7.3.1 Grammar: written accents & syllables
In this last grammar point of this book, we will turn to written accents. In Spanish, unlike English, it is very easy to know how an unfamiliar word is supposed to be pronounced merely by looking at it because:
- Most letters are associated with one sound. There are a small number that can make two sounds but it is nothing like the complexity of relationship that exists between English language spelling and English language pronunciation.
- Once you know the accent rules, you know which is the strong syllable of any word that is written correctly.
So let’s get started!
The first skill you need in order to understand written accents is syllabification, this means you need to be able to divide words into syllables. You probably haven’t done this since elementary school back when you learned what a syllable was. Take a moment and think: did you clap to find the rhythm of the syllables? Snap? Something else?
As a group, let’s practice figuring out how many syllables the following English language words have:
- Attribute
- Entrance
- Address
- Content
- Desert
- Oregon
- Advocate
- Intimate
- Record
- Wind
Now that you have practiced with some English language words, let’s try Spanish. In Spanish (and actually English too), the minimum number of sounds you need to make a syllable is 1. At a minimum, you need one vowel to make a syllable. You can add more consonants but you can’t add more vowels. So, using whatever tool you like (snapping, clapping, something else) let’s work as a group, to determine how many syllables these words have.
- Gato
- Bolígrafo
- México
- Espanto
- Sol
- Agua
- Corazón
- Cuba
- Michoacán
- Azúcar
In order to write accents, we need to know which is the strong syllable. All words that have more than one syllable have a strong syllable. Even in English. If we look back at the word list above, we can see that 9 of the English example words have two or more syllables and 8 of those words have multiple pronunciations that change the meaning of the word. In class, fill out the following table
| Word | Meaning 1
Which is the strong syllable? |
Meaning 2
Which is the strong syllable? |
| Attribute | ||
| Entrance | ||
| Address | ||
| Content | ||
| Oregon | ||
| Advocate | ||
| Intimate | ||
| Record |
