WORD STRESS

IN ENGLISH
 THE NATURE OF WORD STRESS

Phonetic parameters that effect the prominence of the stressed syllable:

 pitch
 loudness (force of utterance)
 length
 vowel quality
 or their combination

contract ['kɒntrækt] договор

to contract [kən'trækt] заключать договор
 TYPES OF WORD STRESS
■Dynamic (force) stress
■Musical (tonic) stress
■Quantitative stress
■Qualitative stress

English word stress (dynamic) is manifested through:

■the increase of intensity
■the changes in the vowel quantity
■consonant and vowel quality
■pitch of the voice
 DEGREES OF WORD STRESS

Degrees of stress in English: American phoneticians distinguish four

degrees of word stress:

■primary (strong, main, principal) ■primary

■secondary
■secondary (half-strong, half-
stressed) (examination [ɪgˏzæmɪʹneɪʃən]) ■tertiary (ˏrevo'lutioˏnary,
■weak (unstressed) 'dictioˏnary)
■weak
POSITION OF WORD STRESS

Types of word stress:

■fixed
■free
■shifting ('music – mu'sician)
 Factors effecting the position of word stress
1) The phonological structure of the syllable (based the degree of sonority)
aʹrrive - deʹvelop
 
2) The number of syllables (two-syllable, three-syllable , etc.)
 
3) Morphological factor, depending on the type of suffix:
 stress-neutral (-al, -able, -en, -ful, -ing, -ish, -less, -ness, -ly, -ment, and others)
reʹfuse - reʹfusal, ʹcomfort - ʹcomfortable
 stress-fixing (-ion, -ic, -ity, -ial, -ive)
ʹcurious - curiʹosity
 stress attracting (-ade, -eer, -ee, -esque, -ette –ain)
ˏrefuʹgee, ˏcigaʹrette
 (-ate) stress-fixing (in words containing more than two syllables) and stress attracting (in the words containing two
syllables)
migʹrate – comʹmunicate

4) The grammatical category

ʹinsult – to inʹsult, ʹrecord – to reʹcord, ʹpresent – to preʹsent
 TENDENCIES IN THE PLACEMENT OF WORD
STRESS
Recessive tendency Rhythmic (rhythmical) tendency

 Unrestricted recessive tendency ˏrevo'lution, ˏorgani'sation, 'cinema, sig'nificant

'mother, 'daughter, 'brother, 'swallow)

The interrelation of recessive and rhythmic
'reason, 'colour tendencies
'family, 'library, 'faculty

 Restricted recessive tendency

'hospitable – hos'pitable, 'distribute – dist'ribute
fore'see, with'draw, be'gin
 
ˏthirʹteen - Her ʹnumber is ʹthirteen ˎhundred.
hot ʹwater bottle, waste ʹpaper basket
TENDENCIES IN THE PLACEMENT OF WORD
STRESS

Retentive tendency The semantic factor (in compound

'similar – as'similate words)

'demonstrate – ˏdemonst'ration ʹgentleman – ʹgentle ʹman,

ʹblackboard – ʹblack ʹboard
ʹbirthday
ʹflute player, not ʹviolin player
ʹmidsummer
ʹmidnight
The most common rules of word-stress in English
Two-syllable words:
1) Verbs
apply [ə'plaɪ], assist [ə'sɪst]
enter ['entə], open ['əʊpən]
follow ['fɒləʊ]
2) Adjectives
lovely ['lʌvlɪ], alive [ə'laɪv]
honest ['ɒnɪst]
3) Nouns
money ['mʌnɪ], estate [ɪs'teɪt]
The most common rules of word-stress in English
Three-syllable words:
1) Verbs
determine [dɪ'tɜːmɪn]
entertain [ˌentə'teɪn]
2) Nouns
disaster [dɪ'zɑːstə]
cinema ['sɪnəmə]
3) Adjectives
insolent ['ɪnsələnt]
 The most common rules of word-stress in English
Words with suffixes or prefixes:
■ in words with prefixes the primary stress typically falls on the syllable following the prefix:
im'possible, re'call
■ 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 four or more syllables the place of stress is on the antepenultimate syllable (third from the end):
eʹmergency, hisʹtorical
 The most common rules of word-stress in English
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
■ compound nouns ending in -er or -ing are followed
by adverbs:
ˏpasserʹby
■ the first element of compounds is a number:
second-ʹclass, three-ʹwheeler
■ compounds function as adverbs:
head-ʹfirst
 The most common rules of word-stress in English

Two equal stresses are observed:

■in composite verbs:

to ʹgive ʹup
■in numerals from 13 to 19:
ʹsixʹteen
 FUNCTIONS OF WORD STRESS

 Constitutive function

 Recognitive (identificatory)

 Distinctive function
'import – im'port
'billow – be'low
'greenhouse – 'green 'house