Word-stress

The majority of British phoneticians distinguish 3 degrees of word-stress. The strongest stress is called primary stress, the second strongest secondary stress, while all the other degrees of stress are grouped together under the cover term of weak stress. The syllables bearing either primary or secondary stress termed stressed, while syllables with weak stress are called, somewhat inaccurately, unstressed.

H.A.Gleason and most other American descriptivists distinguish also 4 degrees of word-stress in English, calling and indicating them as follows: (1) primary stress, (2) secondary stress, (3) tertiary stress, and (4) wek stress.

The distinction between secondary and tertiary stresses is very subtle one, and there are, so far, no generally recognized formal indicators of their occurrence in relation to the primary stress or pitch levels. The result is that the allocation these two degrees of stress to syllables in particular words is a subjective matter, and even phonetically trained linguists sometimes differ from each other in this respect.

Thus, H.A.Gleason writes: “ The contrast of secondary stress with tertiary stress may be seen in such a pair as black bird: black bird. The first implies a bird that is described as being black; the second a particular kind of which, incidentally, may or may not be black.

The contradictions and discrepancies of word-stress are due to two factors. The first is that the American descriptivists’ interpretation of the nature of English word accent is oversimplified. They reduce it to different degrees of loudness, the perception of which is highly subjective, and underestimate the role of the other components of word accent, viz. changes of pitch level and pitch direction, of quality and quantity.

The second factor is that the American descriptivists and, to a lesser extent, British phoneticians do not discriminate between word, accent, phrase accent, and sentence accent. They do not take into account the fact that word accent is a constituent feature of the phonetic structure of the word as a vocabulary item, which exists as such when it is pronounced in isolation, in the so-called citation for, or, at the most, as part of compound words or free word combinations also pronounced in isolation.

Sentence accent is, on the contrary, a constituent part of the phonetic structure of the spoken sentence and one of the components of intonation in the broad sense of the term.

The semantic facto is one of them. In a sentence, semantically more important words are pronounced with greater stress.

The second solution is to find reliable objective criteria for determining the position of the tertiary stress in words pronounced in isolation. This is important from a theoretical point of view because the existence of tertiary word-stress in English can hardly be doubted.

Different types of word accent are distinguished not only to its nature or degree, but also according to its position, place, or incidence, in different words of the language. From this point of view two types of word accent are distinguished: (1) fixed, and (2) free.

Within free word accent two subtypes are distinguished on morphological grounds: (1) constant accent, and (2) shifting accent. 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. For instance, the accent is constant in all the case forms of the Russian noun ноша, ноши, ноше, ношу, нош, ношах. It is also constant in such English words as wonder, wonderful, wonderfully.

A shifting accent falls on different morphemes in different grammatical forms of a word or in different derivatives from one and the same root, e.g. сад-сады, вода-воды, сад-садовод, вода-водавоз, active-activity.

The first and the oldest of the English word accentuation tendencies is known as the recessive tendency, and the incidence of the accent in accordance with it is called recessive accent, or stress.

The presence in English of a great number of short words has caused the development of one more tendency in the incidence of word accent. This is so-called rhythmic tendency, while the accent determined by it is called rhythmical.

There is a third tendency clearly distinguishable in English word accentuation. It is a manifestation of constant accent in word derivation.

Like all phonetic phenomena, word accent must also be analyzed from a functional, or phonological, point of view. The first function of word accent is constitutive function. The second function of word accent is distinctive function. The third function is identiflactory, or precognitive function.

Questions for discussions:

1. The accentual structure of English words.

2. Types and degrees of word-stress.

3. Positions, tendencies and functions of word-stress.

Questions to be discussed:

1. How many phonemen may a syllable consist of?

2. What sounds may perform syllables in English?

3. What speech sounds are called syllabic and non-syllabic?

4. What are the main function of the syllable?

Phonemes are seldom pronounced in isolation, they usually occur in sequences. Any speech flow consists of series of peaks and valleys of prominence with the more sonorous phonemes at the peaks and the less sonorous in the valleys. Thus, sound sequences are acoustically broken up into smaller units known as syllables, which are the minimal units of sounding speech.

A syllable may consist of one or a number of phonemes, i.e. it may be formed by any vowel (alone or in combination with consonants) or by a word-final sonorant (/l, m, n, ŋ /) preceded by a consonant, as in /ai/ (I), /a: / (are), /wi: / (we) /æ t/ (at), /ten/ (ten), /hot/ (hot), /`æ pl/ (apple), /`ga: dn/ (garden), / stei/ (stay), /ri: dz/ (reads), /strict/ (strict), /`beikŋ / (bacon), etc.

A speech sound which is capable of forming a syllable is called syllabic. It is the most sonorous sound in the syllable and makes up the peak of prominence.

Speech sounds which are not capable of forming a syllable are called non-syllabic. They are the less sonorous sounds of the syllable and make up the valleys of prominence.

Prof. V.AVassilyev defines the syllable as “one or more speech sounds forming a single uninterrupted unit of utterance, which may be a whole word, e.g. /mæ n/ (man), or a commonly recognized and separable subdivision of a word, e.g. /`in-gli∫ / (English) or wordform, e.g. /`lei-tә / (later).

The syllabic structure of words of may be graphically represented by the letter V standing for a vowel sound, and the letter C standing for a consonant sound. The syllabic sonorant is represented by S.

Every syllable has a definite structure. It belongs to one of the following four main types of syllables: V, VC, CV, CVC. They are classified as covered, uncovered, open and closed.

A syllable which begins in a consonant is called u n c o v e r e d, a syllable which begins in a consonant is called c o v e r e d. A syllable which ends in a vowe..is called open, a syllable which ends in a consonant is called closed.

So, the main types of syllables may be defined in the following way:

V- uncovered, open; e.g. / / (or), /ia/ (I), /a: / (are);

VC- uncovered, closed; e.g. /it/ (it), /æ d/ (add);

CV- covered, open; e.g. /si: / (see), /nou/ (no), /mi: / (me);

CVC- covered, closed; e.g. /kæ t∫ / (catch), /pit/ (pit).

There are a great number of variants in the syllabic structure which are formed by increasing the number of consonants in the initial and final position, as in:

VCC (e.g. and, act, oaks, ask, else, and, old, eggs, etc.);

VCCC (e.g. ends, acts, asks, ants, elks, aunts, angle, etc.);

CCV (e.g. blue, clay, cry, fly, grow, stay, sky, dry, etc.);

CCCV (e.g. spray, straw, screw, scry, sprue, scree, etc.);

CVCC (e.g. cats, goats, pens, child, bolt, fact, rags, etc.);

CVCCC (e.g. child’s, facts, minds, bulbs, bolts, etc.);

CCVC (e.g. sleep, speak, black, cries, frame, shrew, etc.);

CCVCC (e.g. stoves, placed, flex, gloves, dressed, etc.);

CCVCCC (e.g. clasps, grasped, sphinx, flanks, scuffles, etc.)

CCCVC (e.g. street, strong, scream, splash, stress, etc.)

CCCVCC (e.g. splint, strikes, screams, streets, splashed, etc.);

CCCVCCC (e.g. splints, strengths, strands, sprints, etc.);

The most common syllables that sonorants form are of Ş, CŞ and CŞ C types. For instance, Ş type: / ‘æ p-l/ (apple), / ‘ b٨ t-n/ (button), / ‘rið -m/ (‘rhythm); CŞ type: / ‘tei-bl/ (table), / ‘ ga: dn/ (garden), / ‘ nou-bl/ (no-ble), / ‘i: tn/ (eaten);

CŞ C type: / ‘nei-∫ nz/ (nations), / ‘ou-pnz/ (opens), /dik‘tei-∫ nz/ (dictations); etc.

Kazakh sonorants are non-syllabic.

There are several theories – which try to explain the mechanism the of syllable formation and syllable division.

The oldest of them in the so-called expiratory theory (also breath-puff, pressure, or’chest theory). According to this theory each syllable corresponds to one expiration. A word consists of аs many syllables as there are such expirations made when the word is uttered. Each syllable begins with a fresh expiration. For instance, the word “forty” has two syllables. According to the expiratory theory there must be two expirations. The point where a new expiration starts indicates the syllabic boundary of the word.

The expiratory theory is strongly criticized here and abroad (by B.I.Zhinkin, O.P. Torsuyev, A.C.Gimson and others). According to the last experimental data more than ten syllables can easily be pronounced during one expiration.

Next appared the so-called sonority theory of the syllable. It was propounded by Otto Jesperson. This theory is nowadays widespread among foreign linguists. The term “sonority” is taken by O.Jesperson as ‘the degree of perceptibility”.

All speech sounds have different inherent sonority. The most sonorous are open back vowel, the least sonorous are the voiceless tope. O.Jesperson classified all speech sounds according to seven levels of sonority:

The sequence of / ‘CVCV/ has a closed syllable and an open one / ‘CVC-V/ if the stressed vowel is a short monophthong, e.g.

/ ‘pit-i/ (pity), / ‘b٨ t-∂ / (butter),

/ ‘ mer-i/ (merry), / ‘k p-i/ (copy)

/ ‘æ p-l/ (apple), / ‘les-n/ (lesson),

/ ‘ful-i/ (fully), / ‘priz-m/ (prism), etc.

Syllables of this type present a great difficulty to Russian and Kazakh students because in similar Russian and Kazakh words there are two open syllables. In English the intervocalic consonants of this type initially strong while in Russian and Kazakh they are finally strong.

Short and long monophthongs and diphthong make for an open type of syllable if they are unstressed and are separated from the adjacent vowels by only one consonant, e.g.

/ ri: -‘æ kt/ (react) / mju: ‘- ziә m/ (museum),

/bi-‘gin/ (begim) /: -‘gæ nik/ (artistic),

/mæ -‘leiz/ (malaise) /a: -‘tistik/ (artistic),

/ә -‘gein/ (again), /nou-‘t: riә s/ (notorious),

/i-væ kju-‘ei∫ n/ (evacuation),

/Juә -‘rei з jә n/ (Eurasian), etc.

Phonetic and orthographic syllables should not be confused. They sometimes coincide and sometimes do not. For instance, phonetically disyllabic words like “apple”, “higher”, “eaten”, “flower”, “battle”, “fire”, “drizzle”, etc. are treated in writing as monosyllabic words. Whereas orthographically disyllabic words like “type”, “come”, “wrote”, “theme”, “change”, etc. have only one phonetic syllable.

Here are some examples:

/ а: -‘tis-tik / art-ist-ic

/ ‘ drai-vә / driv-er The syllabic boudary does not coicide

/ ‘ lei-tә / lat-er

/ ‘ә: -li/ ear-ly

/ ‘ iә -dr٨ m/ drum The syllabic boundary coincides

/ ‘leit-li/ late-ly

The phonetic syllable division is governed by the three rules which have been stated above. The orthographic syl­lable division is governed by the morphemic principle, as in: star-less, writ-er, read-ing, do-er, rang-ing, pre-war, dis-­crete, help-less, etc.

The syllabic structure of English performs three main functions:

(1) corstltutlve,

(2) distinctive, and

(3) recognitive ^.

(Compare it with thethree functions of the phonemic struc­ture of English. See Part One).

The syllabic structure fulfils constitutive function because syllables constitute the material forms of all the words, phrases and sentences. The latter cannot exist without syllables. Such words as: /a: / (are), /о: / (ore), /ai/ (I), etc., when pro­nounced in isolation are at the same time syllables (and pho­nemes as well).

The distinctive function of the syllabic structure in­cludes differences in both syllable formation and syllable divi­sion. Presence or absence of a syllable in one and the same po­sition, as well as different syllabic boundaries may differen­tiate one word (or phrase, or sentence) from another word (or phrase, or sentence).

Here are some phonological:, oppositions of presence vs. ab­sence of a syllable in the same position in a minimal pair:

/bet/ - /'betә / (bet - better);

/belt/ - /ә 'belt/ (bate - abate);

/dri: m/ - /'dri: mi/ (dream - dreamy);

/sli: p/ - /ә 's1i: р/ (sleep - asleep);

/sli: p/ - /'sli: pә / (sleep - sleeper), etc.

The distinctive function of syllable division may be illus­trated by only one example:

/'nai-treit/ - /'nait-reit/ (nitrate - night-rate).

The number of combinations of words distinguished from each other by different syllabic boundaries is rather considerable:

The recognitive function of the syllabic structure man­ifests itself in the fact that the right syllabic' boundary makes it easier to recognize words, phrases and sentences. Compare the following (Mind that wrong pronunciation produces a phonetic but not a phonological mistake.):

Correct proruncietlon Incorrect pronunciation
happy /'hæ p-i/ /'hæ -pi/

Stand up! /'staæ d'٨ p/ /'stæ n 'd٨ р/

an apple /ә n’pl/ /ә ’næ pl/

at eight /ә t 'en t/ /ә 'teit/, etc.

The violation of the recognitive function of the syllabic structure results in the following:

(1) wrong syllable division produces a strong foreign accent;

(2) it produces a comic impression upon an Englishman;

(3) it hampers the process of communication

Unstressed vocalism of English

Vocalism - the system of vowels used in a particular language.

In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! [ɑ ː ] or oh! [oʊ ], pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! [ʃ ː ], where there is a constriction or closure at some point along the vocal tract. A vowel is also understood to be syllabic: an equivalent open but non-syllabic sound is called a semivowel.

In all languages, vowels form the nucleus or peak of syllables, whereas consonants form the onset and (in languages which have them) coda. However, some languages also allow other sounds to form the nucleus of a syllable, such as the syllabic l in the English word table [ˈ teɪ.bl̩ ] (the stroke under the l indicates that it is syllabic; the dot separates syllables), or the r in Serbian vrt [vr̩ t] " garden".

We might note the conflict between the phonetic definition of 'vowel' (a sound produced with no constriction in the vocal tract) and the phonological definition (a sound that forms the peak of a syllable).[1] The approximants [j] and [w] illustrate this conflict: both are produced without much of a constriction in the vocal tract (so phonetically they seem to be vowel-like), but they occur on the edge of syllables, such as at the beginning of the English words 'yes' and 'wet' (which suggests that phonologically they are consonants). The American linguist Kenneth Pike suggested the terms 'vocoid' for a phonetic vowel and 'vowel' for a phonological vowel, [2] so using this terminology, [j] and [w] are classified as vocoids but not vowels.

The word vowel comes from the Latin word vocalis, meaning " speaking", because in most languages words and thus speech are not possible without vowels. Vowel is commonly used to mean both vowel sounds and the written symbols that represent them.

Articulation

Vowels v • d • e

Close i · y

ɨ · ʉ

ɯ · u

ɪ · ʏ

ɪ ̈ · ʊ

ʊ

e · ø

ɘ · ɵ

ɤ · o

ə

ɛ · œ

ɜ · ɞ

ʌ · ɔ

æ

ɐ

a · ɶ

ɑ · ɒ

Near-close

Close-mid

Mid

Open-mid

Near-open

Open

Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents

a rounded vowel. Vowel length is indicated by appending ː.

X-rays of Daniel Jones' [i, u, a, ɑ ].

The articulatory features that distinguish different vowel sounds are said to determine the vowel's quality. Daniel Jones developed the cardinal vowel system to describe vowels in terms of the common features height (vertical dimension), backness (horizontal dimension) and roundedness (lip position). These three parameters are indicated in the schematic IPA vowel diagram on the right. There are however still more possible features of vowel quality, such as the velum position (nasality), type of vocal fold vibration (phonation), and tongue root position.

Vowel height is named for the vertical position of the tongue relative to either the roof of the mouth or the aperture of the jaw. In high vowels, such as [i] and [u], the tongue is positioned high in the mouth, whereas in low vowels, such as [a], the tongue is positioned low in the mouth. The IPA prefers the terms close vowel and open vowel, respectively, which describes the jaw as being relatively open or closed. However, vowel height is an acoustic rather than articulatory quality, and is defined today not in terms of tongue height, or jaw openness, but according to the relative frequency of the first formant (F1). The higher the F1 value, the lower (more open) the vowel; height is thus inversely correlated to F1.[3]

The International Phonetic Alphabet identifies seven different vowel heights:

close vowel (high vowel)

near-close vowel

close-mid vowel

mid vowel

open-mid vowel

near-open vowel

open vowel (low vowel)

True mid vowels do not contrast with both close-mid and open-mid in any language, and the letters [e ø ɤ o] are typically used for either close-mid or mid vowels.

Although English contrasts all six contrasting heights in its vowels, these are interdependent with differences in backness, and many are parts of diphthongs. It appears that some varieties of German have five contrasting vowel heights independently of length or other parameters. The Bavarian dialect of Amstetten has thirteen long vowels, reported to distinguish four heights (close, close-mid, mid, and near-open) each among the front unrounded, front rounded, and back rounded vowels, plus an open central vowel: /i e ɛ ̝ æ ̝ /, /y ø œ ̝ ɶ ̝ /, /u o ɔ ̝ ɒ ̝ /, /a/. Otherwise, the usual limit on the number of contrasting vowel heights is four.

The parameter of vowel height appears to be the primary feature of vowels cross-linguistically in that all languages use height contrastively. No other parameter, such as front-back or rounded-unrounded (see below), is used in all languages. Some languages have vertical vowel systems in which, at least at a phonemic level, only height is used to distinguish vowels.

Backness

Tongue positions of cardinal front vowels with highest point indicated. The position of the highest point is used to determine vowel height and backness

Vowel backness is named for the position of the tongue during the articulation of a vowel relative to the back of the mouth. In front vowels, such as [i], the tongue is positioned forward in the mouth, whereas in back vowels, such as [u], the tongue is positioned towards the back of the mouth. However, vowels are defined as back or front not according to actual articulation, but according to the relative frequency of the second formant (F2). The higher the F2 value, the fronter the vowel; backness is thus inversely correlated to F2.

The International Phonetic Alphabet identifies five different degrees of vowel backness:

front vowel

near-front vowel

central vowel

near-back vowel

back vowel

Although English has vowels at all five degrees of backness, there is no known language that distinguishes all five without additional differences in height or rounding.

Roundedness

Roundedness refers to whether the lips are rounded or not. In most languages, roundedness is a reinforcing feature of mid to high back vowels, and is not distinctive. Usually the higher a back vowel is, the more intense the rounding. However, some languages treat roundedness and backness separately, such as French and German (with front rounded vowels), most Uralic languages (Estonian has a rounding contrast for /o/ and front vowels), Turkic languages (with an unrounded /u/), Vietnamese (with back unrounded vowels), and Korean (with a contrast in both front and back vowels).

Nonetheless, even in languages such as German and Vietnamese, there is usually some phonetic correlation between rounding and backness: front rounded vowels tend to be less front than front unrounded vowels, and back unrounded vowels tend to be less back than back rounded vowels. That is, the placement of unrounded vowels to the left of rounded vowels on the IPA vowel chart is reflective of their typical position.

Different kinds of labialization are also possible. In mid to high rounded back vowels the lips are generally protruded (" pursed") outward, a phenomenon known as exolabial rounding because the insides of the lips are visible, whereas in mid to high rounded front vowels the lips are generally " compressed", with the margins of the lips pulled in and drawn towards each other, a phenomenon known as endolabial rounding. However, not all languages follow this pattern. The Japanese /u/, for example, is an endolabial (compressed) back vowel, and sounds quite different from an English exolabial /u/. Swedish and Norwegian are the only two known languages where this feature is contrastive, having both endo- and exo-labial close front rounded vowels and close central rounded vowels, respectively. In many phonetic treatments, both are considered types of rounding, but some phoneticians do not believe that these are subsets of a single phenomenon of rounding, and prefer instead the three independent terms rounded (exolabial), compressed (endolabial), and spread (unrounded).