LEVELS OF STRESS

Stress within the word: Looking at words said in isolation (a rather artificial situation except for -´yes`, ´no´, ´possibly´, ´please´, ´who?´, ´what?´) In a two-syllable word, e.g. ´around´, the stress always falls on the final syllable while the first syllable is weak /ә'raυnd/

Two-level analysis: Distinction between stressed and unstressed syllables with no intermediate levels BUT We have to recognise one or more INTERMEDIATE LEVELS.

Change of pitch On the second syllable the pitch of voice does not remain level, but rather falls from a higher to a lower pitch. This is the strongest type of stress called “primary stress”

Secondary stress In certain words there are patterns of stress weaker than primary stress but stronger than that of the first syllable of ´around´, e.g. in photographic anthropology It is called ´secondary stress´ and implies a third level which is the ´unstressed´

Unstressed syllables The unstressed level is regarded as the absence of any recognisable prominence Tertiary stress It is possible in longer words to find another level of stress, e.g. in indivisibility /ֽındı vısı'bılıtı/

Stress within the word How can we select the correct syllable(s) to stress within a word? In English word stress is difficult to predict – it is best treated as a property of the individual word Still, when English speakers come across unfamiliar words they usually know how to pronounce them: so, there must be some kind of “rules”

Decision on stress placement depends on the following information: Whether the word is morphologically simple or complex (one or more affixes) or a compound What grammatical category it belongs to How many syllables the word has What the phonological structure of the syllables is

Phonological structure of syllables affects many of the other rules: Syllables can be divided into strong and weak Strong syllable has a rhyme composed of: long vowel/diphthong or a vowel + coda (1 or more cons.) - /'dai/ /'hα:t/ /'bæt/ Weak syllable has a syllable peak which is a short vowel and Ø coda unless the peak is /ә/ or /ı/, e.g. / rı'dju:s/ /'hз: bı saıd/ /'әυ pәn/

It is true that We also find unstressed strong syllables (e.g. dialect) But Only strong syllables can be stressed Weak syllables are always unstressed

Two-syllable words Stress is on either the 1 st or the 2 nd syllable In verbs, if the 2 nd syllable is strong, it is stressed (´apply´, ´arrive´) If the 2 nd syllable is weak, the 1 st syllable is stressed (´enter´, ´envy´) The 1 st syllable is also stressed in case the 2 nd syllable contains /әυ/ (´follow´, ´borrow´) Simple adjectives are stressed according to the same rule - ´even´, ´correct´,´hollow´

EXCEPTIONS: Adjectives that end in strong syllables but are stressed on the 1 st : honest, perfect DIFFERENT RULE FOR NOUNS : -Stress on the 2 nd syllable unless it contains a short vowel: baloon, money -Other two-syllable words seem to behave like verbs and adjectives

Three-syllable words VERBS -Strong final syllable is stressed: ´entertain´ -If the final is weak, the preceding (penultimate) syllable (if strong) will be stressed: ´encounter´, ´determine´ -If they are both weak, the stress is on the 1 st : ´parody´

NOUNS Final weak syllable, or containing /әυ/, stress falls on the preceding: ´potato´, ´disaster´ If the final and penultimate are weak, stress is on the initial: ´quantity´ Stress tends to move to strong syllables!

But: in 3-syllable simple nouns with strong final syllable, stress still usually placed on the 1 st : ´intellect´ Adjectives behave in similar way: ´opportune´, ´insolent´

The rules mentioned apply to major word classes: nouns, adjectives, verbs, not to function words Loan words would be interesting to study Alternative stress patterns: ´controversy´ Change of word stress according to the context