accent: (This word should be used carefully because it can have at least three different senses and it is easy to confuse them.)
accent [1]: A phonetic accent is the special prominence given to one syllable in a word or phrase. In this sense, "accent" means the same as stress, and so it is generally clearer to use that word instead. (See stress for further information.) [Spanish: acento [1]]
accent [2]: An orthographic accent (a type of diacritic) is a small mark placed above a vowel. It is typically used to mark stress (i.e. accent in the first sense above), but may also be used for other purposes, such as marking tone. The letter á has an acute accent, and à has a grave accent. [Spanish: acento [2]]
accent [3]: A characteristic way of speaking is sometimes called an accent, especially when it serves to distinguish between regional or national groups of speakers of a language. An accent in this sense may include many factors, such as the exact pronunciation of particular phonemes, intonation patterns, speech rate, distinctive phraseology or vocabulary, etc. Many linguists prefer to avoid using the word in this sense because of its vagueness. [Spanish: acento [3]]
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