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Definitions from WordNet

Definitions from the Web

Accentual System

Description:

An accentual system is a linguistic feature found in some languages where stress or accent is of primary importance in determining word meaning or grammatical structure, rather than the number of syllables or the arrangement of sounds. It plays a crucial role in the prosody and phonology of these languages.

Sample Sentences:

• English, with its primary stress accentual system, emphasizes stress on certain syllables to convey meaning distinctions.
• In Russian, an example of an accentual system, the accent falls on one syllable of each word.
• Some Native American languages, such as Navajo, exhibit an accentual system with complex tonal patterns affecting both vowels and consonants.
• Within the African Bantu languages, Swahili showcases an accentual system where the pitch of a word determines its meaning.

Related products on Amazon:

• Books on Accentual Systems
• Linguistics and Phonology books