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I> Stress in simple words I.1> The nature of stress I.2> Levels of stress I.3> Placement of stress within the word I.4> Rules of stress in simple words I.4.1> One-syllable words I.4.2> Two-syllable words I.4.3> Three-syllable words II> Stress in complex words II.1> Complex words II.2> Stress in words with suffixes II.3> Stress in words with prefixes II.4> Stress in compound words II.5> Variable stress II.6> Word-class pairs
Stress is the relative perceived prominence of a unit of a spoken language. [Crystal, 1999: 32] In terms of production (from the viewpoint of the speaker), producing stressed syllables needs more muscular energy. In terms of perception (from the viewpoint of the listener), the stressed syllables are of prominence. A stressed syllable is more prominent than an unstressed one.
-Four different factors make a syllable prominent: 1. Loudness: Hearers often perceive stressed syllables as louder than unstressed ones. (= intensity) 2. Length: the length of a vowel contributes to prominence. Syllables containing stressed syllables are made longer than the others. Syllables containing long vowels tend to be more prominent than those which contain short vowels, even when they are unstressed.
3. Pitch: = the rate of vibration of the vocal cords. If the pitch changes on a syllable then that syllable will be perceived as prominent. This is often called pitch prominence. Highpitched syllables will be heard as stressed. 4. Quality: In general vowels are more prominent than consonants, but within each group there is a hierarchy. The more open a vowel is, the more prominent it is. A syllable tends to be prominent if it contains a vowel that is different in quality (clearer) from neighboring vowels. Example: /a:/ is more prominent than either /i:/ or /u:/.approximants and nasals are more prominent than fricatives, which are more prominent than stops.
spirit
Compound word: has at least two single free bases. E.g.: highborn, ill-treated - Grammatical category of a word: whether the word is a noun, verb, adjective, etc. - Number of syllables in a word: whether the word has 1, 2, 3, or more syllables - Phonological structure of syllables within a word: whether the syllable contains a long vowel, a short vowel, or a diphthong.
uncertain, worker
- Verbs: If the second syllable is strong, then it is stressed: arrive/raiv/, assist/sist/ If the final syllable is weak, then the first syllable is stressed: open/pn/, entry/entri/ A final syllable is also unstressed if it contains : borrow/br/ - Adjectives: The same rules as verbs: correct/krekt/ , lovely/lvli/ , hollow/hl/ - Nouns: If the second syllable contains a short vowel, then the stress will usually come on the first syllable. Otherwise it will be on the second syllable: money/mni/, estate/isteit/, design/dizain/ - Adverbs and prepositions: seem to behave like verbs and adjectives: widely/waidli/, behind/bihaind/
- Verbs: If the final syllable is strong, it will be stressed: resurrect/rezrekt/ If the last syllable is weak, then it will be unstressed, and stress will be placed on the preceding (penultimate) syllable if that syllable is strong: encounter/ikant/ If both the second and third syllables are weak, then the stress falls on the initial syllable: parody/prdi/ - Nouns: If the final syllable is weak, or ends with , then it is unstressed; if the syllable preceding this final syllable is strong, then that middle syllable will be stressed: mimosa/mimz/, tomato/tmeit/, disaster/diza:st/, synopsis/sinpsis/ If the second and third syllables are both weak, then the first syllable is stressed: quantity/kwntti/, emperor/empr/ Exceptions: Even if the final syllable is strong, the stress will usually be placed on the first syllable: intellect/intlekt/, marigold/mrigld/ - Adjectives: seem to follow the same rule: opportune/ptju:n/, derelict/derlikt/, insolent/inslnt/, anthropoid/nrp0id/
Complex words are of two types: - words which are made form a basic word form (stem) with the addition of an affix; - compounds which are made of two (or sometimes more) independent English words.
b. Suffixes that do not affect stress placement -able: comfort/kmft/; comfortable/kmftbl/ -age: anchor/k/, anchorage/kri/ -al: refuse/rifju:z/, refusal/rifju:zl/ -en: wide/waid/, widen/waidn/ -ful: wonder/wnd/, wonderful/wndfl/ -ing: amaze/meiz/, amazing/meizi/ -ish: devil/devl/, devilish/devli/ -like: bird/b:d/, birdlike/b:dlaik/ -less: power/pa/, powerless/pals/ -ly: hurried/hrid/, hurriedly/hridli/ -ment (noun): punish/pni/, punishment/pnimnt/ -ness: yellow/jel/, yellowness/jelns/ -ous: poison/p0izn/, poisonous/p0izns/ -fy: glory/gl0:ri/, glorify/gl0:rifai/ -wise: other//, otherwise/waiz/ -y (adjective or noun): fun/fn/, funny/fni/
c. Suffixes that influence stress in the stem: primary stress in the stem is moved to the last syllable of the stem before the suffix. -eous: advantage/dva:nti/, advantageous/,dvnteis/ -graphy: photo/ft/, photography/ft4grfi/ -ial: proverb/pr4v:b/, proverbial/prv:bil/ -ic: climate/klaimit/, climatic/ klaimtik/ -ion: perfect/p:fikt/, perfection/pfekn/ -ious: injure/in/, injurious/ in0:ris/ -ty: tranquil/trkwil/, tranquility/ trkwilti/ -ive: reflex/ri:fleks/, reflexive/ rifleksiv/
Usually prefixes do not affect the stress placement. Stress in words with prefixes is governed by the same rules as those for words without prefixes: comfortable/kmftbl/, uncomfortable/nkmftbl/ complete /kmpli:t/, incomplete /inkmpli:t/
noun base+noun base: stress on the first element: typewriter, desk lamp adjectivalelement+-ED morpheme at the end: stress on the second element: bad-
tempered/, heavy-handed
wheeler, five-headed
compounds functioning as verbs and have an adverbial first element: final stress: down-
-not all speakers agree on the placement of stress in some words E.g.: controversy /k4ntrv:si/ or /kntr4vsi/
street