DEFINITIONS
The
2019 WORD
OF THE YEAR is...

pitch accent

noun

(in languages such as Ancient Greek or modern Swedish) an accent in which emphatic syllables are pronounced on a higher musical pitch relative to other syllablesAlso called: tonic accent

Content related to pitch accent

What Makes Accents Appealing?What makes certain accents sexy and others harsh? “The RINE in SPINE fawls MINELY on tha PLINE!” In the song “The Rain in Spain” from the musical My Fair Lady, phonetics professor Henry Higgins (‘enry ‘iggins) pleads with Eliza Doolittle to say “Ay not I, O not Ow.” By the end of the song Eliza’s “AY-ing” and “O-ing” and pronouncing all her H’s. The guttersnipe is …
READ MORE
What Does It Mean To Be “Fluent” In A Language?We have all heard how differently people in London, New York, or Baton Rouge speak English, but are those different speakers still fluent in English? Where does accent stop and fluency begin?
READ MORE

Words nearby pitch accent

pitanga, pitapat, pitatus, pitcairn island, pitch, pitch accent, pitch and putt, pitch chain, pitch chisel, pitch circle, pitch cone
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Examples from the Web for pitch accent

  • The conclusion is that "ictus in conflict requires a pitch-accent."

    English Verse|Raymond MacDonald Alden, Ph.D.