Реферат: Word stress in English

When the shifting of word-stress serves to perform distinctive function, V. Vassil.

Stress performs not only distinctive function, it helps to constitute and recognize words and their forms (constitutive and recognitive functions).

Strictly speaking, a polysyllabic word has as many degrees of stress as there are syllables in it. American and English phoneticians give the following pattern of stress distribution in the word examination. They mark the strongest syllable with primary accent with the numeral 1, then goes 2, 3, etc.[2;180]

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.

‘Most words of more than four syllables have 2 stresses: primary (nuprefixes and entry. The primary stress falls either on the third or the second syllable from the end and the secondary stress falls on the syllable separated from the nuclear syllable by one unstressed syllable: pro-ition, recog ition, etc.

The place of word-stress in English compound words principally de“rewrite” on the semantic factor, i. e. the element which determines the mean-of the whole compound has a primary stress. But most of the compound possess the nuclear stress on the l element: ‘bookcase, ‘diligence etc, whereas compound adjectives have, as a rule, primary stress on element of the compound ‘well- ?oiown, ibsent-- jinded, etc.[1;34]

III. Word Stress tendencies

In spite of the fact that word stress in English is free, there are certain factors that determine the location and different degree of it. Prof. V. A. Vassilyev describes them as follows:

• the recessive tendency;

• the rhythmic tendency;

• the retentive tendency and

• the semantic factor

The first and the oldest of the English lexical stress tendencies (characteristic of all Germanic languages) known as the recessive tendency originally consisted in placing lexical stress on the initial syllable of nouns, adjectives and verbs derived from them and on the root syllable of words which belonged to other parts of speech and had a prefix. In most cases prefixes lost their referential meaning since then, with the result that recessive stress in present-day English of two subtypes:

1) unrestricted: when stress falls on the initial syllable, provided it is not a prefix which has no referential meaning. A great majority of native English words of Germanic origin are stressed this way: father mother husband, ‘wonder

2) restricted: when stress falls on the root of the native English words with a prefix which has no referential meaning now: a’mong, be’come, before,fo,’get, etc.

It is this tendency that determined the incidence of stress in a huge number of disyllabic and trisyllabic French words which had been borrowed into English until the 1 5th century (during and after the Norman Conquest).

The presence in English of a great number of short (disyllabic and trisyllabic) words defamed the development of the so-called rhythmic tendency which results in alternating stressed and unstressed syllables. Borrowed polysyllabic words developed a secondary stress on the syllable separated from the word-final primary stress by one unstressed syllable. These words began to be pronounced, in isolation, on the model of short phrases in which a stressed syllable alternates with an unstressed one: pronunciation.

The retentive tendency consists in the retention of the primary stress on the parent word: person — personal, or more commonly the retention of the secondary stress on the parent word: ‘personal — 1perso’nalily. The difference between constant accent and ‘ retentive stress consists in that the former remains on the same syllable in all the g forms of a word or in all the derivatives from one and the same root, whereas retinal, stress in a derivative falls on the same syllable on which it falls in the parent word, while i other derivatives from the same root it may be shifted e.g.: personal .

There are certain categories of English words stressing of which is determined the semantic factor, e.g. compound words and words with the so-called separable prefix The majority of such words have two equally strong stresses, both stressed parts considered to be of equal semantic importance, with the semantic factor thus canceling rhythmic tendency in word stressing, e.g.

• compound adjectives: hard-working, blue-eyed,

• verbs with post positions sit down, take off

• numerals from 13 to 19:fourteen, sixteen.

It should be noted that the rhythmic tendency becomes operative when such work occur in sentences and the first stress of a double-stressed English word disappears in an immediately or closely preceding word requires stress: a ‘very good-looking ‘girl.[3;175]

IV. English Word Stress functions

In discussingaccentual 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 wok4 does not exist without the word stress. Thus the word stress forms the constitutive function. Sound continuum become phrase when it is divided into units organized by word stress into words.

II. 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 communication easier, whereas the distorted accentual pattern of words, misplaced word stresses prevent normal understanding.

Ill. 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, ‘billow — below.

Word stress in a language performs the following functions: