5. Accentual structure of eng words (stress)

The syllabic structure of words is closely connected with their accentual structure. The sequence of syllables in a word is not pronounced identically, some syllable(s) are uttered with greater prominence. These are known as stressed or accented syllables. Stress in isolated words is termed ‘word stress’; stress in connected speech is termed ‘sentence stress’. word stress in english is indicated by placing a special stress mark before a stressed syllable /'/. Sentence stress also needs special marking.

Word stress should be defined as a complex phenomenon marked by the changes of force, pitch, quantitative and qualitative components.

On the auditory level a stressed syllable is the part of the word which has a special prominence. It is produced by a greater loudness and length, modifications in the pitch and quality. The physical correlates are: intensity, duration, frequency and the formant structure. All these features can be analyzed on the acoustic level. Word stress can be defined as the singling out of one or more syllables in a word, which is accompanied by the change of the force of utterance, pitch of the voice, qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the sound, which is usually a vowel.

The traditional classification of languages according to the placement of word stress includes languages with fixed and free stress. If the stress is limited to a particular syllable of a polysyllabic word, it is called fixed. If the place of the stress is not confined to a specific position in a word, it is called free. The english language represents a more complicated case, because it tends to combine free and fixed tendencies of the placement of word stress. It holds true that word stress can fall on different syllables in eng- lish words ('mother, 'cinema, ba'lloon, de'mocracy). Moreover, there are cases of stress shifting which help to differentiate parts of speech or de- rivative word-forms ('import — to im'port, 'library — li'brarian). Still the placement of stress in english words is highly predictable, as its position in most cases is the product of the historical language development.

There are actually as many degrees of stress in a word as there are syllables. The opinions of phoneticians differ as to how many degrees of stress are linguistically relevant in a word. The British linguists usually distinguish three degrees of stress in the word. A.C. Gimson, for example, shows the distribution of the degrees of stress in the word examination. The primary stress is the strongest, it is marked by number 1, the secondary stress is the second strongest marked by 2. All the other degrees are termed weak stress. Unstressed syllables are supposed to have weak stress. American linguists distinguish four degrees of word stress but term them: primary stress, secondary stress, tertiary stress and weak stress. The difference between the secondary and tertiary stresses is very subtle and seems subjective. The criteria of their difference are very vague.

The rhythm of alternating stressed and unstressed syllables gave birth to the rhythmical tendency in the present-day English which caused the appearance of the secondary stress in the multisyllabic French borrowings, e.g. revolution, organi'sation, 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, ar'ticulate. The interrelation of both the recessive and the rhythmical tendencies is traced in the process of accentual assimilation of the French-borrowed word personal on the diachronic level, e.g. perso'nal — 'perso'nal — 'personal.

The appearance of the stress on the first syllable is the result of the recessive tendency and at the same time adaptation to the rhythmical tendency. The recessive tendency being stronger, the trisyllabic words like personal gained the only stress on the third syllable from the end, e.g. 'family, 'library, faculty, 'possible.

A reason for notional words to become unstressed is the peculiarity of the English rhythm called isochrony – a tendency for stressed syllables to occur at approximately equal periods of time. It leads to a certain alternation of stressed and unstressed elements in an utterance.

Example: It's a 'nice little 'weekend \cottage. – The underlined elements are not prominent.

Regularities of stress in English Stress tendencies and the system of stress patterns helps to establish basic rules of accentuation, which are very useful for language learners. The accentual structure of simple and derivative words is rather complicated. Language learners should stick to the following rules:

— most disyllabic words have stress on the first syllable ('water, 'finish);

— disyllabic words with prefixes of no referential meaning of their own have stress on the second syllable (mis'take; be'hind);

— most three- and four-syllable words have stress on the third syllable from the end ('criticism, re'markable);

— four-syllable words with suffixes -ary, -ory have stress on the first syllable ('stationary, 'territory);

— polysyllabic words with the primary stress on the third syllable

have secondary stress on the first syllable ('proba'bility);

— polysyllabic words with the primary stress on the fourth and fifth syllable have secondary stress on the second syllable (arlticu'lation);

— polysyllabic words with separable prefixes with a distinct meaning have two primary stresses ('un'known, 'dis'charge, 're'pay, 'mispro'nounce, 'pre-'war, 'ex-'wife, 'inter'view, 'antiag'gressive).

ИЛИ ВОТ ЭТО (попроще) - Stress is considered from the point of view of its 1) position 2) degree of force

In 2 syllable words primary stress falls on the first syllable

In 3 syllable words – on the 2nd syllable

In 4 and more – on 3d from the end

Secondary stress depends on the number of syllables and the place of the primary stress.

Others – unstressed (have weak stress).