tonic accent

American  

noun

1. prominence given to a syllable in speaking, usually due to a change, especially a rise, in pitch.

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tonic accent British  

noun

1. emphasis imparted to a note by virtue of its having a higher pitch, rather than greater stress or long duration relative to other notes

2. another term for pitch accent

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Etymology

Origin of tonic accent

First recorded in 1865–70

Example Sentences

Eccellenza replied with a foreigner's broken shrug,—a shrug of sufficiently correct construction, but wanting the tonic accent, as one may say, though expressing, however imperfectly, an equal desolation.

From Italian Journeys by Howells, William Dean

The Greek accents on Hebrew words always accord, as Hebraists know, with the tonic accent in that language.

From Notes and Queries, Number 216, December 17, 1853 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc by Various

I initiated him into the peculiarities and subtle shades of the Russian language, and the difficulties presented by its tonic accent.

From An Autobiography by Stravinsky, Igor

The strong tonic accent of English, which is usually on the first, or root, syllable, brings about a kind of telescoping which makes us very unintelligible to foreigners.

From The Romance of Words (4th ed.) by Weekley, Ernest

Even in words of two syllables the tonic accent must be strongly perceived in the first syllable.

From The International Auxiliary Language Esperanto Grammar and Commentary by Cox, George