2. Types of word stress. Factors, kinds and degrees of word stress.

In different languages one of the factors constituting word stress is usually more significant than the others. According to the most important feature different types of word stress are distinguished in different languages.

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. If special prominence in a stressed syllable is achieved through the changes in the quantity of the vowels, which are longer in the stressed syllable than in the unstressed ones, such type of stress is called quantitative.

4. Qualitative type of stress is achieved through the changes in the quality of the vowel under stress.

English word stress is traditionally defined as dynamic, but in fact, the special prominence of the stressed syllables is manifested in the English language not only through the increase of intensity, but also through the changes in the vowel quantity, consonant and vowel quality and pitch of the voice.

Stress can be characterized as fixed and free. In languages with fixed type of stress the place of stress is always the same. For example, in Czech and Slovak the stress regularly falls on the first syllable, in Italian, Welsh, Polish it is on the penultimate syllable.

In English, Russian and Ukrainian word stress is free, that is it may fall on any syllable in a word. There is some controversy about degrees of the word-stress terminology and about placing the stress marks. Most of British phoneticians term the strongest stress primary, the second strongest secondary, and all the other degrees of stress weak. American descriptivists (B.Bloch, G.Trager) distinguish the following degrees of word-stress : loud, reduced loud, medial, weak.

H.A.Gleason defines the degrees of stress as primary, secondary, tertiary weak.

H.Sweet distinguishes weak, medium, or half-strong, and extrastrong, or emphatic stress.

V.A.Vassilyev, D.Jones, K.Kingdon consider that there are three degrees of word-stress in English: primary – strong, secondary – partial, weak – in unstressed syllables.

In spite of the fact that word-accent in the English stress system is free, there are certain factors that determine the place and different degree of word-stress. V.A.Vassilyev describes them as follows:

1. 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 tendency results in alternating stressed and unstressed syllables, e.g. assimilation;

3. retentive tendency consists in the retention of the primary

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