15. Degrees and position of word stress.

Stress is a greater degree of prominence of a syllable or syllables as compared to the other syllables of the word. The syllables in a word are characterized by different degrees of prominence. Objectively, there are as many degrees of stress in a word as there are syllables.

In English they generally distinguish three degrees (levels) of stress:

• primary (strong, main, principal), the strongest (marked 1)

• secondary (half- strong, half-stressed) second strongest (marked 2)

• weak (unstressed). all the other syllables (3,4,5) are weak.

So, all the other degrees of stress are termed weak.

American phoneticians (B.Bloch, G.Trager, H.Gleason) distinguish four contrastive degrees of word stress: primary, secondary, tertiary and weak. Tertiary stress does not show much difference from secondary stress, but it has a different placement in a word. It is generally associated with American English, where it marks the last but one syllable in the words with suffixes –ary,- ory –ony (revolutionary,dictionary, ceremony). It is argued that the secondary stress preceeds the primary stress and the tertiary stress follows it. For example, in the verbs with the suffixes –ate, -ize, - y tertiary stress can be observed (demonstrate, organize, simplify). Some British linguists share this point of view, because there is a tendency to use a tertiary stress in a post-tonic syllable in the words with an unreduced vowel in the last syllable in British English (blackboard, demonstrate, realize).

In terms of teaching English as a foreign language the British conception of three degrees of word stress is more acceptable.

Placement of word stress.

According to its placement in a word stress can be fixed and free. In languages with a fixed stress the position of the word stress is restricted to a particular syllable in a multisyllabic word.

In languages with a free stress its location is not confined to a specific position in the word. Stress can be placed on any syllable of the word.

In English (as well as in Russian) the word stress is not only free, but it is also shifting, which means that it can change its position in different forms of the word and its derivatives: contrast – contrast, music – musician, habit – habitual, воды – вода – водяной, чудная – чудная.

Type of Word Stress	Position of Stress
fixed	restricted to a particular syllable
free	is not restricted, stress can be placed on any syllable

It is difficult to predict the location of English word stress. Some linguists suppose that the speaker has to memorize the stress pattern of each word as it is learned.

Tendencies in the placement of word stress

They generally distinguish three tendencies which account for the variations of stress patterns in English: recessive, rhythmical and retentive tendencies.

Recessive tendency is the tendency to stress the beginning of the word typical of Germanic languages.

In Germanic languages, where short one or two-syllable words predominated, the stress originally fell on the initial syllable or the second syllable, the root syllable in words with prefixes. Unrestricted recessive tendency is observed in the native English words with no prefix ( mother, daughter, brother, swallow, carry) and in assimilated French borrowings (reason, colour). Restricted recessive tendency marks English words with prefixes, some of which no longer exist as such (foresee, withdraw, begin, apart, forget).

The rhythmical tendency reflects the rhythm of alternating stressed and unstressed syllables. This tendency caused the appearance of the secondary stress in the multisyllable French borrowings, e.g. revolution, organisation, assimilation, etc. It also explains the placement of primary stress on the third syllable from the end in three- and four-syllable words, e.g. cinema, situate, articulate, significant.

Retentive. A derivative retains the stress of the original (parent) word, e.g. similar – assimilate, recommend – recommendation. Sometimes in the derivative the primary stress of the original word turns into secondary stress, e.g. demonstrate – demonstration.