáresele [pre-'pá-re-se-le] (prepare it!)
fácilmente ['fá-cil-men-te] (easy)
difícilmente [di-'fí-cil-men-te] (difficult)
esporádicamente [es-po-rá-di-ca-men-te] (sporadic)

Emphasis in double vowels (diphthong, hiatus) and triphthong

Diphthongs (vowel connection) and triphthongs are connections of two or three vowels, which together form a syllable. A diphthong is a combination of a weak and a strong vowel. Weak vowels are “i” and “u” in Spanish, while “a”, “e” and “o” are strong vowels. The weak vowels are also known as "closed tonic vowels" (vocales cerradas tónicas) and the strong vowels as "open vowels" (vocales abiertas) . Strong vowels do not change their timbre, while weak vowels are pronounced as half vowels if they follow the strong vowel and as half consonants if they come before the strong vowel. Examples:

d eu da ['deu-da] (guilt)
r ei na ['rei-na] (queen)
ag ua ['a-gua] (water)
l ue go ['lue-go] (then)
m ie do [mi'e-do] (fear)
camb io ['cam-bio] (change)
Ital ia [I-'ta-lia] (Italy)

Usually diphthongs that contain a weak vowel (“i” and “u”) together with a strong vowel (“a”, “e” or “o”) are spoken as a monosyllabic vowel connection. The strong vowel carries the syllable tone - this is not always the word accent. However, if the weak vowel is to be emphasized, this must be indicated by an accent mark and it is then a two-syllable vowel connection (hiatus).

When the stress of the word is on the diphthong syllable, the strong vowel is stressed. Examples:

d eu da ['d e u-da] (guilt)
h ue co ['hu e -co] (gap)
m ie do ['mi e -do] (fear)
h ia to ['hi a -to] (hiatus)
ital ia no [i-ta-'li a -no] (Italian, Italian)
l ue go ['lu e -go] (then)
d ia blo ['di a -blo] (devil)

If the weak vowel carries the tone, the diphthong dissolves and one speaks of a hiatus (hiato) - a vowel collision with a vowel on both sides of a syllable boundary. If two strong vowels are next to each other, then they belong to two different syllables - this is also a hiatus. The emphasis must then be indicated by an accent.

Examples:

d ía ['dí-a] (day)
gu ía ['guí-a] (guide, manual)
a ún [a-ún] (still, even)
gr úa ['grú-a] (crane)
librer ía [li-bre-'rí-a] (bookstore)

Although a Llana word that ends in a vowel (without “n” or “s”) is usually written without an accent, it may still need to be accented because of the primacy of the hiatus rule. Examples:

oído [o-'í-do] (ear): Since the word is stressed on the penultimate syllable, it is Llana. The penultimate syllable consists only of the two vowels "o" and "i". Since "o" is a strong vowel and "i" is a weak vowel, the "i" gets an accent mark, although Llana words without a hiatus with the ending on "o" do not have an accent mark. The hiatus rule is applied with priority, so that the Llana rule no longer applies.

The combination of an unstressed strong vowel and a stressed weak vowel "blows up" (hiatus) a syllable into two syllables. Examples of aguda words that are accented because of the hiatus only.

at aú d [a-ta-'úd] (coffin)
b aú l [ba-'úl] (chest, trunk)
fr eí r [fre-ír] (fry, deep-fry)
l aú d [la-úd] (sounds)
m aí z [ma-íz] (corn)
p aí s [pa-ís] (country)
r aí z [ra-íz] (root, cause)
r eí r [re-ír] (laugh, smile)
R aú l [Ra-'úl] (a given name)
sofr eí r [so-fre-'ír] (freeze slightly, sear)

Two strong vowels together do not form a diphthong, which is why combinations of “a”, “e” and “o” are pronounced as hiatus, i.e. separated as two syllables. Examples:

c ao ba [ca-'o-ba] (mahogany wood, mahogany tree, mahogany colored)
t ea tro [te-'a-tro] (theater)
B ea triz [Be-a-'triz]
r ea l [re-'al] (really, royal)

Connections from the two weak vowels "i" and "u" can also form a diphthong ( ui and iu ). If the stress of the word is on the diphthong syllable, the second vowel is stressed. If the first vowel carries the tone, the diphthong dissolves and you have to write the accent. Examples:

diurno ['di u r-no] (daily)
huir ['hu i r] (flee)
triunfo ['tri u n-fo] (triumph)
viuda ['vi u -da] (widow)

The triphthong is a combination of two weak vowels with an accented "a" or "e". If the emphasis of the word is not on the strong vowel, the accent must be written and the triphthong will come off. Examples:

acusar íai s [a-cu-sa-'rí-ais] (you would indicate)
averig uái s [a-ve-ri-gu-'áis] (you explore)
meow ['meow] (utterance of a cat)

Diacritical accent

The diacritical accent (acento diacrítico; tilde diacrítica) or distinctive accent is written on the one hand to distinguish identical, monosyllabic words with different meanings in the written language. On the other hand, it is used to mark question and exclamation words, then it is also called an emphatic accent (acento enfático) .

One and two syllable words

The accent is not used to mark the stress in monosyllabic words. Monosyllabic words that have no homonyms are written without accent marks.

The following pairs of words are written with and without an accent to distinguish them (with porqué and porque the emphasis is also different):

aún	(= todavía; [still])	aun	(even)
dé	(from the verb dar)	de	(from)
él	(he)	el	(that, that, that)
más	(plus; more [quantity])	mas	(but, however)
mí	(me me)	mi	(my my)
porqué	(Reason)	porque	(because, reason)
sé	(from the verb ser or saber)	se	(themselves)
sí	(Yes)	si	(if, if)
solo	(just)	solo	(alone)
té	(Tea)	te	(you, you)
tú	(you)	do	(your)

Emphatic accent (acento enfático)

Question words (question pronouns and exclamation pronouns) are always marked with an accent mark on the stressed syllable:

adónde (where to?)
cómo (how?)
cuál (which one?)
cuándo (when?)
cuánto (how much?)
dónde (where?)
por qué (why?)
qué (what?)
quién (who?)

In indirect speech, question and exclamation pronouns are also written with accent marks:

Quiso saber cuánto era. (He / she wanted to know how much it costs.)
Me preguntó cómo me llamaba. (He / she asked my name.)

However, these pronouns are only accented when used as question pronouns. Examples:

¿Cuándo tienes tiempo? (When do you have time?)
BUT: Iremos cuando quieras. (We go when you want.)

¿Cuánto it? (How much does it cost?)
BUT: Díme cuanto cuesta. (Tell me how much it costs.)

¿Cómo está usted? (How are you?)
BUT: Miguel es como tú. (Miguel is like you.)

¿Dónde está Miguel? (Where's miguel?)
BUT: Acabamos donde Miguel perdió el reloj. (We stop where Miguel lost the watch.)

¿Por qué no tienes tiempo? (Why do not you have time?)
BUT: No lo hace porque no tiene tiempo. (He doesn't do it because he doesn't have time.)

¿Qué hora it? (What time is it?)
BUT: El hombre que tenía tiempo para todos. (The man who had time for all.)

Web links

www.buscapalabra.com (shows the hyphenation of an entered word and whether it is Aguda, Llana or Esdrújula, but without explicitly specifying the stressed syllable)

Individual evidence

↑ Martin Haase: The Spanish from a typological and historical-comparative point of view. Bamberg, pp. 1-16
↑ Jutta Blaser: Phonetics and Phonology of Spanish. A synchronous introduction. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2011, ISBN 978-3 4845 4050-7 , p. 88

[1] Martin Haase: The Spanish from a typological and historical-comparative point of view. Bamberg, pp. 1-16

[2] Jutta Blaser: Phonetics and Phonology of Spanish. A synchronous introduction. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2011, ISBN 978-3 4845 4050-7 , p. 88