ENGLISH PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY GLOSSARY (A LITTLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF PHONETICS) Peter Roach • CLICK ON A LETTER FROM THE LIST BELOW TO JUMP TO THE RELEVANT PAGE • CLICK HERE TO JUMP TO THE INDEX A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X accent This word is used (rather confusingly) in two different senses: (1) accent may refer to prominence given to a syllable , usually by the use of pitch . For example, in the word ‘potato’ the middle syllable is the most prominent; if you say the word on its own you will probably produce a fall in pitch on the middle syllable, making that syllable accented. In this sense, accent is distinguished from the more general term stress , which is more often used to refer to all sorts of prominence (including prominence resulting from increased loudness , length or sound quality), or to refer to the effort made by the speaker in producing a stressed syllable. (2) accent also refers to a particular way of pronouncing: for example, you might find a number of English speakers who all share the same grammar and vocabulary, but pronounce what they say with different accents such as Scots or Cockney, or BBC pronunciation . The word © Peter Roach 2009