When we ask a question or make an exclamation, the tone of our words changes significantly. We place emphasis on some words to indicate to our interlocutor that we are asking or exclaiming about a matter.
In oral communication this phenomenon is easily identifiable, because with the tone of voice we can express whether we are questioning or exclaiming.
However, in written language it is necessary to communicate in some way what kind of messages we emit. Thus, the emphatic accent consists in specifying with an accent or accent that we are asking a question or exclaiming.
The orthographic norm in the emphatic accent
In the sentence "I don't understand why you haven't explained it" the word because it expresses the idea of causality. On the other hand, in the sentence "I don't understand why you haven't explained it" the word "why" is separated and accented because it is a question. In the second sentence there is an emphasis on the message, which is indicated by the accentuation of the word. The emphatic accent is used only in words such as what, when, how, where, why, who or for what, either to ask or to make an exclamation.
With these accented words you can ask both direct and indirect questions. For example, "how do you want to do it?" Would be a direct way of asking and "tell me how you want to do it" would be an indirect way of asking the same type of question.
In short, in all those cases in which a word is emphasized, it is necessary to specify it with the presence of a tilde. This rule of accentuation makes possible the differentiation of meanings and facilitates the comprehensive reading of a text. The punctuation marks (? And ¡) and the context of the message provide us with the necessary information to use the emphatic accent correctly.
Not to be confused with the diacritical accent
Certain words have the same spelling and may or may not have an accent depending on their meaning. The word te is a pronoun and at the same time it is a noun, specifically a type of infusion. Both are written exactly the same and to differentiate them we use a tilde (for example "tea is a very popular drink among the British" or "I told you not to do it".
The diacritical accent allows differentiating words such as more and more, I know and I know, give and de, yes and yes, me and me, etc. If we take the word you as a reference, it can have a diacritical accent if it is a personal pronoun (tell me you), but it does not have it if it is a possessive adjective (your suitcase broke).
Photo 2. Maria Starus
