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| 2.27 The accent as a non diacritical sign |
We must distinguish between two types of accents. The accents mentioned above indicate how a word should be pronounced. From this type of accent, which are diacritical signs, we have to distinguish the accents which only serve to make a distinction between two words written the same way. The most famous couple of this kind is e and è. The first one, e, without accent, means and, the second, è, with accent, means he / she / it is. But if you speak Spanish you may think that this is handled in Italian as consistent as in Spanish (el / < él, que / qué, como / cómo, etc. etc.), but that is not the case. Only in some cases it is really mandatory, in the case of e / è for instance.
This kind of accent is mandatory as well in monosyllabic words, which ends on a vowel like là (there), già (already), giù (below), più (more), può (he / she / it can). Even if there is no homonym, a word pronounced the same way, but with a different meaning, the accent is mandatory for these words.
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