— Hello, boys and girls! My name is James
Wilson.
— And my name is Martin Green. Welcome to
our grammar lesson!
— Guys, you won’t believe us if we tell you
what happened to our friend Nathaniel yesterday!
— You need to hear the story!
— Yesterday I was talking to my mom on the
phone outside when suddenly something strange appeared in the sky.
— I saw five spaceships. I couldn’t believe
my eyes! They circled over me. Then two green creatures appeared out of one of
the spaceships. It was aliens. One of them looked older than the other one.
— Then the younger alien started walking
right up to me. He came to me and said: “Hello, Earthman! We came in peace and
we need your help!”.
— W-what is it?
— We want to make peace with people on
Earth, but they don’t understand us! Look at our conversation, please, and tell
me what’s wrong with it!
— Oh, sure.
— Hello, Earthmen! We want to make peace
with you! We also want to présent you something.
— What?! You want to make peace and ask us
to give you a présent?! It’s unbelievable!
— No, no, no… You don’t understand us!
— We understand exactly what you mean! We
don’t want to make peace with you!
— See? What did I say wrong?
— Oh, it’s very simple. You put the stress
on the wrong syllable. Don’t worry I’ll explain everything to you!
—
Thanks. I’d
appreciate it!
Today in the
lesson we will:
·
tell you about
stress shifting as a means of making new words;
And
·
put the knowledge
into a practice.
In the English
language if we change the stress in the existing words without changing their
morphological structure, we can form new words.
Pay attention! We
put the stress on the first syllable in the nouns, but on the second syllable –
in the verbs.
When we change the
stress in the existing words, we can get two types of new words:
One. The words
which have the same general meanings with the initial words.
And
Two. The words
which have completely different meanings.
Let’s look closely
at some words of the first type and compare them.
·
One of
the most frequently used words is the word “présent”.
We put the stress
on the first syllable, that’s why this word is a noun. The translation is “подарок”.
For instance:
Alison bought a wonderful présent for her daughter yesterday.
Now let’s put the
stress on the second syllable. We’ll get the word “to presént”. It’s a
verb. The translation is “дарить, вручать”.
For instance:
George wanted to find something special to presént to his wife. It was
their anniversary.
·
Let’s
look at the word “cónflict”. This word is a noun, because we stressed
the first syllable. The translation is “конфликт”.
For instance: Anne
had a cónflict with her sister the other day, because of her untidiness.
If we put the
stress on the second syllable, we’ll get “to conflíct”. It’s a verb. The
translation is “конфликтовать”.
For instance:
Molly has a bad temper. She started to conflíct with all her classmates.
·
The
following word is “cóntrast”. It’s a noun. The translation is “контраст”.
For instance: This
small town is a total cóntrast to New York.
Let’s change the
stress. Now we have the word “to contrást”. It’s a verb. The translation
is “контрастировать”.
For instance:
Jenifer’s blonde hair contrásted sharply with her blue short dress.
·
Let’s compare the
following words. The first word is “íncrease”. It’s a
noun. The translation is “увеличение”.
For instance:
There won’t be a great íncrease in the number of employees in the
factory.
If we stress the
second syllable, we’ll get the word “to incréase”. It’s a verb. The
translation is “увеличивать”.
For instance: My
parents have incréased their collection of old movies.
·
Let’s
look at the word “ímport”. This word is a noun. The translation is “импорт”.
For instance: The
ímport of women’s clothes has been decreased.
If we put the
stress on the second syllable, we’ll get “to impórt”. It’s a verb. The
translation is “импортировать”.
For instance:
Georgia impórts medical preparations from Turkey.
·
The
following word is “éxport”. It’s a noun. The translation is “экспорт”.
For instance: The
éxport of wooden furniture has increased.
Let’s change the
stress. Now we have the word “to expórt”. It’s a verb. The translation
is “экспортировать”.
For instance:
Canada expórts cars to the USA.
— All of these words have the same general
meanings with the initial words.
— Oh, I see! Can we look closely at some
words of the second type?
— Yes, of course!
·
The
first word is “áddress”. It’s a noun. The translation is “адрес”.
For instance:
Mike, do you know Dora’s áddress? I want to send her a card.
Let’s change the
stress. Now we have the word “to addréss”. It’s a verb. The translation
is “обращаться, рассматривать”.
For instance: Did
anyone allow you to addréss the president?
·
The
second word is “óbject”. It’s a noun. The translation is “объект,
предмет”.
For instance:
Jake, do you see the óbject over there?
If we put the
stress on the second syllable, we’ll get “to objéct”. It’s a verb. The
translation is “возражать, выступать
против”.
For instance:
Kyle, would you objéct if I buy milk chocolate?
·
The
third word is “désert”. It’s a noun. The translation is “пустыня”.
For instance: Cody
walked through the désert with his wife.
If we stress the
second syllable, we’ll get the word “to desért”. It’s a verb. The
translation is “покидать без разрешения”.
For instance:
Robert, please, don’t desért the army. You’ll have problems.
·
The
fourth word is “réfuse”. It’s a noun. The translation is “мусор,
отходы”.
For instance: We
need to keep plastic réfuses separately.
Let’s change the
stress. Now we have the word “to refúse”. It’s a verb. The translation
is “отказываться, отклонять”.
For instance: If
Lily refúses to go to Italy, I’ll go instead of her.
·
The
fifth word is “éxtract”. It’s a noun. The translation is “отрывок”.
For instance: Mia,
could you read me an éxtract from your new book?
If we put the
stress on the second syllable, we’ll get “to extráct”. It’s a verb. The
translation is “вырывать, извлекать, вытаскивать”.
For instance: I’m
afraid to go to the doctor! He’ll extráct my tooth.
— As you can see, all of these words have
completely different meanings.
— Yes, I see. Thank you, Earthman! I think I
understood everything you said, but I would like to practise a little bit.
— Sure, no problem.
Complete
the sentences using the words from the boxes.
One.
The words are:
óbject and objéct.
Check yourselves.
Did you see the
óbject over there?
Liam, would you
objéct if I go to the cinema?
Two.
The words are:
cónflict and conflíct.
Check yourselves.
Dad and I had a
cónflict yesterday.
I’ll
conflíct with everyone who touches my family.
Three.
The words are:
réfuse and refúse.
Check yourselves.
Where do we need
to keep the réfuse?
I refúse to
take your money.
Four.
The words are:
áddress and addréss.
Check yourselves.
I want to visit
Nora. Do you know her áddress?
We want to
addréss to all of you. We need your help!
Five.
The words are:
présent and presént.
Check yourselves.
Ryan bought me a
wonderful présent.
Zoe, I would like
to presént you this necklace.
Six.
The words are:
íncrease and incréase.
Check yourselves.
The
íncrease in unemployment was inevitable.
Luke wants to
incréase his collection of coins.
— Now I completely understood my mistake.
I’ll try to make peace with people on Earth once again. Thank you, Earthman!
— You’re welcome. I’m sure that you won’t
have any problems this time. Good luck!
— Thanks! Bye!
— Bye!
— Nathaniel, thanks for your story.
— You’re welcome.
— That’s all for today. We hope you liked
the lesson.
— See you soon, our friends.
V. A. Vassilyev introduces the term “accenteme”
for word stress as a suprasegmental phonological unit having
different degrees and placement in a word. For instance the primary
accenteme is opposed to the weak word accenteme (unstressed
position), in ‘export – ex’port differentiating the noun from the
verb).
A. C. Gimson establishes three groups of words with identical
spelling representing different parts of speech which are opposed by
means of shifting of the stress (Gimson A. C. An Introduction to the
Pronunciation of English. – London, 1981):
1.) A
small group of words where a noun is differentiated from a verb by
the opposition of the accentual pattern of the word alone, e.g.
increase [‘Inkri:s]
–
[In’kri:s]
insult
[‘InsAlt] –
[In’sAlt]
inlay [‘Inlei]
–
[In’leI]
impress
[‘Impres] –
[Im’pres]
2). The second group where the shifting of the stress
may be or may not be accompanied by the reduction of the vowel in the
unstressed syllable of the verbs, e.g.
transport [‘trxnspLt]
–
[trxns’pLt]
or [trqns’pLt]
torment
[‘tLment] — [tL’ment] or [tq’ment]
3). The largest group of such pairs of words manifests
the change of their accentual pattern together with the qualitative
reduction of the unstressed vowel, e.g.
combine [‘kPmbaIn]
— [kqm’baIn]
conduct [‘kPndAkt]
— [kqn’dAkt]
contrast [‘kPntrRst]
— [kqn’trRst]
Oppositions
of accentual types of words are also observed as a concomitant factor
in word-formation in addition to suffixation. For
example,
‘organize – «organi’zation ‘palatalize
– ‘palatali’zation
‘predis’pose –
‘pre»dispo’sition «incon’siderable
– ‘incon»side’ration.
There is also a group of accentual oppositions where compound nouns
are opposed to free word combinations, e.g.
a ‘blackboard – классная
доска a
‘dancing-girl — танцовщица
a’ black ‘board – черная
доска a
‘dancing ‘girl – танцующая
девушка
Most of compound adjectives have two equal
stresses, as both elements in them are semantically important, e.g.
‘absent-‘minded, ‘right-‘handed,
‘good-‘natured. If both elements of a
compound noun semantically important they are equally stressed, e.g.
‘south-‘east,
‘north-‘west.
As soon as the significance of one of
the elements of a compound adjective is weakened, its accentual
pattern is changed, e.g. ‘summer-like,
’round-shaped. Most of compound nouns
have one stress on the first element which is more significant than
the second one. They are sometimes opposed to other compound nouns
with the same second element, e.g. ‘living-room
– ‘bedroom — ‘bathroom; ‘shop-girl – ‘ballet-girl.
Phrasal verbs are stressed as their postpositions change the actual
meaning of the verb itself, e.g.
Look
at the ‘picture. – Sorry,
I can’t.
I’m →looking ‘for
my glasses.
Or to ‘turn ‘on – to ‘turn ‘off
to ‘put (smth) ‘on – ‘put (smth) ‘off;
to ‘get ‘up, to ‘come ‘up, to ‘give ‘in, etc.
Words with meaningful prefixes are likewise
semantically opposed to those without prefixes. For
example,
‘comfort – ‘discomfort under’stand –’ misunder’stand
‘moral – ‘im’moral re’sistible – ‘ir’resistible
con’venient –’incon’venient ‘climax – ‘anti’climax
‘stop – ‘non-‘stop ‘educated — ‘un’educated
The instability of English accentual structure of words presents
much difficulty for Russian / Ukrainian learners. The accentual
structure of English words in speech continuum is inseparably
connected with the rhythmic organization of speech
chain.
When stressing words
(lexical units) the major factor is the force
of articulation because lexical units are usually pronounced with
more force than articles, particles, prepositions, etc. However
melody is
not important at this level. Syntagmatic
stress combines both force
and pitch change.
The factors that contribute to the logical
stress are force
and melody
with both factors probably being equal from the point of view of
their importance. At the same time comparing with syntagmatic stress
there is more melody and more force in logical stress. With the
emphatic stress
melody
comes as №1. Another important feature is voice
range and variations.
Length is
significant too because it always indicate emotions.
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Though English stress is normally on the first syllable of the word, it can in fact appear on any syllable. It is rather difficult to predict as is also the case in languages such as Russian, German and Portuguese. Sometimes it appears on the final syllable as in «technique», «expertise», «remark» and «unique». In other instances the stress is penultimate as in «transportation», «banana», «tomato» and «establish». Antepenultimate stress occurs in «undoubtedly», «coordinate», «regrettable» and «informative». English stress is thus largely unpredictable.
In many cases, though, affixation produces what can be termed English stress shift. Many roots have a shift in stress when a suffix is attached to them. Though the stress shifts to the following syllable, the position of the stressed syllable in relation to the final syllable remains the same.
To illustrate, the word «economy» consists of four syllables in which the third to last syllable is stressed. The third to last syllable is commonly referred to as the antepenultimate syllable. In the adjective «economical» five syllables are present. Now it is the third syllable which is stressed and not the second as in «economy». However, in both «economy» and «economical», it is the antepenultimate syllable which is stressed.
This same pattern is present in the following words:
statistics, statistician
politics, political
technology, technological
biology, biological
geography, geographical
mathematics, mathematician
comedy, comedian
psychology, psychological
philosophy, philosophical
In each of the examples, the adjective consists of an additional syllable because of the addition of the suffix. The result is that the stress shifts to the following syllable. However, in relation to the final syllable of the word, the stress pattern remains the same. It is antepenultimate. This rule does not work in all cases, however. For example, the words «behaviour» and «behavioural» do not follow this pattern. However, the stress shift can be observed in many instances.
Stress in English can undoubtedly be difficult to predict as is the case in other languages. Nevertheless, it is true that most English words are stressed on the first syllable and that the English stress shift occurs with a large number of words. It is often the case that the derivation of an adjective from a root by suffixation is subject to the stress shift in which the stress in the adjective shifts to the following syllable but as in the root remains antepenultimate.