SPANISH SPELLING: The Written Accent After H
by Alasdair Lean (Juan Porteño)
The Rule
Before launching into the subject, it might not be unwise to remind the reader of the very apt rule governing the written accent (diacritic) in Spanish, which always indicates the stressed syllable, and eliminates pretty much all guesswork as to pronunciation. (In this sense it is even more precise and phonetic than German, which is somewhat haphazard as regards stresses.)
It is clear from a quick glance at a piece of Spanish text that the majority of words do not take a written accent. And the rule is: whatever is "normal" does not take it. Normality in Spanish is for words ending in a vowel, n, or s to be stressed on the penultimate syllable ("grave" stress). With any other ending (including y, which sometimes acts as a vowel), the stress falls on the last ("acute"). Everything else takes a written accent. Thus, to give some examples, "cari," (an Argentine word meaning "brown"), "joven," "mesas," all stressed on the penult. do not take a diacritic, nor do "amar," "nariz," "federal," "reloj," "adalid," "tarot," "carey," and so on, stressed on the last. Instead, "chajá," "portón," "París," do have a written accent, as also "chárter," (a loan-word from English), "González," "césped," "débil," etc. ALL words accented elsewhere than on the last two syllables carry a written accent, no matter what they end in: "Copérnico," ("proparoxytone") "díganselo."
Consistent with the rule, monosyllables take no written accent— except sometimes. Thus you have "te" (you, yourself) and "té" (tea); "si" (if) and "sí" (yes; himself, etc.), "aún" (yet) and "aun" (even), as a way of distinguishing homonyms, the usefulness of which is questionable. Some words of more than one syllable do likewise, e.g. "este" (this, adj.) and "éste" (the latter, a pron.); "esas" (those, fem. adj.) and "ésas" (the former, pron.) It is worth remembering that the oral language has no tildes, yet no great confusion arises therefrom.
For the purpose of accentuation, vowel groups beginning with the "semivowels" I or U (in fact consonants, like English Y or W) must be considered diphthongs: "Mariana," "cualidad," "cuidado" thus have 3 syllables each, "fuente," "diezmo," two. In order to break what would otherwise be considered a diphthong, a written accent must be placed on whichever of its elements is stressed, except in monosyllables (since a relatively recent spelling reform). To illustrate this, the pair RIO (previously spelt rió [he/she/it laughed]), pron. |ryaw| and RÍO, (river), as in Río de Janeiro, Río Grande, etc. makes the difference and the rule very clear.
In the same way that "semivowels" (i.e. consonants) form "diphthongs" unless accented, full vowels do not. So, words like "simultáneo" must be considered to be stressed on the 3rd from last and must bear a written accent, whereas "aseo" [cleanliness], stressed on the E, i.e. the penultimate, does not. Having said this, however, it should be noted that words in -áneo are frequently pronounced | anyaw|, a sort of elision, i.e. the merging of a final vowel with the initial one of the next word, something Spanish does all the time, e.g.: de arriba |they're eeba|, mi hermano |myer mahno|.
Additional rule: adverbs in -mente retain the accent if the original adjective had one, e.g. fácilmente versus generalmente. This rule is quite arbitrary, conventional and useless, and does not really add anything of value. It could well be done away with, the same as the one I examine below, since the stress is invariably on the syllable men . The origin of the ending is Latin "mente," the ablative case of "mens," mind, meaning "of or in such a (frame of) mind."
Written accent or not?
In dictionaries, words with a "grave" stress (i.e. on the penultimate) beginning hi, hu mostly take a written accent, e.g. "ahínco," "ahíto" "rehílo," zahúrda; and occasionally not: ahunche. In a December 2005 number of La Nación they had "prohíben." To my mind this is mistaken, yet the majority obey without batting an eyelid. Since, having an intermediate h, no diphthong is formed (despite the opinion of experts— is h not a consonant, however mute? or is it a vowel, then?), and we are in the presence of "grave" words ending in a vowel, n, or s, no diacritic is called for. The Academia Argentina de Letras (Argentine Literary Academy) maintains that h does not break a diphthong, thus agreeing with those that write the tilde. (How could it be otherwise?) No doubt there are words with an intermediate h that are pronounced as if it were not there— for instance, "ahí," often pronounced "ay," also in the popular local expression, "porái," meaning "maybe," or "Ai tenés," there you are, there you have it. This proves not even the tilde is able to split the diphthong, and that people will speak as they list. The rule seems clear. H is a consonant, never mind how mute— a "virtual" consonant, shall we call it? I consider the tilde should be excised from these words. (Here's hoping I will not be reported to the Holy Inquisition.)
Some of these words that should not carry a written accent, to agree with the rules of the language, are: ahijo/a/e, prohijo/a/e; ahuso/a/e; prohibo/a/e; cohibo/a/e; rehilo/a/e; rehizo/ce; ahilo/a/e; ahumo/a/e; ahunche (althought the form aunche also exists— an Argentine term meaning "residue"); mohines, mohina/o, ahinco, ahito, vahido, zahina, zahurda, retahila, tahures, Ayohuma. Instead, a written accent to break the diphthong is quite right in raído; oído; roído; raíz, raíces; país(es); baúl(es); Raúl; Seúl; traído; traílla; caída; deísmo; leído; creímos; leímos; aúpo/a/e; aúnan; Aída; egoísta; Luís; Ruíz; reís; or when it becomes a full vowel, bahía; bohío; valía, etc. And here goes a difficult question: Why is there no written accent in cuido, ruido, cuis, and the like? And another: What right have dictionaries to leave out "cuis," the name of a little South American rodent (I believe) whose life is extinguished by tyres along a thousand routes? It does not even figure in José Gobello's "Diccionario del Lunfardo." But it exists alright.
Neither, as already mentiones, is a semivowel followed by a vowel a real diphthong (yo, ya, ye, yu, even if the Y is pronounced as practically everywhere— in contrast with Buenos Aires and Montevideo, where it is pronounced as the S in "leisure"—, nor uo, ua, ue, ui either), although that definition is used in the rules of accentuation. No one in his right mind would ever claim the first syllable of "yoga" was a diphthong. Yet it counts as such for the purposes of accentuation, even though in River Plate Spanish Y, when a consonant, is pronounced |zh|.
Combinations of "weak" vowels, iu as in ciudad, viudo, diurno, or ui in ruido, cuidar, are generally not diphthongs either. Sometimes, though, one tends to pronounce huida, druida, etc. giving the u its full value: |hu-ida, dru-ida|— in some words. Not in others.
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