When the meaning of a word, sentence, or entire idea is interpreted differently by changing where the accent falls.
Examples:
- In the movie, My Cousin Vinny , Ralph Maccio’s character, Bill, was interrogated for suspected murder. When the police officer asks him, “At what point did you shoot the clerk?” Bill replies in shock, “I shot the clerk? I shot the clerk?” Later in the film, the police officer reads Bill’s statement as a confession in court, “...and he said, ‘I shot the clerk. I shot the clerk.’”
Synonyms: emphasis fallacy, fallacy of accent, fallacy of prosody, misleading accent