The position of conjunctive adjective in Spanish is one of most perplexing syntactical and pedagogical problems in this language. For all its difficulties, however, problem has received scant attention from Hispanic linguists and, as a result, two traditional beliefs have developed: first, that dicta of standard authorities (The Academy, Bello, Ramsey, Lenz, etc.) are adequately explanatory of positional phenomena, and, second, that usage apparently cannot be scientifically described and, therefore, its secrets must remain forever locked up in nebulous domain of stylistics, intuition, in short, native's Sprachgefiihl. An analysis of some 8000 examples of conjunctive adjectives in a wide variety of contemporary contexts indicates that problem deserves more serious attention and that neither of these beliefs may be held with complete justification. The problem, despite its complexities, does appear to be amenable to scientific analysis while traditional rules, in many instances, may be shown not to be descriptive of actual contemporary usage. This article, which is to be first in a series on adjective position (1), is concerned primarily with phonetic aspects of problem and traditional belief that stress or determines position of descriptive adjectives. On American scene M. M. Ramsey expounded this principle with assertion that position per se in Spanish syntax is a signal of weakness or force. According to him an adjective in pre-position loses much of its force while one in postposition assumes chief importance in contrast with preceding noun (2). Position in Spanish, according to Ramsey, produces same results as the stress of voice called emphasis in English, and he exemplifies this assertion by paired examples: