Lecture.

Word Stress

1. The Nature of Word Stress.

2. Types of Word Stress.
3. Degrees of Word Stress.
4. Placement of Word Stress.
5. Tendencies in the Placement of Word Stress.
6. Functions of Word Stress.

THE NATURE OF WORD STRESS

The sequence of syllables in the word is not pronounced identically: some syllables are
more prominent than the others. They are called stressed syllables. Therefore, stress is a greater
degree of prominence of a syllable or syllables as compared to the other syllables of the word. A
particular combination of varying prominence of syllables in a word forms its stress pattern.
The nature of word stress can be studied from the point of view of production and
perception; the two are obviously closely related but are not identical. The production of stressed
syllables requires more muscular energy. Greater muscular effort and muscular activity produce
higher subglottal pressure and an increase in the amount of air expelled from the lungs. On the
acoustic level this extra articulatory activity leads to the increase of intensity, duration and
fundamental frequency of the stressed syllable. On the perception level it corresponds to the
increase of loudness, length and pitch.
The effect of prominence of the stressed syllable is achieved by a number of phonetic
parameters such as pitch, loudness (force of utterance), length, vowel quality or their
combination. As a result, there appears a contrast between stressed and unstressed syllables.
If to compare stressed and unstressed syllables in the words contract ['kɒntrækt] договір
and to contract [kən'trækt] заключати договір, one may note that in the stressed syllable:
− the force of utterance is greater, which is connected with more energetic articulation;
− the pitch of the voice is higher, which is connected with stronger tenseness of the vocal
cords and the walls of resonance cavity;
− the quantity of the vowel [æ] in [kən'trækt] is greater, the vowel becomes longer;
− the quality of the vowel [æ] in the stressed syllable is different from the quality of this
vowel in the unstressed position, in which it is more narrow.
Generally, these four factors work together in combination, though syllables may
sometimes be made prominent by means of only one or two of them. Experimental work has
shown that these factors are not equally important. The strongest effect is produced by pitch and
length. Loudness and quality have much less effect.
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.
Stress in connected speech is termed sentence stress.

TYPES OF WORD STRESS

The balance of the components of word stress may be different in different languages, so
we can distinguish different types of word stress.
 If special prominence in a stressed syllable or syllables is achieved by greater force with
which the syllable is pronounced, such type of stress is called dynamic (force) stress. European
languages such as English, German, French, Russian, Ukrainian have dynamic word stress.
If special prominence in a stressed syllable is achieved mainly through the change of pitch,
or musical tone, such type of stress is called musical (tonic) stress. It is characteristic of the
Japanese, Korean and other oriental languages.
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.
Qualitative type of stress is achieved through the changes in the quality of the vowel under
stress.
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.
All English vowels may occur in stressed syllables, the only exception is [ə], which is
never stressed. English vowels [ɪ, ʊ, əʊ] tend to occur in unstressed syllables. Syllables with the
syllabic [l, m, n] are never stressed. Unstressed diphthongs may partially lose their glide quality.

DEGREES OF WORD STRESS

In English they generally distinguish three degrees of stress: primary (strong, main,
principal), secondary (half-strong, half-stressed) and weak (unstressed).
Stress is indicated in transcription by placing the stress mark before the symbol of the first
sound of the stressed syllable. Primary stress is marked by a raised short vertical stroke and
secondary stress is marked by a lowered one: examination [ɪgˏzæmɪʹneɪʃ(ə)n]. Most English
scientists do not mark monosyllabic words.

PLACEMENT OF WORD STRESS

The stress in a word may be on the last syllable, the ult; on the next-to-last (the second
from the end), the penult; on the third syllable from the end, the antepenult; and a few words
are stressed on the fourth syllable from the end, the pre-antepenult
According to its placement in a word, stress can be fixed and free. In languages with a
fixed stress, the position of the word stress is always the same. It is restricted to a particular
syllable in a multisyllabic word. For example, in French word stress is normally fixed on the last
syllable of the word, in Finnish and Czech it falls on the first syllable, in Polish it falls on the last
but one syllable.
In languages with a free stress, its location is not confined to a specific position. It can fall
on any syllable of the word. The number of languages with free word stress is relatively small:
English, Russian, Italian, Greek, Spanish and some others.
In English the word stress is not only free, but it is also shifting, which means that it can
change its position in different forms of the word and its derivatives ('music – mu'sician).
To define the position of word stress in each individual word it is necessary to take into
account a number of factors:
− phonological structure of the syllables;
− the number of syllables in the word;
 − morphological factor (whether the word is simple, complex or compound);
− the part of speech the word belongs to (noun, verb, adjective, etc.).
1) The phonological structure of the syllable is related to the status of a particular syllable
in terms of the degree of sonority. The sounds that possess a greater degree of sonority contribute
to the greater prominence of the syllable. A syllable is considered to be strong when it contains a
long vowel or a diphthong or a short vowel followed by two consonants. For example, in English
verbs the stress falls on the last syllable if it is strong and on the last but one syllable if the last
one is weak (aʹrrive - deʹvelop).
2)The number of syllables in a word influences the number of stresses and to a certain
extent the position of stress. There are stress patterns typical of two-syllable words, three-
syllable words and so on.
3) multi-syllable words there appears secondary stress. Morphological factor shows that in
complex words the placement of stress depends on the type of suffix. Suffixes are divided into
those which do not affect the stress placement in the stem (stress-neutral), those which
influences stress in the stem (stress-fixing) and those which carry stress themselves (stress
attracting).
In the words with stress-neutral suffixes the stress remains on the same syllable in the stem
(reʹfuse - reʹfusal, ʹcomfort - ʹcomfortable). This group of suffixes includes: -al, -able, -en, -ful,
-ing, -ish, -less, -ness, -ly, - ment, and others. Stress-fixing suffixes (-ion, -ic, -ity, -ial, -ive)
determine the placement of stress on a particular syllable of the stem and attracts stress to the
syllable that precedes them, i.e. the last syllable of the stem (ʹcurious - curiʹosity). Stress
attracting suffixes include such suffixes as - ade, -eer, -ee, -esque, -ette -ain (ˏrefuʹgee,
ˏcigaʹrette). But in some cases this factor is to be considered together with another one – the
number of syllable in a word. For example, the verbal suffix -ate is stress attracting in the words
containing two syllables (migʹrate), and in words containing more than two syllables it is stress-
fixing: it fixes the stress on the third syllable from the end (comʹmunicate).
Compound nouns contain more than one root or more than one word, but they function as
one word. The rules of word stress in such words will be presented later in the text.
4) The fourth factor to be considered is the grammatical category the word belongs to. The
influence of this factor can be illustrated by the pairs of words, in which adjectives and nouns are
contrasted to verbs: ʹinsult – to inʹsult, ʹrecord – to reʹcord, ʹpresent – to preʹsent. Other
examples of words in English differentiated by word-stress as nouns (first-syllable stress) or
verbs (second-syllable stress) are the following: contest, contrast, defect, desert, digest, discard,
discharge, discount, discourse, escort, envelope, exploit, export, extract, impact, impress, incline,
increase, insert, insult, object, outrage, perfume ,pervert, project, produce, progress, protest,
rebel, recess, refill, refuse, segment, survey, subject, suspect, torment, transfer, transport etc.

TENDENCIES IN THE PLACEMENT OF WORD STRESS

Phoneticians generally distinguish the following tendencies in the placement of word stress:
recessive tendency, rhythmic tendency, retentive tendency and semantic factor.

Recessive tendency is the tendency to stress the beginning of the word. It can be of two
sub-types. Unrestricted recessive tendency is observed in the native English words with no prefix
('mother, 'daughter, 'brother, 'swallow) and in assimilated French borrowings ('reason, 'colour).
Restricted recessive tendency is characterized by placing the word stress on the root of the word
if this word has a prefix, which has lost its meaning (fore'see, with'draw, be'gin).
The rhythmic (rhythmical) tendency reflects the rhythm of alternating stressed and
unstressed syllables. This tendency caused the appearance of the secondary stress in the
multisyllabic French borrowings (ˏrevo'lution, ˏorgani'sation). It also explains the placement of
primary stress on the third syllable from the end in three- and four-syllable words ('cinema,
sig'nificant). The interrelation of recessive and rhythmic tendencies can be traced in borrowed
three-syllable words ('family, 'library, 'faculty). In most cases, however, these two tendencies
contradict each other, which leads to the existence of such accentual variants as 'hospitable –
hos'pitable, 'distribute – dist'ribute. The stress on the initial syllable is caused by the diachronical
recessive tendency and the stress on the second syllable is under the influence of rhythmic
tendency. In sentences, words with two stresses can be pronounced with one singular stress
under the influence of rhythm: ˏthirʹteen / Her ʹnumber is ʹthirteen ˎhundred. Under the influence
of rhythm compounds of three elements may have a strong stress on the second element (hot
ʹwater bottle, waste ʹpaper basket). The rhythmic tendency is very strong in modern English.
The third tendency is called retentive. A derivative retains the stress of the original word
('similar – as'similate). Sometimes in the derivative the primary stress of the original word turns
into secondary stress ('demonstrate – ˏdemonst'ration).
The semantic factor is observed in compound words. The stress generally falls on the
elements, which have a greater semantic, distinctive weight. For example, in such pairs as
ʹgentleman (джентльмен) (a compound noun with a fixed stress) – ʹgentle ʹman (м’який за
характером чоловік)(a word combination), ʹblackboard (шкільна дошка)(a compound noun
with a fixed stress) – ʹblack ʹboard (чорна дошка) (a word-combination) the placement of
stress on the first morpheme signifies that these words have a single meaning, which is not made
up from the meanings of their sub-parts. Two equal stresses on both parts of these word
combinations show that each element has its own meaning.
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. 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, 'left-'handed, 'good- 'looking.

As soon as the significance of one of the elements of a compound adjective is weak- ened,
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 semanti- cally
important both elements are equally stressed, e.g. 'north- 'east, 'north- 'west, 'south-'west.
At the same time 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 com- pounds with
the same second element, e.g. 'dining-room – 'bedroom – 'bathroom – 'living- room; 'shop-girl –
'ballet-girl.
Compound verbs (phrasal 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 ,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,

understand – ‘misunder’stand

Compound numerals have naturally two equal stresses, making both elements sig-
nificant, 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 misunderstanding,
e.g. – 'What ̖page is it? ||
–‘Seven ̖teen. ||
–'Seven,teen | or ̖seventy? |||

Basic rules of stressing two-syllable simple words comprise rules of stressing Verbs,
nouns, adjectives, etc. The basic rule of stressing two-syllable VERBS runs that if the second
syllable of the verb contains a long vowel or a diphthong, or if it ends with more than one
consonant, that second syllable is stressed: apply, attract, arrive.
1. if the final syllable contains a short vowel and one final consonant, the first
syllable is stressed: open, enter.
2. a final syllable is also unstressed if it contains hah. follow, borrow.
3. any two-syllable verbs with prefixes of Germanic and Latin origin have the root
syllable stressed (see a more detailed explanation in words with prefixes).
Two syllable simple ADJECTIVES are stressed according to the same rule as two-
syllable verbs: 'lovely, 'even, 'hollow; cf.: di'vine, co'rrect, a'live .There are exceptions to
this rule: 'honest, 'perfect.
Two-syllable NOUNS have the first syllable stressed if the second syllable contains a
short vowel: dinner, money, colour. Otherwise it will be on the second syllable: de'sign.
Other two-syllable words such as adverbs seem to behave like verbs and adjectives.

Lexical stress of three-syllable simple words.

Three-syllable verbs Three-syllable nouns

If the final syllable of a three-syllable simple
noun
If the last syllable of a three- contains 1) a long vowel or a diphthong and/or
sylla-
ble verb ends with more than one consonant, the stress
will
1) contains a short vowel and usually be placed on the first syllable: 'intellect,
ends
with not more than one 'marigold.
consonant,
that syllable will be unstressed, 2) a short vowel and the middle syllable
and contains
 s will be placed on the preceding a short vowel and ends with not more than one
(penultimate syllable): consonant, the first syllable will be stressed:
de'termine,
en'counter. 'quantity, 'cinema.
2) contains a long vowel or a 3) contains a short vowel or [ǝu] and if
diph- thong, or ends with more the
than one penultimate syllable contains a long vowel or
a
consonant, that final syllable will diphthong, or if it ends with more than one
be syllable,
stressed: enter'tain, under'stand. that penultimate syllable will be
stressed:
po'tato, di'saster, sy'nopsis.
Lexical stress of words of four or more syllables. It can be stated in a most general way
that in words of four and more syllables the stress is placed on the antepenulti- mate syllable
(third from the end), e'mergency, hi'storical, ca'lamity.
But most of such words are of complex morphological structure containing affixes
(prefixes and / or suffixes) which makes it necessary to regard stress placement rules ap-
plied to prefixal and suffixal words separately.
Words with prefixes. As a general rule, words containing prefixes tend to be stressed
on the first syllable of the base or root element, with the prefix either unstressed or having
secondary stress [Celce-Murcia et al 1996:134]. In English, prefixes fall into one of two
categories:
Table
Prefixes of Germanic origin Prefixes of Latin ate origin
a(d)-, com-, de-, dis-, ex-, en-, in-, o-,
a-, be, for-, fore-, mis-, out-, over-, un-,
per-, pre-, pro-, re-, sub-, sur-, e. g.
under-, up-, with, e.g. awake, believe,
ad- mix, complain, discard, exclude,
forgive, foresee, mistake, outrun, overdo,
entreat, inhale, oppose, persuade,
untie, understand, up- hold, withdraw
remember, sub- side, surmount
1) Some of these prefixes are always un-
1) It is usually the base (not the
stressed in the words in which they occur:
prefix) that receives primary stress.
a-, be-, fore-, with-.
However, unlike Germanic prefixes, –
2) Others usually receive secondary stress
the majority of Latin prefixes are
in the following prefix+verb combinations:
unstressed when part of a verb:
undo, outdo, overlook, underpay.
compare, disturb, produce, expect.
3) An exception to this general rule
2) When these prefixes are part of
(second- ary stress on the prefix and
a word that functions as a noun,
primary stress on the base) occurs when a
the prefix often receives primary
word with a prefix functions as a noun
stress: Cf.: Fresh PROduce (noun) is
and has the same pat- tern as a noun
expensive in winter. The company will
compound. In this case, the prefix or its
PRO'duce (verb) new brands. In these
first syllable tends to have primary stress:
examples, the difference in stress
foresight, outlook, overdose, underwear,
patterns helps to re- inforce the
upstart. Cf: I couldn 't stop the OVERflow of
differences between parts of speech.
the tank! (prefix+base functioning as a
noun) Why did the tank overFLOWl
(prefix+verb)
Words with suffixes. We can identify three types of suffixes, from the point of
view of stress:
Table
2) Stress-imposing /
1) Stress-neutral suffix – the
stress-attracting 3) Stressed / stress-
suffix does not affect the location
suffix fixing suffix – the
of stress in the base/stem to
– the suffix causes suffix itself is
which it is at- tached
the stressed
stress to fall on a
partic- ular syllable of
the stem
1) for the most part, stress-neutral 1) suffixes that have
suffixes are Germanic in origin: 1) on the syllable im- come into English via
-hood, -less, -ship, -ful, e.g. child- mediately preceding French often cause
 the suffix: the
hood, tasteless, beautiful, -eous, advanTAgeous final syllable of a
friendship. -graphy, word
2) Other neutral suffixes – not all to receive primary
of phoTOgraphy stress
Germanic origin – that function -ial, proVERBial [Kreidler 1989: 307]:
the -ian, PaRlsian
same way include derivational -ic, cliMATic -aire, questionNAIRE
suffix- -ical, ecoLOGical
es ending in -ment, and most of -ious, inJURious -eer, volunTEER
those -ity, aBILity
ending in -y: ary,-ery,-ory, -cy-, -ese, VietnamESE
-acy, -ion eduCAtion
-ty; diminutive -y; -ish, -ism, -ist, -esque, groTESQUE
-er,
-ess, -ness, -dom, e.g. -ique, anTIQUE
disaGrEEment,
inFIRmary, DELicacy, FOOlish, -oon, balLOON
SEPa-
ratist, LlOness, etc. -ette, casSETTE

FUNCTIONS OF WORD STRESS

Word stress performs the following functions:
Word stress organizes the syllables into a word. It creates a particular pattern of
relationships among syllables, making some syllables more prominent than others and shapes the
word as a whole. Thus word stress performs the constitutive function.

Word stress makes it possible for the listener to identify a succession of syllables with a
definite recurrent stress pattern as a word. In other words, it helps us to recognise the word in the
chain of speech. This function is called recognitive (identificatory).
Word stress is capable of differentiating the meaning of words or their forms, thus
performing its distinctive function. Primary stress placement can distinguish the grammatical
category of the word in the opposition ('import – im'port) the meaning of the word ('billow –
be'low), compound nouns from free word combinations ('greenhouse – 'green 'house).