Stress Patterns of English Words.

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 479.

According to its placement stress can be characterised as fixed and free. In languages with fixed type of stress the place of stress is always the same. For eg in Czech the stress regularly falls on the first syllable. In Italian, Welsh, Polish it is on the penultimate syllable. In English and Russian word-stress is free, that it may fall on any syllable in a word: on the first — 'mother on the second — oc'casion; on the third — deto'nation. Stress in English and in Russian is not only free but also shifting. In both languages the place of stress may shift, which helps to differentiate different parts of speech eg 'insult/ to in'sult; 'import/ to im'port. In spite of the fact that word accent in the English stress system is free, there are certain factors that determine the place, different degree of word-stress and stress patterns. Russian phonetician Torsuev studied the typology of English word-stress and singled out 1000 stress patterns which grouped into 11 main patterns. Stress patterns are based on the number of stress syllables and their degree: In words of 2 or 3 syllables the primary stress mostly falls on the first syllable ('error, 'sensible); In prefixal words the primary stress typically falls on the syllable following the prefix (im'possible, be'hin); In prefixal words with prefixes having their own meaning, the place of secondary stress is on the prefix (non-Party, ex-'minister); 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 com'pound/'compound); Suffixes: -esce, -esque, -ate, -ize, -fy, -ette, -ique, -ee, -eer, -ade have the place of stress on the preceding syllable or on themselves (picturesque, ,ciga'rette, refe'ree). Vassilyev describes 4 tendencies: recessive tendency (results in placing the word-stress on the initial syllable. It can be of two sub-types: (a) unrestricted which falls on the first syllable: father (b) restricted which is characterized by placing the word accent on the root of the word if this word has a prefix, which has lost its meaning: become, begin. This tendency also influences many borrowings: garage, batiel); rhythmic tendency (results in alternating stressed and unstressed syllables. According to this tendency the stress falls on the 3 syllable from the end: family, library. In words with more then 4 syllables we find the influence of rhythmic and recessive tendencies together: phonological. The interrelation of recessive and rhythmic tendencies result in new pronunciation of familiar words: hos'pitable); retentive tendencyconsists of the primary accent on the parent word (person – personal).