Why doesn't Biblia follow the intonation rules?
Or am I missing it?
I got my new Santa Biblia, which is awesome en inglés y español, but then began to wonder about the pronunciation of the words on the front.
BibLEEa didn't sound right to me, but there is no tilde to put the accent elsewhere.
Double-checking the intonation rules, I see:
- Grave (Llana) - Words that end in a vowel,
, or should be stressed on the penultimate (second to last) syllable. Over half of all Spanish words are graves.
So I'm stumped! ¿Por qué es esto'
21 Answers
When it comes to using the accent rules, the y is considered a consonant, even though its sound is "i", so in "voy", there is no diphthong.
Are there other circumstances in which the letter y is not considered a consonant? I saw this sentence on RAE's website:
Es la secuencia de tres vocales que forman parte de una misma sílaba: a - pre - ciáis, co - piéis, buey.
¿Hay otras circunstancias en las cuales la letra y no se considera consonante? Vi esta frase en el sitio web de RAE:
Es la secuencia de tres vocales que forman parte de una misma sílaba: a - pre - ciáis, co - piéis, buey.
When it comes to using the accent rules, the y is considered a consonant, even though its sound is "i", so in "voy", there is no diphthong.
Great, thanks, Lazarus. This answers a question I have been wanting to ask for a long time.
Therefore, words ending in "y" that don't stress the last syllable should carry an accent on the stressed syllable, right?
The name Wendy should be written, "Wéndy"?
OK, now I see that through reverse logic and knowledge of the rule on "... ending in 'n', 's', or a vowel," I should have been able to deduce this, just analyzing the pronunciation of "estoy" and similar words.
http://www.buscadoor.com/acento-mayusculas/
This is something that I vaguely remember from when I was very young.
¿Las mayúsculas llevan acento?
¿Las letras mayúsculas deben llevar acento gráfico? A juzgar por los titulares de muchos diarios, la respuesta es no. Todos los días en las ediciones impresas de los periódicos aparecen titulares como este:
Check it out
e.g. LUCHO LUCHO CON EL PAPA
Again, I'm no authority on Spanish grammar or punctuation, but this article concludes that the accent marks ARE required. It makes the point that if one were to judge the matter by looking at the periódicos, one would think that they are not required; then it goes on to cite various authorities (RAE, La Nación, etc.) to prove that they are, indeed, required.
The article gives this conclusion:
"Por lo tanto, no hay lugar a dudas, las mayúsculas sí llevan acento gráfico o tilde. Y muchos diarios de los países de habla hispana cometen este error de ortografía varias veces por día."
I guess the question that remains is, "How authoritative is this article'"
Europa, feudo, leucocito, deuda, eucaristía, euforia... There 297 words with "eu" in my personal database.
What I wouldn't pay to get my hands on your database!
Europa, feudo, leucocito, deuda, eucaristía, euforia... There 297 words with "eu" in my personal database.
For some reason, I can't imagine that "eu" is a diphthong. Do you have an example word for this one'
Oh, and all this discussion is about stress and accents, not intonation. Intonation is about the melodic changes in the pitch on the voice as we speak, and it is, for example, what differentiates a question from a statement.
Nevertheless, don't forget that from a phonetic point of view, the "y" in "estoy" is a vowel sound, identical to "i".
Right. That was the root of my question in the matter, and the reason for my including the comment about the vowel combinations with "y" being pronounced as diphthongs, even though I wasn't sure if they were technically considered such.
It seems now that I was told somewhere way back that "y" is a consonant in Spanish. It is easy to forget, though, when you pronounce it hundreds of times a day with a vowel sound.
Oh ok. This is making sense to me now. Thanks Lazarus and everyone else who contributed.
Right, two syllables, not three, and the stress on the latter: es-TOY.
Since this word carries no accent mark, I should have been able to deduce that the "y" is (considered) a consonant.
Exactly! Had it been written with "i", it would have required an accent:
estói
Nevertheless, don't forget that from a phonetic point of view, the "y" in "estoy" is a vowel sound, identical to "i".
es-toy (vowels in bold, stressed vowel in blue)
Right, two syllables, not three, and the stress on the latter: es-TOY.
Since this word carries no accent mark, I should have been able to deduce that the "y" is (considered) a consonant.
es-to****[/color]y
p[color=blue]ó-ney
(vowels in bold, stressed vowels in blue)
Thank you, Lazarus, but I don't understand why the second "i" isn't the penultimate syllable.
It isn't, because the final "ia" in "biblia" is just one syllable, not two. The combination "ia" forms a diphthong (two vowels put together in one syllable). If you want to put the stress in the second "i", the diphthong is broken, and then the word ends up with three syllables instead of two.
Maybe Lazarus or some other knowledgable person could help me with this list of the Spanish diphthongs.
Vowels are divided in two groups when it comes to syllables:
closed: a, e, o
open: i, u
Diphthongs can be either two open vowels with greater stress on the second vowel, or a closed vowel plus an unstressed open vowel in any order, i.e.:
iu (or iú)
ui (or uí)
ai (or ái)
au (or áu)
ei (or éi)
eu (or éu)
oi (or ói)
ou (or óu)
ia (or iá)
ie (or ié)
io (or ió)
ua (or uá)
ue (or ué)
uo (or uó)
Any other combination forms two syllables.
When it comes to using the accent rules, the y is considered a consonant, even though its sound is "i", so in "voy", there is no diphthong.
If I recall correctly there is a rule about titles and uppercase letters that don't require accents.
I don't know, but I have heard arguments on both sides of this issue.
I would just recommend to Spanish learners that they not expect to always see accent marks on capital letters, titles, and ALL CAPS, and not to assume that a word does not carry an accent mark, just because you see it published without one in these cases.
I have noticed the same thing that Robert has ... that in many reputable newspapers, on book covers, page headings in books, etc., no accents are used on capitals. Again, I know that this doesn't speak to its correctness or incorrectness, but the fact is, that is the way it is done in many places.
Maybe Lazarus or some other knowledgable person could help me with this list of the Spanish diphthongs. I am just taking these off the top of my head, based on pronunciation. In layman's terms, these are treated as one unified vowel for pronunciation and syllable division purposes (see the example by "ua").
ai
au
ei
eu
ia
io
oi
ou
ua (Everyone knows that "agua" has no accent mark, and is pronounced "AH-gwa," not "ah-GU-ah." The "ua" is a diphthong.)
ue
ui
uo
Also, "ay", "ey", and (I think) "uy" are prounounced as diphtongs, but I'm not sure they are technically considered such.
Since "ia" is a diphthong, it is pronounced as one unified syllable. That is why words like "gustaría" require the accent on the "í" to place the stress on that vowel, separating it from the "a" and making the "a" a separate syllable.
