Verb noun adjective

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 518.

Rules of word stress. Stress in compounds.

Recessive tendency, 2. rhythmic tendency, 3.retentive tendency and 4. semantic factor.

1. recessive tendency results in placing the word-stress on the initial syllable, or the second syllable,e.g. mother, begin;

2. rhythmic tendencyresults in alternating stressed and unstressed syllables, e.g.assimilation;

3. retentive tendencyconsists in the retention of the primary

accent on the parentword, e.g. as ‘similar –similar, recommend – recommendation;

Semantic factor:given below are the rules of word stress in English:

1. In words of 2 or 3 syllables the primary stress mostly falls on the first syllable, e.g.'error, ‘cabinet.

2 In prefixal words the primary stress typically falls on the syllable, following the prefix, e.g. im'possible, re'call, be'hind..

3. In prefixal words with prefixes having their own meaning, the place of stress is on the prefix, e.g. ‘anti-‘capitalism, ‘non-'stop, ‘ex-‘minister. .

4. In prefixed 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, e.g.

to com'pound ‘compound ‘compound

to in'crease ‘increase

5. Suffixes: -esce, -esque, ate,-ize, -fy, -ette, -ique, -ee, -eer, -adehave the place of stress on the preceding syllable on themselves, e.g. ,pictu'resque, ,ciga'rette, tech'nique, ,refe'ree, ,pio'neer, etc.

6. Suffixes: -ical, -ic, -ion, ity, -cient, -iency, - cous, -ual, uous, -ety, -itous,ive, -ative(-itive), -itude, -ident, -inal, -ital, -wardshave the place of stress on the preceding syllable, e.g. economic, grammatical, position, majority, special, etc.

7. In words of four or more syllables the place of stress is on the antepenultimate syllable (third from the end), e.g. emergency, calamity.

In compound words the following rules of stress are observed:

1. single stress is used when a compound word consists

a) of two nouns: ‘door-handle, ‘housekeeper, light-house, ‘keyhole, etc.

b) of an attribute and a noun: ‘dining-room ‘washing-powder, etc. .

2. double stressis used:

a) in compound adjectives of which the first element is an adjective, e.g.

‘red'hot, ‘bad'tempered, ‘good-‘looking etc.

b) in numerals from 13 to 19, e.g. ‘four'teen, ‘fif'teen, ‘eight'teen, etc.

The stress in double-stressed compounds is subject to rhythmical variations in the same way as double-stressed simple words, e.g. ‘second-hand ‘clothes, ‘all the second'hand, a ‘good-looking ‘girl, ‘all good-‘looking ‘girls.