Some problems of accentual structure in English

We would like to point out right here that 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. Most English words of Anglo-Saxon origin as well as the French borrowings (dated back to the 15th century) arе 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 moresyllabic or disyllabic, both notional words and form words. They tend to alternate in the flow of speech, e.g. I 'don't be'lieve he's, 'right.        

The rhythm of alternating stressed and unstressed syllables gave birth to the rhythmical tendency in the present-day English which caused the appearance of the secondary stress in the multi-syllabic French borrowings, e.g. ,revolution, ,organi'sation, as,si-mi'lation, etc. 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, er'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.

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.

The accentual patterns of the words 'territory, 'dictionary, 'neces,sary in GA 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'trihute, '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'similate, secom'mend - recomme'ndation.

2.2 Functional aspects of word stress

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.  I. 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. П. 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 communi-.cation easier, whereas the distorted accentual pattern of words, misplaced word stresses prevent normal understanding.

Ш. 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.

VA.Vassilyev introduces the term "accenteme" for Word stress as a suprasegmental phonological unit having different degrees and placement in a word (79). For instance the primary accenteme is opposed to the weak word accenteme (unstressed position), in 'import -, im'port differentiating the noun from the verb. A.C.Gimson establishes three groups of words with identical spelling representing different parts of speech which are opposed by means of shifting of the stress

1. A small group of words where the noun is differentiated from a verb by the opposition of the accentual pattern of the word alone, e.g.

increase [‘inkri:s] – [in’kri:s]

impress [‘impres] – [im’pres]

inlay [‘inlei] - [in’lei]

2: The second group where the shifting of the stress which

means the change of the accentual pattern of the word may be or may not be accompanied by the reduction of the vowel in the unstressed vowel, e.g.

transport [‘trænspo:t] – [træns’pot] or [trəns’pot]

3. The largest group of such pairs of words manifests the change of their accentual pattern together with the qualitative reduction of the unstressed vowel, e.g.

combine [ ‘kombain] – [kəm’bain]

contrast [‘kontra:st] – [kən’tra:st]

 and many others.

Oppositions of accentual types of words are also observed as a concomitant factor in word-formation in addition to suffixation.

[‘_ _ _] – [,_ _ ‘_] e.g. ‘organize - ,organi’zation

[‘_’_ _ _] – [‘_,_ _ ‘_ _] e.g. ‘predis’pose – ‘pre,dispo’sition

[‘_ _ _] – [‘_ _ _ ‘_] e.g. ‘solemn – ‘solemni’zation

[,_ _ ‘_] – [‘_ _ ,_ _’_ _] e.g. ,incon’siderable – ‘incon,side’ration.

There is also a group of accentuation oppositions where compound nouns are opposed to free word combinations, e.g.

a ‘dancing-girl – танцовщица

a ‘dancing ‘girl – танцующая девушка

As we have already mentioned the same distinctive function of word stress is observed in the Russian language, It differentiates words and their grammatical forms, e.g.

The words чýдная - чуднáя, безобрáзная - безóбразная are different lexical units, they differ in meaning. ,

The words зимы - зимы, беды— беды represent different, grammatical forms of the same lexical unit. Both in word-building and in word-formation the shifting of stress is accompanied by the qualitative reduction of the unstressed syllable. Word-formation with the help of the shifting of stress is quite common in
Russian as well as in English.   

The accentual structure of words is actually very closely interrelated with their semantic value. By way of illustration we shall now analyse a fairly large class of words in English which are marked by two primary stresses (Accentual Type П). 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 compounds. 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, e.g. 'absent-'minded, 'good-looking.     ...

As soon as the significance of one of the elements of a compound adjective is weakened, its accentual pattern is changed. (Accentual Type I), 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 П), 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, e.g. '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.

2.3 Practical analysis showing the types of stress

Here, we shall analyze the English stress according to different degrees.

1. ['___]. This accentual type marks both simple and compound words. The accentual structure of this type may include two and more syllables, e.g.

2. ['__'__]. Theaccentual type is commonly realized in compound words, most of them are with separable prefixes, e.g.

3.['__'__'__] and 4. ['__'__'__'__]. The accentual types are met in initial compound abbreviations like.

5. [,__'__]. The type is realized both in simple and compound words, very common among compound words, e.g.

6. [,__'__]. The accentual type marks a great number of simple words and some compound words as well.

7. [‘__,__’__]. The type includes rather a small number of simple words with the separable prefixes, e.g.

8. [,__,__’__]. The type is found in a very small number of words, usually simple words with the stresses on the prefix, thr root and the suffix, e.g.

9. [‘__’__,__]. The type is meet in rare instances of compound words with separable prefixes, e.g.

10. [‘__,__,__]. The type is represented by rare instances of simple and compound words, e.g.

11. [,__’__,__]. The type is found in rare instances of compound words consisting of the three components, e.g.

Conclusion:

In this course paper we have treated some problems of accentual structure, such as the quantitative and qualitative components of word stress, vowels and consonants.

 From chapter I we have known that vowel of the stressed syllable is perceived as never reduced or obscure and longer than the same vowel in the unstressed syllables.

In the point 1.1. we have said about European languages such as English, German, French, Russian, and that they are believed to possess predominantly dynamic word stress. In Scandinavian languages the word stress is considered to be both dynamic and musical.

In the point 1.2. we have paid attention to the instability of English accentual structure of words and that the English presents much difficulty for Russian learners, because of his multisyllabic words the accentual structure of which is regulated by the rhythmical tendency.

In chapter II We have pointed out that 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.

In the point 2.1. we singled out that the opinions of phoneticians differ as how many degrees of stress are linguistically relevant in a word.

So, we think that we have achieved the aim of the course paper and fulfilled all the tasks which were put in this work.

List of literature:

1. Crystal D. – The English of voice – Ldn, 1975

2. Jones D. The phoneme. Its nature and use – Cambridge, 1967

3. O’Connor J.D. Phonetics – penguin, 1977

4. Vassilyev V.A. English Phonetics: A theoretical course – M., 1970

5. Palmer H.E. English intonations with systematic exercises – Cambridge, 1924

6. Vassilyev V.A., Burenkova O.V., - М., 1992

7. Katanskaya A.R., Lukina N.D., Maslova L.P., Torsueva E.I. – English phonetics (a normative course) – Leningrad, 1962

8. Abercrombie D. The department of phonetics – Edinburgh University, May, 1958

9. Jones D. an outline of English phonetics, 9th ed, Cambridge, 1960

10. Oxford Russian dictionary – Oxford Russian press, 2000

11. Англо-русский и русско-английский словарь с грамматическим приложением – М., издательство «Лукоморье», 2001.

Course paper review

325 group student Pocheikina J.A.

Foundations of the theory of the studied language. This theme is one of the complicated questions in the sphere of phonetics. The author treats different views of linguists concerning accentuation.

Chapter I is devoted to the study of English stress as a phonetic phenomenon. More detailed questions as the nature of word stress and prominence and also the placement of word stress were treated too.

In chapter II the student analyses degrees of stress and rhythmical tendency and also studies the functional aspect of word stress.

In the end of the course paper the student gives practical analysis.

This course paper corresponds to the requirements of writing and may be recommended for defence.

Scientific supervisor:

Senior teacher

Buzhumova P.Z.

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