Letter from F.a. Rios
Orthography – May 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
Advice on accents en Español and in English
Amigo Ed:
You’ll endure enough reproach from other quarters for “incite/insight” on page 33 [of the April edition], so I’ll not add to it.
Rather, I’ll venture a comment on “carné,” as in “chili con carné” on page 46. I don’t know how Hal Walter would pronounce this word, given that the written accent on a Spanish word changes its meaning or its pronunciation, or both. A few examples follow:
hablo, I speak
(spoken stress on the 1st syllable)
hablò, he, she, you (formal) spoke
(spoken stress on the 2nd syllable)
el, the
él, he
de, of, from
dé, that I (or others) might give
el camino, the road
él caminò, he walked
I’ve noticed, too, that Colorado Central puts a written accent on Fé, as in Santa Fé.
I know of no modern justification for doing so.
Cordially,
F. A. Ríos (The written accent also stresses the weak vowels “u” and “i”.)
Denver
