Some problems of accentual structure in English

Some problems of accentual structure in English

The Eurasian Academy

Institute “Eurasia”

Course paper

“Some problems of accentual structure in English”

Pocheikina J.A.

(325 group)

Speciality: 050207 Interpreting

Discipline: Foundations of the theory of the

studied language.

Theoretical phonetics

The scientific supervisor

Senior teacher Buzhumova P.Z.

Uralsk-2010

Contents:

Introduction

Chapter I. English stress as a phenomenon

1.1 The nature of word stress and prominence

1.2 The placement of word stress

Chapter II. The questions of typology of accentual structure

2.1 Degrees of stress and rhythmical tendency

2.2 Functional aspects of word stress

2.3 Practical analysis showing the types of stress

Conclusion

List of literature

Introduction

In this course paper we shall treat some problems of accentual structure. . According to D.Crystal the terms "heaviness, sound pressure, force, power, strength, intensity, amplitude, prominence, emphasis, accent, stress" tend to be used synonymously by most writers. According to G.P. Torsuev the notions “stressed” and “prominent” should not be used synonymically. The effect of prominence is created by some phonetic features of sounds which have nothing to do with word or sentence stress.

RI.Avanesov considers the variability in the placement of the Russian word stress an individual sign of every particular word which presents a difficulty for foreign learners and sometimes for the natives. It is interesting to note that Russian word stress may have stylistic distinction and poetic usage, cf. молодéц — мóлодец, девúца - дéвица, шéлковый —шелкóвый.

In chapter I. we shall regard to English stress. It is common knowledge that sounds of speech have different degrees of sonority. Vowels are more sonorous than consonants. Open vowels are more sonorous than close ones. The quantitative, and qualitative components of word stress they are also significant.

In the point 1.1. we shall say about tha nature of word stress and prominence. According to A.C.Gimson, the effect of prominence is achieved by any or all of four factors: force, tone, length and vowel colour.

In the point 1.2. we shall consider the placement of word stress. The word siress 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.

In chapter II. We shall pay attention to the question of typology of accentual structure.

According G.Torsuev 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.

In the point 2.1. we shall to point out degrees of stress and rhythmical tendency. The accentual structure of English words is liable to instability due to the different origin of several layers in the Modern English wordstock. 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.

The aim: to analyse the opinions, poins of view of phoneticians to accentual structure.

Tasks: 1) To give the definitions of word stress

2) To sigle out the nature of word stress and prominence

3) To study the degrees of word accent.

Chapter I. English stress as a phenomenon

It is common knowledge that sounds of speech have different degrees of sonority. Vowels are more sonorous than consonants. Open vowels are more sonorous than close ones. The quantitative, and qualitative components of word stress they are also significant. Certain distinctions of the vowel length and colour are reduced or lacking in unstressed syllables^ The fact .strengthens the idea that the accentuation is influenced by the vowel length and, quality. The vowel of the stressed syllable is perceived as never reduced or obscure and longer than the same vowel in the unstressed syllables. Thus, the word "stress" or "accent" is also defined as qualitative where the vowel colour or qualily is a means of stress and quantitative with relatively increased length of the stressed vowel. Compare the quality (colour) and quantity (length) of the same vowel in a word, e.g. ab'stract, 'car-park; идú, úли, yмý.

It is fair to mention that there is a terminological confusion in discussing the nature of stress. According to D.Crystal the terms "heaviness, sound pressure, force, power, strength, intensity, amplitude, prominence, emphasis, accent, stress" tend to be used synonymously by most writers. The discrepancy in terminology is largely due to the fact that there are two major views depending on whether the productive or receptive aspects of stress are discussed. The main drawback with any theory of stress based on production of speech is that it only gives an explanation of the phenomenon but does not analyse it on the perceptive level. Instrumental investigations study the physical 'nature of word stress.

1.1 The nature of word stress and prominence

It would be perfectly natural to begin this section with the nature of word stress. According to A.C.Gimson, the effect of prominence is achieved by any or all of four factors: force, tone, length and vowel colour. The dynamic 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. In Scandinavian languages the word stress is considered to be both dynamic and musical. For instance, in Swedish, the word komma (comma) is distinguished from the word komma (come) by a difference in tones. The musical word stress is observed in Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese. It is effected by the variations of voice pitch in relation to napghbouring syllables.

We would like to dwell on the term prominence here. It seems to cause some ambiguity when related to word stress. The stressed syllables are often said to be the most prominent syllables in the word. According to G.P. Torsuev the notions “stressed” and “prominent” should not be used synonymically. The effect of prominence is created by some phonetic features of sounds which have nothing to do with word or sentence stress. Sonority is the inner quality of vowels which is not directly connected with the accentual structure of words but with other articularoty characteristics, it contributes to the effect of prominence.

Another characteristic of a vowel which also adds to the effect of prominence but is not connected with the word stress is historical (traditional) length of vowels.

The presence of a traditionally long sound in the stressed syllable and a traditionally short vowel in the unstressed syllable adds to the effect of the prominence of the stressed syllable, e.g. [in’kri:s], [bi’li:v], [‘i:zi].

Naturally the historical length of vowels is the vowel inner quality which should not be mixed with the quantitative characteristics of word stress.

To sum it up prominence in speech is a broader term than stress. It is obtained by the components of word stress, such as the loudness, the length, the quality of the vowel plus the inherent sonority of the vowel and its historical length.

Let us turn to some examples. If the words 'import (n) and im'port (v) are said on a level tone and each vowel with its own length, it is rather difficult to distinguish them. The tonic or musical component may be helpful in defining the place of stress in a word as it is observed within the syllable marked by the pitch change, which contributes to the syllable prominence.

'Import. _    Im'port.

The placement of the pitch change marks the seat of the stress. It should be noted here that the very type of pitch change, its direction, does not influence the word stress, e.g.

'Import. ___         'Import?

The pitch direction is changed but the stress remains unchanged.

On the other hand, a whole idea may be conveyed by uttering, a single word (one-word phrase}. Then we shall deal with the sentence; stress and the musical component of intonation.

There is undoubtedly a close interrelation between word stress
and sentence stress.       

The nature of word stress, the interrelation of its components is still a problem which is awaiting its solution.

On the acoustic level the counterpart of force is the intensity of the vibrations of the vocal cords of the speaker which is perceived by the listener as loudness.

Thus the greater energy with which the speaker articulates the stressed; syllable in the word is associated by the listener With greater
loudness. The acoustic counterparts of voice pitch and length, are frequency and duration, respectively.

The nature of word stress in Russian seems to differ from that in English. The quantitative component plays a greater role in Russian accentual structure than in English word accent.

In the Russian language we never pronounce vowels of full formation and full length in unstressed positions, they are always reduced. Therefore the vowels of full length are unmistakably perceived as stressed. In English the quantitative component of word stress is not of primary importance because of the nonreduced vowels in the unstressed syllables which sometimes occur in English words, e.g 'architect, 'transport, 'partake,

1.2 The placement of word stress

Russian phoneticians (L.V.Zlatoustova; L.L.Bulanin, ) insist on the quantitative character of the Russian word stress as its principal feature, though other components of word stress in Russian are not denied. We would like to dwell on the term prominence here. It seems to cause some ambiguity when related to word stress. The stressed syllables are often said to be the most prominent syllables in the word. According to G.P.Torsuev the notions "stressed" and "prominent" should not be used synonymically. The effect of prominence is created by some phonetic features of sounds which have nothing to do with word or sentence stress. It is common knowledge that sounds of speech have different degrees of sonority. Vowels are more sonorous than consonants. Open vowels are more sonorous than close ones. Sonority is the inner quality of vowels which is not directly connected with the accentual structure of words but with other articulatory characteristics, it contributes to the effect of prominence.

The word siress 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-buildingi in Russian it marks both word-building and word formation, e.g.

‘contrast – con’trast

‘habit – ha’bitual

‘music – mu’sician

дóма – домá;

чýдная - чуднáя

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'edueated 

'please - 'dis'please        

'cyclone - 'anti'cyclon    

,under’stand' - 'misunder'stand

Compound numerals have naturally two equal stresses, making both elements significant, e.g. 'twenty-three, 'sixty-'five.

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 [n] is weakened, there is consequently a danger of misunderstariding, e.g.        

- 'What ,page is it? ||

- ‘Seven,teen. ||

- ‘Seven,teen | or ,seventy? |||

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, e.g. кожа — кожи — кожей - кожу; год — годы — годом. In another group of words the stress may effect different morphemes of the word participating in the word-formation alongside with the grammatical means, e.g. сад—сады — садами — садом; пар — пары - парами-— паром; but: пара — пары — парами — парам:

RI.Avanesov considers the variability in the placement of the Russian word stress an individual sign of every particular word which presents a difficulty for foreign learners and sometimes for the natives. It is interesting to note that Russian word stress may have stylistic distinction and poetic usage, cf. молодéц — мóлодец, девúца - дéвица, шéлковый —шелкóвый.

'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 rnispronunciation of: 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 and the use of the secondary stress in those words, as it has no anal-ogy in the Russian language, compare: 'transpor'tation - транспортировка, de,mocrati'zation — демократизация.

Another group of words presenting difficulty for Russian learners is large group of compounds which are marked either by two equal stresses (compound adjectives) or by one stress (compound nouns). 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, e.g. 'combine (n) — com’bine (v), 'insult (n) — in’sult (v).

In case of doubt it is advisable to consult a pronouncing.

Chapter II. The questions of typology of accentual structure

The numerous variations of English word stress are systematized in the typology of accentual structure of English words worked out by G.P. Torsuyev. He classifies them according to the number of stressed syllables, their degree or character (the main and the secondary stress). The distribution of stressed syllables within the word accentual types forms accentual structures of words. 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, e.g. 'fafher, 'possibly, 'mother-in-law, 'gas-pipe.

2. [ '_ '_ ]. The accentual type is commonly realized in compound words, most of them are with separable prefixes, e.g. 'radio-'active, 're'write, 'diso'bey.

3. [ '_' _ '_ ] and 4. ['_' _ '_ '_]. The accentual types are met in initial compound abbreviations like 'U'S'A, 'U'S'S'R.

5. ['_ ,___]. The type is realized both in simple and compound words, very

common among compound words, e.g. 'hair-,dresser, 'substructure.

6. [, _'___]. 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: maga'zine;

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

3. the prefix and the suffix: disorganization.

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

8. [,_,_'_ _]. 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, e.g. ,indi,viduali'zation.

9. ['_'_,_ _]. The type is met in rare instances of compound words with separable prefixes, e.g. 'un'sea,worthy.

10. ['_ _,_,_]. The type is represented by rare instances of simple and compound words, e.g. 'soda-,water ,bottle.

11. [,_'_,_] 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 be Type 1, Type 2, Type 5 and Type 6. 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.

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.

The tempo of speech may influence the accentual pattern of words. With the quickening of the speed the carefulness of articulation is diminished, the vowels are reduced or elided, the secondary stress may be dropped, e.g. 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 in connected speech show that the word stress is closely interrelated with sentence stress. 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 falls 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 arid unstressed syllables and pronounce them at approximately equal intervals.

Now we should like to distinguish the notions of word stress and sentence stress.

They are first of all 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. Though 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.

2.1 Degrees of stress and rhythmical tendency

There are actually as many: degrees of stress in a word as there are syllables. A.C.Gimson, for example, shows 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 В.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 RP, in General American they are said to have a tertiary stress. In GA a tertiary stress also affects the suffixes -оrу, -ary, -ony of nouns and the suffixes -ate, -ize, -y of verbs, which are considered unstressed in RP e.g. 'territory, 'cere,mony, 'dictio,nary, 'demonst,rate, '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 RP is also traced. However, the British conception of three degrees of word stress is accepted as the teaching norm.

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