Fallacy of accent

{{logicnav}}{{hatnote|This fallacy is about the misleading accentuation of words. For other uses, see [[Accent]]. Not to be confused with [[Fallacy of accident]].}}
The '''fallacy of accent''' (also '''prosody''', '''accentus''', '''misleading accent''') occurs when the meaning of a text is changed by what word or words are stressed, and either (1) a word [[Quote mining|different than the author's intent]] is stressed or (2) it's unknown which word should be stressed. The meaning of a word or set of words may be drastically changed by the way they are spoken, without changing the words themselves.

The fallacy was first coined by [[Aristotle]], who pointed out that a word with one spelling could have different pronunciation and different meaning, which effectively created multiple words. Because the written Greek of Aristotle's time had no {{wpl|Ancient Greek grammar#Diacritics|diacritical marks|,}} it was occasionally impossible to tell the author's intent.<ref name=Wiki>{{wpa|Accent (fallacy)}}</ref><ref name=About>http://atheism.about.com/od/logicalfallacies/a/Fallacy-Accent-Ambiguity.htm</ref><ref name=Files>http://www.fallacyfiles.org/onaccent.html</ref>

It is an [[informal fallacy]] and a [[fallacy of ambiguity]], in that it removes context that is necessary to understand the statement.

==Examples==
===Different sentences===
====Who took the test?====
#''I'' didn't take the test yesterday. (Somebody else did.)<br />
#I ''didn't'' take the test yesterday. (I did not take it.)<br />
#I didn't ''take'' the test yesterday. (I did something else with it.)<br />
#I didn't take ''the'' test yesterday. (I took a different one.)<br />
#I didn't take the ''test'' yesterday. (I took something else.)<br />
#I didn't take the test ''yesterday''. (I took it some other day.)<ref name=Wiki />

====Can you imagine?====
<u>Situation 1:</u><br />
'''Amy:''' I can imagine Cal doing that; it's possible.<br />
'''Bob:''' Yes, it's possible to imagine him doing that.<br />
::Bob is flatly agreeing with Amy.

<u>Situation 2:</u><br />
'''Amy:''' I can imagine Cal doing that; it's possible.<br />
'''Bob:''' Yes, it's ''possible'' to imagine him doing that.<br />
::Bob is implying that it's possible, but unlikely, that Cal will do that.

<u>Situation 3:</u><br />
'''Amy:''' I can imagine Cal doing that; it's possible.<br />
'''Bob:''' Yes, it's possible to ''imagine'' him doing that.<br />
::Bob is implying that it's impossible that Cal will do "that" outside of Amy's imagination.<ref>http://www.logicalfallacies.info/ambiguity/accent/</ref>

====Who does Amy love?====
#Amy said "I don't really love ''you'' now."
#::Amy is implying that she loves somebody else.
#Amy said "I don't ''really'' love you now."
#::Amy is implying that her love is decreased, but still exists.
#Amy said "I don't really ''love'' you now."
#::Amy is implying that she still feels something for the speaker, but not love.<ref name=About />


===Not just one word===

At an ice-cream parlour c.1982C.E.:<br/>
I've never seen a woman eat a banana like ''that''.
::Spurred-on by the risqué implication of possible sex-acts, eleven or so of us seemingly exhausted the different sentences implied by accenting a single word in that ur-sentence, then proceeded on to accenting two or more words, ending with
''I've'' never ''seen'' a ''woman'' eat a ''banana'' like that.
::The speaker claims to have experienced someone or something other than a woman literally or figuratively eating something other than a banana via some means other than vision. (In this case the speaker was a man likely claiming to have experienced unseen fellatio from another man.)

====Size matters====
{{quotebox|1=<span style="font-size:75%">It would be illegal to give away</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-size:300%">Free Beer!<ref>http://onegoodmove.org/fallacy/accent.htm</ref></span>}}

===Different words===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! style="width:25%;" | Accent 1
! style="width:25%;" | Meaning 1
! style="width:25%;" | Accent 2
! style="width:25%;" | Meaning 2
|-
| ''ac''cent || an emphasis on a word || ac''cent'' || to emphasize a word<ref name=Files />
|-
| ''in''crease || the act of becoming larger || in''crease'' || to become greater<ref name=Files />
|-
| ''in''sult || a disrespectful statement || in''sult'' || to speak disrespectfully<ref name=Files />
|-
| ''in''valid || an ill person || in''val''id || (of an argument) faulty<ref name=About />
|-
| ''re''cord || a log of events || re''cord'' || to keep track of events<ref name=Files />
|-
|}

==See also==
*[[Fallacy of ambiguity]]
*[[Fallacy of amphiboly]]
*[[Equivocation]]
*[[Quote mining]]

==External links==
*[http://books.google.com/books?id=-qZabUx0FmkC&pg=PA126#v=onepage&q&f=false Attacking Faulty Reasoning], T. Damer
*[http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/sophist_refut.html On Sophistical Refutations], [[Aristotle]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{logfal}}

[[Category:Fallacies of ambiguity]]
[[Category:Informal fallacies]]

Categories: Fallacies of ambiguity, Informal fallacies