accents
Stress marks, vocally
Accents are distinctive ways of pronouncing a language, shaped by region, class, or native tongue: a Southern accent, a French accent.
The word also means emphasis or stress: The accent falls on the second syllable.
Accent marks are diacritical symbols above letters indicating pronunciation or distinguishing words.
To accent something is to emphasize or highlight it: The pillows accent the room's color scheme.
Everyday regional speech
- brogueAccent or sturdy shoe
- patoisRegional informal speech
- creoleNativized pidgin tongue
- pidginImprovised contact language
drawl · twang · burr · lilt · cockney · estuary · scouse · kiwi
Pitch variation in speech
- cadenceRhythmic pulse or pattern
- stressPressure, mental or vocal
- emphasisStress given to something
- prosodyStudy of verse rhythm
pitch · tone · modulation · articulation · elocution · diction · enunciation · inflection
Intensely severe or perceptive
- graveSerious and worrying
- circumflexPeaked accent mark
- tildeWavy diacritical mark
- umlautDouble-dot diacritical mark
cedilla · breve · diaeresis · ring · ASCII · typography · orthography · romanization
vernacular
Everyday regional speech
pidgin · drawl · twang · burr · lilt · cockney · estuary · scouse · kiwi · shibboleth
intonation
Pitch variation in speech
prosody · pitch · tone · modulation · articulation · elocution · diction · enunciation · inflection · rhythm
acute
Intensely severe or perceptive
- graveSerious and worrying
- circumflexPeaked accent mark
- tildeWavy diacritical mark
umlaut · cedilla · breve · diaeresis · ring · ASCII · typography · orthography · romanization · transliteration
embellishment
Decorative addition or exaggeration
detail · highlight · contrast · focal point · finishing touch · accessory · ornament · flair · panache · style
- EnglishAmerican English, British English, Australian English, Canadian English, Irish English
- lettersa, d, e, h, q
- embellishesadorns, beautifies, decorates, ornaments, garnishes
- local pridehometown pride, civic pride, regional pride, community roots, state pride
- linguisticslinguistics, phoneme, phonemes, morpheme, morphemes
- letteringlettering styles, letterforms, calligraphy, hand lettering, handwriting
accentsde-emphasizes
Reduces focus on
downplays · minimizes · obscures · hides · understates
accentsplainness
Unadorned, straightforward quality
simplicity · uniformity · blandness · basics · essentials
- French accentDistinctive pronunciation from Paris
- broad accentPronounced regional inflection
- accent piecesDecorative items adding character
- British accentUK speech pattern
- foreign accent
- thick accentPronounced regional inflection
accent, accentuate, accented, accentuation, accenting, unaccented