I know that Japanese has it, there’s a difference between 紙 and 神 for example:

Technically: Latin Alphabet languages have something alike but not known as “pitch accent” more akin to word stress (think, “Cent” vs “Scent” or “Whole” vs “Hole”) as in is there a difference in ‘volume’ (like the tone of your voice upon pronouncing either word). Is there an emphasis on how a word could be understood based on how it’s said (in EN, FR, DE)?

I mean, do you know examples of words in (European) languages or ENG where something equivalent of “pitch accent” applies? Can you also tell the difference between something like “sent” / “cent” and “scent” even though those types of words are not relevant to another simply by hearing someone pronouncing it and the tone of their voice?

  • MrsDoyle@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    1·
    6 hours ago

    I heard someone mangling “indefatigable” in a programme the other day, they got the word “fatigue” in there.

    Edit to say I think it’s VALEnce, but I could be wrong.

    • Kimika@lemmy.world
      1·
      6 hours ago

      Regarding valence, both pronunciations I’ve heard and used put emphasis on the first syllable, it’s just whether the first vowel is long or short.

      It’s one of those things that just doesn’t come up often enough to actually address it and nobody has ever misunderstood or challenged me whenever I’ve said it differently in conversation, during a presentation or afterwards, or in lecture. It sticks out as an example for me because any other words I was uncertain about definitely get challenged (e.g., route and router)