19. Syllable Structure

Vowels and consonants can be grouped into four types of syllables. 1. A fully-open (it consists of one vowel sound [v]): are [ɑː], or [ɔː]. 2. A fully-closed syllable (it has a vowel between consonant [cvc], [ccvc], [cvcc]): bed [bed], close [kləuz], left [left]. 3. Covered at the beginning syllable [cv], [ccv], [cccv]: straw [strɔː]. 4. Covered at the end syllable [vc], [vcc], [vccc]: elm [elm], act [ækt]. English vowels [ʌ, e, ɒ, æ] never occure in open syllable. Vowels [ɪ, ə] occure in open syllable: ago [ə'gəu].

20. The words stress. The position of the word stress

One or more syllables of a polysyllabic word are given greater prominence then the others. Such syllables are called stressed or accented. The word stress stress can fulfil two linguistic functions: 1. Constitutive. 2. Distinctive. The constitutive function helps to see the structure of word: il|’legal, be|’get. The distinctive function can be traced in opposition of words which have the same morphemic structure: ‘object-ob’ject, ‘desert-de’sert. In English there are three degrees of word stress: 1) stressed syllables (Primary stress). 2) half-stressed syllables (Secondary stress). 3) unstressed syllables (Weak stress). A large group of polysyllabic simple words has both Primary and Secondary stresses: ,conver’sation. There are several large groups of words with two equally strong stresses. It is caused by the semantic significance of both stressed elements of the word: ‘re’write, ‘four’teen. The position of a word stress in English as well as Ukrainian or Russian is free: ‘finish, re’sult, edu’cation. The position of the stressed is the product of the historical development of the word. The majority of words originating from Germanic languages have the stress on the root syllable: ‘water, ‘brother, ‘body. If a root is preceded by a prefix the stress is retained: be’gin, mis’take. The tendency to retain the stress on the root is called recessive. Another tendency is called rhythmic. It is the result of mutual influence of German and French. It manifests itself in stressing the third syllable from the end of the word. Most dissyllabic have recessive stresses: ‘marriage, be’hind, re’sult. Rhythmic is especially commomfor verbs with the suffix –ic are usually stressed: re’public, pho’netics, peri’odic. The initial stress is retained in derivatives formed with the help of productive suffixes –ly, -ful, -less, -ing, -ed, -es: ‘wonder-‘wonderful, ‘decide-un’decideness. Syllables before clusters [ʃn], [ʒn], [ʃl], [ʃs] are stressed: per’mission, de’cision, ‘special, ‘specious. There some exeptions of te rule for the suffix –ic. The stress in the words with -ic. The stress in the words with –ic depends on the part of speech: ‘arabic-a’rabic, a’rithmetic-arith’metic, he’retic-he’retic.

21. Words with primary and secondary stresses

Some groups of words may have two primary stresses: 1) polysyllabic words with separable meaningful prefixes: a) un-, ir-, dis-, in-, non-: illegal, disagree, irregular, non-smoker; b) re- (repetition): reorganize, repair, rebuild; c) mis- (wrong): misunderstand, misuse, misprint; d) pre- (before): prewar, prehistoric; e) ex- (formal): ex-president, ex-husband; h) inter- (among): intervocalic, interview, intermediate. There are some rare prefixes with the primary stress like anti-: antifascism, vice-: vice-president, ultra-: ultraleft, out-: outdated, outgoing. In the speech flow this prefixes may loose their stress. The same prefixes are NOT stressed in the words, which are not used without them: to disdain, to discourage. 2) nomerals from 13-19; 3) compound numerals: twenty-one; 4) compound adjectives: well-known, well-equiped, well-grounded; verbs (phrasal): verbs followed by postpositions: to look at, to listen to, to go on, to put up with.