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Page 15
DIPHTHONGIZATION
Spanish vowels are divided into two classes: the strong vowels, _a_,
_o_, _e_, and the weak vowels, _u_, _i_. According to the Academy rules,
followed by most grammarians, there can be no diphthongization of two
strong vowels in the proper pronunciation of prose; only when a strong
unites with a weak or two weaks unite can diphthongization take place.
In verse, on the other hand, diphthongization of two strong vowels is
not only allowable but common. This would probably not be the case if
the same thing did not have considerable justification in colloquial
practice. As a matter of fact we frequently hear _ahora_ pronounced
_�ora_ with diphthongization and shift of stress.
Of the three strong vowels, _a_ is "dominant" over _o_ and _e_; _o_ is
dominant over _e_; and any one of the three is dominant over _u_ or _i_.
A dominant vowel is one which has the power of attracting to itself the
stress which, except for diphthongization, would fall on the other
vowel with which it unites. The vowel losing the stress is called the
"absorbed" vowel. This principle, which we find exemplified in the
earliest poetic monuments of the language, must be thoroughly understood
by the student of modern Spanish verse.
SYNERESIS
Syneresis is the uniting of two or three vowels, each of which is
ordinarily possessed of full syllabic value, into a diphthong or a
triphthong, thereby reducing the number of syllables in the word; _h_
does not interfere with syneresis. Thus, _a�rea_ is normally a word of
four syllables. In this verse it counts as three.
M�stica y a�rea dudosa visi�n (12)
(The numbers in parentheses indicate the syllables in the verse.
Remember that the figure represents the theoretical number of syllables
in the line, and indicates the actual number only in the case of
the _verso llano_. Furthermore, the figure has been determined by a
comparison with adjacent lines in the same stanzas, verses which offer
no metrical difficulties.) So likewise in:
Y en a�rea fant�stica danza (10)
In the following we have double syneresis, and the word has but two
syllables:
Aerea como dorada mariposa (11)
Examples of syneresis after the tonic stress:
Rechinan girando las f�rreas veletas (12)
Todos atropell�ndoos en mont�n (11)
Palpa en torno de s�, y el impio jura (11)
_Impio_, usually _imp�o_, is one of a number of words admitting of two
stresses. Such are called words of double accentuation. The principle is
different from that governing the stress-shift explained above. The word
has its ordinary value in the following:
�Bienvenida la luz,� dijo el imp�o (11)
Examples of syneresis before the tonic stress:
Se siente con sus l�grimas ahogar (11)
Tu pecho de roedor remordimiento (11)
�Ay! El que la triste realidad palp�! (12)
Toda la sangre coagulada env�a (11)
�Qui�n en su propia sangre los ahog�? (11)
Tanto delirio a realizar alcanza (11)
Ahogar me siento en infernal tortura (11)
Examples of syneresis under stress:
El blanco ropaje que ondeante se ve (12)
Las piedras con las piedras se golpearon (11)
Ahora adelante?� Dijo, y en seguida (11)
In the first two examples there is no stress-shift. In the third, the
stress travels from the _o_ of _Ahora_ to the initial _a_. In the
following example _ahora_ has three syllables:
Ser� m�s tarde que ahora (8)
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