Chapter 9: THE SUPRASEGMENTAL PHONEMES:

WORD-STRESS

9.1. Levels of stress

9.2. Position of stress
9.2.1. Stress in simple words
9.2.2. Stress in complex words
9.3. Variable stress

Characteristics of stressed (accented) syllables

-

The syllable or syllables of a word which stand out from

the other syllables are said to be accented (stressed), or
to receive ACCENT (STRESS).
- we can study accent from the point of view of
PRODUCTION and PERCEPTION.
A) PRODUCTION of stress - depends on the
speaker, using more muscular energy than normally
used for unstressed syllables.
B) From the PERCEPTUAL point of view, all
stressed syllables have one characteristic in common,
and that is PROMINENCE

4 factors that make a syllable prominent:

1. Pitch change (pitch change and pitch height)
2. Loudness voiced sounds
3.Quality (full vowels vs reduced vowels; voiced
consonants vs. voiceless consonants) and
quantity (number of sonorous sounds in the
syllable)

9.1. LEVELS OF STRESS

primary stress - rendered by the symbol ( )
placed at the top, in front of the stressed
syllable; e.g. around [ raund], apple [pl]
secondary stress - a type of stress that is
weaker than the primary stress, but stronger
than that of the first syllable of around, e.g.
photographic [fut grfik], flyswatter
[flaiswt]; represented in transcriptions with a
low mark ( ).
unstressed syllables - absence of any
recognizable amount of prominence.

9.2. THE POSITION OF STRESS

The accentual pattern of English words is

fixed - the main accent always falls on a
particular syllable of any given word, but
free -the main accent is not tied to any
particular situation in the chain of the
syllables constituting a word.

Factors that determine the position of stress

a) the origin of the word (i.e. whether it is of Greek or Latin
origin). The English words of Latin origin tend to follow
the Latin rules of stress, e.g. formula, appendix.
b) whether the word is morphologically simple, or whether
it is complex as a result of either affixation (the
attachment of prefixes and suffixes) or of compounding
(the combination of two or more simple words).
c) the grammatical category to which the word belongs
(noun, verb, adjective); e.g. insult (n) vs. insult (vb)
d) the number of syllables in the word;
e) the phonological structure of the syllables (whether it
contains certain kinds of vowel and consonant
combinations).

9.2.1. Stress in simple words

B. Two-syllable words. Here the choice is still simple: either the first or
the second syllable will be stressed.
a.) Verbs and adjectives. The basic rule is the following: if the second
syllalbe of the word contains a long vowel or a diphthong, or if it ends
in more than one consonant, that second syllable is stressed:
Verbs
Adjectives
apply [plai] collapse
divine [divain]
attract [trkt] imply
correct [krekt]
become [bikm]
alive [laiv]
If the final syllable does not meet the above-mentioned conditions, i.e. if
it contains a short vowel and one (or no) final consonant, then the first
syllable will be stressed.
Verbs
Adjectives
enter [ent] exit lovely [lvli]
open [upn] suffer even [i:vn]
hover [hv] sizzle happy ['hpi]

b) Adverbs and prepositions behave like

verbs and adjectives: behind [bihaind],
upon [pn], below, about
c) Nouns. If the second syllable contains a
short vowel, the stress will usually come
on the first syllable. Otherwise, it will be on
the second syllable:
honey [h-ni], product [pr-dkt], writer [rait] vs. estate [i-steit], balloon [b-lu:n],
idea [ai-di].

Verbs
transfer
permit
accent
progress

Verb Adjective
absent absent
dilute dilute
direct direct
frequentfrequent

Nouns
transfer
permit
accent
progress

Noun
Adjective
August
august
minute [minit] minute [mainju:t]

C. Three-syllable words.

a) Verbs
-(penultimate) syllable, e.g. encounter [inkaun-t], determine [di - t- min], inhabit
[in - h - bit].
- the final syllable is stressed if it contains a
long vowel or a diphthong, or ends with
more than one consonant: e.g. resurrect
[re - z - rekt], entertain [en - t - tein].

b) Nouns.
- Penultimate syllable stressed: mimosa [mimu - z], potatoe [p - tei - tu],
soprano.
-first syll. stressed: quantity [kwn ti ti],
cinema [si - n - m], exercise
c) Adjectives seem to need the same rules
to produce stress patterns such as:
opportune [ - p - tju:n], insolent [in slnt] , anthropoid [n-r-poid].

9.2.2. Stress in complex words

Complex words are of two major types:

- words formed from a basic stem by adding
affixes (9.2.2.1.) (derived words)
- compound words, which are formed out of
two or more independent English words,
e.g. ice-cream, armchair) (9.2.2.2)

9.2.2.1. Stress in affixed words

Affixes - three possible effects on word
stress:
- the affix itself receives primary stress:
semi-+ vowel= semivowel [semi vaul]
- the affixed word is stressed as if the affix
were not there: market - marketing.
- the stress remains on the stem, but is
shifted to a different syllable: magnet magnetic, edit - edi-tion

A) PREFIXES

(a) Prefixes which have lost their meaning

and do not carry any accent: a-, be-, for(above, alive, ajar, ashore, become,
believe, forgive, forget, forbid).
(b) Prefixes which may have a meaning of
their own, and are still productive, but
whose fusion with the root to which they
are attached is so indestructible, that the
resulting word is no longer felt as a
derivative. e.g. depress, derail,
descend.

(c) A third category contains prefixes that almost always have a distinct
meaning of their own and are highly productive.
MIS (= badly) accented
unaccented (in long words where
quite often the meaning has been
slightly altered)
,misad'venture
,misbelieve
miscarry= to deliver
prematurely
,misinform
mischance = bad luck
,misplace
misconduct = adultery
NON- (=not) accented
accented
(secondary stress) (primary stress)
,non attendance
nonsense
,non- essential
nonpareil
,non-observance
,non-stop
,non-conformist

unaccented
nonentity

B) SUFFIXES

a) Suffixes carrying primary stress themselves

-ee: refugee, employee, referee
-eer: mountaineer, engineer, volunteer
-ese: Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese
-ette: cigarette, usherette, kitchenette
-ental: oriental, accidental
-esque: picturesque, arabesque, grotesque

(b) Suffixes that do not affect stress placement

-able: comfort => comfortable -less: power => powerless
-age: anchor => anchorage
-ly: hurried => hurriedly
-al: refuse => refusal
-ment: punish => punishment
-en: wide => widen
-ness: happy => happiness
-ful: wonder => wonderful
-y: fun => funny
-ing: amaze => amazing
-fy: glory =>glorify
-ish: devil => devilish
-wise: other => otherwise
-like: bird => birdlike

Exceptions: pyramid => pyramidal, proverb => proverbial

apply => applicable
prefer => preferable
compare => comparable
admire => admirable

(c) Suffixes that influence stress in the stem

Primary stress on the last syllable of the

stem:
-ous: advantage => ,advantageous,
courageous, injure => in jurious
-graphy: photo =>, photography
-ic: climate => climatic, dogma vs.
dogmatic
-ion: perfect => perfection
-ive: reflex => reflexive, impuls vs
impulsive

9.2.2.2. Stress in compound words

a. Stress on the first element. The most familiar type of compound is
the one which combines two nouns, and normally has the stress on
the first element, e.g. typewriter, sunrise, headache,
honeymoon, word-stress, newspaper. BUT: ,week-end
b. Primary stress on the final element. In this category there are a
number of possible combinations:
Compounds with an adjectival first element and the ed morpheme at
the end
e.g. badtempered, half-opened, left-handed.
Compounds in which the first element is a numeral:
e.g. three-wheeler, second-hand, ,three-legged (race)
Compounds that function as adverbs:
e.g. North-West, down-stream
Compounds that function as verbs and have an adverbial first
element:
e.g. toill-treat, to upgrade.

HOTBED place that encourages rapid growth

HOT BED
warm sleeping place
MAKEUP cosmetics
MAKE UP reconcile
LOUDSPEAKER sound amplifier
LOUD SPEAKER noisy
talker.

9.3. VARIABLE STRESS

A.

B.

Rhythmic changes. In some words containing more

than two syllables there appears to be a tendency to
avoid a succession of weak syllables, especially if
these have [] or [i]. Thus, in words of three syllables
there is variation between [_ _] and [_ _] patterns,
e.g. exquisite [ekskwizit] or *[ikskwizit], integral
*[intigrl] or [intgrl], sonorous *[snrs] or [sn:rs].
Analogical changes refer to derived forms, which tend
to preserve the accentual pattern of the stem, e.g.
compare [kmp]comparable [kmrbl] instead
of comparable [kmprbl], admire [dmai]
admirable [dmairbl] instead of admirable
[dmirbl].