Word Stress - Phonetics PDF

CHAPTER 6 Word Stress 6.1. The Nature of Word Stress. 6.2. Types of Word Stress. 6.3. Degrees of Word Stress. 6.4. Placement of Word Stress. 6.5. Tendencies in the Placement of Word Stress. 6.6. Functions of Word Stress. 6.1. THE NATURE OF WORD STRESS The sequence of syllables in the word is not pr...

CHAPTER 6 Word Stress 6.1. The Nature of Word Stress. 6.2. Types of Word Stress. 6.3. Degrees of Word Stress. 6.4. Placement of Word Stress. 6.5. Tendencies in the Placement of Word Stress. 6.6. Functions of Word Stress. 6.1. THE NATURE OF WORD STRESS The sequence of syllables in the word is not pronounced identically: some syllables are more prominent than the others. They are called stressed syllables. Therefore, stress is a greater degree of prominence of a syllable or syllables as compared to the other syllables of the word. A particular combination of varying prominence of syllables in a word forms its stress pattern. Stress is defined differently by different scientists. B.A. Bogoroditsky defined stress as in increase of energy, accompanied by an increase of expiratory and articulatory activity. D. Jones defined stress as the degree of force, which is accompanied by a strong force of exhalation and gives an 77 impression of loudness. H. Sweet also stated that stress is connected with the force of breath. A.C. Jimson admits that a more prominent syllable is accompanied by pitch changes in the voice, quality and quantity of the stressed sounds. The nature of word stress can be studied from the point of view of production and perception; the two are obviously closely related but are not identical. The production of stressed syllables requires more muscular energy. Greater muscular effort and muscular activity produce higher subglottal pressure and an increase in the amount of air expelled from the lungs. On the acoustic level this extra articulatory activity leads to the increase of intensity, duration and fundamental frequency of the stressed syllable. On the perception level it corresponds to the increase of loudness, length and pitch. The effect of prominence of the stressed syllable is achieved by a number of phonetic parameters such as pitch, loudness (force of utterance), length, vowel quality or their combination. As a result, there appears a contrast between stressed and unstressed syllables. If to compare stressed and unstressed syllables in the words contract ['kɒntrækt] договор and to contract [kən'trækt] заключать договор, one may note that in the stressed syllable: − the force of utterance is greater, which is connected with more energetic articulation; − the pitch of the voice is higher, which is connected with stronger tenseness of the vocal cords and the walls of resonance cavity; − the quantity of the vowel [æ] in [kən'trækt] is greater, the vowel becomes longer; 78 − the quality of the vowel [æ] in the stressed syllable is different from the quality of this vowel in the unstressed position, in which it is more narrow. Generally, these four factors work together in combination, though syllables may sometimes be made prominent by means of only one or two of them. Experimental work has shown that these factors are not equally important. The strongest effect is produced by pitch and length. Loudness and quality have much less effect. Word stress can be defined as the singling out of one or more syllables in a word, which is accompanied by the change of the force of utterance, pitch of the voice, qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the sound, which is usually a vowel. Stress in connected speech is termed sentence stress. 6.2. TYPES OF WORD STRESS The balance of the components of word stress may be different in different languages, so we can distinguish different types of word stress. If special prominence in a stressed syllable or syllables is achieved by greater force with which the syllable is pronounced, such type of stress is called dynamic (force) stress. European languages such as English, German, French, Russian, have dynamic word stress. If special prominence in a stressed syllable is achieved mainly through the change of pitch, or musical tone, such type of stress is called musical (tonic) stress. It is characteristic of the Japanese, Korean and other oriental languages. 79 If special prominence in a stressed syllable is achieved through the changes in the quantity of the vowels, which are longer in the stressed syllables than in the unstressed ones, such type of stress is called quantitative. Qualitative type of stress is achieved through the changes in the quality of the vowel under stress. English word stress is traditionally defined as dynamic, but in fact, the special prominence of the stressed syllables is manifested in the English language not only through the increase of intensity, but also through the changes in the vowel quantity, consonant and vowel quality and pitch of the voice. Russian word stress is not only dynamic but mostly quantitative and qualitative. The length of the Russian vowels always depends on the position in a word. The quality of the unstressed vowels in Russian may differ greatly from the quality of the same vowels under stress. All English vowels may occur in stressed syllables, the only exception is [ə], which is never stressed. English vowels [ɪ, ʊ, əʊ] tend to occur in unstressed syllables. Syllables with the syllabic [l, m, n] are never stressed. Unstressed diphthongs may partially lose their glide quality. 6.3. DEGREES OF WORD STRESS The syllables in a word are characterized by different degrees of prominence. Objectively, there are as many degrees of stress in a word as there are syllables (stress is distributed through the word). 80 In English they generally distinguish three degrees of stress: primary (strong, main, principal), secondary (half-strong, half-stressed) and weak (unstressed). American phoneticians distinguish four contrastive degrees of word stress: primary, secondary, tertiary and weak. Tertiary stress does not show much difference from secondary stress, but it has a different placement in a word. It is generally associated with American English, where it marks the last but one syllable in the words with suffixes -ary, -ory, -ony (ˏrevo'lutioˏnary, 'dictioˏnary). However, in terms of teaching English as a foreign language the British conception of three degrees of word stress is more acceptable. Stress is indicated in transcription by placing the stress mark before the symbol of the first sound of the stressed syllable. Primary stress is marked by a raised short vertical stroke and secondary stress is marked by a lowered one: examination [ɪgˏzæmɪʹneɪʃ(ə)n]. Most English scientists do not mark monosyllabic words. In the Russian word-stress system there are two degrees of word stress: primary and weak. The stress marks in the Russian phonetic tradition are placed above the stressed vowels. 6.4. PLACEMENT OF WORD STRESS According to its placement in a word, stress can be fixed and free. In languages with a fixed stress, the position of the word stress is always the same. It is restricted to a particular syllable in a multisyllabic word. For example, in French word stress is normally fixed on the last syllable of the 81 word, in Finnish and Czech it falls on the first syllable, in Polish it falls on the last but one syllable. In languages with a free stress, its location is not confined to a specific position. It can fall on any syllable of the word. The number of languages with free word stress is relatively small: English, Russian, Italian, Greek, Spanish and some others. In English (as well as in Russian) the word stress is not only free, but it is also shifting, which means that it can change its position in different forms of the word and its derivatives ('music – mu'sician). To define the position of word stress in each individual word it is necessary to take into account a number of factors: − phonological structure of the syllables; − the number of syllables in the word; − morphological factor (whether the word is simple, complex or compound); − the part of speech the word belongs to (noun, verb, adjective, etc.). 1) The phonological structure of the syllable is related to the status of a particular syllable in terms of the degree of sonority. The sounds that possess a greater degree of sonority contribute to the greater prominence of the syllable. A syllable is considered to be strong when it contains a long vowel or a diphthong or a short vowel followed by two consonants. For example, in English verbs the stress falls on the last syllable if it is strong and on the last but one syllable if the last one is weak (aʹrrive - deʹvelop). 2) The number of syllables in a word influences the number of stresses and to a certain extent the position of stress. There are stress patterns typical of two-syllable words, three-syllable words and so on. In multi-syllable words there appears secondary stress. 82 3) Morphological factor shows that in complex words the placement of stress depends on the type of suffix. Suffixes are divided into those which do not affect the stress placement in the stem (stress-neutral), those which influences stress in the stem (stress-fixing) and those which carry stress themselves (stress attracting). In the words with stress-neutral suffixes the stress remains on the same syllable in the stem (reʹfuse - reʹfusal, ʹcomfort - ʹcomfortable). This group of suffixes includes: -al, -able, -en, -ful, -ing, -ish, -less, -ness, -ly, ment, and others. Stress-fixing suffixes (-ion, -ic, -ity, -ial, -ive) determine the placement of stress on a particular syllable of the stem and attracts stress to the syllable that precedes them, i.e. the last syllable of the stem (ʹcurious - curiʹosity). Stress attracting suffixes include such suffixes as ade, -eer, -ee, -esque, -ette -ain (ˏrefuʹgee, ˏcigaʹrette). But in some cases this factor is to be considered together with another one – the number of syllable in a word. For example, the verbal suffix -ate is stress attracting in the words containing two syllables (migʹrate), and in words containing more than two syllables it is stress-fixing: it fixes the stress on the third syllable from the end (comʹmunicate). Compound nouns contain more than one root or more than one word, but they function as one word. The rules of word stress in such words will be presented later in the text. 4) The fourth factor to be considered is the grammatical category the word belongs to. The influence of this factor can be illustrated by the pairs of words, in which adjectives and nouns are contrasted to verbs: ʹinsult – to inʹsult, ʹrecord – to reʹcord, ʹpresent – to preʹsent. 83 6.5. TENDENCIES IN THE PLACEMENT OF WORD STRESS Phoneticians generally distinguish the following tendencies in the placement of word stress: recessive tendency, rhythmic tendency, retentive tendency and semantic factor. Recessive tendency is the tendency to stress the beginning of the word. It can be of two sub-types. Unrestricted recessive tendency is observed in the native English words with no prefix ('mother, 'daughter, 'brother, 'swallow) and in assimilated French borrowings ('reason, 'colour). Restricted recessive tendency is characterized by placing the word stress on the root of the word if this word has a prefix, which has lost its meaning (fore'see, with'draw, be'gin). The rhythmic (rhythmical) tendency reflects the rhythm of alternating stressed and unstressed syllables. This tendency caused the appearance of the secondary stress in the multisyllabic French borrowings (ˏrevo'lution, ˏorgani'sation). It also explains the placement of primary stress on the third syllable from the end in three- and four-syllable words ('cinema, sig'nificant). The interrelation of recessive and rhythmic tendencies can be traced in borrowed three-syllable words ('family, 'library, 'faculty). In most cases, however, these two tendencies contradict each other, which leads to the existence of such accentual variants as 'hospitable – hos'pitable, 'distribute – dist'ribute. The stress on the initial syllable is caused by the diachronical recessive tendency and the stress on the second syllable is under the influence of rhythmic tendency. In sentences, words with two stresses can be pronounced with one singular stress under the influence of rhythm: ˏthirʹteen / Her ʹnumber is ʹthirteen ˎhundred. Under the influence 84 of rhythm compounds of three elements may have a strong stress on the second element (hot ʹwater bottle, waste ʹpaper basket). The rhythmic tendency is very strong in modern English. The third tendency is called retentive. A derivative retains the stress of the original word ('similar – as'similate). Sometimes in the derivative the primary stress of the original word turns into secondary stress ('demonstrate – ˏdemonst'ration). The semantic factor is observed in compound words. The stress generally falls on the elements, which have a greater semantic, distinctive weight. For example, in such pairs as ʹgentleman – ʹgentle ʹman, ʹblackboard – ʹblack ʹboard the placement of stress on the first morpheme signifies that these words have a single meaning, which is not made up from the meanings of their sub-parts. Two equal stresses on both parts of these word combinations show that each element has its own meaning. The semantic factor is also observed when the first element of the compound is more important (ʹbirthday), when it is contrasted with some other word (ʹflute player, not ʹviolin player), or when a compound is very common and frequently used (ʹmidsummer, ʹmidnight). Given below are the most common rules of word-stress in English: Two-syllable words: − if a word is a verb the basic rule is that if the second syllable contains a long vowel or a diphthong, or if it ends with more than one consonant, the second syllable is stressed: apply [ə'plaɪ], assist [ə'sɪst]; if the final syllable contains a short vowel and one (or no) final consonant, the first syllable is stressed: enter ['entə], open ['əʊpən]; a final syllable is unstressed if it contains [əʊ]: follow ['fɒləʊ]; 85 − two-syllable simple adjectives are stressed according to the same rule: lovely ['lʌvlɪ], alive [ə'laɪv] (as with most stress rules there are exceptions: honest ['ɒnɪst] – ends in two consonants); − nouns require a different rule – if the second syllable contains a short vowel the stress is usually on the first syllable, otherwise it is on the second syllable: money ['mʌnɪ], estate [ɪs'teɪt]; − other two-syllable words such as adverbs and prepositions seem to behave like verbs and adjectives. Three-syllable words: − in verbs if the last syllable contains a short vowel and ends with not more than one consonant, that syllable is unstressed, and stress is on the preceding syllable: determine [dɪ'tɜːmɪn]; if the final syllable contains a long vowel or a diphthong, or ends with more than one consonant, that final syllable is stressed: entertain [ˌentə'teɪn]; − in nouns if the final syllable contains a short vowel or [əʊ], it is unstressed; if the syllable preceding this final syllable contains a long vowel or a diphthong, or if it ends with more than one consonant, that middle syllable will be stressed: disaster [dɪ'zɑːstə]; if the final syllable contains a short vowel and the middle syllable contains a short vowel and ends with not more than one consonant, both final and middle syllables are unstressed, and the first syllable is stressed: cinema ['sɪnəmə]; − adjectives seem to need the same rule: insolent ['ɪnsələnt]. Words with suffixes or prefixes: − in words with prefixes the primary stress typically falls on the syllable following the prefix: im'possible, re'call; 86 − in words with prefixes with their own meaning, the place of secondary stress is on the prefix: ˏex-ʹminister, ˏanti-ʹcapitalist; − in prefixal verbs which are distinguished from similarly spelt nouns and adjectives, the place of stress is on the second syllable, nouns and adjectives have their stress on the initial syllable: to comʹpound ʹcompound, to inʹcrease - ʹincrease; − suffixes -esce, -esque, -ate, -ize, -fy, -ette, -ique, -ee, -eer, -ade have the place of stress on themselves (or on the preceding syllable): ˏmariʹnade, ˏspeciaʹlize; − suffixes -ical, -ic, -ion, -ity, -ial, -cient, -iency, -eous, -ual, -uous, ety, -itous, -ive, -ative, -itude, -ident, -inal, -ital, -wards have the place of stress on the preceding syllable: ecoʹnomic, maʹjority; − in words of 4 or more syllables the place of stress is on the antepenultimate syllable (third form the end): eʹmergency, hisʹtorical. In compound words the first element is stressed when: − compounds are written as one word: ʹappletree, ʹbedroom; − nouns are compounded of a verb and an adverb: ʹpickup, ʹmake-up; − nouns in the possessive case are followed by another noun: ʹdollʼs house, ʹladyʼs maid; In compound words the second element is stressed when: − food items have the first element which is of a material used in manufacturing the whole: ˏapple ʹtart; − parts of the house and other buildings are implied: ˏfront ʹdoor; − adjectives with past participles characterize people: ˏthick ʹskinned; 87 − compound nouns ending in -er or -ing are followed by adverbs: ˏpasserʹby; − the first element of compounds is a number: second-ʹclass, threeʹwheeler; − compounds function as adverbs: head-ʹfirst; Two equal stresses are observed: − in composite verbs: to ʹgive ʹup (in speech stress may be neutral); − in numerals from 13 to 19: ˏsixʹteen. According to the data given by Russian and foreign phoneticians the most common types of English stress pattern are: ʹ_ _ (after), _ ʹ_ (before), ʹ_ _ _ (family), _ ʹ_ _ (importance). All the rules have exceptions and the learner of English may feel that the rules are so complex that sometimes it is best to learn the stress for each word individually when the word itself is learned. Besides, learners of English should be aware of the fact that some words have two variants of stress and they are both considered to be correct: kilometer [kɪ'lɒmɪtə], [ʹkɪləmɪ:tə]. 6.6. FUNCTIONS OF WORD STRESS Word stress performs the following functions: Word stress organizes the syllables into a word. It creates a particular pattern of relationships among syllables, making some syllables more prominent than others and shapes the word as a whole. Thus word stress performs the constitutive function. 88 Word stress makes it possible for the listener to identify a succession of syllables with a definite recurrent stress pattern as a word. In other words, it helps us to recognise the word in the chain of speech. This function is called recognitive (identificatory). Word stress is capable of differentiating the meaning of words or their forms, thus performing its distinctive function. Primary stress placement can distinguish the grammatical category of the word in the opposition ('import – im'port), the meaning of the word ('billow – be'low), compound nouns from free word combinations ('greenhouse – 'green 'house). Questions: 1. What is stress on the auditory, articulatory and acoustic level? 2. What types of word stress do you know? 3. What is the difference between fixed and free type of word stress? 4. How does stress perform constitutive, distinctive and recognitive functions? 5. What is the terminology suggested by different authors to distinguish between different degrees of word stress? 6. What factors determine the place and different degree of word stress? 7. What tendencies affect the position of word stress in English? 8. What are the rules of word stress in English? Give definitions of the following phonetic terms: dynamic stress, fixed stress, free stress, musical stress, primary stress, qualitative stress, quantitative stress, secondary stress, shifting stress, word stress. 89