11. Word stress: components and functions. The degrees of word stress in English. Stress shift

The word stress is understood as making certain syllable (or syllables) in a word more prominent than the others. There are four components, which serve this task: length, loudness, pitch and vowel quality.

However, the relative significance of stress components is language-specific. According to experimental evidence, the basic features of stress in Russian are length and quality of the vowel. In English the most relevant prosodic features are pitch and length of the vowel.

Word stress is classified according to its types and place.

Types of word stress:

a) bound (fixed) or free, depending on the position in the word.

b) depending on the degree of prominence:

− main stress, marked by the last major pitch change in a word;

− BrE secondary stress, marked by the non-final pitch change (e.g. “inter-nAtional”); AmE tertiary stress, marked by the final pitch change (e.g.” terry-tOry”).

− minor prominence (with a non-reduced vowel and no pitch change)

− unstressed syllable (with a reduced vowel and no pitch change)

Place of word stress :

The factors affecting the position of word stress are:

− phonological pattern of a word;

− number of syllables in a word;

− types of affixes;

− part of speech the word represents.

Phonological pattern of a word is determined by the correlation of strong/heavy and weak/light syllables. Strong syllables are stressed, whereas weak ones are not. In multisyllabic words the secondary stress appears.

The types of affixes affecting the place of word stress are:

− accent-neutral – able, age, al, ful, ing, less, ly, ment, ness, ous, en, those ending with -y (-ie), and ish, ism, ist, ise, er, ess;

− accent-attracting – ade, eer, esque, ette;

− accent-fixing -ic, ion, ity attract stress to the preceding syllable, ate fixes the stress on the third syllable from the end.

The interrelation between word stress position and part of speech the word represents is brightly illustrated by noun-verb oppositions: e.g. accent – ac'cent.

The accent pattern of a word can be changed under the influence of rhythm. This is called stress shift,

e.g. We stayed in Belgrade. We listened to the Belgrade Orchestra.

12. Accentual tendencies in English. Other factors affecting the position of word stress in English

There are four accentual tendencies in English:

1. Recessive – original stressing the initial or the second (the root) syllable.

2. Rhythmical – placing the primary stress on the third syllable from the end.

3. Retentive, when a derivative retains the stress of the original word.

4. Semantic, when the stressed morpheme is the one of greater semantic significance.

There are two major functions of word stress:

− Constitutive – organizing the syllables into a language unit (a word) having a definite accentual pattern.

− Distinctive – differentiating the meaning of words and their forms, In English word stress can differentiate:

− Verbs and nouns: an accent – to ac'cent,

− Lexical meaning of words: be'low – 'billow,

− Complex nouns and free word combinations: a 'bluebottle – a 'blue 'bottle,

− Complex nouns and phrasal verbs: a 'walkout – to 'walk 'out).

In Russian word stress can differentiate:

− Lexical meaning of words: мука – мука,

− Grammatical forms of words: руки – руки.

The types of affixes affecting the place of word stress are:

− accent-neutral – able, age, al, ful, ing, less, ly, ment, ness, ous, en, those ending with -y (-ie), and ish, ism, ist, ise, er, ess;

− accent-attracting – ade, eer, esque, ette;

− accent-fixing -ic, ion, ity attract stress to the preceding syllable, ate fixes the stress on the third syllable from the end.

The interrelation between word stress position and part of speech the word represents is brightly illustrated by noun-verb oppositions: e.g. accent – ac'cent.

!The accent pattern of a word can be changed under the influence of rhythm. This is called stress shift,

e.g. We stayed in Belgrade. We listened to the Belgrade Orchestra.