2016 January 14 Stress

What is stress? Syllable-level property Increased volume/amplitude More prominence Higher in pitch Longer in duration

Diacritic for stress [ˈ] = used for primary stress Placed before the stressed syllable. Controversy RP: conˈtroversy SAE: ˈcontroversy

Properties of stress Some languages have stress in a fixed position: French aˈmi ‘friend’; amicaleˈment ‘kindly’; heuˈreuse ‘happy (fm sg)’; heureuseˈment ‘happily’ Final stress

Properties of stress Finnish ˈkiitos ‘thanks’; ˈanteeksi ‘excuse me’; ˈisomaa ‘large’; ˈpikkunen ‘small’ Word-initial stress

Properties of stress Some languages have weight-dependent stress Syllable weight Some languages distinguish between “heavy” and “light” syllables “Heavy” syllables attract stress

Rhythm English is a stress-timed language Stress-timed language: tendency for stressed syllables to occur at regular intervals Most other languages are syllable-timed

Rhythm BIRDS EAT WORMS The BIRDS EAT WORMS The BIRDS EAT the WORMS The BIRDS will EAT the WORMS The BIRDS will have EATEN the WORMS The unstressed words will have schwas.

What are heavy syllables? Sometimes a syllable with a coda Sometimes a syllable with a long vowel Language dependent

Question of the day Can you think of any two English words that are minimal pairs through only stress (placement)?

Stress in English English has lexical stress We can form near-minimal pairs with stress placement ˈreject vs reˈject ˈobject vs obˈject ˈsubject vs subˈject First syllable stress – nouns; second syllable stress - verbs

Word stress There are some general rules where you can predict stress placement in many – but NOT ALL – words. Noun rule: stress the penultimate syllable if heavy If penultimate syllable is light, stress the antepenult.

Word stress Penultimate – one before the final syllable Antepenultimate – two before the final syllable a.RO.ma a.GEN.da DI.sci.pline

Word stress Verb rule: stress the final syllable if heavy If the final syllable is light, stress the penult o.BEY u.SURP a.TONE TA.lly HU.rry

Now, let’s take a look at this… Flapping [ɾ] Why do native English speakers “flap” when we see words like “butter” and “water”?

Take a look at the following data [ɹaɪd] ‘ride’ [ˈɹaɪɾɚ] ‘rider’ [ɹaɪt] ‘write’ [ˈɹaɪɾɚ] ‘writer’ [daɪɹ] ‘dire’ [taɪɹ] ‘tire’ [ˈɹaɪɾɪŋ] ‘riding’ [ˈɹaɪɾɪŋ] ‘writing’ [ˈlɛndɚ] ‘lender’ [ˈistɚ] ‘Easter’ [əˈtæk] ‘attack’ [əˈdobi] ‘adobe’

Where does flapping take place? Between vowels First vowel must be stressed; second vowel must be unstressed What’s the rule for this?

Phrasal stress When words are combined into phrases or sentences, one syllable receives greater stress than all others Only one primary stress per phrase/sentence (much like only one primary stress per word)

Examples Tight + rope  A TIGHTrope ‘a rope for acrobats’ A tight ROPE ‘a rope pulled taut’ Hot + dog  A HOTdog ‘frankfurter [sausage]’ A hot DOG ‘an overheated dog’

Examples Red + coat  A REDcoat ‘a British soldier’ A red COAT ‘a coat that is red’ White + house  The WHITE house ‘the President’s home’ A white HOUSE ‘a house that is white’

Examples How about these? Glass flower case Garbage can collector

Phrasal stress What other compound nouns vs. adjectival phrases can we come up with (with the same words in each)? Does this phrasal stress tendency work?

So, what does phrasal stress do here? Stress on first part of each pair Indicates compound nouns Stress on second element of each pair Indicates adjective + noun combination