Stress of polysyllabic words

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Stress of polysyllabic words

Contents

Introduction

1. Word stress

1.1 Stress in polysyllabic words

1.2 Stress as a complex phenomenon

1.3 Degrees of stress

1.4 Stress change in polysyllabic words and their meaning

2. Sentence stress

2.1 Components of stress-and-pitch in a sentence

2.2 Stress change in polysyllabic words in a phrase

2.3 Alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables in a phrase

Conclusion

References

Introduction

Speech can be broken into minimal pronounceable units into which sounds are divided. These smallest phonetic groups are called syllables. The syllable is a complicated phenomenon and like a phoneme it can be studied on four levels - articulatory, acoustic, auditory and functional.

The sequence of syllables in the word is not pronounced identically. The syllable or syllables that are uttered with more prominence than the other syllables of the word are said to be stressed or accented. The correlation of varying prominences of syllables in a word is understood, as the accentual structure of the word or its stress pattern.

The theme of the course paper is extremely important for the English language learners. That is why we think that this theme is actual for the study of English language and for the development the English language study.

The subject of the investigation is accentual structure of polysyllabic words.

The object of the investigation covers word stress of polysyllabic words, degrees of stress, stress change in polysyllabic words, stress change in polysyllabic words and change of their meaning, it also covers sentence stress.

The aim of the investigation is to clear out the correct pronunciation of English polysyllabic words, to describe the main rules of stress change of polysyllabic words in a phrase.

The objectives of the work are the following:

1. Give a definition to the concepts word stress and sentence stress;

2. Investigate the peculiarities of stress in polysyllabic words;

3. Observe differentiation of stress position on polysyllabic word and its meaning;

4. Observe alternation of stress in polysyllabic words in a phrase.

As the material base of the investigation in this paper were used works of such scientists as Buraya E.A. "Phonetics of Modern English Language", Vasiliev V.A. "English Phonetics", Krassa S.I. "Theoretical Phonetics of English Language", Leontieva S.F. "Theoretical Phonetics of Contemporary English Language".

The structure of the work includes introduction, two chapters and conclusion.

In the introduction are set object, subject, aim and objectives of the paper. In it is observed the importance of the work and the material base of it. Also in the paper is presented the structure of it and are given the main features of introduction, of the first and second chapters and of conclusion of this paper.

In the first chapter a word stress is investigated. In this chapter we observe stress in polysyllabic words, the constituted parts of word stress such as pitch direction, quantitative and qualitative characteristics of word stress, degrees of stress and stress change of polysyllabic words.

In the second chapter the sentence stress is observed. In the center of the investigation in this chapter lay components of stress-and-pitch in a sentence, stress change in polysyllabic words in a phrase and alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables in a word.

1. Word stress

In linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a word, or to certain words in a phrase or sentence. The term is also used for similar patterns of phonetic prominence inside syllables. The word accent is sometimes also used with this sense.

1.1 Stress in polysyllabic words

Word stress in a language performs three functions.

1. Word stress constitutes a word, it organizes the syllables of a word into a language unit having a definite accentual structure, that is a pattern of relationship among the syllables; a word does not exist without the word stress Thus the word stress performs the constitutive function. Sound continuum becomes a phrase when it is divided into units organized by word stress into words.

2. Word stress enables a person to identify a succession of syllables as a definite accentual pattern of a word. This function of word stress is known as recognitive. Correct accentuation helps the listener to make the process of communication easier, whereas the distorted accentual pattern of words, misplaced word stresses prevent normal understanding.

3. Word stress alone is capable of differentiating the meaning of words or their forms, thus performing its distinctive function. The accentual patterns of words or the degrees of word stress and their positions form oppositions, e.g. 'import - im'port, 'billow - below [11].

The accentual structure of English words is liable to instability due to the different origin of several layers in the Modern English word-stock. In Germanic languages the word stress originally fell on the initial syllable or the second syllable, the root syllable in the English words with prefixes. Most English words of Anglo-Saxon origin as well as the French borrowings are subjected to this recessive tendency. Unrestricted recessive tendency is observed in the native English words having no prefix, e.g. mother, daughter, brother, swallow, in assimilated French borrowings, e.g. reason, colour, restaurant. Restricted recessive tendency marks English words with prefixes, e.g. foresee, begin, withdraw, apart. A great number of words of Anglo-Saxon origin are monosyllabic or disyllabic, both notional words and form words. They tend to alternate in the flow of speech, e.g. 'don't be'lieve he's 'right [12].

The rhythm of alternating stressed and unstressed syllables gave birth to the rhythmical tendency in the present-day English thinks Pocheikina J.A. This tendency causes the appearance of the secondary stress in the multisyllabic French borrowings, e.g. revolution, organisation, assimilation. 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 [12].

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.

Another tendency was traced in the instability of the accentual structure of English word stress: a derivative often retains the stress of the original or parent word, e.g. 'similar - as'simitate, recom'mend - recommen 'dation.

The structure of English syllables can be summarized as follows:

1. Many syllables have one or more consonants preceding the nucleus. These make up the syllable onset: me, so, plow.

2. Many syllables have one or more consonants, following the nucleus. They make up the syllable coda. They are known traditionally as closed syllables: cat, jump.

3. The combination of nucleus and coda has a special significance, making up the rhyming property of a syllable [1].

1.2 Stress as a complex phenomenon

The English linguists say that in English language word stress or accent is a complex phenomenon, marked by the variations in force, pitch, quantity and quality. The dynamic and the tonic features of English word stress prevail over the others. It should be noted that when the tonic or musical component of word stress is involved it is the change of pitch level that is significant in making the syllable prominent, but not the type of tone direction. According to this Sokolova, M.A. presents the words `import (n) and im'port (v). These words are pronounced on a level tone and each vowel has its own length. It is very difficult to distinguish these words from each another. These words are subject to pitch change, which contributes to the syllabic prominence. [7, p.122].

Let us turn to the following scheme:

`Import

Im'port

Sokolova, M.A. notes that "the placement of the pitch change marks the seat of the stress" and that " the very type of pitch change, its direction, does not influence the word stress". [7, p.122].

For example:

`Import.

`Import?

According to this example we can see that the pitch direction was changed but the stress remained the same.

For word stress qualitative and quantitative components are very significant, too. Certain distinctions of the vowel length are reduced or lacking in unstressed syllables. Accentuation is influenced by the vowel length and quality. The vowel in the stressed syllable is never subject to reduction or obscure and pronounced longer than the vowel in the unstressed syllable.

The accentual structure of words is actually very closely connected with their semantic value. By way of illustration we shall now analyze a fairly large class of words in English which are marked by two primary stresses (Accentual Type II). They are either compounds consisting of two semantically important stems or words with semantically relevant separable prefixes or the suffix -teen. The accentual pattern of this group of words is regulated by the meaningful weight of the elements of the com pounds. Word stress establishes contrastive relationship of the elements and often creates opposition to comparable words. Most of compound adjectives have two equal stresses as both elements in them are semantically important.

'absent-'minded,

'lelt -'handed,

'good -'looking.

As soon as the significance of.one of the elements of a compound adjective is weakened, its accentual pattern is changed.

e.g. 'spring-like, 'nymph-like, 'powder-like;

'oval-shaped, 'bow-shaped.

The same tendency is observed in compound nouns: If their elements are semantically important both elements are equally stressed (Accentual Type II), e.g. 'north-'east, 'north-'west, 'south-'west.

At the same time, as we very well know, most of compound nouns have one stress on the first element, which is more significant than the second one. They are sometimes opposed to other compounds with the same second element:

'dining-room,

'bedroom,

'bathroom,

'living-room,

'shop-girl,

'ballet-girl.

Compound verbs have two equal stresses as their postpositions change the actual meaning of the verb itself as it is illustrated in the following example:

What shall I do with it?

- 'Put it where it, was.

- 'Put it, on.

- 'Put it, off.

Oppositions are also found among compound verbs:

to 'switch 'on to 'switch 'off

to 'turn 'on to 'turn 'off

Words with meaningful prefixes are likewise semantically opposed to those without prefixes. Compare:

'educated 'un'educated,

'regular 'ir'regular,

'please 'dis'please,

'cyclone 'anti'cyclon,

,under'stand 'misunder'stand.

Compound numerals have naturally two equal stresses, making both elements significant.

'twenty-'three,

'sixty-'live.

Numerals with the -teen suffix are marked by two stresses to oppose them to the numerals with the unstressed suffix -ty. If the suffix -teen is not stressed the vowel [i:]in it is shortened and obscured, the sonant [0]is weakened, there is consequently a danger of misunderstanding.

'What,page is it? II

'Seven,teen. II

'Seven,teen I or,seventy? III [7]

The above-given illustrations show how important it is in teaching practice to make the students realize that the accentual structure of words is conditioned by the semantic interrelation of their elements. The teacher should attract the students' attention to the correlation between the accentual and semantic structures of words, which will save the students many mistakes. The regulation of the accentuation in the Russian language is too complicated and is practically unpredictable. The stress may fall on the same morpheme in the derivatives where word-formation is performed by the grammatical means alone. In another group of words the stress may effect different morphemes of the word participating in the word-formation alongside with the grammatical means [4].

It is interesting to note that Russian word stress may have stylistic distinction and poetic usage. The complicated system of the accentual structure of English words makes teacher trainees be very attentive to the subject. The typical mistakes of Russian learners in the sphere of word stress are the mispronunciation of: polysyllabic word stress

1. Words with the main and secondary stresses (,conver'sational);

2. Words with two equal stresses in connected speech ('up'stairs, 're'organize);

3. Words with the full vowel in the unstressed syllable ('architect).

The instability of English accentual structure of words presents much difficulty for Russian learners. Students' attention should be attracted to English multisyllabic words the accentual structure of which is regulated by the rhythmical tendency.

The semantic factor in defining the accentual structure of compounds should be most decisive, as it has been illustrated above. One more group of words requires learners' attention, the group which forms accentual oppositions of different parts of speech by way of conversion accompanied by the shifting of stress.

'combine (n) -com'bine (v),

'insult (n) - in'sult (y).

1.3 Degrees of stress

The word stress in English as well as in Russian is not only free but it may also be shifting, performing the semantic function of differentiating lexical units, parts of speech, grammatical forms. It is worth noting that in English word stress is used as a means of word-building, in Russian it marks both word-building and word formation, e.g.

'contrast - con'trast,

'habit - ha'bitual,

'music - mu'sician.

There are actually as many degrees of stress in a word as there are syllables. We will show the distribution of the degrees of stress in the word examination. 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. The primary stress is the strongest, it is marked by number 1 in the, word examination, 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. The American scholars B. Bloch and G. Trager find four contrastive degrees of word stress, namely: loud, reduced loud, medial and weak stresses. Other American linguists also 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 [10]. The second pretonic syllables of such words as:

'orga,nize,

'simpli,fy.

British linguists do not always deny the existence of tertiary stress as a tendency to use a tertiary stress on a post-tonic syllable in English language is also traced. However, the British conception of three degrees of word stress is accepted as the teaching norm. We would like to point out right here that the accentual structure of English words is liable to instability due to the different layers in the Modem English word stock. In Germanic languages the word stress originally fell on the initial syllable or the second syllable, the root syllable in the English words with prefixes. This tendency was called recessive. Most English words of Anglo-Saxon origin as well as the French borrowings (dated back to the 15th century) are subjected to this recessive tendency. Unrestricted recessive tendency is observed in the native English words having no prefix:

mother,

daughter,

brother,

swallow,

And assimilated French borrowings:

reason,

color,

restart.

Restricted recessive tendency marks English words with prefixes:

foresee,

begin,

withdraw,

apart.

A great number of words of Anglo-Saxon origin are monosyllabic or disyllabic, both notional words and form words. They tend to alternate in the flow of speech.

I 'don't be'lieve he's 'right.

The rhythm of alternating stressed and unstressed syllables leads to the rhythmical tendency in the present-day English which caused the appearance of the secondary stress in the multi- syllabic French borrowings:

revo'lution,

organi'satiun.

It also explains the placement of primary stress on the 1st syllable from the end in tree- and four-syllable words.

cmema,

situate,

articulate.

The appearance of the stress on the first syllable is the result the recessive tendency and at the same time adaptation to the rytmlal tendency. The recessive tendency being stronger, the treesyllabic words which gain the only stress on the third syllable from the end.

'family,

'library,

'faculty,

'possible.

The acentual alternations of the words 'terri,tory,, dictio,nary, with the primary stress on the first syllable and the tertiary stress on the third are other examples illustrating the correlation of the recessive and rhythmical tendencies. Nowadays there is a great number of variations in the accentual structure of English multisyllabic words as a result of the interrelation of the tendencies. The stress on the initial syllable is caused by the diachronical recessive tendency or the stress on the second syllable under the influence of the strong rhythmical tendency of the present day:

'hospitable - ho'spitable,

'distribute - dis'tribute,

'aristocrat - a'ristocrat,

'laryngoscope - la'ryngoscope.

A third tendency was traced in the instability of the accentual structure of English word stress, the retentive tendency: a derivative often retains the stress of the original or parent word:

'similar -,as'similate,

recom'mend - recommen'dation.

The numerous variations of English word stress are systematized in the typology of accentual structure of English words worked out by G.P. Torsuev (31). He classifies them according to the number of stressed syllables, their degree or character (the main and the secondary stress). The distribution of stressed syl-lables within the word accentual types forms accentual structures of words, e.g. the accentual type of words with two equal stresses may be presented bv several accentual structures:

'well- 'bred,

'absent-'minded or 'good-'looking.

Accentual types and accentual structures are closely connected with the morphological type of words, with the number of syllables, the semantic value of the root and the prefix of the word.

The accentual types are:

1. This accentual type marks both simple and compound words. The accentual structures of this type may include two and more syllables:

'fafher,

'possibly,

'mother-in-law,

'gas-pipe.

2. The accentual type is commonly realized in compound words, most of them are with separable prefixes:

'radiu-'active,

'rewrite,

'disn'bey.

3. The accentual types are met in initial compound abbreviations like 'U'S'A, 'U'S'S'R.

4. The type is realized both in simple and compound words, very common among compound words:

'hair-,dresser,

'subtructure.

5. The accentual type marks a great number of simple words and some compound words as well. In simple words the stresses fall onto:

1. The prefix and the root:,maqa'zine.

2. The root and the suffix:,hospi'tality.

3. The prefix and the suffix:,disorgani'zation.

6. The type includes rather a small number of simple words with the separable prefixes, e.g. 'mis,repre'sent.

7. The type is found in a very small number of words, usually simple words with the stresses on the prefix, the root and the suffix:

,indi,viduaJi'zation.

8. The type is met in rare instances of compound words with separable prefixes.

9. The type is represented by rare instances of simple and compound words:

'soda-,

water,

bottle.

10. The type is found in rare instances of compound words consisting of the three components, e.g.,ginger'beer-,bottle. The data given above suggest an idea of the great variability in the accentual structure of English words. The most widely spread among the enumerated accentual types are supposed to.

Each type includes varieties of definite accentual structures with different numbers of syllables and marks thousands of words. So the four of them cover the main bulk of most common English words and are therefore most typical for the English vocabulary. As we may see, the typical feature of English accentual structure is its instability. There is a great number of words.

Having variants of their accentual patterns. They may differ in:

1. Number of stresses: USSR.

2. The place of stress: hospitable.

3. The degree of stress: individualization [7, p. 127-131].

The variability of the word accentual structure is multiplied in connected speech. The accentual structure of words may be altered under the influence of rhythm, e.g.

An 'unpolished 'stone. But: The 'stone was un'polished.

'Find 'page four'teen. But: We 'counted 'fourteen 'birds.

The tempo of speech may influence the accentual pattern of words. With the quickening of the speed the carefulness of articulation is diminished, thе vowel.s are reduced or elided, the secondary stress may be dropped.

The 'whole organi'zation of the 'meeting was 'faulty.

The variability of the English word accentual structure presents great difficulty for students of English. They should be well acquainted with the four most widely spread accentual types of words, mentioned above and be aware of the modifications of word accentual patterns influenced by rhythm and tempo in connected speech.

The given examples of the accentual structure of words connected speech show that the word stress is closely interrelated with sentence stews. We shall now try to see their similarity and difference. The demarcation of word stress and sentence stress is very important both from the theoretical and the practical viewpoint. Sentence stress usually fails on the very syllable of the word which is marked by word stress. Thus, the accentual structure of the word predetermines the arrangement of stresses in a phrase. At the same time the stress pattern of a phrase is always conditioned by the semantic and syntactical factors. The words which usually become stressed in a phrase are notional words. They convey the main idea of the phrase, though any word including form words may be marked by sentence stress, if it has certain semantic value in the sentence. The common character of word stress and sentence stress is also observed in their rhythmical tendency to alternate stressed and unstressed syllables and pronounce them at approximately equal intervals. Now we should like to distinguish the notions of word stress and sentence stress. First of all, they are different in their sphere of application. As they are applied to different language units. Word stress is naturally applied to a word, as a linguistic unit, sentence stress is applied to a phrase, Secondly, the distinction of the rhythmic structure of a word and a phrase is clearly observed in the cases when' the word stress in notional words is omitted in a phrase, e.g.

I 'don't think he is 'right.

Or when the rhythmic structure of the isolated word does not coincide with that of a phrase, e.g.

'Fifteen. 'Room Fifteen. 'Fifteen 'pages.

So. in a speech chain the phonetic structure of a word obtains additional characteristics connected with rhythm, melody, and tempo. However, the sentence stress falls on the syllable marked by the word stress it is not realized in the stressed syllable of an isolated word but in a word within speech continuum. Since the spheres of word stress and sentence stress fall apart their functions are actually different. Sentence stress organizes a sentence' into a linguistic unit, helps to form its rhythmic and intonation pattern, performs its distinctive function on the level of a phrase. In discussing accentual structure of English words, we should turn now to the functional aspect of word stress. Word stress in a language performs three functions.

1. Word stress constitutes a word, it organizes the syllables of a word into a language unit having a definite accentual structure, that is a pattern of relationship among the syllables; a word does not exist without the word stress. Thus, the word stress performs the constitutive function. Sound continuum becomes a phrase when it is divided into units organized by word stress into words.

2. Word stress enables a person to identify a succession of syllables as a definite accentual pattern of a word: This function of word stress is known as identificatory (or recognitive). Correct accentuation helps the listener to make the process of communication easier, whereas the distorted accentual pattern of words, misplaced word stresses prevent normal understanding.

3. Word stress alone is capable of differentiating the meaning of words or their forms, thus performing its distinctive function. The accentual patterns of words or the degrees of word stress and their positions form oppositions:

'import - im'port,

'billow - be'low.

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. We can show 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. The American scholars B. Bloch and G. Trager find four contrastive degrees of word stress, namely: loud, reduced loud, medial and weak stresses. Other American linguists also 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 second pretonic syllables of such words as libe'ration, recog'nition are marked by secondary stress in BrE, in AmE they are said to have tertiary stress. In AmE tertiary stress also affects the suffixes -ory, -ary, -ony of nouns and the suffixes - ate, -ize, -y of verbs, which are considered unstressed in BrE, e.g. 'territory, 'ceremony, 'dictionary; 'demonstrate, 'organize, 'simplify.

British linguists do not always deny the existence of tertiary stress as a tendency to use a tertiary stress on a post-tonic syllable in RP is also traced.

The accentual structure of English words is liable to instability due to the different origin of several layers in the Modern English word-stock. In Germanic languages the word stress originally fell on the initial syllable or the second syllable, the root syllable in the English words with prefixes. This tendency was called recessive. Most English words of Anglo-Saxon origin as well as the French borrowings (dated back to the 15th century) are subjected to this recessive tendency.

The accentual patterns of the words territory, dictionary, necessary in AmE with the primary stress on the first syllable and the tertiary stress on the third are other examples illustrating the correlation of the recessive and rhythmical tendencies. Nowadays we witness a great number of variations in the accentual structure of English multisyllabic words as a result of the interrelation of the tendencies. The stress on the initial syllable is caused by the diachronical recessive tendency or the stress on the second syllable under the influence of the strong rhythmical tendency of the present day, e.g. 'hospitable - ho'spitable, 'distribute - dis'tribute, 'aristocrat - a'ristocrat, 'laryngoscope - la'ryngoscope.

A third tendency was traced in the instability of the accentual structure of English word stress, the retentive tendency: a derivative often retains the stress of the original or parent word, e.g. 'similar - as'simitate, recom'mend - recommen 'dation.

1.4 Stress change in polysyllabic words and their meaning

The sequence of syllables in the word is not pronounced identically. The syllable or syllables which are uttered with more prominence than the other syllables of the word are said to be stressed or accented.

Stress is defined differently by different authors. But Vasiliev V.A. gives the following definition of word stress: "Word accent in a disyllabic or polysyllabic word may be defined as a singling out of one and or more of its syllables by giving them a greater degree of prominence as compared with the other syllable or syllables in the same word" [2].

Syllabic structure of a word and its stress are closely connected because it is the syllable that bears a word-stress. Even pronounced in isolation every word has its word-stress and polysyllabic words, too. So stressed syllable should be pronounced on a different pitch or with a change of pitch direction, with greater force of exhalation and greater muscular tension. Syllable pronounced with a greater force has a vowel sound in a longer manner and very distinctly.

Vasiliev, V.A. presents two words as an example. One of these words is infinitive and the other is indivisibility. [2]The word indivisible has four syllables and the second is an accented syllable. It is pronounced with a change of pitch direction, with increasing the force of its articulation, the force of its articulation increased its vowel pronounced more distinctly and a little longer. The word indivisibility has seven syllables and three of them are accented but the degree of the prominence in these words is different. The stress on the fifth syllable is effected by the change of pitch direction. Such syllable is called accentual nucleus of the word and the stress on such syllable is called primary (nucleus) accent. The stress on the second syllable is primary, too. But it is made with the help of pronouncing the syllable on a high level pitch. And the stress on the third syllable is secondary and is pronounced on a mid-level speed. The nuclear primary accent is more important than the pre-nuclear. Firstly in some words nuclear primary accent and pre-nuclear primary accent are interchangeable. And secondly the difference in the position of nuclear stress may be a distinctive function. It may distinguish some verbs from nouns which consist of the same phonemes. Noun has nuclear accent on the first syllable and verb on the last:

'export.

ex'port.

A difference of the position of nuclear stress may distinguish a compound noun from a free word combination:

'Bluebell.

'Blue 'bell.

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. In different languages one of the factors constituting word stress is usually more significant than the others. According to the most important feature different types, of word stress are distinguished in different languages.

1. If special prominence in a stressed syllable or syllables is achieved mainly through the intensity of articulation, such type of stress is called dynamic, or force stress.

2. If special prominence in a stressed syllable is achieved mainly through the change of pitch, or musical tone, such accent is called musical, or tonic. It is characteristic of the Japanese, Korean and other oriental languages.

3. If special prominence in a stressed syllable is achieved through the changes in the quantity of the vowels, which are longer in the stressed syllables than in the unstressed ones, such type of stress is called quantitative.

4. Qualitative type of stress is achieved through the changes in the quality of the vowel under stress [9].

English word stress is traditionally defined as dynamic, but in fact, the special prominence of the stressed syllables is manifested in the English language not only through the increase of intensity, but also through the changes in the vowel quantity, consonant and vowel quality and pitch of the voice.

2. Sentence stress

Sentence stress is the governing stress in connected speech. All words have their individual stress in isolation. When words are connected into thought groups, and thought groups into sentences, content words keep their stress and function words lose their stress. The most important words in the sentence receive stronger stress. The last stressed word in the sentence receives the strongest stress with the help of falling or rising intonation. If it is necessary for keeping the rhythm, the stress in some words can be shifted or weakened in a certain way.

2.1 Components of stress-and-pitch in a sentence

Every sentence can have some intonation. And in every sentence we can find such component of intonation as sentence stress which can influence stress of words it consists of. It is more convenient to distinguish some elements of stress-and-pitch pattern of intonation group. The most important of these elements is the nuclear tone. Nuclear tone is the change of pitch on a final stressed syllable.

The nucleus may be followed by one or more unstressed or partially stressed syllables which are called a tail.

So we can distinguish two variants of terminal tone: nuclear and post-nuclear variant. Nuclear variant has no tail and post nuclear variant has some tail. The terminal tone may be preceded by a scale which is series of stresses and unstressed syllables which can be pitch differently starting with the first stressed syllable. This kind of syllable is called the head of the scale. And the head may be preceded by some other stressed syllables which are called pre-head.

Each syllable in a sentence is pronounced on a different pitch level. But it is impossible to count all pitch levels in a sentence. We can distinguish three main pitch levels: high, mid and low. In highly emotional speech can be distinguished two more pitch levels: extra-high and extra-low.

We can represent graphically the pitch component of intonation and sentence stress on staves or on the line of text.

Terminal tone can be moving (when pitch changes) and level (when pitch does not change). Among moving tones we can distinguish two main types of changes: fall and rise.

But pitch and tone can influence not only intonation of a sentence but also toning of polysyllabic words.

2.2 Stress change in polysyllabic words in a phrase

The pronunciation of isolated polysyllabic words and polysyllabic words in connected speech can differ in some cases. First of all, we will observe The Descending Stepping Scale. It is formed by a series of stressed and unstressed syllables when pitch movement in each stressed syllable is level and the next stressed syllable is pitch a little lower while the unstressed syllable is pronounced on the same pitch level as preceding stressed syllable.

'How do you pro`nounce this ?word?

In this example the word pronounce has nuclear stress on the second syllable and at the same time this stressed syllable has level pitch pronounced a little lower than the first stressed syllable.

The next example can be pronounced using The Descending Sliding Scale. It is formed by descending series of stressed and unstressed syllables with downward slides when each slide pronounced a little higher than the end of the preceding syllable.

He hasn't definitely reЎfused.

The word definitely nuclear stress on the first syllable and at the same time this stressed syllable is pronounced a little higher than the preceding stressed syllable hasn't.

I hate doing ?nothing.

The preceding sentence is the example of The Descending Scandent Scale when the sentence within stressed syllables is pronounced with pitch rises and when each unstressed syllable is pronounced a little higher than the preceding syllable. The word nothing itself has nuclear stress on the first syllable. And in this sentence it is pronounced a little than the preceding sound.

2.3 Alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables in a phrase

We will deal primarily with three types of phrases: noun, verb and prepositional. You can identify them by looking at the syntax. For instance, in the sentence, "The purple cows went running on the dew-covered lawn, "The purple cows" is a noun phrase. "Went running on the dew-covered lawn" is a verb phrase, within which is the prepositional phrase, "on the dew-covered lawn," which in turn contains the noun phrase, "the dew-covered lawn." There is an optional intonation break or pause between the noun and verb phrases, though one is not required to perform it. For our purposes, these optional breaks are important because they signal perceptual units of rhythm; in other words, they mark off the units that create our sense of time [13].

To take a practical example, let's first look at the smaller phrases in the sentence and then put them together. The convention for indicating phrases is brackets. In "the purple cows," the Nuclear Stress Rule tells us that the strongest stress falls on the head of the phrase, the noun, and both the article and the adjective are weak relative to "cows." "Purple" has a stressed syllable in it but relative to "cows," the word as a whole is weak.

The prepositional phrase, "on the dew-covered lawn," has its strongest stress at the end of the noun "lawn". Again the adjective and function words will be relatively weak. We can note also that "dew-covered" is a compound word and is subject to the Compound Rule, not the Word Rule. "Covered" branches but for the Word Rule to apply, the branching must be word internal. Instead, the Compound Rule specifies that the strongest stress in the compound will be as far forward as possible, exactly opposite to the Nuclear Stress Rule for phrases.

To put the whole sentence together, we need to lodge the second prepositional phrase within the larger verb phrase and analyze the verb itself. Essentially the sentence divides into two large phrases; applying the Nuclear Stress Rule to the sentence as a whole allows us to see the opening noun phrase as subsidiary to the verb phrase.

At a practical level, there are several techniques for analyzing lines or sentences. That you can extrapolate from this example. It is easiest to begin your analysis by reading the line as a whole. Then look for polysyllabic words and assign s's and w's with their trees. Then consider phrases as in the "purple cow" example, allowing the Nuclear Stress Rule to guide you in assigning the relative stress of subsidiary content and function words as well as the relationship among phrases. You may find it helpful to mark the most prominent stress in a word or phrase so that you are clear about what the peak or most prominent point is.

Another important aspect of phrasal rhythms is the way the phrasal context can change the stress of words. In English, there is a strong preference for alternating stressed and unstressed syllables. We tend to avoid both too many unstressed syllables in a row and consecutively stressed syllables. In both of the preferred forms of these phrases, stressed and unstressed syllables alternate. In the non-standard forms, the double unstressed syllables followed by double stressed syllables.

The tendency towards alternating stressed and unstressed syllables is also apparent in the rhythmic rule which specifies that stress retraction occurs in certain words in order to produce this alternation. For instance, "Tennessee" normally has its strongest stress on the last syllable. But in the phrase, "Tennessee walking horse," the strongest stress in "Tennessee" retracts to the front of the word to produce an alternating pattern. For example:

Conclusion

Having completed this investigation we can come to the following conclusions:

The sequence of syllables in the word is not pronounced identically. The syllable or syllables which are uttered with more prominence than the other syllables of the word are said to be stressed or accented. The correlation of varying prominences of syllables in a word is understood as the accentual structure of the word or its stress pattern. Stress implies greater force with which the syllable is pronounced. In other words in the articulation of the stressed syllable greater muscular energy is produced by the speaker. European languages such as English, German, French, Russian are believed to possess predominantly dynamic word stress. Word stress constitutes a word, it organizes the syllables of a word into a language unit having a definite accentual structure. Word stress enables a person to identify a succession of syllables as a definite accentual pattern of a word. Word stress alone is capable of differentiating the meaning of words or their forms.

By uttering a single word we may deal with musical component of intonation. The accentual structure of English words is liable to instability due to the different origin of several layers in the Modern English word-stock. In Germanic languages the word stress originally fell on the initial syllable or the second syllable, the root syllable in the English words with prefixes.

Every sentence can have some intonation. And in every sentence we can find such component of intonation as sentence stress which can influence stress of words it consists of. It is more convenient to distinguish some elements of stress-and-pitch pattern of intonation group.

References

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10. Bloch B. and Trager G. Outline of linguistic analysis, Baltimor, 1967.

11. Vrabel T.T. Lectures in theoretical phonetics of the English language and method-guides for seminars. - Ungvar: Poliprint, 2009.

12. Pocheikina J.A. Some problems of accentual structure in English. - Uralsk, 2010.

13. Interactive Tutorial on Rhythm Analysis Дата обращения 2.07.2011.

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