Can a word have two accent marks?

Question

i was just wondering if a word could have two accent marks?

Answer 1

Sunshinz is right, but only if you consider the marks on the ñ and ü as accent marks. However, with the other marks over the five vowels (á, é, í, ó, ú), you will never see two of those in the same word.

The accent mark (not including the tilde over the ñ, or the dieresis over the ü) indicate which syllable in a word receives the primary stress, and only one syllable can have the primary stress in any given word. (Words that end with -mente , as Lorenzo pointed out, may have two syllables that receive stress, but none of these words will have one of the five accented vowels á, é, í, ó, ú.)

Example: compañía (one ñ, one accent on í)

Answer 2

Example: compañía

Looks like we had the same thought simultaneously! ;-) - chaparrito, Jan 18, 2010

Answer 3

If you're thinking only about stress, then, no. However, the tilde over the "ñ" is independent of whatever vowel may be stressed. There are also probably (though I can't think of one, offhand) words with both a dieresis and an "accent mark".

I have this: Lingüístico. - Carlos-F, Jan 18, 2010

Answer 4

In exception to the comment in Section One, that any Spanish word may have only one stressed syllable, those adverbs that end in -mente, actually have two stresses: one (unwritten) on the suffix -mente, and the original stress in the adjective from with the adverb is derived. If the adjective by itself carries a tilde, then it is maintained in the adverbial form.

link

Good point. - chaparrito, Jan 18, 2010

nice link - 0074b507, Jan 18, 2010

Answer 5

I thought all "marks" in Spanish were generally called tildes. Sorry.

I've noticed that Paralee uses 'tilde' for all of the marks. And perhaps in an informal way that's fine. If one was to look up the word 'tilde' the definition is more specific to the shape of the character over the Spanish "ñ". - chaparrito, Jan 18, 2010

Technically, Paralee is right, that is, if I remember correctly an earlier thread that discussed this in depth. - 0057ed01, Jan 18, 2010

Now that you mention that, I think I saw that thread. The confusion I believe is in the difference between the Spanish and English words. The Spanish word 'tilde' is more inclusive. :-) - chaparrito, Jan 18, 2010

Answer 6

If by accent you mean tilde, then yes a word can.

Answer 7

I thought all "marks" in Spanish were generally called tildes. Sorry.

In English, tilde refers to the ~ only (whether used as a accent or not), while accent mark can refer to just about any sort of mark about a letter that affects pronunciation.

In Spanish, I am under the impression that tilde has a much broader definition and is similar to our word "accent" in usage.

Nice explanation. I hope I didn't confuse anyone by my statement. (We were speaking in English...) ;-) - chaparrito, Jan 18, 2010