Seminar 5. Word-Stress. Types of Word-Stress. The Stress Patterns of English

Topics for discussion

1. State the difference between word & utterance stress. Speak about various types of word stress, those distinguished according to its nature & its position, place.
2. Concentrate on the articulatory & acoustic nature of English word stress. How many degrees of word stress are singled out by British & American linguists?
3. What tendencies affect the position of English word stress?
4. Comment on the functions of word stress in English.
5. What differences can you trace between word stress in English and in Russian?

Literature

1. Боисова, Л.В., Метлюк, А.А. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка: учеб.пособие для ин-тов и фак. иностр.яз./ Л.В. Борисова, А.А. Метлюк. – Минск: «Вышэйшая школа», 1980. – С.58 - 69
2. Васильев, В.А. Фонетика английского языка. Нормативный курс: учебник для ин-тов и фак. иностр.яз./ В. А. Васильев [и др.] – 2-е изд.перераб. - М.: Высшая школа, 1980. - С. 257 -286
3. Соколова, М.А. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка. Практикум: учеб.пособие / М.А. Соколова, И.А.Афонская, Л.Б.Ковалева [и др.] – М.: «Профобразование»,2001. – С. 88 - 98

Key terms: the stress pattern of a word (the accentual structure of a word), word-stress, utterance stress, dynamic accent, tonic (musical) accent, qualitative accent, quantitative accent, degrees of word-stress, accentuation tendencies: recessive, rhythmic, retentive.

Tasks and exercises:

Read the following extracts. Comment on each phonetic conception of word-accent concerned with its acoustic nature, degree, position and lin­guistic function in English and in Russian.

Stress may be described as the degree of force with which a sound or syl­lable is uttered. It is essentially a subjective action; a trong force of utterance means energetic action of all the articulating organs: it is usually accompa­nied by a gesture with the hand or head or other parts of the body; it involves a strong «push» from the chest wall and consequently strong force of exhala­tion; this generally gives the objective impression of loudness.

.„It is important not to confuse stress with prominence. The promi­nence of a syllable is its degree of general distinctness, this being the com­bined effort of the tamber, length, stress and (if voiced) intonation of the syllabic sound.

Jones D. An Outline of English Phonetics, Cambr., 1960. P. 245.

Stress is, organically, the result of the force with which the breath is expelled from the lungs: while acoustically it produces the effekt of loud­ness, which is dependent on the size of the sound-vibrations: the bigger the waves, the louder the sound, and the greater the stress, of which we may distinguish infinite degrees or.

Force (stress), like quantity, belongs essentially to the synthesis of sounds. Physically it is synonymous with the of force with which the breath is expelled from the lungs. Every impulse oforce is therefore attended by a distipct muscular sensation. Acoustically it produces the effect known as «loudness», which is dependent on the size of the vibration — waves, which produce the sensation of sound... The comparative force with which the syllables that make up a longer group are uttered is called «stress».

The Indispensible Foundation. A Selection from the writings of Henry Sweet. Lnd., 1971. P. 131.

Stress has been defined as the degree of force with which a sound or syl­lable is uttered.

...usually a sound or syllable which the speaker feels to be important is uttered with relatively greater energy, envolving more vigorous articulation on the part of the speech organs concerned together with strong breath force. The sound or syllable in question is thereby given greater objective promi­nence — it is made to stand out from its neighbours. In every syllable there is one sound — generally, though not always, a vowel — which stands out from its neighbours and forms the point of greatest prominence in the syllable (this sound is called «syllabic»).

Stress is not the same thing as prominence, it is an important element contributing to prominence. Other important factors are length, intonation, and the inherent quality or sonority of individual sounds.

MacCarthy P. English Pronunciation. Cambr., 1952. P. 156.