Inflected or accented?
In terms of speech, inflected means, among other things, "modulated or modified in pitch or loudness" as in a monologue inflected with tag questions and funny exclamations. By contrast, accented means, among other things, "having a way of pronouncing words that is characteristic of a particular native language or region of birth," as in the accented speech patterns of people from Maine. Recently some writers have started using inflected where accented is the word of choice, as in He grew up in non-English-speaking lands, but spent more time in England than elsewhere. You can hear that in his barely inflected English, full of idioms. This usage, which has not gained acceptance in Standard English, should be avoided.
|