Accents

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈæk.sɛnts/

Definitions

1. Variations in speech that reflect cultural or geographical backgrounds; Symbols placed above or below letters to modify their sound or stress; Specific traits in oral or written communication that express tone or highlight importance
2. Characteristics of pronunciation that reveal a person's regional or cultural origins ; marks added to letters to change their pronunciation or meaning ; distinctive ways of speaking or writing that add emphasis or tone
3. Distinctive patterns of speech indicating geographical or social background ; signs placed on letters to alter sound or intonation ; particular verbal or textual elements used to stress or highlight parts of a message

Etymology: The English word "accent" first came from Latin "accentus," a past participle of "accinere," meaning "to sing to, sing along," formed from "ad-" plus "canere," "to sing." The Greek "prosōidia," meaning a song sung to music, was the model for the Latin word, so the idea of pitch in speech was a musical one from the start. Its sense of stress or pitch in spoken syllables took shape in Latin and the Greek grammarians' work before it moved into the Romance languages. English had borrowed the word in Old English, but it dropped out of use and was taken in again during Middle English, when it came by way of Anglo-Norman and Middle French. It displaced the native Old English word "swēġ," which meant "sound" or "tone." Our word for an accent in the sense of a regional way of speaking therefore carries the old musical meaning of singing along with a place.

Synonyms: inflections, pronunciations, modulations, emphases, intonations

Antonyms: monotone, uniformity, plainness, dullness, flatness