Word stress in connected speech

Word
stress in English

1.
Nature of word stress.

2.
Place of word stress in English. Degrees of stress.

3.
Functions and tendencies.

4.
Typology of accentual structures.

5.
Basic rules of accentuation.

6.
Variations of word stress in connected speech.

The
syllable or syllables, which are uttered with more prominence than
the other syllables of the word, are called stressed or accented.

Word
stress — stress in the isolated word.

Sentence
stress — stress in connected speech.

Definitions

Bogoroditsky:
an increase of energy accompanied by an increase of expiratory and
articulatory activity.

D.
Jones: the degree of force, which is accompanied by a strong force of
exhalation and gives an impression of loudness.

H.
Sweet: force of breath.

A.
C. Gimson: effect of prominence is achieved by any or all of four
factors: force, tone, length and vowel color.

E.g.:
contract [‘kɒntrækt], to contract [kǝn’trækt]. In stress
syllable:

• the force is greater, which is connected with
  more energetic articulation;

• the pitch of voice is higher, which is connected
  with stronger tenseness of the vocal cords and the walls of the
  resonance chamber;

• the quality of the sound [æ] in [kǝn’trækt]
  is greater, the vowel becomes longer;

• the quality of the sound [æ] in the stressed
  syllable is different from the quality of this vowel in the
  unstressed position, in which it is more narrow than [‘æ].

Word
stress — the singling out of one of
more syllables in a word, which is accompanied by change of the force
of utterance, pitch of the voice, qualitative and quantitative
characteristics of the sound, which is usually a vowel.

Types
of word stress in different languages:

• dynamic (force)
  — special prominence is achieved mainly through the intensity of
  articulations;

• musical (tonic)
  — change of pitch, or musical tone (typical for oriental
  languages);

• quantitative —
  changes in the quantity of the vowels, which are longer in the
  stressed syllables than in the unstressed ones;

• qualitative —
  changes in the quality of the vowel under stress.

English
word stress — dynamic, 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.

Russian
word stress — dynamic, but mostly
qualitative and quantitative.

Word
stress is applied to a word as a linguistic unite, while sentence
stress is applied to a phrase.

The
distinction of the rhythmic structure of a word and a phrase is
clearly observed in the cases when the word stress in notional words
is omitted in a phrase, e.g.: I `don’t
think he is `right, — or when the
rhythmic structure of the isolated word does not coincide with that
of a phrase, e.g.: `Fifteen. `Room
Fifteen. `Fifteen `pages.

Sentence
stress organizes a sentence into a linguistic unit, helps to form its
rhythmic and intonation pattern, and performs its distinctive
function on the level of a phrase.

Place
of word stress:

• fixed stress;

• free stress.

In
French the stress falls on the last syllable of the word (if
pronounced in isolation), in Finnish and Czech — on the first
syllable, in Polish —on the one but last syllable.

In
languages with a free stress, its place is not confined to a specific
position in the word. In one word it may fall on the first syllable,
in another one — on the second syllable, and in the third — on
the last syllable, etc.

The
word stress in English as well as in Russian is not only free, but it
may also be shifting, performing the semantic function of
differentiating lexical units, parts of speech, grammatical forms.

In
English word stress is used as a mean of word-building, in Russian —
word-building and word-formation, e.g.: `contrast — con`trast,
`habit — ha`bitual, `чудная —
чуд`ная,
`воды — во`ды.

Degrees
of stress

The
British linguists distinguish three
degrees of stress in the word. A. C. Gimson: e²xami¹nation
— primary stress
is the strongest, marked by 1; secondary
stress is the second strongest, marked
by 2; all the other degrees are termed weak
stress.

The
Americans scholars B. Bloch and G. Trager find four
contrastive degrees of word stress:
loud, reduced loud, medial and weak
stresses.

Other
American linguists also distinguish four
degrees of word stress: primary,
secondary, tertiary and weak stress.
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.

Functions
of word stress

• constitutive —
  it organizes the syllables a word into a language unit having a
  definite accentual structure, function;

• identificatory
  (or recognitive)
  — it helps to identify a different combinations of sounds into
  meaningful linguistic units;

• distinctive —
  differentiate the meaning of words or their forms, e.g.: `import —
  im`port; `billow — be`low.

Tendencies
of the English stress

• recessive —
  the word stress originally fell on the initial syllable or the
  second syllable, e.g.: foresee, begin,
  apart, withdraw; the root syllables in
  the English word with prefixes, in assimilated French borrowings;
  restricted recessive tendency marks English words with prefixes;

• rhythmical —
  rhythm of alternating stressed and unstressed syllables — the
  appearance of the secondary stress in the multisyllabic French
  borrowings, placement of primary stress on the third syllable from
  the end of the word in three- and four-syllabic words, e.g.:
  revo`lution, organi`sation,
  as`similation;

• retentive —
  instability of the accentual structure of English word stress, a
  derivative often retains the stress of the original of parent word,
  e.g.: `similar — as`similate.

Accentual
types:

1.
[‘_ _(_)] — primary stress on the first syllable, e.g.: `father,
`possibly, `mother-in-law, `gas-pipe.

2.
[_’_(_)] — primary stress on the second syllable, e.g.: be`cause,
a`part, for`get, com`prise, phi`lology, o`riginate.

3.
[‘_ _’_(_)] — two primary stresses, e.g.: `well-`bred,
`ice-`cream, `get `up, `dis`appear, `re`play.

4.
[‘_ ˌ ___] — primary stress followed by the seconday one, e.g.:
`hair-ˌdresser,
`subˌstructure,
`dogˌkiller.

5.
[(_)ˌ_(_)(‘)_] — secondary stress preceding the primary one, e.g.:
ˌintu`ition, ˌrepre`sent,
peˌculi`arity.

6.
[‘_’__(‘_)] — three and more primary stresses, e.g.: `U`S`A,
`U`S`S`R, `T`S`N.

7.
[ˌ_(_)ˌ_(_)’_ _] — two secondary stresses preceding the primary
one, e.g.: ˌsuborˌgani`zation,
ˌindiˌviduali`zation.

8.
[‘_’_(_)ˌ_ _] — two primary stresses preceding the secondary one,
e.g.: ‘un’trustˌworthy.

Types
1, 2. 4, 5 are most widely spread.

Basic
rules of accentuation

• disyllabic words have stress on the first
  syllable, e.g.: `water, `finish;

• disyllabic words with prefixes of no referential
  meaning of their own have stress on the second syllable, e.g.:
  mis`take,
  be`hind;

• most three and four syllable words have stress on
  the third syllable from the end, e.g.: `criticism,
  re`markable;

• four syllable words with suffixes —ary,
  —ory have
  stress on the first syllable, e.g.: `stationary,
  `territory;

• polysyllabic words with the primary stress on the
  third syllable have secondary stress on the first syllable, e.g.:
  ˌproba`bility;

• polysyllabic words with the primary stress on the
  fourth and fifth syllable have secondary stress on the second
  syllable, e.g.: arˌticu’lation;

• polysyllabic words with separable prefixes with a
  distinct meaning have two primary stresses, e.g. `un`known,
  `pre`war,
  `ex-`wife,
  `inter`view.

Accentual
structure of compound words

• compound numerals
  have two primary stresses, e.g. `fifty-`seven;

• compound adjectives
  are double-stressed, e.g. `well-`known;

• compound adjectives
  with semantically weak second component
  are single-stressed, e.g. `childlike;

• compound verbs with
  post positions get two main stresses,
  e.g. `put `off;

• compound nouns
  are usually single-stressed, e.g. `strong-box
  — and thus differ from word combination with two stressed words
  `strong `box;

• compound nouns with
  the equal significance of both
  elements are double stressed, e.g. `ice-`cream.

Word
stress and sentence stress have a lot in common:

• the accentual structure of a word predetermines
  the arrangement of stresses an a phrase, because sentence stress
  usually falls on the syllables marked by word stress;

• the stress pattern of a phrase is conditioned by
  the semantic and syntactical value of words as only notional words
  are generally stressed;

• the rhythmical tendency of words and phrases is
  observed in the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables at
  approximately equal intervals.

Demarcation
of word stress and
sentence stress is rather distinct

• the sphere of application is different, as they
  characterize different language units: word stress is applied to a
  word, but sentence stress is applied to a phrase;

• the syntactical value of words is not always kept
  because there are cases when notional words are not stressed in a
  phrase, e.g. I `don’t like that `man!;

• the rhythmic structure of a word and a phrase may
  not coincide as the number of stresses varies within isolated words
  and different phrases, e.g. `Fif`teen.
  > `Open `page `fifteen. > He `mounted `fifteen `hills;

• the stress characteristics of a word are changes
  under the influence of the temp of phrases because quick speed of
  articulation usually causes the dropping of secondary stress, e.g.
  The `whole organi`zation of the
  `meeting was `faulty.

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Updated on October 04, 2019

Connected speech is spoken language in a continuous sequence, as in normal conversation. It is also called connected discourse. There is often a significant difference between the way words are pronounced in isolation and the way they are pronounced in the context of connected speech. In connected speech, words or syllables are clipped, phrases are run together, and words are stressed differently than they would be in writing.

Deletion of Sounds in Connected Speech

One of the characteristics of connected speech is the deletion or clipping of sounds that occurs when words run together. For example, «want to» can become «wanna», «going to» can become «gonna», «rock and roll» can become «rock ‘n’ roll», and «them» can become «’em» or «‘dem» in connected speech. These are very informal usages of common words that most often occur in casual conversation, so they would probably not be present in formal speech or writing.

Author Rachael-Anne Knight goes into detail about the mechanics of connected speech processes (CSP) in Phonetics: A Coursebook:

• «They occur at the edges of words since this is where words ‘meet’ in sentences.
• Connected speech processes are optional…
• We can think of [connected speech processes] affecting sounds at the phonemic level rather than the allophonic level. When /t/ or /d/ or /h/ is elided, for example, we do not find that a different allophone occurs; we simply find that the phoneme is lost altogether,» (Knight 2012).

Knight also notes that connected speech can cause confusion or misunderstanding when words and sounds are changed or lost.

Challenges for Non-Native Speakers

Confusion about meaning in connected speech is especially common for non-native speakers listening to native speakers talk. Anyone learning a foreign language needs practice listening to it being spoken naturally, but learners of English have a difficult time picking out individual words from connected speech because words are so often slurred.

Native speakers take many verbal shortcuts in ordinary conversation that wouldn’t be present in written English, and switching between written and spoken English takes getting used to when it isn’t your first language.

These challenges are not exclusive to English. In Spanish, many words begin and end in vowels and these tend to meld together in speech. The polite greeting ¿Cómo está? (How are you?) often sounds like ¿Cóm stá? when spoken, with little to no pause between the words.

When speaking to someone who isn’t a native speaker, enunciation is helpful. You can also help them to understand you by speaking more slowly and pausing slightly between each word.

Stress Patterns in Connected Speech

In English, the stress pattern of a word is generally influenced by its context. Because of this, even native speakers may pronounce the same word differently, as is often the case in British vs. American English. Connected speech complicates the use of stress by relocating it from one word to another.

Author Peter Roach illustrates stress in connected speech in Phonology: A Practical Course:

«An aspect of connected speech…is that the stress on a final-stressed compound tends to move to a preceding syllable and change to secondary stress if the following word begins with a strongly stressed syllable. Thus…​

bad-‘tempered but a bad-tempered ‘teacher

half-‘timbered but a half-timbered ‘house

heavy-‘handed but a heavy-handed ‘sentence»

(Roach 2009).

People writing metered poetry, such as iambic pentameter in sonnets, have to pay attention to where the stresses fall on words in their lines in order to correctly work within the constraints of the form. People speaking metered poetry will probably use stress however it sounds most natural in connected speech.

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  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.

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  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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  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.

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  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.

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  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.

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  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.

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  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

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  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.

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  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

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  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.

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  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.

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

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  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

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

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  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

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  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.

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  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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  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

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  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

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  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

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  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

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  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

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  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.

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  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.

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  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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Word Stress in English

CONTENTS

1. The nature of Word Stress in
English

.1 Origins of the Word Stress
and the notion of Accent

.2 Types of English Word
Stress2. Place of Word Stress in English

.1 Functions of Word Stress

.2 English accentuation
tendencies

word stress accent vowel

INTRODUCTION

«major part of second language
learners seem to reach adequate proficiency in the spheres of morphology and
syntax, still they have difficulty reaching the same proficiency level in the
fields of phonology and phonetics. Native speakers who are competent users of
the language absolutely know in what way to say a word, know how to pronounce
it. The difficulty attaining the same level as native speakers is found within
the results of interference of the mother tongue with English. The interference
of native Russian as the mother tongue is obscure in learners of English, but
not just in grammar aspect, also in pronunciation and it can be shown in the
comparative display of the word stress that this paper is partly about.this
course paper our attention will be focused on the accentual patterns of English
words. The sequence of syllables in the word is pronounced not even close or
identically. One syllable or syllables that are uttered with some prominence
than the other syllables in the very word, are meant to be stressed or in other
words accented. The correlation of prominences of different syllables in a word
is totally understood as the accentual (stress) structure of the word or its
(accentual) stress pattern.English and Russian linguists worked over the
question of word stress in English as the unique phenomenon. According to D.
Crystal the terms «… heaviness, sound pressure, force, power, strength,
intensity, amplitude, prominence, emphasis, accent, stress» tend to be used
synonymously by most writers. According to G.P. Torsuev the notions
«stressed» and «prominent» should not be used as the
synonyms. The effect of prominence, states the linguist, is made by some
phonetic features of sounds, which have nothing to do with the actual word or
sentence stress.

The actuality
of the investigation may be argued by the fact that nowadays the great
attention is paid to the research of accentual structure of English words.
Because stress or accent fulfill enormous functions of formation words and
compound words. The main aim of the course paper is to clarify types of
stress, places and degrees of word stress, factors and functions of word
stress.

CHAPTER 1. The nature of Word stress
in English

1.1 Origins of the
Word Stress and the notion of Accent

spoken language has a unique
division into segments like vowels and consonants. As we utter them, we make
use of wide range of tones of voice. The speech features that are higher than
the sound segments are length, stress, pitch, intonation, rhythm and juncture.
Here we are describing the nature of word stress.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. Stress in the isolated word is termed word stress; stress
in connected speech is termed sentence stress.first we have to find out the
meaning of the notions: word stress, intonation, accent. «Different
authors define stress differently. B.A. Bogoroditsky, for instance, defined stress
as an increase of energy, accompanied by an increase of expiratory and
articulatory activity. D. Jones defined word stress as the degree
of force, which is accompanied by a strong force of exhalation and gives an
impression of loudness. H. Sweet also stated that stress, is connected
with the force of breath. According to A.C. Gimson, any or all of four factors
achieve the effect of prominence: force, tone, length and vowel color.native
English listeners, the most important syllable in a word is the stressed
syllable, the primary cue for identifying the word. This makes stress the most
important pronunciation topic. In addition, the characteristics of stressed and
unstressed syllables in single words are mirrored in rhythm. Word stress
is described as a communicatively important pronunciation topic, bridging the
continuum between segmentals (consonants and vowels) and suprasegmentals
(rhythm and intonation)» [20; 17].A.M. suggested another description. He
states that «the word stress can be defined as the singling out of
one or more syllables in а word, which is accompanied by the change of the
force of utterance, pitch of the voice, qualitative and quantitative
characteristics of the vowel sound» [4].the most full and correct
definition can be found in the Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. «A
term used in phonetics to refer to the degree of force used in producing a
syllable. The usual distinction is between stressed and unstressed syllables,
the former being more prominent than the latter (and marked in transcription
with a raised vertical line, [c]. The prominence is usually due to an increase
in loudness of the stressed syllable, but increases in length and often pitch
may contribute to the overall impression of prominence. In popular usage,
‘stress’ is usually equated with an undifferentiated notion of ‘emphasis’ or
‘strength’» [13; 454].notion of stress is supposed to close enough to the
meaning of intonation. Still there exists a huge difference. The difference
between stress and intonation is that » …stress is the relative loudness
of parts of speech where intonation is the variation in the pitch of different
parts of speech. Linguists generally believe that there are about 3 to 4 levels
of stress in the English language. In most cases, stress does not really change
the meaning of words and is more or less associated with the dialect or accent
being used» [8; 138]. There are some cases where this assumption is not
valid — see the table 1.1.

1.1. Examples in
English, where the stress changes the meaning of the word

Loudness has an inherent pitch
component, stress, as the relative loudness, sometimes has an added pitch
variation. This extra pitch variation is called a pitch accent. An
example of a language, which contains a pronounced level of pitch accent is
Turkish. Pitch variations are used to change the stress level of a word mostly
due to rhythmic constraints imposed by the language.long as we are discussing
the notion of accent, it is reasonable to define its meaning. Accent was
originally a loan translation from Greek into Latin (a loan translation is when
each constituent of a compound in one language is translated into its
equivalent in another, and then reassembled into a new compound). » … Greek
prosōidíā (whence English
prosody) was formed from pros ‘to’ and
ōidé ‘song’ (whence English ode);
these elements were translated into Latin ad ‘to’ and cantus ‘song’ (whence
English chant, cant, cantata, canticle), giving accentus. The notion
underlying this combination of ‘to’ and ‘song’ was of a song added to speech —
that is, the intonation of spoken language. The sense of a particular mode of
pronunciation did not arise in English until the 16th century» [6; 4].the
Britannica Encyclopedia exists the following meaning of the accent notion.
» … in phonetics, that property of a syllable which makes it stand out in
an utterance relative to its neighboring syllables. The emphasis on the
accented syllable, relative to the unaccented syllables may be realized through
greater length, higher or lower pitch, a changing pitch contour, greater
loudness or a combination of these characteristics» [10;54].

«The emphasis which makes a
particular word or syllable stand out in a stream of speech — one talks
especially of an accented sound/word/syllable, or the accent(ual) pattern of a
phrase/sentence. The term is usually found in a discussion of metre (metrics),
where it refers to the ‘beats’ in a line of poetry — the accented syllables, as
opposed to the unaccented ones. But any style of spoken language could be
described with reference to the relative weight (accentuation) of its
syllables: one might talk of the ‘strongly accented’ speech of a politician,
for instance., accent is not solely a matter of loudness, but also of pitch and
duration, especially pitch: comparing the verb record (as in I’m
going to record the tune) and the noun (I’ve got a record),
the contrast in word accent between re`cord and `record is made by the
syllables differing in loudness, length and pitch movement. The notion of pitch
accent as also been used in the phonological analysis of these languages,
referring to cases where there is a restricted distribution of tone within
words (as in Japanese). A similar use of these variables is found in the notion
of sentence accent (also called ‘contrastive accent’). This is an
important aspect of linguistic analysis, especially of intonation, because it
can affect the acceptability, the meaning, or the presuppositions of a
sentence, e.g. He was wearing a red hat could be heard as a response to
Was he wearing a red coat?; whereas He was wearing a red hat would
respond to Was he wearing a green hat? The term stress, however,
is often used for contrasts of this kind (as in the phrases ‘word stress’
and ‘contrastive stress’). An analysis in terms of pitch accent is also
possible.total system of accents in a language is sometimes called the
accentual system, and would be part of the study of phonology. The coinage
accentology for the study of accents is sometimes found in European
linguistics. (3) In graphology, an accent is a mark placed above a letter,
showing how that letter is to be pronounced. French accents, for example,
include a distinction between é,
è and ê.
Accents are a type of diacritic» [13; 4].linguists believe that syllabic
and lexical accents do not change the meaning of words in English. However, we
know that syllabic and lexical accents are also components of linguistic
stress along with other concepts such as syllabic and lexical sonority
variations and metrical variations. In those regards, since syllabic stress
does change the meaning of words in English, then so do accent.

1.2 Types of
English Word Stress

has various domains: the word, the
phrase, the sentence. Word accent (also called word stress or lexical stress)
is a part of the characteristic way in which a language is pronounced. Given to
a particular language system, word accent may be:

.        Fixed (like in Welsh);

.        Predictable (e.g. in
French, where it occurs regularly at the end of words, or in Czech, where it
occurs initially);

.        Movable, as in English,
which then leaves accent free to function to distinguish one word from another
that is identical segmentally (e.g. the noun permit versus the verb to
permit).types of word stress are distinguished not only according to its
physical (acoustic) nature and degree, but also according to its position in
different words of the language. «From this point of view two types of
word stress are distinguished: fixed and free.)        In languages with fixed
word stress the position of stress is the same in all the words. For
instance, in Czech and Lettish the main stress falls on the first syllable of
each word and grammatical form of а word; in French, stress is tied to the last
syllable of each word; in Polish, it falls on the prefinal syllable of all
words and their grammatical forms.)        In languages with free word
stress the primary stress may fall in different words on any syllable. For
example in Russian: к`омната,
раб`ота,
матем`атика,
преподав`атель,
машиностро`ение,
окн`о; in English: `mother, ig`nore, соn`sideÐration,
ciga`rette.

Within frее word stress two subtypes
are distinguished on morphological grounds: constant and shifting.

a.      А constant stress
is one which remains on the same morpheme in different grammatical forms of а
word or in different derivatives from one and the same root. For example:
«wonder — `wondering — `wonderful — `wonderfully.

b.      А shifting stress
is one which falls on different morphemes in different grammatical forms of а
word or in different derivatives from one and the same root,is also shifted
under the influence of rhythm. For instance, Ber`lin — `Berlin `streets,
Chi`nese — a `Chinese `lantern; un`known — an `unknown writer — The `writer is
`quite un`known., accent can be used at the phrasal level to distinguish
sequences identical at the segmental level (e.g. ‘light housekeeping’ versus
‘lighthouse keeping’ or ‘blackboard’ versus ‘black board’). Finally, accent can
be used at the sentence level to draw attention to one part of the sentence
rather then another (e.g. ‘What did you sign?’ ‘I signed a contract
to do some light housekeeping.’ versus ‘Who signed a contract?’ ‘I
signed a contract to do some light housekeeping.’)» [10; 54].the auditory
level a stressed syllable is the part of the word which has a special
prominence. It is produced by a greater loudness and length, modifications in
the pitch and quality. The physical correlates are: inten sity, 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 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. According
to the most important feature different types, of word stress are distinguished
in different languages.

) 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.

) 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.

) 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» [4;
51].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.the
viewpoint of phonology, the main function of stress is to provide a
means of distinguishing degrees of emphasis
or contrast in sentences (sentence stress),
as in The big man looks angry; the term contrastive stress is often used
for this function. Many pairs of words and word
sequences can also be distinguished using stress variation (lexical stress or
word stress), as in the contrast between
An increase in pay is needed and I’m going to increase his pay or
the distinction between `black `bird and `black-bird.analytical question here,
which attracted a great deal of attention in the middle decades of the
twentieth century, is how many degrees of stress need to be recognized in order
to account for all such contrasts, and to show the interrelationships between
words derived from a common root, such as `telegraph, tele`graphic and
te`legraphy.а purely phonetic point of view polysyllabic word has as many
degrees of prominence as there are syllables in it. А. С. Gimson gives the
following distribution of the degrees of stress in the word
«ехаmination»:most prominent syllable is marked by figure 1, the
second degree of prominence — by figure 2, then goes 3, and so on. However, not
all these degrees of prominence are linguistically relevant.majority of British
phoneticians distinguish three degrees of word stress in English:

.        primary (the strongest
stress),

.        secondary (the second
strongest) and

.        weak stress (аll the other
degrees of stress).syllables bearing either primary or secondary stress are
termed stressed, while syllables with weak stress are саlled, somewhat
inaccurately, unstressed.the American structuralist tradition, four such
degrees are usually distinguished, and analyzed as stress phonemes,
namely (from strongest to weakest):

(1) ‘primary’,

(2) ‘secondary’,

(3) ‘tertiary’ and

(4) ‘weak’.contrasts are, however,
demonstrable only on words in isolation, as in the compound elevator operator —
one of several such phrases originally cited to justify analyses of this kind.views
recognized different kinds and degrees of stress, the simplest
postulating a straight stressed v. unstressed contrast, referring to other
factors (such as intonation and vowel quality) to explain such sequences as
elevator operator. «In distinctive feature theories of phonology, the
various degrees of stress are assigned to the syllables of words by means of
the repeated application of rules (such as ‘lexical’, ‘compound’ and ‘nuclear’ stress
rules). Some analysts maintain there is a distinction to be made between
linguistic contrasts involving loudness (which they refer to as ‘stress’) and
those additionally involving pitch (which they refer to as «accent»).
All the examples given above, they would argue, are matters of accent, not stress,
because contrasts in pitch variation are normally involved. Similar problems
arise in the analysis of tone languages.the context of rhythm studies, the
notion of a stress-timed language is often cited, i.e. one where the stresses
fall at roughly regular intervals within an utterance. In analyzing such a
language in this way, the notion of silent stress is sometimes invoked. The
reason is to handle cases where the omission of a stressed syllable in
colloquial speech can none the less be ‘felt’; a regularly cited case in the
abbreviated version of thank you, which is said to be the unstressed
residue of an unspoken stressed + unstressed combination. A sequence of
syllables constituting a rhythmical unit, containing one primary stress, is
known as a stress group. In metrical phonology a stress-foot is a
string containing as its first element a
stressed syllable, followed by zero or more unstressed syllables symbolized by
Σ. The most prominent element in the stress foot is called the head. It
should be noted that ‘foot’, in this context, refers to an underlying
unit, whose phonetic interpretation varies according to the theoretical
approach., in this approach, is a rule, which eliminates stresses produced by
foot construction. When two stressed syllables are immediately adjacent, the
situation is described as stress clash. Speakers have a tendency to avoid
stress clash; for example, the word thirteen is normally stressed on the
second syllable, but in the phrase thirteen men, the stress shifts to
the first syllable» [13; 456].languages, stressed and unstressed syllables
differences can be distinguished by differences in length, pitch, loudness, or
vowel quality. As the chart below shows, English makes use of all these
distinctions. See table 1.2.

1.2.
Characteristics of levels of stress in words

CHAPTER 2. Place of word Stress in
English

.1 Functions of Word Stress

any phonological unit, word stress
performs three functions: constitutive, distinctive and identificatory.

.        «Word stress has а
constitutive function as it arranges syllables into а word by forming its
stress pattern. Without а definite stress pattern а word stops being а word and
becomes just а sequence of syllables.

.        Word stress has а
distinctive function because it helps to differentiate the meaning of words of
the same morphological structure. The opposition of the primary stress and weak
stress can differentiate the parts of speech, like:n — subject vn — object vn —
import vn — insult vn — export vn — progress vn — combine vn — conduct vn —
frequent vn — present voppositions may differentiate the actual meaning of the
some words:

`billow (naval term) — be`low
(down);

`artist — ar`tist.opposition of the
second primary stress to weak stress is also distinctive:

`re`cover (put a new cover on) —
re`cover (get well again);

`restrain (strain again) — re`strain
(keep in check).primary stress opposed to the secondary stress
can sometimes differentiate the meaning as well:

`recre`ation (creating anew) —
recre`ation (amusement).

А compound noun is differentiated
from а free word combination by the opposition of tertiary stress to primary
stress:

`black-board — `black `board;

`stong-box — `strong `box;

`goldfish — `gold `fish;

`blackbird — `black `bird., however,
the second component of such compound nouns is considered to have weak stress,
the distinctive function in such minimal pairs will be realized through the
opposition of weak stress (in the `compound) and рrimary stress.

2.2 English
accentuation tendencies

stress in English is free, but the
«freedom» of its position is regulated by four accentuation
tendencies as а result of its historical development. The first and the oldest
of them is the recessive tendency, according to which, stress falls on
the first syllable of а word which is generally the root syllable (`father,
`sister, `husband, `water, `window,` ready, `clever), or on the second syllable
in words which have а prefix of nо special meaning (bе`fore, bе`come, а`mong,
for`get, mis`take).recessive tendency is characteristic of words of
Germanic origin. It has also influenced many disyllabic and trisyllabic words
borrowed from French, (`colour, `marriage, `excellent, `garage, `ballet,
ab`stain, de`pend, ob`tain, sur`prise, re`main, pro`duce, com`pose). But:
ma`сhinе, tech`nique, ро`lice.second tendency is the result of the mutual
influence of Germanic and French accentual patterns. It is known as the rhythmic
tendency, which manifests itself in stressing the third syllable from the
end, (`family, `unity, in`tensity, ро`litical, а`bility, а`cademy, de`mocracy,
in`finitive, com`parison, i`dentify).stress is especially common for verbs with
the suffixes -аtе, -fy,

ize, (`situate, ar`ticulate,
`qualify, `organize).accentuation of words ending in the suffix —ion
with its variants —sion, -tion, -ation, is also rhythmical in its
origin. Nowadays stress falls on the prefinal syllable, but it used to be on
the third syllable from the end as the spelling still shows, (`nation,
ос`casion, о`pinion).in three and four syllable words is called historically,
or diachronically, rhythmical (`radical, ос`casion, i`dentity).words with more
than four syllables we often find the secondary stress, which falls on the
first or second syllable. It mау be called synchronically rhythmical stress
(ad`mini`stration, re`sposi`bility, `popu`larity, `physic`ology, `indi`visible,
etc).long polysyllabic words like `indi`visi`bility, `inter`conti`nental, `unfa`mili`arity,
`inter`com`muni`cation, the stress on the 3^rd (2^nd)
syllable from the end is diachronically rhythmical while the other two stresses
are synchronically rhythmical. There has been а constant struggle between the
recessive and the rhythmic tendencies, the outcome being threefold:

·        an accentual
compromise in words like enemy, cinema, recognize, diction(a)ry;

·        аdefinite victory,
in the great majority of words, for the rhythmic tendency, articulate, аcademy,
аbility, еÐхаmination,
visibility, Ðесоnomical;

·        аdefinite victory
for the recessive tendency in аsmall number of four- and five- syllable words,
(advocacy, candidature, cannibalism, rationalism, characterize).third, retentive,
tendency consists in the retention of the primary stress of the parent word
in the derivatives, person — personal. More commonly, it is retained in the
derivative as а secondary stress, possible — possibility, арpreciate —
ар`рrесiation, nation — `nationality.is one more tendency in English that
determines the place and the degree of word stress — the semantic tendency.
It consists in stressing the most important elements of compound words.
Compounds are words composed of two separable roots, which may be spelled as
one word, with а hyphen, or two separate words. Compound nouns usually have а
single stress on the first element, `birthday, `blacksmith, `apple tree,
`suitcase, `booking оffiсе, `Newcastle, `music-hall, gui`tar player (but not
`banjo player), `make up, etc.

In English there are words with two
primary stresses, because both of their elements are semantically
important. Неrе belong:

.        words with separable
(«strong») prefixes, (`re-`write, `vice-`president, `anti-`fascist,
`ex-`minister, `sub-`editor, `under`estimate, `over`burden); negative prefixes
(`disap`pear, `un`known, `irres`ponsible, `il`literate, `inar`tistic,
`non-`smoker, `misunder`stand. But: mis`take, im`possible, dis`courage;

.        numerals from
«`thir`teen» to «`nine`teen»;

.        compound numerals
(`twenty-`one, `ffty-`three, etc);

.        compound verbs, (to `give
`in, `get `uр, `take `оff, etc);

.        compound adjectives
(`well-`known, `blue-`eyed, `red-`hot; `first-`class, `good-`looking, etc).
But: `childlike;

.        а small number оf compound
nouns (`gas-`stove, `ice-`cream, `absent-`mindedness); But: `note-book, man`kind,
etc.nouns of three elements have а single primary stress on the second element
due to the rhythmic tendency (`hot`water`bottle, `waste`рареr`basket,
`lost`property`оffiсе, etc)., all the above-mentioned double-stressed words
lose one of the primary stresses in word соmbinations and sentences under the
influence of Еnglish rhythm:

(an `аbsent-minded `man — `sо absent
-ˎminded;`went up ˎstairs — I met her ˎupstairs;

CONCLUSION

·        Stress refers to
the relative perceived prominence of a unit of spoken language;

·        stress has
distinctive function in English (`produce — pro`duce);

·        the production of a
stressed syllable usually involves several aspects:

.        an increase of articulatory
force, increased rate of airflow, greater muscular tension in the articulators;

.        greater intensity, higher
pitch, and longer duration are typically involved;

·        we recognize
several degrees of stress — primary stress, secondary stress, and unstress;

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1.       Арнольд И.В. Лексикология
современного английского языка, — М., Высшая школа., — 1986.

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О.О.
Theoretical phonetics: study guide for second year students, — Воронеж,
— 2007.

3.       Леонтьева С. Ф.
Теоретическая фонетика английского языка: Учеб. для студентов вечер. и заоч.
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Теоретическая фонетика английского языка: Учебно-методическое пособие, — Нижний
Тагил., 2008.

5.       Теоретическая фонетика
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Гiнтовт, И. С. Тихонова, Р. М. Тихонова. — Гуманит. изд. центр ВЛАДОС, 1996. —
247-256 c.

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• Connected speech is more than just a string of individual target segments joined together in series, since each segment is liable to influence the segments that surround it. The precise form that these influences take is determined by the particular language in question, and so the phonology of connected speech is part of the phonology of the language that the child has to master . . ..»

  (Sara Howard, Bill Wells, and John Local, «Connected Speech.» The Handbook of Clinical Linguistics, ed. by Martin J. Ball, Michael R. Perkins, Nicole Muller, and Sara Howard. Blackwell, 2008)

• «Attempting to count the number of words in even a few seconds of a conversation or radio broadcast in an unfamiliar language will quickly demonstrate how difficult that task is because words run together in an utterance of any language.

  Ifwordswereprintedwithoutspacesbetweenthemtheywouldbeprettytoughtoread.

  As you recognize, sorting out the individual words would not be easy. Actually, the task is even more difficult than the run-together words in the printed sentence might suggest because the letters in the sentence above are discrete and separated from one another, but the individual sound segments in spoken words blend together into a continuous stream.»

  (Edward Finegan, Language: Its Structure and Use, 6th ed. Wadsworth, 2012)

• «It would be wrong to imagine that the stresspattern is always fixed and unchanging in English words. Stress position may vary for one of two reasons: either as a result of the stress on other words occurring next to the word in question, or because not all speakers agree on the placement of stress in some words. The former case is an aspect of connected speech . . .: the main effect is that the stress on a final-stressed compound tends to move to a preceding syllable and change to secondary stress if the following word begins with a strongly stressed syllable. Thus . . .»

  bad-‘tempered but a bad-tempered ‘teacher

  half-‘timbered but a half-timbered ‘house

  heavy-‘handed but a heavy-handed ‘sentence»

  (Peter Roach, English Phonetics and Phonology: A Practical Course, 4th ed. Cambridge University Press, 2009)

• «In fast, connected speech some sounds may be be deleted by the speaker. For example, the sound /t/ may be deleted between the words ‘want to,’ making the pronunciation of ‘want to’ sound like «wənnə.’ (Note: the symbol ə represents a very short, weak sound.) . . .

  eg. ‘ . . . I don’t wənnə spend too much today.'»

  (Susan Boyer, Understanding Spoken English: A Focus on Everyday Language in Context, Book 1. Boyer Educational Resources, 2003)

• There are some important points to remember about connected speech processes [CSP]:

  — They occur at the edges of words, since this is where words ‘meet’ in sentences.

  — Importantly, connected speech processes are optional. . . .

  — We can think of them affecting sounds at the phonemic level rather than the allophonic level. When /t/ or /d/ or /h/ is elided, for example, we do not find that a different allophone occurs; we simply find that the phoneme is lost altogether.

  — Because CSPs affect phonemes, they may lead to confusions about meaning . . .

  From: http://grammar.about.com/od/c/g/Connected-Speech.htm 
  
  
  

  Aspects of connected speech
  Speech is a continuous stream of sounds, without clear-cut borderlines between them, and the different aspects of connected speech help to explain why written English is so different from spoken English.

  So, what is it that native speakers do when stringing words together that causes so many problems for students?

  Intrusion and linking
  When two vowel sounds meet, we tend to insert an extra sound which resembles either a / j /, / w / or / r / , to mark the transition sound between the two vowels, a device referred to as intrusion. For example:

  • Intruding / r/
    The media / r /are to blame.
    Law(r)and order.
  • Intruding / j /I / j / agree.
    They / j /are here!
  • Intruding / w/I want to/ w/eat.
    Please do/ w/it.

  Word boundaries involving a consonant and a vowel are also linked, as we tend to drag final consonants to initial vowels or vice versa. For example:

  • Get on. ( geton )
  • Not at all. ( notatall )
  • It´s no joke. ( snow joke)

  Elision
  As I have mentioned, a native speaker’s aim in connecting words is maximum ease and efficiency of tongue movement when getting our message across. In minimizing our efforts, we weaken our articulation. If articulation is weakened too much, the sound may disappear altogether, a process known as elision. It is the vowels from unstressed syllables which are the first to be elided in non-precise pronunciation.

  • Common sound deletions
    A syllable containing the unstressed «schwa» is often lost. For example,
    • int(e)rest,
    • sim(i)lar,
    • lib(a)ry,
    • diff(e)rent,
    • t(o)night.

  • / t / and / d /
    With consonants, it is / t / and / d / which are most commonly elided, especially when they appear in a consonant cluster. For example,
    • chris(t)mas
    • san(d)wich
      The same process can occur across word boundaries, for example,
    • mus(t) be
    • the firs(t) three
    • you an(d) me
    • we stopp(ed) for lunch

  • / h /
    The / h / sound is also often deleted. For example,
    • you shouldn´t (h)ave
    • tell (h)im.

  Working on connected speech

  If your learners have not worked on these forms before, you might wish to set some lesson time aside to work specifically on these features of connected speech. One way of introducing them to sound deletions could be to write a few short phrases on the board. For example:

  • That´s an interesting idea.
  • Are you coming out tonight?
  • It´s the tallest building.
  • You must tell him.

  Try if possible to use language you have recently been working on in the classroom. Then ask the class to count the number of sounds in each word, and write the numbers which they give you on the board above the 

  words, like this:

  3 You

  4 must

  4 tell

  3 him

  Now play a recording of the phrases, or read them yourself, and ask the learners to listen again and write down how many sounds they hear. Prompt them if necessary, asking if, for example, the «t» is really pronounced twice between «must» and «tell», or only once.

  • Drill the phrases then ask the students to practise these phrases themselves.You could also read out the phrases, once using the elided forms, then again in a more clipped, emphatic manner.
  • Ask the learners which sounds more natural. Highlight that the features of connected speech not only make the phrase more natural sounding but that it is also easier to pronounce the words in this way.

  Exercises like this help to show learners the differences between written and spoken English, and they highlight the importance of listening to words rather than relying on their written forms.

  Integrating work on connected speech
  It is a good idea to try and integrate work on connected speech into everyday lessons. When studying grammar for example, don´t focus solely on the form of the words, draw attention to the way they are pronounced in
  natural conversation.

  • Superlatives, for example, provide practice of sound deletions. You could write a few phrases on the board:
    • The Nile is the longest river in the world.
    • The Vatican is the smallest country in the world.

  • Ask the students to listen to the sounds while you repeat the phrases a few times and see if they can spot the disappearance of the «t» on the superlative adjective.
  • Drill the phrases, chorally and individually. Students might like to write their own general knowledge quiz, using questions such as, «Which is the tallest building in the world?».
  • As they read their questions, make sure they elide the final «t» (unless of course, the next word begins with a vowel).

    Such exercises provide practice of both grammatical form and pronunciation, and the repetition helps students to begin using these features of connected speech in a natural manner.

  Anything which you have recently been working on in class can be used as a basis for pronunciation work. For example, a useful way of practising the intruding sounds / r /, / w / and/ j / is when studying phrasal verbs.

  Do/ w /up
  lay / j / up
  Go/ w /away
  Go / w / out

  • Drill the verbs chorally and individually before providing a more personalized practice activity in which students ask each other questions using the verbs you are focusing on.

  
  Phrasal verbs can also be used to show how we tend to link final consonants and initial vowels across word boundaries.

  Get out ( getout )
  Put on ( puton )
  Come out ( cumout )