The rules of accentuation in Spanish

The rules of accentuation in Spanish: a learning aid or another problem? When a teacher of Spanish as a foreign language (“Español como Lengua Extranjera”) finds themselves in the situation where they need to explain to their A2 level class the basic rules of accentuation, they often find that, in the vast majority of textbooks, the rules are explained as follows:

• 1. Spanish words that are stressed on the second to the last syllable (called llanas) and end in a vowel, an N, or an S, do not need to be marked with an accent.
• 2. Multi-syllable words stressed on the last syllable (called agudas), that do NOT end in a vowel, an N, or an S, do not need to be marked with an accent.
• 3. Words that are stressed on the fourth to the last syllable (called sobreesdrújulas), are ALWAYS marked with an accent.

These rules may work well in some circumstances but involve a few preliminary questions worth reviewing: Firstly, the student must know the terminology used, which is not always easy with non-native Spanish students. Secondly, for this rule to work well, the student HAS TO BE A SPANISH SPEAKER in order to know how the words are supposed to sound before attempting to write them correctly. For example, a word that is essentially the same in German and Castilian Spanish: in German, the accentuation on the word “Sofa” falls on the first syllable whereas in Spanish, the accentuation falls on the last syllable.

So how do we solve this problem?

Firstly, a good option is to avoid unnecessary terminology. Secondly, use logic and common sense. We have been using the following model of explanation:

Premise: Normal words don’t need an accent (´) - So what exactly is a normal word?

Words the meet the following criteria:

1. The last letter is either a vowel or “N” or “S”.
2. The emphasis is on the penultimate syllable

Given these assumptions we find four possible combinations:

Examples

• Casa (no accent because both rules are met)
• Reloj  (no accent because neither of the rules are met)
• Camión (accent because the 1^st rule is met but not the 2^nd)
• Árbol (accent because the 2^nd rule is met but not the1^st)

Therefore, a non-native Spanish student can easily read a Castilian text even without understanding the meaning of it. This allows a student to produce the correct sound without having to listen to the text first. This is in contrast to what happens in English where the correct pronunciation of a word cannot be determined by simply looking at unfamiliar vocabulary found in any given text.