Meaning based on emphasis

Question

Is there a term used to explain how some words change meaning based on the accent? For example, "convict" can be both a noun and a verb depending on which syllable is emphasized. The same is true for "reject", "pervert", "subject", "address" and probably others.

Is there a technical term for this?

It all depends what you mean by "word". In some ways, these can all be seen as homonymic pairs of words, each pair consisting of a verb and a noun, with closely-connected meanings, but different pronunciations. It's a bit like the verb have/had, which has the variant pronunciation haff/hat only when in the 'obligation' sense — FumbleFingers, Oct 24 '11 at 02:05
That's a good point about haff/hat. Though it isn't accent, as much as it is phonology. Still, there might be a connection. — Melanchthon, Oct 24 '11 at 02:09
I don't know why you mention accent. The connection is that semantic variations are expressed through phonological variations in both cases. In this context, I consider the noun/verb differences to be differences in meaning, rather than simply matters of grammar or "parts of speech". — FumbleFingers, Oct 24 '11 at 02:27
You are talking about "stress", which is quite separate from "emphasis". — Colin Fine, Oct 24 '11 at 14:46

score 6 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 24 '11 at 21:09

6

Such words are called heteronyms. The famous Venn diagram from Wikipedia:

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answered Oct 24 '11 at 21:09

Cerberus - Reinstate Monica

61,585

Wow. Thank you for adding this chart! I'm going to save this for help in the future. – Melanchthon Oct 24 '11 at 21:29

Gnawme · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-24T01:59:30.173

-5

Tone is the term. Other languages are much more tonal than English, and are classified as such.

Wikipedia says:

Tone is the use of pitch in language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning—that is, to distinguish or inflect words. All verbal languages use pitch to express emotional and other paralinguistic information, and to convey emphasis, contrast, and other such features in what is called intonation, but not all languages use tones to distinguish words or their inflections, analogously to consonants and vowels. Such tonal phonemes are sometimes called tonemes.

edited Oct 24 '11 at 01:59

answered Oct 24 '11 at 01:53

Gnawme

40,887

Isn't there something more specific? "Tone" could refer to other things as well. – Melanchthon Oct 24 '11 at 01:55
I expanded my answer. Is "intonation" more of what you were looking for? – Gnawme Oct 24 '11 at 01:59
Intonation makes more sense! Thank you for adding the word "toneme"! I'll have to remember that one for the future. I also found the term "suprafixation" which I think might be another good one. – Melanchthon Oct 24 '11 at 02:04
You're welcome.
I wish downvoters had both the courtesy and the courage to state why they downvoted.
– Gnawme Oct 24 '11 at 03:02
I agree. I kind of wondered about that. – Melanchthon Oct 24 '11 at 03:22
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"Tone" does not describe what's going on here, neither does "intonation". This is simply a matter of stress, which is related to but distinct from tone and intonation. – JSBձոգչ Oct 24 '11 at 04:20
English is more tonal than most people realize. – Barrie England Oct 24 '11 at 06:18
I still think all those down-votes are a bit harsh. One could say stress is partially expressed by tone, and stress is indeed relevant. – Cerberus - Reinstate Monica Oct 25 '11 at 04:28
In many Asian languages (my background), what is accomplished by lexical stress in English is entirely performed by tone. (Then again, a lot of "me too" often goes on with voting.) – Gnawme Oct 25 '11 at 06:11

Meaning based on emphasis

2 Answers2