The Typology of Accentual Structure.

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 758.

The semantic factor

The retentive tendency

The rhythmic tendency

The rhythm of alternating stressed and unstressed syllables gave birth to this tendency in the present-day English which caused the appearance of the secondary stress in the multisyllabic French borrowings, e.g. ˌrevo'lution, ˌorgani'sation, aˌssimi'lation, etc.

A third tendency was traced in the instability of the accentual structure of English word stress: a derivative often retains the stress of the original or parent word,

E.g. ‘person — 'personal — ˌperso'nality,

'similar — as'similate,

recom'mend — recommen 'dation.

It determines the stress in compound words and words with so-called separable prefixes.

The majority of such words have two equally strong stresses, both stressed parts are considered to be of equal semantic importance, with semantic factor thus canceling the rhythmic tendency in word stressing, e.g.

Compound adjectives: hard-working, blue-eyed;

Verbs with postpositions: sit down, take off;

Numerals from 13 to 19: fourteen, sixteen.

G.P. Torsuyev classifies the accentual types according to the number of stressed syllables, their degree or character (the main and the secondary stress).

The most widely spread accentual types are:

1. ['___]. This accentual type marks both simple and compound words. The accentual str

uctures of this type may include two and more syllables, e.g. 'father, 'possibly, 'mother-in-law, 'gas-pipe.

2. [ '_ '_ ]. The accentual type is commonly realized in compound words, most of them are with separable prefixes, e.g. 'radio-'active, 're'write, 'diso'bey.

3. ['_ ˌ___]. The type is realized both in simple and compound words, very common among compound words, e.g. 'hair-,dresser, 'substructure.

4. [ˌ _'___]. The accentual type marks a great number of simple words and some compound words as well. In simple words the stresses fall onto:

the prefix and the root: ˌmaga'zine;

the root and the suffix: ˌhospi'tality;

the prefix and the suffix.

The variability of the word accentual structure is multiplied in connected speech. The accentual structure of words may be altered under the influence of rhythm, e.g. An 'unpolished 'stone but: The 'stone was un'polished.

The tempo of speech may influence the accentual pattern of words. With the quickening of the speed the carefulness of articulation is diminished, the vowels are reduced or elided, the secondary stress may be dropped, e.g. The 'whole organi'zation of the 'meeting was 'faulty.