El acento en la lingüística española del siglo XIX: aspectos del desarrollo de una teoría

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to delimit the different theories about the "stress" problem in the nineteenth century Spanish linguistics. This work is based on the most important Spanish prosodic treatises written in that century. First, we have tried to define which is the main constituent of the Spanish accent in the view of the Spanish prosodists of that period. Concerning this matter, we have observed that while the earliest theories identify accent and tone modulations, at the middle of the century the stress, considered as a parameter of intensity, is more and more admitted as the basic element of the Spanish accent. Then, we have examined, according to the different theories, the relations between accent and the rest of the prosodic features.