The term accent comes from the Latin accentus and in turn from the Greek language. The accent is what makes the human being when pronouncing a word, it has to highlight the voice in one of its syllables, that is, a distinction is produced with greater intensity when pronouncing the syllable where the accent is located.
With respect to the oral language, the accent is known as a tonal accent, while in the written language it is represented with in most cases with a tilde, which consists of a small diagonal line located above the syllable with greater force. What the accent does is that it indicates the stressed syllable of the word, which will require more force for its pronunciation. In addition, it helps to distinguish words that, although they are spelled the same, mean different things.
It is important to note that not all accents in Spanish have an accent, but thanks to a couple of rules it is possible to read each word correctly without having to know it. Among the spelling rules are:
- The sharp words is placed accents when they end in the letter n, so any vowel.
- The bass is placed tilde when they do not end in n, so vowel.
- The esdrújulas are being the only words that will always lead accent.
Words are not the only ones with an accent, since in music there are accents where the weight of the pulse falls. Given this, the accent can appear as a mark within the musical notation, indicating which note has to be played the loudest. However, all scores carry an accentuation that is implicit, which is deduced by observing the type of time signature, indicated at the beginning of each part of the work.
Likewise, if it is a quarter measure, the first beat of each measure must sound louder than the second. That is why if a measure is taken with two quarter notes, its accentuation is very easy, it is worth noting that the quarter note is figure four and that each measure consists of two quarter notes. On the other hand, a somewhat complex melody is very difficult to accentuate so it is essential to master the basics of music reading in order to identify each of the notes.
