Fallacy of accent

Cogito ergo sum
Logic and rhetoric

Key articles

* Logical fallacy
* Syllogism
* Argument

General logic

* Tautology
* Refuting
* Moralistic fallacy
* Affirmative conclusion from a negative premise
* Informal fallacy
* Evil is the absence of God

Bad logic

* Canard
* Argument from authority
* Chewbacca Defense
* Appeal to fiction
* Omnipotence paradox
* پاسخ کورتیر

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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 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 diacritical marks, it was occasionally impossible to tell the author's intent.[1][2][3]

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

## Contents

* 1 Examples
* 1.1 Different sentences
* 1.1.1 Who took the test?
* 1.1.2 Can you imagine?
* 1.1.3 Who does Amy love?
* 1.2 Not just one word
* 1.2.1 Size matters
* 1.3 Different words
* 2 See also
* 3 External links
* 4 References

## Examples[edit]

### Different sentences[edit]

#### Who took the test?[edit]

1. I didn't take the test yesterday. (Somebody else did.)

2. I didn't take the test yesterday. (I did not take it.)

3. I didn't take the test yesterday. (I did something else with it.)

4. I didn't take the test yesterday. (I took a different one.)

5. I didn't take the test yesterday. (I took something else.)

6. I didn't take the test yesterday. (I took it some other day.)[1]

#### Can you imagine?[edit]

Situation 1:
Amy: I can imagine Cal doing that; it's possible.
Bob: Yes, it's possible to imagine him doing that.

Bob is flatly agreeing with Amy.

Situation 2:
Amy: I can imagine Cal doing that; it's possible.
Bob: Yes, it's possible to imagine him doing that.

Bob is implying that it's possible, but unlikely, that Cal will do that.

Situation 3:
Amy: I can imagine Cal doing that; it's possible.
Bob: Yes, it's possible to imagine him doing that.

Bob is implying that it's impossible that Cal will do "that" outside of Amy's imagination.[4]

#### Who does Amy love?[edit]

1. Amy said "I don't really love you now."

Amy is implying that she loves somebody else.
2. Amy said "I don't really love you now."

Amy is implying that her love is decreased, but still exists.
3. Amy said "I don't really love you now."

Amy is implying that she still feels something for the speaker, but not love.[2]

### Not just one word[edit]

At an ice-cream parlour c.1982C.E.:
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[edit]

> It would be illegal to give away

>  Free Beer![5]

### Different words[edit]

Accent 1  | Meaning 1  | Accent 2  | Meaning 2

|
|
|

accent | an emphasis on a word | accent | to emphasize a word[3]
increase | the act of becoming larger | increase | to become greater[3]
insult | a disrespectful statement | insult | to speak disrespectfully[3]
invalid | an ill person | invalid | (of an argument) faulty[2]
record | a log of events | record | to keep track of events[3]

## See also[edit]

* Fallacy of ambiguity
* Fallacy of amphiboly
* Equivocation
* Quote mining

## External links[edit]

* Attacking Faulty Reasoning, T. Damer
* On Sophistical Refutations, Aristotle

## References[edit]

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 See the Wikipedia article on Accent (fallacy).
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 http://atheism.about.com/od/logicalfallacies/a/Fallacy-Accent-Ambiguity.htm
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 http://www.fallacyfiles.org/onaccent.html
4. ↑ http://www.logicalfallacies.info/ambiguity/accent/
5. ↑ http://onegoodmove.org/fallacy/accent.htm

v \- t \- e

Articles about logical fallacies

Informal fallacies: |  Appeal to tradition • Appeal to novelty • Appeal to nature • Argument from morality • Argumentum ad martyrdom • Big words • Certum est quia impossibile est • Morton's fork • Friend argument • Exception that proves the rule • Extended analogy • Hindsight bias • Race card • Moralistic fallacy • Release the data • Gish Gallop • Terrorism-baiting • Uncertainty tactic • Greece-baiting • Ham Hightail • Red-baiting • Gore's Law • Nazi analogies • Mistaking the map for the territory • Red herring • Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur • Presentism • Sunk cost • Two wrongs make a right • Flying carpet fallacy • My enemy's enemy • Appeal to ancient wisdom • Danth's Law • Argumentum ad lunam • Balance fallacy • Golden hammer • Loaded question • Escape to the future • Word magic • Spider-Man fallacy • Sanctioning the devil • Appeal to mystery • Informal fallacy • Common sense • Post-designation • Hyperbole • Relativist fallacy • Due diligence • Straw man • Good old days • Appeal to probability • Infinite regress • Circular reasoning • Media was wrong before • Is–ought problem • Ad iram • Just asking questions • Pink-baiting • Appeal to faith • Appeal to fear • Appeal to bias • Appeal to confidence • Appeal to consequences • Appeal to emotion • Appeal to flattery • Appeal to gravity • Appeal to hate • Argument from omniscience • Argument from silence • Argumentum ad baculum • Argumentum ad fastidium • Association fallacy • Broken window fallacy • Category mistake • Confounding factor • Counterfactual fallacy • Courtier's Reply • Damning with faint praise • Definitional fallacies • Equivocation • Fallacy of accident • Fallacy of amphiboly • Gambler's fallacy • Imprecision fallacy • Moving the goalposts • Nirvana fallacy • Overprecision • Pathos gambit • Pragmatic fallacy • Quote mining • Argumentum ad sarcina inserta • Science doesn't know everything • Slothful induction • Spotlight fallacy • Style over substance • Toupee fallacy • Genuine but insignificant cause • Argument from incredulity • Appeal to age • Argumentum ad nauseam • Phantom distinction • Appeal to common sense • Argumentum ad hysteria • Omnipotence paradox • Argument from etymology • Appeal to trauma • Countless counterfeits fallacy •
| Ad hoc: |  No True Scotsman • Moving the goalposts • Escape hatch • Handwave • Special pleading • Slothful induction • Nirvana fallacy • God of the gaps • PIDOOMA • Ad hoc • Tone argument •
| Arguments from ignorance: |  Science doesn't know everything • Argument from incredulity • Argument from silence • Toupee fallacy • Appeal to censorship • Science was wrong before • Holmesian fallacy • Argument from omniscience • Willful ignorance • Argument from ignorance •
| Causation fallacies: |  Post hoc, ergo propter hoc • Correlation does not imply causation • Wrong direction • Counterfactual fallacy • Regression fallacy • Gambler's fallacy • Denying the antecedent • Genuine but insignificant cause •
| Circular reasoning: |  Infinite regress • Argument by assertion • Argumentum ad dictionarium • Appeal to faith • Circular reasoning • Self-refuting idea •
| Emotional appeals: |  Appeal to fear • Appeal to emotion • Appeal to confidence • Deepity • Argumentum ad baculum • Appeal to shame • Appeal to flattery • Tone argument • Appeal to money • Argumentum ad fastidium • Appeal to gravity • Appeal to consequences • Loaded language • Style over substance • Appeal to pity • Appeal to hate • Pathos gambit • Shaming • Degenerate • Abomination •
| Fallacies of ambiguity: |  Equivocation • Fallacy of amphiboly • Quote mining • Fallacy of ambiguity • Moral equivalence • Scope fallacy • Suppressed correlative • Not as bad as • Etymology • Continuum fallacy • Wronger than wrong • Definitional fallacies • Code word • Phantom distinction •
Formal fallacies: |  Confusion of the inverse • Denying the antecedent • Non sequitur • Affirmative conclusion from a negative premise • Not even wrong • Chewbacca Defense • Affirming a disjunct • Illicit process • Four-term fallacy • Negative conclusion from affirmative premises • Fallacy fallacy • Substituting explanation for premise • Enthymeme • Syllogism • Formal fallacy • Existential assumption • Masked man fallacy • Self-refuting idea • Argument by gibberish • One single proof • Affirming the consequent • False dilemma • Conjunction fallacy •
Fallacious arguments: |  Bumblebee argument • Fatwa envy • Gotcha argument • Hoyle's fallacy • Intuition pump • Logic and Creation • Not Circular Reasoning • Peanut butter argument • Great Beethoven fallacy • Fallacy of unique founding conditions • Evil is the absence of God • Argument from first cause • How do you know? Were you there? • Argument from design • Argument from beauty • Appeal to nature • Solferino fallacy • Religious scientists • Nothing to hide • Argument from fine tuning • Creep shaming • "I used to be an atheist" • Atheism as a religion • Argumentum ad populum • Argument from morality • Anti-environmentalism • Appeal to bias • Apophasis • Argumentum ad nauseam • Appeal to censorship • Argumentum ad sarcina inserta • Blaming the victim • Bait-and-switch • Danth's Law • Chewbacca Defense • Canard • DARVO • Demonization • Escape hatch • Friend argument • Everyone is racist • Gish Gallop • Greece-baiting • Gore's Law • Ham Hightail • Just asking questions • Leading question • Loaded language • Linking to authority • Loaded question • Lying by omission • Motte and bailey • Nazi analogies • Moving the goalposts • One single proof • Pink-baiting • One-way hash argument • Pathos gambit • Quote mining • Poisoning the well • Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur • Race card • Red-baiting • Red herring • Release the data • Science was wrong before • Shill gambit • Straw man • Silent Majority • Uncertainty tactic • Style over substance • Terrorism-baiting • Weasel word • What's the harm (logical fallacy) • Whataboutism • Bullshit • Logical fallacy • Banana argument • Scapegoat • How come there are still monkeys? • Anti-racist is a code word for anti-white • Ontological argument • Omnipotence paradox • Presuppositionalism • Just a joke • Countless counterfeits fallacy •
Conditional fallacies: |  Slippery slope • What's the harm (logical fallacy) • Special pleading • Conditional fallacy • On the spot fallacy • Appeal to the minority • Argumentum ad populum • Galileo gambit • Professor of nothing •
| Genetic fallacies: |  Genetic fallacy •
|  | Appeals to authority: |  Ipse dixit • Appeal to confidence • Argumentum ad populum • Argument from authority • Linking to authority • Silent Majority • Invincible authority • Appeal to celebrity • Ultracrepidarianism • Appeal to the minority • Galileo gambit • Appeal to identity • Weasel word • Professor of nothing • Euthyphro dilemma • Divine command theory •
|  | Ad hominem: |  Ad iram • Argumentum ad cellarium • Bulverism • Poisoning the well • Blaming the victim • Tu quoque • Whataboutism • Nutpicking • Jonanism • Demonization • Shill gambit • Appeal to bias • Fallacy of opposition • Association fallacy • Damning with faint praise • Pathos gambit • Appeal to identity • Argumentum ad hominem • Nazi analogies • Not an argument • Nothing to hide • Scapegoat • 地下室论证 •
| Imprecision fallacies: |  Apex fallacy • Overprecision • Cherry picking • Overgeneralization • Texas sharpshooter fallacy • False analogy • Appeal to fiction • Spotlight fallacy • Pragmatic fallacy • Selection bias • Anecdotal evidence • Category mistake • Nutpicking • Imprecision fallacy • Confounding factor • Fallacy of accident • Neyman's bias •
Valid logical methods: |  Rapoport's Rules • Negative evidence • Reductio ad absurdum •
Fallacy collections: |  SeekFind • Nizkor Project • Fallacy Files • Your Logical Fallacy Is • Logically Fallacious •