Functions are performed by word stress

Word-stress
has a constitutive function, as it moulds syllables into a word
forming its stress pattern.

Word-stress
has a distinctive function in English, because exists there different
words in English with analogous sound structure which are
differentiated in speech only by their stress pattern. E.g.

Noun
/ adjective verb

‘Insult in’sult

‘Subject sub’ject

Word-stress
has an identificatory factory function, because stress patterns of
words enable people to identify definite combinations of sounds as
meaningful linguistic units. A distortion of the stress pattern may
hamper understanding or produce a strange accent.

LECTURE 6

Intonation and Prosody

Phonemes,
syllables & words, as lower-level linguistic units, constitute a
higher phonetic unit –the utterance. Every concrete utterance,
alongside of its phonemic & syllabic structures, has a certain
intonation.

Most
CIS countries phoneticians define it as a complex unity of speech
melody, sentence stress, tempo, rhythm & voice tamber (timbre),
which enables the speaker to express his thoughts, emotions &
attitudes towards the contents of the utterance & the hearer.
Speech
melody, sentence stress, tempo, rhythm and tamber are all components
of intonation. These are perceptible qualities of intonation.

Acoustically,
intonation is a complex unity of varying fundamental frequency,
intensity & duration. Speech melody is primarily related with
fundamental frequency, tempo- with duration.

On the
articulatory level intonation is a complex phenomenon. In the
production of speech melody the subglottal –подгортанный,
laryngeal –ларингальный
& supraglottal- надгортанный
respirotory
— дыхательный
muscles
regulate the subglottal air pressure, which makes the vocal cords
vibrate. An increase of subglottal pressure raises the pitch of the
voice, & its decreases lower the pitch.

There
is no single mechanism to which the production of stress can be
attributed. Physiological correlates of different degrees of
utterance stress haven’t as yet been established. Further
investigations are necessary to discover the articulatory mechanism
of the components of intonation.

The
definition of intonation given above is a broad definition. It
reflects the actual interconnection & interaction of melody,
sentence stress, tempo, rhythm & tamber in speech.

A
great number of phoneticians abroad, D. Jones,
L. Armstrong &
I. Ward,

K. Pike,
R. Kingdon, A. Gimson, J.O’Connor & G. Arnold
define intonation as the variation of the pitch of the voice, thus,
reducing it to just one component –speech melody. This is a narrow
definition of intonation. Thus D. Jones writes: “Intonation may be
defined as the variations which take place in the pitch of the voice
in connected speech.”

In
spite of the fact that many scholars do not include sentence stress,
rhythm & tempo in the definition of intonation they regard these
prosodic phenomena as closely connected with one another.

According
to R. Kingdon:
“When we talk about English intonation we mean the pitch patterns
of spoken English, the pitch tunes or melodies, the musical features
of English.”

Some
foreign phoneticians give broader definitions of intonation. Thus,
L Hultzen
includes the variations of pitch, loudness & duration, F. Danes
–the variations of pitch & intensity, E. Haugen
a combination of tone, stress & juncture.

Alongside
of the term “intonation” the term “prosody” is widely used.
“Prosody” & “Prosodic” denote non –segmental phenomena,
i.e. those which do not enter into the system of segmental phonemes.
The British phonetician D.
Cristal
defines prosodic features as “vocal effects constituted by
variations along the parameters of pitch, loudness, duration &
silence.”

From
the very definition of prosody and intonation we can clearly see that
both the notions include essentially the same phenomena, but the
terms-“intonation and prosody” are used differently by different
linguists. Some phoneticians apply the term “prosody” and
“prosodic” only to the features pertaining to the syllable and
phonetic word, or rhythmic unit which are regarded as meaningless
prosodic units & oppose prosody to intonation (which is a
meaningful phenomenon).

We
adhere to the point of view that prosodic features pertain not only
to syllables, words & rhythmic groups, but to the intonation
group & the utterance as well, since the latter are constituted
by these units.

The
notion of prosody, consequently, is broader than the notion of
intonation, as it can be applied to the utterance, the word, the
syllable, whereas prosody of the utterance and intonation are
equivalent notions.

Whatever the views of the
linguistic nature of prosodic phenomena, the phonic substance of
prosody is regarded by all phoneticians as the modifications of
fundamental frequency, intensity, and duration. The most complicated
and unsolved problems of prosody are the interaction between its
acoustic properties, their functioning in speech and their
systematization. R. Jakobson says that prosody is one the most
difficult and controversial problems of modern linguistic studies.

Concrete realizations of
speech prosody & its systematic nature can be described
adequately in terms of the syllabic, the rhythmic (or accent) group &
the utterance.

The
syllable is the smallest prosodic unit. It has no meaning of its own,
but it is significant for constituting higher prosodic units.
Prosodic features of the syllable (tone, stress, duration) depend on
its position and function in the rhythmic unit and in the utterance.

A rhythmic
group (or accentual unit, or group) is either one stressed syllable
or a stressed syllable with a number of unstressed ones grouped
around it the stressed syllable is the nucleus of the rhythmic group.
There are as many rhythmic units in an utterance as there are
stressed syllables in it. The unstressed syllables are clitics.
Those preceding the stressed syllables are called proclitics
& those following it – enclitics.

Depending
on the position of the stressed syllable and the number of proclitics
and enclitics in the rhythmic group there exist various
accentual-and-rhythmic patterns of it. E.g. /
/,
/ /, / /, etc. Besides a definite
accentual-and-rhythmic pattern, the rhythmic group is characterized
by a pitch pattern (or tonal contour) and duration pattern (temporal
structure). These prosodic characteristics make it possible to
perceive the rhythmic unit as an actual discrete unit of prosody. The
rhythmic unit may be singled out of an utterance also due to the
meanings expressed by its prosodic features.

According
to D. Bolinger these may be the meanings of assertiveness,
separateness, newness: But
nobody knew about it.; the meaning of connectedness &
incompleteness: The brighter they are the better.
The rhythmic unit should, therefore, be considered a meaningful unit,
though this viewpoint is not unanimously accepted.

The
intonation group is higher than the rhythmic unit. It has also been
termed “syntagm”, “sense-group”, “breath group”,
“intonation contour”, “and divisible accentual unit ”,“
tone group ”,“ tune ”,“ tone unit”.

The
term “syntagm”, has a drawback: it is often used with different
meanings which have nothing to do with the prosodic unit.

The
term “sense group” calls attention to the fact that it is a group
of words that make sense when put together. But it does not indicate
its intonational character.

The
term “breath group” emphasizes the physiological aspect of the
unit, which is uttered with a single breath. A breath group usually
coincides with a sense-group because “pauses for breath are
normally made at points where pauses are necessary or allowable from
the point of view of meaning”. But a pause for breath may be made
after two or more sense-groups are uttered, so a breath –group may
not coincide with a sense-group.

The
term “divisible unit” emphasizes the role of utterance stress in
constituting the unit. The divisible accentual unit may consist of
several indivisible units (rhythmic units).

The
terms “tone -group”, “tune”, “tone unit” also emphasize
the role of just one (pitch) component of prosody for the formation
of the unit. In our opinion, the term “intonation group” better
reflects the essence of this unit. It shows that the intonation group
is the result of the division in which not only stresses, but pitch &
duration play a role. Structurally the intonation group has some
obligatory formal characteristics. These are the nuclear stress &
the terminal tone. The boundaries between intonation groups are
marked by tonal junctures and pauses. All these features shape the
intonation group, delimit one intonation group from another and show
its relative semantic importance. Intonation group is a meaningful
unit. The most general meanings expressed by the intonation group
are: completeness, finality versus incompleteness, non finality.

It may be
coextensive with a sentence or part of a sentence. E.g.
Yesterday they passed the exam. They passed the exam yesterday.

The
structure of the intonation group varies depending on the number of
syllables and rhythmic units in it. Minimally, intonation group
consists of one (stressed) syllable – the nucleus. Maximally, it
contains the prehead, the head, the nucleus and the tail.

The
stressed & unstressed syllables of an intonation group perform
different functions. H.
Palmer
was the first to single out the consecutive structural elements of
the intonation group (“tone-group”) which differ in their
functions. These elements of intonation groups are “pre-head”,
“head”, “nucleus” and “tail”.

The number
of functional elements distinguished by different phoneticians is not
the same. Thus, J.
O’Connor
& G. Arnold
distinguish two elements in the pre-nuclear part of the
utterance –the pre-head & the head. The notion of “head”
in this sense coincides with the notion of “scale”, used by
Russian phoneticians, e.g. G.
Torsuyev,
A. Trakhterov, V. Vassilyev, A. Antipova &
others.

R.Kingdon
uses the term “head” to mean only the first stressed syllable,
which he considers to be an independent functional element. The
stressed & unstressed syllables following the head form another
functional element – the body.

The
“pre-head”, “head” & “tail” is non-obligatory
elements of an intonation group, whereas the nucleus is an obligatory
& the most important functional element.

A
higher prosodic unit is the utterance. The utterance is the main
communicative unit. It is characterized by semantic entity which is
expressed by all the language means: lexical, grammatical and
prosodic. The prosodic structure of an utterance is a meaningful unit
that contributes to the total meaning of the utterance. Each
utterance has a definite prosodic structure.

The
utterance may contain one intonation group, two or more. E.g.
‘Listening
is an im’portant ‘process in ‘learning a language. Be’sides the
auditory ·process | there are speaking | reading | and `writing
of the language.
Irrespective of its structural complexity, the prosodic structure of
the utterance is viewed as a single semantic entity.

The
utterance is not the ultimate unit of prosodic analysis. In speech
single utterances are not very frequent. On the contrary, they are
connected and grouped into still larger units – hyper utterances,
phonetic paragraphs and texts. The prosodic features of these higher
units indicate the relations between their constituents, the degree
of their connectedness and interdependence, thus forming the prosodic
structures of the hyperutterances, the phonetic paragraphs and texts.
The study of these units in modern linguistics is in the forefront of
scholars’ interest.

To
summarize, it is necessary to note, that the syllable, the rhythmical
unit, the intonation group, the utterance and the hyperutterance are
taxonomical prosodic units. Whereas the elements of the intonation
group, considered above, i.e. prehead, head, nucleus and tail, are
autonomous units, they are not related taxonomically.

The
prosody of the utterance performs 3 basic functions: constitutive,
distinctive & identificatory.

1.
The constitutive function of prosody
is to form utterances as communicative units. Prosody unifies words
into utterances. A succession of words arranged syntactically is not
a communicative unit until a certain prosodic pattern is attached to
it. It forms all communicative types of utterances (statements,
questions, imperatives, exclamations and modal types) e.g. categoric
statements, non categoric, perfunctory statements, quizzical
statements, certainty & uncertainty questions, insistent
questions, etc. Prosody at the same time performs the segmentative &
delimitative function. It segments connected discourse into
utterances and intonation groups and simultaneously delimits them one
from another, showing relations between them: Cf. “We can if we
want to and “we can if we want to”. It also signals the semantic
nucleus and other semantically important words of an utterance (or an
intonation group). Prosody also constitutes phonetic styles of
speech.

2.
The distinctive function of prosody
manifests itself in several particular functions, depending on the
meanings which are differentiated. These are communicative
-distinctive, modal –distinctive, culminative (“theme -rheme”)
distinctive, syntactical –distinctive & stylistic –distinctive
function.

The
communicative –distinctive function is to differentiate the
communicative types of utterances, i.e. statements, questions, etc.
and communicative subtypes: e.g. within statements, statements proper
(It was a ‘very hot •after`noon,
answers (It was a very hot •after`noon),
informing statements,
announcements, etc. within questions – first instance questions
(‘where did he `find
it?), repeated questions (»where did he «find
it?), echo questions (•where did he find it?); within imperatives –
commands (‘Don’t be late), requests (‘Don’t be late) an so on.

The
modal –distinctive function of prosody manifests itself in
differentiating modal meanings of utterances, i.e. the speaker’s
attitudes & emotions, e.g. antagonistic versus friendly attitude
and so on.

This
function is often defined as expressive or emotional, attitudinal.

Various
modal meanings can also be expressed and differentiated by lexical
and grammatical means, e.g. such modal words as “sure”,
“undoubtful”, “definitely”, “perhaps”, “may be”,
“probably” and modal verbs “may”, “might” and so on.
Usually, the speaker’s attitude corresponds to the contents of the
words he chooses. But utterance prosody may disagree with word
content and is, then, the crucial factor in determining the modal
meaning of the utterance. Cf. “He definitely promised” and “He
definitely promised”. In the first case the melodic contour agrees
with the word content and the grammatical structure, whereas in the
second case it does not. So the first utterance sounds definite and
categoric. The second utterance sounds indefinite and non-categoric.
In “`Thank
you” the high falling tone is in harmony with the word content and
expresses genuine gratitude. In “^Thank
you” the rising-falling tone adds an antagonistic note to the
utterance. That is why in actual speech the listener is more
interested in the speaker’s “tone” than in his words.

The
culminative-distinctive function of prosody manifests itself in
differentiating the location of the semantic nuclei /nju:kliai/
pl. of utterances & other semantically important words. This
function is often called logical (Artymov),
predicative (Vinigradov),
accentual (Gimson).

Some
scholars claim
that prosody indicates the “theme – rheme” organization of an
utterance, i.e. it shows the thing already known & the new thing
said about it e.g.

Theme
– rheme

The’
teacher has`
come.

Rheme – Theme

The`
teacher has come.

The
syntactical — distinctive function of prosody is to differentiate
syntactical types of sentences & syntactical relations in
sentences.

E.g. Her,
sister, said •Mary,
|
was a ‘ well –known`
actress (
a compound sentence.)

Her’
sister,
said |’
Mary was a ‘well
– known `actress
(a complex sentence with an object subordinate clause)

‘Smiling,
Tom |
‘entered
the`
hall.(“smiling”
is an attribute)

,
Smiling |’Tom
‘entered the`
hall.
(“Smiling”
is an adverbial modifier)

Stylistic
– distinctive function of prosody manifests itself in that prosody
differentiates pronunciation (phonetic) styles, determined by extra
linguistic factors.

3. The
identificatory function
of prosody is to provide a basis for the hearer’s identification of
the communicative & modal type of an utterance, its semantic &
syntactical structure in accordance with the situation of the
discourse.

All
the functions of prosody are fulfilled simultaneously & cannot be
separated one from another. They show that utterance prosody is
linguistically significant & meaningful.

Each
language has a certain limited number of such meaningful units,
capable of distinguishing utterances. They are defined as intonemes.
or
utterance prosodemes.

The
prosodic system is characteristic of each language. The prosodic
systems of one language are not the same in form as those of other
languages. Nor do they necessarily express the same meanings, though
there may be resemblances here & there.

Emphasizing
the role of intonation in speech, R.Kingdon says: “Intonation is
the soul of a language while the pronunciation of its sounds is its
body…

Thus,
the linguistic character of prosody can be summarized in the
following way:

1. Prosody of speech is
   significant & meaningful.

2. Prosody is systematic. It is
   not invented in speaking but produced according to the system of
   prosodic structures of a given language.

3. Prosody is a characteristic
   feature of each concrete language & cannot be used in speaking
   another language.

LECTURE 7

---

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Кардиналистский и ординалистский подходы Кардиналистский (количественный подход) к анализу полезности основан на представлении о возможности измерения различных благ в условных единицах полезности…

Обзор компонентов Multisim Компоненты – это основа любой схемы, это все элементы, из которых она состоит. Multisim оперирует с двумя категориями…

Композиция из абстрактных геометрических фигур Данная композиция состоит из линий, штриховки, абстрактных геометрических форм…

Важнейшие способы обработки и анализа рядов динамики Не во всех случаях эмпирические данные рядов динамики позволяют определить тенденцию изменения явления во времени…

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• 

  1 слайд

  Lecture 5. Word Stress
  The Nature of Word Stress.
  The Place of Word Stress in English. The Degrees of Stress.
  The Functions and Tendencies of the English Stress.
  The Typology of Accentual Structures.

• 

  2 слайд

  The syllable or syllables which are uttered with more prominence than the other syllables of the word are said to be stressed or accented.

  Stress in the isolated word is termed word stress; stress in connected speech is termed sentence stress.

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  3 слайд

  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.
  In different languages one of the factors constituting word stress is usually more significant than the others.

• 

  4 слайд

  If special prominence in a stressed syllable or syllables is achieved mainly through the intensity of articulation, such type of stress is called dynamic, or force stress.

• 

  5 слайд

  If special prominence in a stressed syllable is achieved mainly through the change of pitch, or musical tone, such accent is called musical, or tonic. It is characteristic of the Japanese, Korean and other oriental languages.

• 

  6 слайд

  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.

• 

  7 слайд

  The traditional classification of languages concerning place of stress in a word is into those with a fixed stress and those with a free stress.
  In languages with a fixed stress the occurrence of the word stress is limited to a particular syllable in a polysyllabic word.
  In languages with a free stress its place is not confined to a specific position in the word.
  E.g. ‘appetite — be’ginning — ba’lloon

• 

  8 слайд

  The word stress in English is not only free but it may also be shifting, performing the semantic function of differentiating lexical units, parts of speech, grammatical forms.
  E.g. ‘contrast — con’trast; ‘music — mu’sician.

• 

  9 слайд

  There are actually as many degrees of stress in a word as there are syllables.
  examination
  ɪɡ.ˌzæm.ɪ.ˈneɪʃ. Ən
  3 2 4 1 5

  Degrees of Word Stress

• 

  10 слайд

  The primary stress is the strongest, it is marked by number 1, the secondary stress is the second strongest marked by 2. All the other degrees are termed weak stress. Unstressed syllables are supposed to have weak stress.

• 

  11 слайд

  American linguists distinguish four degrees of word stress and term them: primary stress, secondary stress, tertiary stress and weak stress. The difference between the secondary and tertiary stresses is very subtle and seems subjective.

• 

  12 слайд

  The second pretonic syllables of such words as libe’ration, recog’nition are marked by secondary stress in BrE, in AmE they are said to have tertiary stress.

  In AmE tertiary stress also affects the suffixes -ory, -ary, -ony of nouns and the suffixes –ate, -ize, -y of verbs, which are considered unstressed in BrE, e.g. ‘territory, ‘ceremony, ‘dictionary; ‘demonstrate, ‘organize, ‘simplify.

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  13 слайд

  Word stress in a language performs three functions.
  Functions of Word Stress

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  14 слайд

  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 word does not exist without the word stress.
  Constitutive function

• 

  15 слайд

  Word stress enables a person to identify a succession of syllables as a definite accentual pattern of a word.
  Identificatory / recognitive function

• 

  16 слайд

  Word stress alone is capable of differentiating the meaning of words or their forms.
  The accentual patterns of words or the degrees of word stress and their positions form oppositions:
  E.g. ‘import — im’port, ‘billow — be’low.
  Distinctive / contrastive function

• 

  17 слайд

  According to Prof. V.O. Vasyliev (V.A.Vassilyev), the distinctive function makes word accent a suprasegmental phonological unit which performs a sense-differentiating function. He calls it accenteme.

• 

  18 слайд

  According to Prof. V.O. Vasyliev (V.A. Vassilyev), they are:

  The recessive tendency

  The rhythmic tendency

  The retentive tendency

  The semantic factor

  Word Stress Tendencies

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  19 слайд

  In Germanic languages the word stress originally fell on the initial syllable or the second syllable, the root syllable in the English words with prefixes.
  Unrestricted recessive tendency is observed in the native English words having no prefix, e.g. mother, daughter, brother, swallow, in assimilated French borrowings, e.g. reason, colour, restaurant.
  Restricted recessive tendency marks English words with prefixes which have no referential meaning now, e.g. foresee, begin, withdraw, apart.

  The recessive tendency

• 

  20 слайд

  The rhythm of alternating stressed and unstressed syllables gave birth to this tendency in the present-day English which caused the appearance of the secondary stress in the multisyllabic French borrowings, e.g. ˌrevo’lution, ˌorgani’sation, aˌssimi’lation, etc.
  It also explains the placement of primary stress on the third syllable from the end in three- and four-syllable words, e.g. ‘cinema, ‘situate, ar’ticulate.

  The rhythmic tendency

• 

  21 слайд

  A third tendency was traced in the instability of the accentual structure of English word stress: a derivative often retains the stress of the original or parent word,
  E.g. ‘person — ‘personal — ˌperso’nality,
  ‘similar — as’similate,
  recom’mend — recommen ‘dation.

  The retentive tendency

• 

  22 слайд

  It determines the stress in compound words and words with so-called separable prefixes.
  The majority of such words have two equally strong stresses, both stressed parts are considered to be of equal semantic importance, with semantic factor thus canceling the rhythmic tendency in word stressing, e.g.
  Compound adjectives: hard-working, blue-eyed;
  Verbs with postpositions: sit down, take off;
  Numerals from 13 to 19: fourteen, sixteen.

  The semantic factor

• 

  23 слайд

  G.P. Torsuyev classifies the accentual types according to the number of stressed syllables, their degree or character (the main and the secondary stress).
  The most widely spread accentual types are:
  1. [‘___]. This accentual type marks both simple and compound words. The accentual structures of this type may include two and more syllables, e.g. ‘father, ‘possibly, ‘mother-in-law, ‘gas-pipe.

  The Typology of Accentual Structure

• 

  24 слайд

  2. [ ‘_ ‘_ ]. The accentual type is commonly realized in compound words, most of them are with separable prefixes, e.g. ‘radio-‘active, ‘re’write, ‘diso’bey.

  3. [‘_ ˌ___]. The type is realized both in simple and compound words, very common among compound words, e.g. ‘hair-,dresser, ‘substructure.

• 

  25 слайд

  4. [ˌ _’___]. The accentual type marks a great number of simple words and some compound words as well. In simple words the stresses fall onto:
  the prefix and the root: ˌmaga’zine;
  the root and the suffix: ˌhospi’tality;
  the prefix and the suffix.

• 

  26 слайд

  The variability of the word accentual structure is multiplied in connected speech. The accentual structure of words may be altered under the influence of rhythm, e.g. An ‘unpolished ‘stone but: The ‘stone was un’polished.

  The tempo of speech may influence the accentual pattern of words. With the quickening of the speed the carefulness of articulation is diminished, the vowels are reduced or elided, the secondary stress may be dropped, e.g. The ‘whole organi’zation of the ‘meeting was ‘faulty.

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Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine

Dragomanov National Pedagogical University

Institute of foreign philology

English philology department

Word- Stress

Report of Theoretical phonetic

Lyubchich Ira

405 En group

Kiev 2009

Contents

Introduction

I.   The nature of English Word Stress

II. Types of English Word Stress

III.   Word Stress tendencies

IV.   Word Stress functions

V. Variation in word stress

VI.   English Word Stress — Does It Really Matter?

Conclusion

References

Introduction

Word stress is not used in all languages. Some languages, Japanese or French for example, pronounce each syllable with eq-ual em-pha-sis. Other languages, English for example, use word stress.

Word stress is your magic key to understanding spoken English. Native speakers of English use word stress naturally. Word stress is so natural for them that they don’t even know they use it. Non-native speakers who speak English to native speakers without using word stress, encounter two problems:

1. They find it difficult to understand native speakers, especially those speaking fast.

2. The native speakers may find it difficult to understand them.

So, in this report we will focus our attention on the accentual patterns of English words. The sequence of syllables in the word is not pronounced identically. The syllable or syllables which are uttered with more prominence than the other syllables of the word are said to be stressed or accented. The correlation of varying prominences of syllables in a word is understood as the accentual structure of the word or its stress pattern.

I. The nature of English Word Stress

Any word spoken in isolation has at least one prominent syllable. We perceive it as stressed. Stress in the isolated word is termed ws, stress in connected speech is termed sentence stress. Stress indicated by placing a stress mark before the stressed syllable: Stress is defined differently by different authors. B. A. Bogortsky, for instance, defined stress as an increase of energy, accompan by an increase of expiratory and articulatory activity. D. Jones fined stress as the degree of force, which is accompanied by a stress force of exhalation and gives an impression of loudness. H. Sweet stated that stress is connected with the force of breath. Later, however P. Jones wrote, that “stress or prominence is effected by inherent sonority, vowel and consonant length and by intonation.”’ A. C. Gison also admits that a more prominent syllable is accompanied pitch changes in the voice, quality and quantity of the accented sounds.[2;179]

In disyllabic and polysyllabic words different syllables possess different degrees of special prominence in different positions in relation to the beginning, middle and end of words.

Word stress (WS) 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. The analysis of WS can be carried out according to the following parameters:

(i) the nature of English word-stress;

(ii) its degree and syllabic location;

(iii) its functions;

(iv) basic stress patterns of the English words.[3;171]

If we compare stressed and unstressed syllables in the two contract, we may note that in the stressed syllable:

(a) the force of utterance is greater, which is connected with more energetic articulation;

(b) the pitch of the voice is higher, which is connected with stronger tenseness of the vocal cords and the walls of the resonance chamber

(c) the quantity of the vowel is greater, a vowel becomes longer;

(d) the quality of the vowel !& in the stressed syllable is different from the quality of this vowel in the unstressed position, in why it is more narrow than.

On the auditory level a stressed syllable is the part of the word which has a special prominence. It is produced by a greater loud and length, modifications in the pitch and quality. Their physic correlates are: intensity, duration, frequency and the formant structure. All these features can be analyzed on the acoustic level.

Word stress can be defined as the singling out of one or more s tables in a word, which is accompanied by the change of the force utterance, pitch of the voice, qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the sound, which is usually a vowel.

In different languages one of the factors constituting word stress is usually more significant than the others. According to the mo important feature different types of word stress are distinguished different languages.

If special prominence in a stressed syllable or syllables achieved mainly through the intensity of articulation, such type stress is called dynamic, or force stress.[2;179]

Stress can be studied from the point of view of production and of perception. While producing stressed syllables, speakers use more muscular energy than they do for unstressed syllables. From the perceptual point of view, stressed syllables are recognized as stressed because they are more prominent than unstressed syllables. Phoneticians claim that at least four different factors are important in making a syllable prominent:

1)   listeners seem to feel stressed syllables louder than unstressed; thus loudness is a component of WS (Peter Roach explains that if one syllable in a sequence of identical syllables, e.g. ba:ba:ba:ba:, is made louder than the others, it will be heard as stressed);

2)   2) if one of the syllables in the above-given “nonsense” word is made longer, that syllable is heard stressed, so the length of the syllables is another important factor in making prominence;

3) every syllable is said on some pitch (related to the frequency of vibration of the vocal cords which is an essential perceptual characteristic of speech) . If one syllable is said with high pitch as compared to the others then it will be heard as stressed;

4) a syllable can be heard prominent if it contains a vowel that is different in quality from neighbouring vowels. If one of the vowels in the “nonsense word” is changed, the “odd” syllable: will be heard as stressed.

The phonetic manifestation of stress varies from language to language. Indifferent languages one of the factors constituting word stress is usually more significant than the others. According to the most salient feature the following types of word stress are distinguished in different languages:

1) dynamic or force stress if special prominence in a stressed syllable(syllables) is achieved mainly through the intensity of articulation;

2) musical or tonic stress if special prominence is achieved mainly through the change of pitch, or musical tone.

3) quantitative stress if special prominence is achieved through the changes in the quantity of the vowels, which are longer in the stressed syllables than in the unstressed ones.

4) qualitative stress if special prominence is achieved through the changes in the quality of the vowel under stress. Vowel reduction is often used as a manipulation of quality in unstressed syllables.

II. Types of English Word Stress

Types of English word stress according to its degree. One of the ways of reinitiating the prominence of syllables is manipulating the degree of stress. There is controversy about degrees of WS in English and their terminology. Strictly speaking, polysyllabic word has as many degrees of stress as there are syllables in it. Designating strongest syllable by 1, the second strongest by 2, etc., we may represent the distribution Jesses in the following examples:

examination indivisibility

igzeminein indivizibiloti

32415 2536174

But from a linguistic point, i.e. for the purposes of differentiating words from each

and identifying them, the fourth, the fifth and other degrees of lexical stress are redundant English, while the distinctive and recognitive relevance of the third degree of stress is a objective point. The majority of British phoneticians (D. Jones, Kingdon, A. C. Gimson among them) and Russian phoneticians (V. A. Vassilyev, Shakhbagova) consider that there are three degrees of word-stress in English:

• primary — the strongest

• secondary — the second strongest, partial, and

• weak — all the other degrees.

The syllables bearing either primary or secondary stress are termed stressed, while syllables with weak stress are called, somewhat inaccurately, unstressed. American linguists stingiest four degrees of word stress, adding the so-called tertiary stress . Contrary stress differs from tertiary that it usually occurs on the third or fourth pre-tonic syllable, and tertiary is always post-tonic, e.g. administrative, dictionary. category.[3;173]

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. Russian word stress is not only dynamic but mostly quantitative and qualitative. The length of the Russian vowels always depends on the position in a word. The quality of unaccented vowels in Russian may differ greatly from the quality of the same vowels under stress. Stress difficulties peculiar to the accentual structure of the English language are connected with the vowel special and inherent prominence. In identical positions the intensity of English vowels is different. The highest in intensity is /a/, then u:, u, e, u,

The quantity of long vowels and diphthongs can be preserved (a) pretonic and (b) post-tonic position. All English vowels may occur in accented syllables, the only exception is /, which is never stressed. English vowels /i, u, u/ tend to occur in unstressed syllables. Syllables with the syllabic m, n/ are never stressed.

Unstressed diphthongs may partially lose their glide quality. In stressed syllables English stops have complete closure, fricatives have full friction, features of forties/lenis distinction are clearly defined.

Stress can be characterized as fixed and free. In languages with fixed type of stress the place of stress is always the same.

In English and Russian word-stress is free, that is it may fall any syllable in a word:

a) idea sarcastic archaic

b) placard railway

Stress in English and in Russian is not only free but also shifting. In both languages the place of stress may shift, which helps t0 differentiate different parts of speech, e.g. linsult—to inlsult, import—to imiport.

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:

1. The CONSTITUTIVE function: it organizes the syllables of a word into language unit having a defmite accentual structure, i.e. a pattern of relationship among th syllables. The word does not exist as a lexica’ unit without word stress.

J. Layer holds the view that lexical stress shows a culminative function: being characteristic property of the word, it is thought to help the listener to judge how many individual words the speaker has produced in a given utterance.

2. The IDENTIFICATORY function: correct lexical stress enables the listener to decode the information in verbal conimuriication adequately, while misplaced word stresses prevent understanding.

3. The DISTINCTI YE/CONTRAST WE function: word stress alone is capable of differentiating the meanings of words or their forms. It should be mentioned though that most words in most languages that use word stress linguistically do not possess minimal pairs based on stress. But still there are about 135 pairs of words of identical orthography in English which could occur either as nouns (with stress on the penultimate syllable) or as verbs (with stress on the final syllable), with a very small number of cases the location of lexical stress alone being the differentiating factor: import (noun) — import (verb), ‘insult (noun) — in’sult (verb).[4;130]

V. Variation in word stress

The stress patterns of some English words are liable to variations of different kinds. There is free variation of stress location due to some rhythmic and analogical pressures, both of which entail in addition considerable changes of sound pattern in words[3;182], e.g.

1)   in some words of three syllables, there is variation between’—and-‘—patterns: deficit, integral (adj), exquisite.

2) similarly, in words of four syllables, there is variation between first and secon syllable stressing: hospitable, formidable, despicable.

 Pronunciation patterns of such words due to the variation in stress placement have the status of alternative pronunciation forms which occur in educated usage.

Cases of variable stress placement caused by the context is known as ‘stressshift’. When a word of several syllables has a stress near the end of thc word, and is followed by another word with stress near its beginning, there is a tendency for the stress in the first word to move nearer the beginning if it contains a syllable that is capable of receiving stress, e.g. the word academic in isolation usually has the stress or the penultimate syllable /-dem-/. However, when the word year follows, the stress often found to move to the first syllable /k-/; the whole phrase ‘academic year’ will have the primary stress on the word year, so the resulting stress pattern will be ‘academic ‘year. In isolation, we say fundamental and Japanese with primary stress on —ment and —nese, in connected speech these words may have a different pattern: greater stress on fund— and Jap-.

VI. English Word Stress — Does It Really Matter?

Yes and No.

Yes, if you are a non-native speaker speaking to a native English speaker.

No, if you are a non-native English speaker speaking to another non-native speaker.

English language teaching theory has traditionally been based on native English forms, more specifically British and American English varieties. In today’s international community however, where more than 1 billion non-native English speakers use English as a lingua franca, teaching theory is changing to focus on English as an International Language (EIL).

According to linguist Jennifer Jenkins’ research on the English language, there are certain factors in English pronunciation that can influence the degree of intelligibility between a speaker and listener. Word stress is one of these factors if you are speaking with a native English speaker, but Jenkins has found that when two non-native speakers interact in EIL, word stress has little influence on intelligibility.

So why are native speakers so stressed about word stress?

Stress indicates identity

Anyone who has ever zapped between BBC and CNN has probably noticed the differences between standard British and standard American word stress. It has caused quite a CONtroversy (US), or should I say, «conTROVersy» (UK).

To a native English speaker, a certain word stress is considered appropriate or inappropriate depending on where the person is from. «Inappropriate» word stress can really rub listeners the wrong way because it deviates from their norm and indicates that the speaker is an «other» — an outsider. This can be quite FRUStrating (US)/frusTRATing (UK) for the non-native speaker who is just trying to get his point across.

After hours spent in a language LABoratory (US), or laBORatory (UK) if you prefer, non-native English speakers are still at a loss when it comes to speaking to native speakers internationally.

«So which variety is correct?» This is the most common question. Answer: «It depends who you ask!» Stress indicates different meanings of identical words

In one case however, word stress can cause problems whether you are a native speaker or non-native speaker of English: words which are spelled the same, but have different meanings (and different word stress).

Word stress can also differentiate a word’s part of speech — more specifically whether the word is a noun or a verb. There are many examples of words which in their noun form take their stress on the first syllable, but in the verb form are stressed on the second syllable. Say the following words out loud: PROgress — proGRESS, OBject — obJECT, REcord — reCORD.

We would never say, «She wants to REcord a REcord one day,» but rather, «reCORD a REcord.» Unfortunately this isn’t a blanket rule, and there are plenty of English words which sound the same both as verbs and as nouns: travel, picture, promise and visit are a few examples.

So what is the non-native English speaker to do? Sticking to the form you are most comfortable with.

Communication is a two-way street with compromise and understanding at both ends. If you meet people who can’t accept the way you speak, then they’re probably not worth speaking with anyway!

Conclusion

Stressed words are the key to excellent pronunciation and understanding of English. Word stress is not an optional extra that you can add to the English language if you want. It is part of the language! English speakers use word stress to communicate rapidly and accurately, even in difficult conditions. If, for example, you do not hear a word clearly, you can still understand the word because of the position of the stress.

References

1.Левицький А.Е.,Гарощук Л.А. Поглиблений курс теоретичної фонетики англійської мови.- Вінниця:ППФоліант,2005.-71с.

2.Леонтьева С. Ф. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка: Учеб. для студентов вечер.и заоч. отд. педвузов.2-е изд.,испр.и доп.-М.:Высш.школа,1988-271с.

3.В. Ю. Паращук Теоретична фонетика англійської мови:навчальний посібник для студентів факультетів іноземних мов. —Вінниця. НОВА КНИГА, 2009.— 232 с.

4. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка: Учебник для студ. ин-тов и

иностр. яз./М. А. Соколова, К. П. Гiнтовт, И. С. Тихонова, Р. М. Тихонова. — Гуманит. изд. центр ВЛАДОС, 1996. — С. 247—256.

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Lecture 5 Word Stress

Plan 1. The Nature of English Word Stress 2. Linguistically Relevant Degrees of Word Stress 3. The Stress Pattern of English Words 4. The Functions of Word Stress

List of Terms the stress pattern of a word (the accentual structure of a word) n word-stress n utterance stress n dynamic/tonic (musical)/qualitative /quantitative accent n degrees of word stress n accentuation tendencies: recessive, rhythmic, retentive n

A word, as a meaningful language unit, has a definite phonetic structure: § sounds that a word is composed of § syllabic structure that these sounds form § a definite stress pattern The auditory impression of stress is the effect of prominence. If a word is polysyllabic, the relative prominence of its syllables differs. (e. g. [`plei], [, konsti`tju: ∫n])

The correlation of degrees of prominence of syllables in a word forms the stress pattern of the word, which is often called the accentual structure of a word. The stress patterns of different words may coincide (e. g. “`mother”, “`sister”‑ `__-__ ) or differ (e. g. “`prominent”, “`syllable” ‑ `__-__-__).

Word Stress (word accent) — is a constituent feature of the phonetic structure of a word as a vocabulary item, which exists as such when it is pronounced in isolation (here we deal with a phonological word) (e. g. ‘well-`known) The stress pattern of a word is conditioned by objective factors (pronunciation tendencies and the orthoepic norm).

Utterance Stress (sentence accent) — a constituent part of the phonetic structure of a spoken sentence and one of the components of intonation in the broad sense of the term, source of creating phonetic words (e. g. He is well-`known. He is a ‘well-known `writer) The placement of utterance stress is conditioned by: n the situational and linguistic context (semantically more important words are pronounced with greater stress; the semantic factor determines also the position of the socalled logical stress); n the subjective factors (by the speaker’s intention to bring out words which are considered by him to be semantically important in the situational context).

Types of Word Stress 1. According to the nature of word stress: §dynamic (force) The effect of prominence is achieved by greater force of articulation of a stressed syllable (e. g. European languages). §tonic (musical) The effect of prominence is achieved by uttering a stressed syllable on a different pitch level or with a different pitch direction than the other syllable or syllables of a word (e. g. Oriental languages, African languages).

§qualitative The effect of prominence is achieved by preserving the full quality of a vowel phoneme in the stressed syllable. §quantitative The effect of prominence is achieved by uttering a vowel of the stressed syllable longer than another vowel or other vowels. English word stress is of a complex nature. English word stress is created by an interaction of four acoustic parameters: intensity (responsible for loudness), fundamental frequency (pitch), duration (length) and formant structure (quality).

2. According to the stability of position: n. Free (The main accent may fall in different words on a syllable in any position in relation to the beginning or end of a word). (1) a constant accent is one which remains on the same morpheme in different grammatical forms of a word or in different derivatives from one and the same root (e. g. wonder, wonderfully) (2) a shifting accent is one which falls on different morphemes in different grammatical forms of a word or in different derivatives from one and the same root (e. g. active – activity; сад – садовод –садовый)

§fixed (the main accent invariably falls on a syllable which occupies in all the words of a language one and the same position in relation to the beginning or end of a word (e. g. French, Check).

One of the main questions for the linguists is to determine the number of contrastive degrees of word stress in a language. British phoneticians (D. Jones, R. Kingdon, etc. ) consider that there are three degrees of word stress in English: nprimary (or strong stress) nsecondary (or partial stress) nweak (the so-called «unstressed» syllables have weak stress) e. g. ‑ e¸xami`nation, `hair-, dresser All these degrees of stress are linguistically relevant as there are words in English the meanings of which depend upon the occurrence of either of the three degrees in their stress patterns (e. g. «`import — im`port»; , certifi`cation — cer, tifi`cation).

On this account American linguists (G. Trager, A. Hill, etc. ) distinguish four degrees of word stress: §primary stress / / §secondary stress /^/ §tertiary stress / / §weak stress / v / ( cupboard) ( dis^crimi nation) ( ana lyse ) ( cupbo vard)

American phoneticians consider that secondary stress generally occurs before the primary stress (e. g. e^xami nation), while tertiary stress occurs after the primary stress (e. g. hand book). Linguistically, tertiary word stress can be taken for a variant of secondary word stress, as there are no words in English the meanings of which depend on the position of the tertiary stress. That is why the stress pattern of English words may be defined as a correlation of 3 linguistically relevant degrees of stress: primary, secondary, weak.

Though English word-stress is free, there are certain tendencies in English which to a certain extent regulate the accentuation of words. §the recessive tendency the stress falls on the first syllable which is generally the root syllable (e. g. `mother, `ready) or on the second syllable if a word has a prefix of no special meaning (e. g. be`come, in`deed, for`give, be `hind) §the rhythmic tendency the stress falls on the third syllable from the end (e. g. `decorate, `justify, `recognize)

n the retentive tendency the stress of the parent word is often retrained in derivatives (e. g. `wonder – `wonderful) nin some polysyllabic words there is a tendency nowadays to avoid a succession of weak syllables, especially if these have [ǝ] or [i], as a result there a stress shift with a rhythmic alteration of stressed and unstressed syllables appears (e. g. hospitable – hos pitable, , articu latory – ar, ticu latory) nthere is a tendency to stress the most important elements in words: negative prefixies; prefexies ex-, vice-, sub-; suffix –teen

Functions of Word Stress Constitutive function (word stress moulds syllables into a word by forming its stress pattern) Distinctive function (in English different words exist with analogous sound structure which are differentiated in speech only by their stress patterns, e. g. `abstract – ab`stract) Identificatory function (the stress patterns of words enable people to identify definite combinations of sounds as meaningful linguistic units)

List of Literature 1. 2. 3. Борисова, Л. В. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка: учеб. пособ. для ин-тов и фак. иностр. яз. / Л. В. Борисова, А. А. Метлюк; под ред. Л. В. Борисовой. – Минск: Выш. шк. , 1980. – 144 с. Леонтьева, С. Ф. Теоретическая фонетика современного английского языка: учеб. для студентов педагогических вузов и университетов / С. Ф. Леонтьева. – М. : Издательство «Менеджер» , 2004. – 336 с. Соколова, М. А. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка: учеб. для студ. высш. учеб. заведений / М. А. Соколова, К. Г. Гинтовт, И. С. Тихонова, Р. М. Тихонова. – М. : Гуманитар. Изд. Центр ВЛАДОС, 2004. – 289 с.

Summing-up Choose among the alternatives 1. The correlation of degrees of prominence of the syllables in a word forms: A. the stress pattern of words B. utterance stress

2. A constituent feature of the phonetic structure of a word taken in isolation: A. utterance stress B. word stress 3. A constituent feature of the phonetic structure of a spoken sentence: A. utterance stress B. word stress 4. Factors that condition the position of word stress are: A. objective B. subjective

5. The placement of utterance stress is conditioned by: A. the orthoepic norm B. the situational and linguistic context 6. The effect of prominence is achieved by changes in pitch level in … languages. A. dynamic B. Tonic 7. English word stress is: A. fixed B. Free 8. English word stress is of … nature. A. complex B. dynamic

9. The accentuation tendency to stress he third syllable from the end is … A. rhythmic B. Recessive 10. What degree of word stress is not linguistically relevant and is not included into the British classification? A. secondary B. tertiary

Insert the necessary words. 1. The placement of … is conditioned by the rhythm, the situational and linguistic context. 2. Stress is produced by greater force of articulation in … languages. 3. …. degree of word stress is not included into British classification? 4. The subsystem of utterance stress in English comprises three basic functional types: nuclear stress, partial stress and … …. . 5. The stress of the parent word is often preserved in derivatives. This regularity is called ….

3. The following word combinations one’s own – one zone, we’ll own – we loan prove that syllable performs the … function. 4. The syllable is called … when there is no consonant before a vowel. 5. … consonant clusters are more complex in English than in Russian.

Fill in the text with the words from the list muscular tension theory, perceptible, closed syllables, a vowel, chest pulse, structure, the expiratory theory, open syllables, syllabic, sonority, numbers, arrangements, peaks, non-syllabic, covered syllables, syllable division, before, syllable, the relative sonority theory, consonants It has been proved experimentally that (1)… is the smallest articulatory and (2)… unit. As a phonological unit the syllable is defined with reference to its (3)…. It is a structural unit which consists of (4)… or of a vowel surrounded by (5)… in the (6)… and (7)… permitted by a given language. Vowels are (8)… while consonants are (9)….

muscular tension theory, perceptible, closed syllables, a vowel, chest pulse, structure, the expiratory theory, open syllables, syllabic, sonority, numbers, arrangements, peaks, non-syllabic, covered syllables, syllable division, before, syllable, the relative sonority theory, consonants The hot issue for phoneticians is the problem of (10)…. There are several theories and approaches to the question. The oldest theory is (11)…, that defines a syllable as a sound or a group of sounds pronounced with one (12)…. Otto Jespersen created (13)…, that is based on the idea that sounds tend to group themselves according to their (14)…. Shcherba proposed (15)… according to which there as many syllables in a word as there are (16)… of muscular tension.

muscular tension theory, perceptible, closed syllables, a vowel, chest pulse, structure, the expiratory theory, open syllables, syllabic, sonority, numbers, arrangements, peaks, non-syllabic, covered syllables, syllable division, before, syllable, the relative sonority theory, consonants There are 4 types of syllables: (17)…, when there is no consonant after the vowel, (18)…, when the vowel is followed by a consonant, (19)…when the vowel is preceded by a consonant and uncovered syllables when there is no consonant (20)… the vowel.