I prefer to use the term "stall identification" rather than "symptoms".
A stall (as opposed to the "warnings" that we are approaching a stall) is identified by heavy buffet (but as has been said before this can be type dependent), aircraft descending, nose pitching "down", and possible wing drop.
Any one of these can occur first depending on the nature of the stall.
I recall the Chipmunk Flight Manual notes on spinning making a distinction between a semi stalled spiral dive (where the airspeed is increasing) and a spin (where the airspeed is reasonably constant and low with high rate of descent) and not to confuse the two with respect to recovery action.