Prosody – The components of prominence – © H Ortiz 2018

18

PROSODY – THE COMPONENTS OF PROMINENCE

Note: The following set of workshops (1 to 4) is organized as follows:

Workshop 1: Prominence, stress, accent. The components of prominence: pitch movement, loudness,
length, quality; long and short vowels; full and reduced vowels. Word and sentence prominence.

Workshop 2: Degrees of lexical stress: primary, secondary, zero. Accent-shift and accent-weakening.
Adjectives in attributive and predicative position. Accentuation in connected speech. Nuclear and
prenuclear accents.

Workshop 3: The English vs the Spanish stress systems; prominent and non-prominent syllables.
Accent-shift and accent-weakening in English and Spanish. The structure of the intonational phrase.
The English nuclear tones.

Workshop 4: Word rhythm and rhythm in connected speech. Weak forms and verbal contractions.
English and Spanish rhythm.

v Degrees of stress
• There are three degrees of lexical stress in English, indicated in
dictionaries with ( q ) for primary and ( w ) for secondary stress, while zero
stress is left unmarked. Here we use the corresponding tonetic-accent
marking system with ( e ) for primary and ( q ) for secondary accent.
• primary – Every word has one and only one primary stress, with the
exception of weak forms. The notation system used in dictionaries is
shown first, for the sake of comparison:
dictionary entries accent marks

average q- - > e- -
amateur q- - - > e- - -
accuracy q- - - - > e- - - -
• secondary – Most words have one secondary stress, while others have
two. In both cases, secondary stress always precedes primary stress:
Chinese w- q - > q- e-
preconceived w- - q - > q- - e-
examination - w - - q - - > - q- - e- -
decontamination w- - w- - q - - > q- - q- - e- -
• zero (unstressed) – unmarked.
 Prosody – The components of prominence – © H Ortiz 2018 19

è Activity 1: Read the following words containing primary ( e ),

secondary ( q ), and zero accents:

2 syllables: standard e- -
excel - e-
eighteen q- e-

3 syllables: adequate e- - -
determine - e - -
scientific q- e- -
cigarette q- -e-

4 syllables: melancholy e- - - -
exemplary -e- - -
penicillin q- -e- -
entrepreneur q- - - e-

5 syllables: figuratively e- - - - -
administrative - e- - - -
capability q- - e- - -
characteristic q- - - e- -
accentuation - q- - e- -

6 syllables: inferiority - q- - e- - -
personification - q- - - e- -
indistinguishable q- - e- - - -
vulnerability q- - - e- - --

7 syllables: intelligibility - q- - - e- - -

• Note how the rhythmic tendency introduced in workshop 1 also

operates in polysyllabic English words: secondary and primary accents are
spaced out by one or two unaccented vowels, most of which are reduced.
 Prosody – The components of prominence – © H Ortiz 2018 20

• Consecutive accents are relatively unusual: they derive mostly from

prefixation: unfinished /q√nefInISt/, decentralize /qdi˘esentr´laIz/, recycle
/qri˘esaIkl/, etc.

• Some five-, six- and seven-syllable words have two secondary stresses
before the primary. In normal speech, however, these lexical patterns are
regularly simplified to only one secondary accent before the primary; but
notice that the syllable that loses the accent in the middle maintains the
full vowel:

deforestation w- w- - q- - > q- - - e- -
incapability w- w- - q- - - > q- - - e- - -
differentiation w- - w- - q- - > q- - - - e- -
irresponsibility w- - w- - q- - - > q- - - - e- - -

è Activity 2: Say what type of vowels (full or reduced) occur in the

unaccented syllables of the following words:

4 syllables: irrespective, instrumental, transformation, predecessor,

superficial, exuberance, automobile, inconsiderate.
5 syllables: intonational, organization, sophistication, disambiguate,
characteristic, reincarnation, pedagogical, accentuation.
6 syllables: eligibility, revolutionary, unsophisticated, regularization,
intensification, disorganization, impossibility.

v Accent-shift and accent-weakening

• In workshop 1 (p. 7) we introduced the principle of rhythmic
alternation, which prevents the occurrence of accents in close vicinity.
Now let’s see how it operates in sequences consisting of double-stressed
words + single-stressed words, or the other way round:

(1) wdisapqpointing + reqsults > qdisappointing reesults

(2) qprivate + wconverqsation > qprivate converesation
 Prosody – The components of prominence – © H Ortiz 2018 21

(3) wunreqservedly + acqcepted > qunreservedly acecepted

(4) reqact + wunexqpectedly > reqact unexepectedly
(5) wuniqversity + qlecturer > quniversity electurer
(6) qCambridge + wUniqversity > qCambridge Unieversity

• Notice that in all cases the middle stress (whether primary or

secondary) in a sequence of three is not reflected as accent (syllables in
red). Examples (1), (3) and (5) involve the loss of accents deriving from
primary stresses; in (2), (4) and (6) secondary stresses are not realized as
accents. Notice also the different word classes that usually participate in
the process: nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs.

è Definitions: Accent-shift is a process by which in sequences of

consecutive stresses a primary stress is not realized as accent. Accent-
weakening occurs when a secondary stress is not reflected as accent in a
sequence of consecutive stresses.

• When two double-stressed words colocate, different accent patterns are

possible:

(7) qinterenational + qinterevention > qinternational interevention

> qinternational qinterevention
> qinterqnational interevention
> interqnational interevention
• Note also:
(8) qtotal + qdisqinteegration > qtotal disinteegration
> qtotal qdisinteegration
> qtotal disqinteegration

• But notice that accents are not downgraded when a double-stressed

word premodifies an item that rejects accent, as in (9) and (10 ) and when
no other word in the IP can take an accent, as in (11) and (12):
 Prosody – The components of prominence – © H Ortiz 2018 22

(9) wimmiqgration + conqtrol > qimmiegration con3trol

(10) wpersonqality + disqorder > qpersoneality dis3order
(11) (A: eWhat now?) B: There can be qreperecussions.
(12) (A: qWhy are you so egloomy?) B: Because it was qdisapepointing.

è Activity 3: Identify examples of (a) accent-shift, (b) accent-weakening,

and (c) neither in examples (13) to (24):

(13) academic + standards >

(14) desperate + situation >
(15) honourable + mention >
(16) handwritten + assignment >
(17) prepositional + phrase >
(18) sentimental + value >
(19) civil + aviation >
(20) exceptional + circumstances >
(21) clear + indication >
(22) controversial + decision >
(23) photographic + memory >
(24) captivating + smile >

v Adjectives in attributive and predicative position

• Double-stressed adjectives are particularly apt to undergo accent-shift

and accent-weakening, depending on whether they occur in front of nouns,
i.e. in attributive position, or after linking verbs, i.e. in predicative
position. Here we examine the accentual behaviour of compound,
double-stressed adjectives in short IPs:
 Prosody – The components of prominence – © H Ortiz 2018 23

(25) They are a qgood-looking ecouple. (Lexical pattern: wgood-qlooking)

(26) Her qshoes look worn-eout. (Lexical pattern: wworn-qout)
(27) I qlive in a qworking-class edistrict. (Lexical pattern: wworking-qclass)
(28) This qsoup is stone-ecold. (Lexical pattern: wstone-qcold)
(29) My qfavourite qcolour’s navy eblue. (Lexical pattern: wnavy qblue)
(30) I prefer qhomegrown evegetables. (Lexical pattern: whomeqgrown)
(31) His qwords sounded off-eputting. (Lexical pattern: woff-qputting)
(32) qSecond-hand qcars are echeaper. (Lexical pattern: wsecond-qhand)

è Activity 4: Categorize examples (25) to (32) into (a) accent-shift and

(b) accent-weakening.

è Activity 5: Rewrite the following utterances so that both mean exactly

the same, and then mark the accented syllables in the resulting IP, as in the
example:
qluggage which is qunacecompanied > qunaccompanied eluggage

(33) an qattitude which is qunaceceptable >

(34) a qwound which has been qdisinefected >
(35) a qclassroom which is qoverecrowded >
(36) a qplan which has been qpreareranged >
(37) a deqcision which has been qreconesidered >
(38) qfruit which has been qdehyedrated >
(39) a qmethod which is qoutedated >
(40) a qsystem which is qunderefunded >

è Activity 6: Rewrite the following utterances so that both mean exactly

the same and then mark the accented syllables in the resulting IP, as in the
example:
 Prosody – The components of prominence – © H Ortiz 2018 24

an qirresistible eoffer > an qoffer which is irreesistible

(41) an qundeniable eproof >

(42) an qinefficient esystem >
(43) a qsympathetic efriend >
(44) a qparadoxical efact >
(45) an qenergetic eexercise >
(46) an qinfluential etheory >
(47) an qelementary miestake >
(48) a qconscientious estudent >

v Accentuation in connected speech – unmarked (1)

• In workshop 1 we used a system of marks to show the accentual pattern
of utterances longer than one word. Now we will start looking at some of
the main principles that govern the occurrence of pitch accents in more
detail, i.e. which stresses are chosen to surface as accents and which ones
are not. We will begin by describing the simplest, most traditional rule.
è Words have been traditionally classified into two categories, depending
on their semantic weight and their capacity to carry accents when used
in connected speech:
• (a) lexical items (or content, open-class words) are nouns (common
and proper), adjectives, main verbs and adverbs and they are in general
far more accentable than those in (b);

• (b) structural items (or function, grammatical or closed-class words)

are affirmative auxiliary and modal verbs, pronouns (relative, personal,
reflexive, and reciprocal), possessive adjectives, articles, prepositions
and conjunctions, and they are for the most part unaccented, as in (49).
In the following examples we will provide practice in the two types of
falling accent marks introduced in workshop 1 – ( e ) and ( r ) :
 Prosody – The components of prominence – © H Ortiz 2018 25

(49) He qreally qthinks the qnew qboss will acqcept our qinvirtation.

• One-syllable content words are considered lexically stressed and so are

also likely to be accented in running speech (think, new, boss). Following
the previous rule, in (49) all lexical items have taken an accent, while he
(personal pronoun), the (article), will (modal verb), and our (possessive
adjective) have not.

• The accentual pattern in (49), though, is in practical terms abnormal.

How do speakers distribute pitch accents in connected speech? They space
out accents that occur too close to one another so as to relieve rhythmic
pressure. They do this by applying rules such as accent-shift and accent-
weakening, and so the intervals between accents tend to even out.
• A plausible version of (49) would delete either the accent on new or boss
and the secondary accent on invitation so as to obtain a more balanced
pattern of accents:

(50) He qreally thinks the new qboss will acqcept our invirtation or
(51) He qreally thinks the qnew boss will acqcept our invirtation.

• Further examples can be found in combinations of lexical items such as

noun, adjective and adverb phrases.
• While noun phrases consisting of a noun + noun generally take one
single accent on the first noun (i.e. they are early accented), other lexical-
item combinations are usually double accented.
• Regular accent patterns are the following:
(a) eN+N: eaccent placement, qcompenesation money.
(b) qAdj+eN: qformal eduecation, qoutstanding aechievement.
(c) qV+eN: anqticipate compliecations, qdisregard ecriticism.
(d) qV+eAdv: qspeak enthusieastically, qdisconnect ecarefully.
(e) qAdv+eV: qsuddenly disapepear, qimprecisely deefine.
(f) qAdv+eAdj: qmorally unaceceptable, qeconomically edangerous.
 Prosody – The components of prominence – © H Ortiz 2018 26

• Word combinations of three lexical elements are also fairly common,

such as Adj+Adj+N (e.g. qbig brown eeyes, qtiny brownish epebbles),
Adv+Adj+N (e.g. qvery well-timed estrategy, qbrilliantly thought-out eplan),
V+Adj+N (e.g. aqvoid heavy etraffic, qtake central estage), and Adv+V+N (e.g.
qnarrowly escape epunishment, qcarefully follow inestructions).

v Nuclear and prenuclear accents

• Here we introduce two new terms to refer to the accented words in an

IP. We will distinguish one main pitch accent called nuclear accent (or
simply nucleus), and other subsidiary accents that precede the nucleus
called prenuclear accents. The nucleus is defined as ‘the last pitch accent
in an IP’.
• We also introduce here the notion of unmarked nucleus placement,
that refers to where in the IP the nucleus ‘usually’ or ‘naturally’ occurs, i.e.
in contexts that are not ‘special’ for any reason. We can therefore elaborate
the following rule: in unmarked IPs the nucleus goes on the last
primary stress of the last lexical item.
• Nucleus placement is marked when, for a special reason – either
emphasis or contrast – it occurs on a stressed syllable which is not the last
or sometimes even on a structural item. We will address this topic in a later
workshop.

• Each IP has only one nuclear accent and, optionally, one or more
prenuclear accents. For instance, in (53), the nuclear accent is on -ten-
and the prenuclear accents are given to ver-, chil- and lot, i.e. the accents
are fairly distributed.

• This rhythmic regularity is, however, not absolute, but only a tendency,
as can be seen in:

(52) qVery qyoung qchildren qneed a qlot qmore atrtention >

(53) qVery young qchildren need a qlot more atrtention. P
 Prosody – The components of prominence – © H Ortiz 2018 27

(54) Our qnew qsupervisor qloves qorganizing and edecorating >

(55) Our qnew qsupervisor loves qorganizing and edecorating P
(56) qWhat qpart should qart qplay in a qchild’s rlife? >
(57) qWhat part should qart play in a qchild’s rlife? P
(58) qLast qnight I qwatched an qexcellent qtelevision qprogramme about
qhuman erights. >
(59) qLast night I qwatched an qexcellent qtelevision programme about
qhuman erights. P

• Notice how words may gain or lose pitch accents depending on their
distribution in the IP:

(60) The qpainting was qaccidentally edamaged.

(61) The qpaiting was qdamaged acciedentally.

(62) I qmisunderstood the emessage.

(63) qRon misunderqstood the emessage.
(64) The qmessage was misunderestood.
(65) It was qmisunderestood.

(66) qAlice came qback at rone.

(67) She qcame back at rone.

(68) qWorld-famous qpaintings are exqhibited the world eover.

(69) qPaintings that are world-qfamous are exqhibited qall over the
eworld.

(70) He qput some qmusic on and then qturned off the rlights.
(71) He qturned them qoff and then qput on some rmusic.
(72) qFirst he put some qmusic on and qthen turned the rlights off.
 Prosody – The components of prominence – © H Ortiz 2018 28

(73) qLast week’s qconcert was outestanding.

(74) The qconcert last qweek was outestanding.

(75) qKathy gave her qbaby boy qAlan a qbig goodnight rkiss.
(76) She qgave her baby qboy a qgoodnight rkiss.

• On the other hand, speakers will not apply the principle of rhythmic
alternation and will give accents to consecutive lexical items depending on
factors such as their communicative intentions and the distribution of
accentable items in the utterance. In these examples all lexical items are
single stressed:

(77) qModern qshops offer seqcure rpayment.

(78) qHow qlong has this been qgoing eon?
(79) We qboth qknow we’re gonna get qgood qfood at a qlow rprice.
(80) We qleft qearly and arqrived qhome at a conqvenient rtime.

è Activity 7: Mark the accents in the following IPs. Note that some of the
adjectives occur in attributive and others in predicative roles. Use ( e )or ( r )
for the nuclear and ( q ) for the prenuclear accents:

(81) Latin American countries depend on international trade.

(82) Visiting the cathedral was an unforgettable experience.
(83) His teaching methods are completely outdated.
(84) Her ongoing research project investigates the detrimental
consequences of the greenhouse effect.
(85) I disapprove of artificial fertilizers and overprocessed flavourings.
(86) Updated software could help us identify underused resources.
(87) He sounds a little overbearing and slightly self-satisfied.
(88) Few of the environmental problems discussed at the conference
are not really insurmountable.
 Prosody – The components of prominence – © H Ortiz 2018 29

è Activity 8: Mark the pitch accents in the following IPs. Remember that
noun + noun collocations are usually accented on the first noun, and
adjective + noun phrases are accented on both items:

(89) Deaccenting auxiliary verbs is a problematic area for Spanish

speakers.
(90) Learners should not only learn accentuation rules but also their
exceptions.
(91) The lecturer explained how the sound structure of words is stored in
the mental lexicon.
(92) Stress is one the many notions whose definition is not completely
agreed upon.
(93) Wrong accent placement and failure to produce reduced vowels
cause serious misunderstanding.
(94) Researchers have concluded that syllable structure is fundamental to
rhythm.
(95) Nucleus placement in idiomatic expressions is in some cases
inconsistent.

è Activity 9: Form accent-shifted and accent-weakened collocations

with the following double-stressed adjectives, as in the example:

woverqheated > an qoverheated eroom; the maqchine’s overeheated

weverqlasting wintelqlectual wnearqby wnonqstop

wintelqlectual wforthqcoming woutqside wpreconqceived

è Activity 10: Provide pitch accent for the following IPS:

(96) You must carefully disassemble the unit.

(97) The parts will adjust automatically.
 Prosody – The components of prominence – © H Ortiz 2018 30

(98) Principles are theoretically based.

(99) The scenery was breathtakingly beautiful.
(100) Flights have been unexpectedly cancelled.
(101) It’s vital that you overcome fear.
(102) Terms were unhesitatingly accepted.
(103) He disappeared instantly.
(104) Have you understood instructions?
(105) In the end he gave up unwillingly.
(106) Shouldn’t we redefine criteria?

è Activity 11: Mark only two pitch accents (nuclear and prenuclear) in
the following IPs:

(107) Let that be a lesson to you.

(108) I’d be grateful if you could help me.

(109) Let’s get this over with.

(110) Is there anything I can do for you?

(111) She didn’t so much as look at me.

(112) I’m going to tell her what I think.

(113) Is there anything you could tell me about yourself?

è Activity 12: Mark only three pitch accents in the following IPs:

(114) The main disadvantage is the size.

(115) I got stuck in a jam and arrived late.

(116) I was just trying to make conversation.

(117) He gave me a satisfactory explanation.

 Prosody – The components of prominence – © H Ortiz 2018 31

(118) Children love working with their hands.

(119) Ann cares a lot more for her pets.

(120) I should have finished my transcription by Tuesday.

(121) What part of the world do you come from?

(122) I'm sorry to have been slow to get back to you.

è Activity 12: Mark only four pitch accents in the following IPs:

(123) His style illustrates originality and creativity.

(124) Why do you think Pete and Joan quit their jobs?

(125) We have an unfortunately huge disadvantage compared with

the Japanese.

(126) She’s writing her dissertation on environmental conservation.

(127) We’re much better equipped now to meet the requests of

customers.

v Summary

• Most pitch accents occur on lexical items.
• There is a tendency to distribute pitch accents at roughly equal
intervals in an IP, depending on the location of the neighbouring accents.
• Two of the most frequent processes that regulate the occurrence of pitch
accents are accent-shift and accent-weakening. All double-accented
items can suffer these simplifications.
• In IPs with unmarked nucleus placement the nucleus coincides with
the last primary stress. Put simply, the nuclear accent is the last accent
in an IP.

 Prosody – The components of prominence – © H Ortiz 2018 32

• All IPs have at least one pitch accent; if this is the case, that accent is the
nuclear accent. All preceding accents are prenuclear accents.
• Falling pitch accents, and particularly the high-fall, have been
extensively used in this and the previous workshop. Both types of falling
accents and the low-rise pitch accent introduced in workshop 1 are
illustrated below:


(128) At the qend of the ejourney 2 1 1 4
1 1 1

(129) At the qend of the rjourney 2 1 1
1 1 5
1



(130) At the qend of the yjourney… 2 1 1
1
1 1 6

where
( q ) represents a high prenuclear accent;
( e ) represents an accent that falls from a high to a low pitch;
( r ) represents an accent that falls from a mid to a low pitch;
( y ) represents an accent that rises from a low to a mid pitch.