The nature of word stress.

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 502.

The identificatory function

The distinctive function

The constitutive function

The Function of Syllables in English.

Syllables constitute words through the combination of their stress- loudness, duration-length, pitch-tone.

The difference in the place of a syllabic boundary differentiates the meanings of the words and phrases.

E.g. a 'name - an aim; kids 'kin - kid 'skin; my 'train - might 'rain

The listener can understand the exact meaning of the utterance only when the correct syllabic boundary is perceived. E.g. peace talks - pea stalks

Stress in the isolated word is termed word stress; stress in connected speech is termed sentence stress.

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.

In different languages one of the factors constituting word stress is usually more significant than the others.

If special prominence in a stressed syllable or syllables is achieved mainly through the intensity of articulation, such type of stress is called dynamic, or force stress.

If special prominence in a stressed syllable is achieved mainly through the change of pitch, or musical tone, such accent is called musical, or tonic. It is characteristic of the Japanese, Korean and other oriental languages.