What aspects does word stress have?

Different syllable in one and the same word are usually pronounced with a different degree of prominence. Such special prominence given to one or more syllables in the same word is called word accent (or word stress). Different linguists define word accent differently.

There exist different ways of making a syllable more prominent. That is why we may speak of different types of word accent:

1) The pronunciation of a syllable may be made more prominent if the syllable is said with greater force. Prof.D.Jones said in this respect “stress may be described as the degree of force with which a sound or a syllable is uttered. A strong force of utterance means energetic action of all the articulating organs. This generally gives the objective impression of loudness “. Word accent of this type is known as force accent(or dynamic accent).

2) A syllable may become more prominent if it is pronounced at different pitch levels or in different pitch directions. Word accent of this type is called musical accent(or pitch accent).

3) A syllable may become more prominent if its vowel is pronounced longer than the same vowel in an unstressed position. For instance, the /i: / vowels of the word /’θ i: s: z/ (theses) are of different lengths. It is longer in a stressed position and shorter in an unstressed one. This type of word accent is known as quantitative accent.

4) A syllable may become more prominent if the vowel is pronounced distinctly and its quality is not obscured. For instance, the /iə / vowels in /’siə riə s/ (serious) are a bit different in quality: the stressed /iə / is distinct and clear, while the unstressed /iə / is somewhat obscured. According to Prof.G.P.Torsuyev this type of word accent is qualitative accent.

All existing languages have either the force or the musical type of word accent as leading principle, while the quantitative and the qualitative types play a subsidiary role.

English, Russian, Kazakh, German, French and other European languages belong to the force type of word accent, the only difference being in the degree of the force with which the stressed syllables are pronounced.

To the musical type of word accent belong Swedish, Norwegian, and oriental languages, such as Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean and others. For example, if the syllable /ma/ of Chinese is said with the falling tone, it means “scold”, but if it is said with the rising tone, then it means “hemp” (конопля). Another example, from Swedishs if the word “Anden” is pronounced with

To the fixed type of word accent belong French and Kazakh (the final syllable is accented), Polish (the penultimate предпоследний syllable is accented).

English and Russian belong to the so-called free word accent. It means that the main accent may fall in different words on a syllable occupying any position. The position of the stress in each particular word remains unchanged, or fixed. In Russian and English there are words in which the main stress falls either on the first, or the second, or the third, etc. syl­lable in a word,

Accent is called shifting if it changes its position from one morpheme to another in different derivatives and grammatical forms of the word. For example:

in Russiant: холод, холодный, холода;

in English: ‘accent, to aс’cent, accentu’ation, ac’centuate; ‘subject, sub’jective, subjec’tivity, etc.

In languages with free word accent it is extremely dif­ficult to determine the position of the stress in every word. Such is the case with the Russian language. Its accentuation system must be learnt individually.

The accentual structure of English words may also be analysed from the phonological point of view. The accentual structure fulfils three main functional constitutive, distinctive, recognitive.

The constitutive function of the accentual structure is proved by the fact that all the words when pronounced in isola­tion have word accent irrespective of the number of syllables in them. We cannot pronounce any word without making it promi­nent. Even monosyllabic words pronounced as vocabulary items have word accent.

The distinctive function may be observed in phonological oppositions: presence of stress vs. absence of stress. In English’ word accent is capable of differentiating one word from another word,

e.g. ‘conduct (n) - conduct (v),

‘local (adj) - local (n),

‘billow (n) -. be’low (adv),

‘insight (n) - incite (v),

‘abstract (a) - ab’stract (v),

‘increase (n) - in’crease (v),

‘perfume (n) - per’fume (v), etc.

In Russian accentual structure fulfils word-differentiating function, as in ‘жаркое – жар’кое, пла́ чу- плачу́

In Russian this kind of opposition (i.e. stressed syllable vs. unstressed syllable) is the only possible one. In Eng­lish oppositions may also be based on primary stress vs. tertiary stress. Free word combinations are opposed to compound nouns by this principle. For example:

(a) ‘black ‘bird - (a) ‘blackbird; ’

(to) ‘play ‘house - (a) ‘playhouses

(keep the) ‘street ‘cleaner - (a) ‘street-cleaner; (a) ‘strong ‘hold - (a) ‘strong-hold; ‘birds ‘nest - (the) ‘bird’s nest; (a) ‘dancing ‘girl - (a) ‘dancing-girl, etc.

The recognitive function of the accentual structure consists in the correct accentuation of words which makes it easier to understand speech. Wrong accentuation may produce two kinds of mistakes: phonological and phonetic.

If the correct accentuation pattern of a word is substituted by another accentual pattern of the same word (also existent in the language) we have a phonological mistake. For examples

2-кесте – Phonological mistakes

If the correct accentual pattern of a word is substituted by an accentual pattern non-existent in the language we get a pho­netic mistake. For examples,

3-кесте – Phonetic mistakes

Phonetic mistakes violate the recognitive function of the accen­tual structure.

The violation of the recognitive function of the accentual structure results in the following: 1) wrong accentuation of words produces a strong foreign accent; 2) it produces a comic impression upon the listener; 3) wrong accentuation of words hampers the communication.