The Syllable: The Nature of the Syllable: Stress in Simple Words: The Nature of Stress: Perception
8) The syllable: The nature of the syllable: Stress in simple words: The nature of stress:
We will mark a stressed syllable in transcription by placing a small vertical line (‘) high up, just before the syllable it relates to; the words quoted above will thus be transcribed as follows: /a’baut/ / ‘kaemra/ /pa’haeps/**What are the characteristics of stressed syllables that enable us to identify them? It is important to understand that there are two different ways of approaching this question. One is to consider what the speaker does in producing stressed syllables and the other is to consider what characteristics of sound make a syllable seem to a listener to be stressed. In other words we can study stress from the point of view of production and of perception. ****From the perceptual point of view, all stressed syllables have one characteristic in common, and that is prominence. Stressed syllables are recognised as stressed because they are more prominent than unstressed syllables. What makes a syllable prominent.
i) Most people seem to feel that stressed syllables are louder than unstressed; in other words, loudness is a component of prominence. ii) The length of syllables has an important part to play in prominence. iii) Every voiced syllable is said on some pitch; pitch in speech is closely related to the frequency of vibration of the vocal folds and to the musical notion of low- and high-pitched notes. It is essentially a perceptual characteristic of speech. iv) A syllable will tend to be prominent if it contains a vowel that is different in quality from neighbouring vowels.****Prominence, then, is produced by four main factors: (i) loudness, (ii) length, (iii) pitch and (iv) quality. Generally these four factors work together in combination, although syllables may sometimes be made prominent by means of only one or two of them. The strongest effect is produced by pitch, and length is also a powerful factor. Loudness and quality have much less effect.
10.1 Levels of stress: We have to recognise one or more intermediate levels of stress. This means that we are looking at words as they are said in isolation, which is a rather artificial situation: we do not often say words in isolation, except for a few such as ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘possibly’, ‘please’ and interrogative words such as ‘what’, ‘who’, etc. However, looking at words in isolation does help us to see stress placement and stress levels more clearly than studying them in the context of continuous speech.
Let us begin by looking at the word ‘around’ /a’raund/, where the stress always falls clearly on the last syllable and the first syllable is weak. From the point of view of stress, the most important fact about the way we pronounce this word is that on the second syllable the pitch of the voice does not remain level, but usually falls from a higher to a lower pitch.
The prominence that results from this pitch movement, or tone, gives the strongest type of stress; this is called primary stress.
In some words, we can observe a type of stress that is weaker than primary stress but stronger than that of the first syllable of ‘around’. The stress in these words is called secondary stress. It is sometimes represented in transcription with a low mark (╷ ) .
We have now identified two levels of stress: primary and secondary; this also implies a third level which can be called unstressed and is regarded as being the absence of any recognisable amount of prominence. These are the three levels that we will use in describing English stress.
10.2 Placement of stress within the word:How can one select the correct syllable or syllables to stress in an English word? As is well known, English is not one of those languages where word stress can be decided simply in relation to the syllables of the word. English word stress is so difficult to predict that it is best to treat stress placement as a property of the individual word, to be learned when the word itself is learned. Certainly anyone who tries to analyse English stress placement has to recognise that it is a highly complex matter. Practically all the rules have exceptions and readers may feel that the rules are so complex that it would be easier to go back to the idea of learning the stress for each word individually.
In order to decide on stress placement, it is necessary to make use of some or all of the following information:
i) Whether the word is morphologically simple, or whether it is complex as a result either of containing one or more affixes (that is, prefixes or suffixes) or of being a compound word.ii) What the grammatical category of the word is (noun, verb, adjective, etc.).iii) How many syllables the word has.iv) What the phonological structure of those syllables is.
It is sometimes difficult to make the decision referred to in (i). The rules for complex words are different from those for simple words and these will be dealt with in Chapter 11. Obviously, single-syllable words present no problems: if they are pronounced in isolation they are said with primary stress.
Accordin to Point (iv) It is possible to divide syllables into two basic categories: strong and weak. A strong syllable has a rhyme which either has a syllable peak which is a long vowel or diphthong, or a vowel followed by a coda (that is, one or more consonants). Weak syllables have a syllable peak which is a short vowel, and no coda unless the syllable peak is the schwa vowel /a/ or (in some circumstances) /i/. Examples of strong syllables are:‘die’ /dai/ ‘heart’ /ha:t/ ‘bat’ /baet/
Examples of weak syllables (with syllable divisions shown) are:
‘re’ in ‘reduce’ /ri.dju:s/ ‘pen’ in ‘open’ /au.pan/
The important point to remember is that, although we do find unstressed strong syllables (as in the last syllable of ‘dialect’ ‘daialekt), only strong syllables can be stressed. Weak syllables are always unstressed.
Two-syllable words
Here the choice is still simple: either the first or the second syllable will be stressed – not both. We will look first at verbs. The basic rule is that if the second syllable of the verb is a strong syllable, then that second syllable is stressed. Thus:
‘apply’ /a’plai/ ‘attract’/ a’traekt/
If the final syllable is weak, then the first syllable is stressed. Thus:
‘enter’ /’enta/ ‘open’ /’aupan/ ‘envy’ /’envi/
A final syllable is also unstressed if it contains au (e.g. ‘follow’ ‘folau, ‘borrow’ ‘borau).
Two-syllable simple adjectives are stressed according to the same rule, giving:
‘lovely’ ‘Lvvli ‘divine’ di’varn
‘even’ ‘iivn ‘correct’ ka’rekt
Nouns require a different rule: if the second syllable contains a short vowel, then the stress will usually come on the first syllable. Otherwise it will be on the second syllable.
‘money’ ‘mAiri ‘estate’ I’steit ‘product’ ‘prrxLvkt
Other two-syllable words such as adverbs and prepositions seem to behave like verbs and adjectives.
Three-syllable words
In verbs, if the final syllable is strong, then it will be stressed. Thus:
‘entertain’ enta’tem ‘resurrect’ reza’rekt
If the last syllable is weak, then it will be unstressed, and stress will be placed on the preceding (penultimate) syllable if that syllable is strong. Thus:
‘encounter’ irj’kaunta ‘determine’ di’t3:mm
If both the second and third syllable are weak, then the stress falls on the initial syllable:
‘parody’ ‘paeradi
j Nouns require a slightly different rule. Here, if the final syllable is weak, or ends with au, then it is unstressed; if the syllable preceding this final syllable is strong, then that middle syllable will be stressed. Thus:
‘mimosa’ mi’mauza ‘disaster’ di’zcusta ‘potato’ pa’teitau ‘synopsis’ si’nopsis
If the second and third syllables are both weak, then the first syllable is stressed:
‘quantity’ ‘kwontati ‘emperor’ ’empara ‘cinema’ ‘smama ‘custody’ ‘kAstadi
However, three-syllable simple nouns are different. Even if the final syllable is strong, the stress will usually be placed on the first syllable. The last syllable is usually quite prominent, so that in some cases it could be said to have secondary stress. _
‘intellect’ ‘intalekt ‘marigold’ ‘maengauld ‘alkali’ ‘aelkalai ‘stalactite’ ‘staelaktait
Adjectives seem to need the same rule, to produce stress patterns such as:
‘opportune’ ‘opatjum ‘insolent’ ‘insslant ‘derelict’ ‘derslikt ‘anthropoid’ ‘aenOrapoid
The above rules do not, of course, cover all English words. They apply only to major categories of lexical words (nouns, verbs and adjectives in this chapter), not to function words such as articles and prepositions.
11.1 Complex words
The words that were described were called “simple” words; “simple” in this context means “not composed of more than one grammatical unit”, so that, for example, the word ‘care’ is simple while ‘careful’ and ‘careless’ (being composed of two grammatical units each) are complex; ‘carefully’ and ‘carelessness’ are also complex, and are composed of three grammatical units each. We must accept, then, that the distinction between “simple” and “complex” words is difficult to draw, and is therefore not always useful.
Complex words are of two major types:
i) words made from a basic word form (which we will call the stem), with the addition of an affix; and
ii) compound words, which are made of two (or occasionally more) independent English words (e.g. ‘ice-cream’, ‘armchair’).
Affixes have one of three possible effects on word stress;,
i) The affix itself receives the primary stress (e.g. ‘semi-’ + ‘circle’ ‘s3ikl —> ‘semicircle’ ‘semis3ikl; ‘-ality’ + ‘person’ ‘p3isn ‘person¬ality’ p3:sn’aelati).
ii) The word is stressed just as if the affix were not there (e.g. ‘pleasant’ ‘pleznt, ‘unpleasant’ An’pleznt; ‘market’ ‘maikit, ‘mar¬keting’ ‘maikitnj).
iii) The stress remains on the stem, not the affix, but is shifted to a different syllable (e.g. ‘magnet’ ‘maegnat, ‘magnetic’ maeg’netik).
11.2 suffixes
One of the problems that will be encountered is that we may find words which are obviously complex but which, when we divide them into stem + affix, turn out to have a stem that is difficult to imagine as an English word. For example, the word ‘audacity’ seems to be a complex word – but what is its stem? Another problem is that it is difficult in some cases to know whether a word has one, or more than one, suffix, a stem (which is what remains when affixes are removed), and a root, which is the smallest piece of lexical material that a stem can be reduced to.
Suffixes carrying primary stress themselves
In the examples given, which seem to be the most common, the primary stress is on the first syllable of the suffix. If the stem consists of more than one syllable there will be a secondary stress on one of the syllables of the stem. This cannot fall on the last syllable of the stem and is, if necessary, moved to an earlier syllable. For example, in ‘Japan’ d33’paen the primary stress is on the last syllable, but when we add the stress-carrying suffix ‘-ese’ the primary stress is on the suffix and the secondary stress is placed not on the second syllable but on the first: ‘Japanese’ ^aepa’niiz.
• ‘-ee’: ‘refugee’ ^efju’dsi:; ‘evacuee’ ^vaekju’i:
• ‘-eer’: ‘mountaineer’ imaunti’ma; ‘volunteer’ ^lan’tia
• ‘-ese’: ‘Portuguese’ ^oitJVgiiz; ‘journalese’ ^ainTiiz
• ‘-ette’: ‘cigarette’ ^igr’et; ‘launderette’ ^oindr’et
• ‘-esque’: ‘picturesque’ ^iktjr’esk
Suffixes that do not affect stress placement
• ‘-able’: ‘comfort’ ‘kAmfst; ‘comfortable’ ‘kAmftabl
’
• ‘-age’: ‘anchor’ ‘aerjka; ‘anchorage’ ‘aer|karid3
• ‘-al’: ‘refuse’ (verb) n’fjuiz; ‘refusal’ n’fjuizl
• ‘-en’: ‘wide’ waid; ‘widen’ ‘waidn
• ‘-ful’: ‘wonder’ ‘wAnda; ‘wonderful’ ‘wAndafl
5
• ‘-ing’: ‘amaze’ a’meiz; ‘amazing’ a’meizig
• ‘-ish’: ‘devil’ ‘devl; ‘devilish’ ‘devlif
(This is the rule for adjectives; verbs with stems of more than one syllable always have the stress on the syllable immediately preceding ‘ish’, e.g. ‘replenish’ n’plenif, ‘demolish’ di’molij.)
• ‘-like’: ‘bird’ ‘b3:d; ‘birdlike’ ‘b3jdlaik
• ‘-less’: ‘power’ ‘paua; ‘powerless’ ‘paualas
• ‘-ly’: ‘hurried’ ‘hAnd; ‘hurriedly’ ‘hAndli
• ‘-ment’ (noun): ‘punish’ ‘pAnif; ‘punishment’ ‘pAmJmant
• ‘-ness’: ‘yellow’ ‘jelau; ‘yellowness’ ‘jelaunas
• ‘-ous’: ‘poison’ ‘poizn; ‘poisonous’ ‘poiznas
• ‘-fy’: ‘glory’ ‘gloiri; ‘glorify’ ‘gloinfai
• ‘-wise’: ‘other’ ‘Ada; ‘otherwise’ ‘Adawaiz
• ‘-y’ (adjective or noun): ‘fun’ ‘fAn; ‘funny’ ‘fAiii
Suffixes that influence stress in the stem
In these examples primary stress is on the last syllable of the stem.
• ‘-eous’: ‘advantage’ ad’va:ntid3; ‘advantageous’ iaedvan’teid3as
• ‘-graphy’: ‘photo’ ‘fautau; ‘photography’ fa’tDgrafi
• ‘-ial’: ‘proverb’ ‘prDV3ib; ‘proverbial’ pra’v3:bial
• ‘-ic’: ‘climate’ ‘klannit; ‘climatic’ klai’maetik
• ‘-ion’: ‘perfect’ ‘p3ifikt; ‘perfection’ pa’fekjn
• ‘-ious’: ‘injure’ ‘md3a; ‘injurious’ in’d3o:rias
• ‘-ty’: ‘tranquil’ ‘traerjkwil; ‘tranquillity’ traeg’kwilati
• ‘-ive’: ‘reflex’ ‘riifleks; ‘reflexive’ n’fleksiv
When the stem has more than one syllable, the stress is on one of the syllables in the stem. If the final syllable of the stem is strong, that syllable receives the stress. For example: ‘importance’ nn’poitns; ‘centenary’ sen’tiinri. Otherwise the syllable before the last one receives the stress: ‘inheritance’ in’hentans; ‘military’ ‘militri.
11.3 Prefixes
Their effect on stress does not have the comparative regularity, independence and predictability of suffixes, and there is no prefix of one or two syllables that always carries primary stress. Consequently, the best treatment seems to be to say that stress in words with prefixes is governed by the same rules as those for words without prefixes.
Compound words
Compounds are written in different ways; sometimes they are written as one word – e.g. ‘armchair’, ‘sunflower’ – some¬times with the words separated by a hyphen – e.g. ‘gear-change’, ‘fruit-cake’ – and sometimes with two words separated by a space – e.g. ‘desk lamp’, ‘battery charger’.
As far as stress is concerned, the question is quite simple. When is primary stress placed on the first constituent word of the compound and when on the second? Both patterns are found. A few rules can be given, although these are not completely reliable. Words which do not receive primary stress normally have secondary stress, although for the sake of simplicity this is not marked here. Perhaps the most familiar type of compound is the one which combines two nouns and which normally has the stress on the first element, as in:
‘typewriter’ ‘taipraits ‘suitcase’ ‘suitkeis ‘car-ferry’ ‘kaiferi ‘tea-cup’ ‘tiikAp
‘sunrise’ ‘sAiiraiz
A variety of compounds receive stress instead on the second element. For example, compounds with an adjectival first element and the -ed morpheme at the end have this pattern (given in spelling only):
bad-‘tempered half-‘timbered heavy-‘handed
Compounds in which the first element is a number in some form also tend to have final stress:
three-‘wheeler
second-‘class
five-‘fmger
Compounds functioning as adverbs are usually final-stressed:
head-‘first
North-‘East
down’stream
Finally, compounds which function as verbs and have an adverbial first element take final stress:
down-‘grade back-‘pedal ill-‘treat
11.4 Variable stress
It would be wrong to imagine that the stress pattern is always fixed and unchanging in English words. Stress position may vary for one of two reasons: either as a result of the stress on other words occurring next to the word in question, or because not all speakers agree on the placement of stress in some words.
When the stem has more than one syllable, the stress is on one of the syllables in the stem. If the final syllable of the stem is strong, that syllable receives the stress. For example: ‘importance’ nn’poitns; ‘centenary’ sen’tiinri. Otherwise the syllable before the last one receives the stress: ‘inheritance’ in’hentans; ‘military’ ‘militri.
11.3 Prefixes
Their effect on stress does not have the comparative regularity, independence and predictability of suffixes, and there is no prefix of one or two syllables that always carries primary stress. Consequently, the best treatment seems to be to say that stress in words with prefixes is governed by the same rules as those for words without prefixes.
Compound words
Compounds are written in different ways; sometimes they are written as one word – e.g. ‘armchair’, ‘sunflower’ – some¬times with the words separated by a hyphen – e.g. ‘gear-change’, ‘fruit-cake’ – and sometimes with two words separated by a space – e.g. ‘desk lamp’, ‘battery charger’.
As far as stress is concerned, the question is quite simple. When is primary stress placed on the first constituent word of the compound and when on the second? Both patterns are found. A few rules can be given, although these are not completely reliable. Words which do not receive primary stress normally have secondary stress, although for the sake of simplicity this is not marked here. Perhaps the most familiar type of compound is the one which combines two nouns and which normally has the stress on the first element, as in:
‘typewriter’ ‘taipraits ‘suitcase’ ‘suitkeis ‘car-ferry’ ‘kaiferi ‘tea-cup’ ‘tiikAp
‘sunrise’ ‘sAiiraiz
A variety of compounds receive stress instead on the second element. For example, compounds with an adjectival first element and the -ed morpheme at the end have this pattern (given in spelling only):
bad-‘tempered half-‘timbered heavy-‘handed
Compounds in which the first element is a number in some form also tend to have final stress:
three-‘wheeler
second-‘class
five-‘fmger
Compounds functioning as adverbs are usually final-stressed:
head-‘first
North-‘East
down’stream
Finally, compounds which function as verbs and have an adverbial first element take final stress:
down-‘grade back-‘pedal ill-‘treat
11.4 Variable stress
It would be wrong to imagine that the stress pattern is always fixed and unchanging in English words. Stress position may vary for one of two reasons: either as a result of the stress on other words occurring next to the word in question, or because not all speakers agree on the placement of stress in some words.