Stress. Stress levels. Types of word-stress, its different degrees and rules. Word-stress in modern English.

Stress is indicated by placing a stress mark before the stressed syllable: /'/.

D. Jones defined 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.

On 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: inten­sity, duration, frequency and the formant structure. All these features can be analysed 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. Types:

1) 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.

2) 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.

3) 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.

4) Qualitative type of stress is achieved through the changes in the qualityof the vowel under stress.

English word stress is traditionally defined as dynamic, but in fact, the special prominence of the stressed syllables is manifested in the Englishlanguage not only through the increase of intensity, but also through thechanges in the vowel quantity, consonant and vowel quality and pitch ul the voice.

In spite of the fact that word accent in the English stress system is free, there are certain factors that determine the place and different de­gree of word-stress. V.A. Vassilyev describes them as follows:

(1)Recessive tendency: a) unrestricted ( father /'fа:ðə/, mother /'mΛðə/) and b) restricted (become /bı'kΛm/, begin /bı'gın/).

(2) Rhythmic tendency results in alternating stressed and unstressed
syllables, e.g. pronunciation /prə˛nΛnsi'eıςən/.

(3) Retentive tendency consists in the retention the parent word, e.g. person — personal /'pз:sn — 'pз:sn/.

(4) Semantic factor.

Given below are the rules of word-stress in English:

1. In words of 2 or 3 syllables the primary stress mostly falls on the
lust syllable, e.g. 'error, 'cabinet, 'sensible.

2. In prefixal words the primary stress typically falls on the syllable
lollowing the prefix, e.g. impossible, re'call, be'hind.

3. In prefixal words with prefixes having their own meaning, the place
оf secondary stress is on the prefix, e.g. anti-capitalist, ,ex-'minister,˛Vice-'president, _˛ultra-́fashionable.

4. In prefixal verbs which are distinguished from similarly spelt nouns and adjectives, the place of stress is on the second syllable, nouns and adjectives have their stress on the initial syllable, e.g.

5. Suffixes: -esce, -esque, -ate, -ize, -fy, -ette, ique, -ee, -eer, -ade have the place of stress on the preceding syllable or on themselves, e.g. p'ctu'resque, ciga'rette, ˛tech'nique, refe'ree, pio'neer, mari'nade, dic'tate.

6. Suffixes: -ical, ic, -ion, -ity, -ial, -cient, -iency, -eous, -ual, -uous,
-ety, -itous, -ive, -ative (-itive), -itude, -ident, -inal,-ital, -wardshave
the place of stress on the preceding syllable, e.g. eco'nomic, gra'mmatical,
po'sition, ma'jority, 'special, etc.

7. In words of four or more syllables the place of stress is on the
antepenultimate syllable (third from the end), e. g. e'mergency, ca'lamity, his'torical.

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