A). Consonants. 2 страница

Many synonymous terms are used in the description of the nature of stress such as force, power, intensity, prominence, accent, amplitude, loudness.

Prominence is a broader term than stress. It can be inherent, which depends on the sonority of sounds. It can be special which is obtained by the components of word stress. In speech prominence is strengthened by the components of intonation.

According to some sources there is a slight difference between word-accent and word-stress. Word-accent is regarded as a constituent feature of a word pronounced in isolation as a vocabulary item, whereas word-stress deals with the place of accentuation in words and its functions in speech.

The discrepancy in the other terms is due to the fact that there are several aspects on which word-stress can be analyzed. On the productive (or articulatory) level word-stress is connected with the power, or force of articulation. On the acoustic level word-stress is connected with the intensity, or amplitude of the vibrations of the vocal cords. On the receptive (or auditory) level word-stress is associated with greater loudness.

34. Principles of word-stress classification. Types of word-stress.

As it has been stated, word-stress is connected with the changes of the force of articulation, pitch, colour and length of a vowel in a stressed syllable. So word-stress is based upon four principles – dynamic, musical, qualitative and quantitative. In different languages one of the factors, constituting word-stress is usually more significant than the others and consequently is said to be phonologically relevant. According to the most important feature of word-stress different types of it are distinguished in different languages.

If special prominence in a stressed syllable 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.

If special prominence in a stressed syllable is achieved through the changes in the quality of the vowels, which are longer in the stressed syllable than in the unstressed ones, such type of stress is called quantitative.

If special prominence in a stressed syllable is achieved through the changes in the quality of the vowels which are not obscured in the stressed syllables and are rather obscure in the unstressed ones, such type of stress is called qualitative.

Quantitative and qualitative changes do not form independent phonemically distinctive features, so quantitative and qualitative types of word-stress do not exist separately from dynamic stress. They are conditioned by the latter and play subsidiary role in accentuation of syllables.

Musical or tonic stress is characteristic of the Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and other oriental languages as well as some African languages where it distinguishes words, consisting of the same sounds. For example, in Japanese the sequence [hana], pronounced with even tone, means “nose”, pronounced with higher tone on the first syllable, means “beginning” and pronounced with higher tone on the second, syllable means “flower.”

The Scandinavian languages make use of both dynamic stress and tone stress in more or less equal degree.

Word-stress in other European languages, such as English, French, German, Russian is considered to be predominantly dynamic, with other features present but irrelevant. Thus, change of pitch is significant but the direction of pitch is not, since it doesn’t serve for differentiation of words from one another.

According to the potion of stress in words, the following types of word-stress are distinguished:

1) fixed word-stress;

2) free word-stress.

In languages with fixed word-stress the main accent invariable falls on a syllable which occupies in all the words of the languages one and the same position in relation to the beginning or end of a word. For instance, in Finnish and Czech word-stress in fixed on the first syllable, in Polish on the one but last syllable. In French the stress falls on the last syllable of the word, pronounced in isolation. Yet when a group of words is uttered, all the words in this group are unstressed, and only the final syllable is stressed, so it led some linguists to the conclusion that French has no word-stress.

In languages with free word-stress (English, Russian, German) the main accent may fall in different words on a syllable in any position in relation to the beginning or end of a word, although the accentual pattern of each word-form remains fixed, in the sense that, its accent is not shifted from one syllable to another in it. So the freedom of stress is not absolute but relative.

Within free word-stress two subtypes are distinguished on morphological ground:

a) constant stress;

b) shifting stress

A constant stress remains on the same morpheme in different grammatical forms of a word or in different derivatives from one and the same root (ex. wonder, wonderful, wonderfully). In a few inflectional grammatical forms that English words have, the stress is always constant (ex. finish, finishes, finishing, finished).

A shifting stress falls on different morphemes in different grammatical forms of a word or in different derivatives from one and the same root. Shifting of word stress may perform semantic function of differentiating lexical units, parts of speech, grammatical forms (ex. ig'nore – 'ignorant, 'contrast – to con'trast, рукá – рýки, домá – дóма, чýдная – чуднáя, мýка – мукá).

Free word-stress presupposes almost complete unpredictability in the incidence of the main accent in different words of the language. In Russian for example, there are no rules determining which syllable of a polysyllabic word bears the main stress, so that the stress of each word and grammatical form of a word has to be learnt individually.

Certain types of word-stress are also distinguished according to the degree of special prominence. There are several classifications based on this principle, which differ in a number of stress types.

Thus, A. Gimson, D. Jones believe that a polysyllabic word has as many degrees of stress as there are syllables in it. The strongest syllable is designated by the numeral 1, the second strongest syllable is designated by the figure 2 and so on. The weaker the syllable is the greater is the number.

Ex. examination [³ig-²zæ-⁴mi-¹nei-⁵∫n];

indivisibility [²in-⁵di-³vi-⁶zi-¹bi-⁷li-⁴ti];

radical [¹ræ-³di-²kl].

However, so many degrees of stress are not required for purpose of mutual intercourse. It is usually quite sufficient to distinguish only three degrees; the majority of British phoneticians share this opinion. The strongest stress is called primary stress, the second strongest stress is called secondary, 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 are termed stressed (strongly-stressed and weakly-stressed, correspondingly), while syllables with weak stress are called unstressed.

In the phonetic transcription the position of word-stress is indicated by placing the stress mark before the accented syllable, the primary stress mark is raised, the secondary stress mark is lowered, so the stress mark indicates simultaneously the point of syllable division. In explanatory dictionaries, like Webster’s, the primary and secondary stresses are indicated correspondingly by a heavy mark and a light mark at the end of the syllable. In Russian linguistic literature the stress marks are placed over the vowel letter.

The American phoneticians distinguish a greater number degrees of word-stress; they use other terms to denote them and other marks to indicate each degree.

Thus, B. Bloch and G. Trager distinguish four contrasting degrees which are numbered from 1 (the strongest) to 4 (the weakest) or called by descriptive names, such as:

1) loud, indicated [´];

2) reduced loud, indicated [ ^];

3) medial, indicated [ ̀];

4) weak, which is not indicated.

H. Gleason also distinguishes four degrees but terms them:

1) primary [´];

2) secondary [ ^];

3) tertiary [ ̀];

4) weak [ˇ].

H. Sweet distinguishes the following degrees of word-stress:

1) extra-strong or emphatic [ ^; ];

2) strong [˙];

3) medium or half strong [ ^׃ ];

4) weak [ˇ].

American phoneticians place the stress-mark above the vowels of the stressed syllable and even indicate the stress in monosyllabic words pronounced in isolation whereas linguists in most other countries take the presence of stress in such cases for granted and do not mark it.

The disadvantage of the American approach to word-stress is that different linguists designate by different terms the same degrees of stress and sometimes even allocate different degrees of stress to one and the same syllable in one and the same word pronounced in isolation. Thus, the difference between the second and the third degrees of stress, that is between secondary and tertiary stresses is very subtle, the criteria of their difference are very vague and the allocation of these two degrees of stress to syllables in particular words is a subjective matter.

The American phoneticians differ not only from each other in their judgments of secondary and tertiary stresses, but also from British linguists. Thus, the stress on the second pretonic syllable in such words as “discrimi'nation”, “ani'mation” is tertiary, according to American scholars, but it is considered to be secondary by the British phoneticians. In General American a tertiary stress affects the suffixes -ory, -ary, -ony of nouns, and the suffixes -ate, -ize, -y of verbs which are considered unstressed in British Received Pronunciation (ex. territory, ceremony, dictionary, demonstrate, organize, simplify).

British linguists do not deny the existence of tertiary stress and define secondary stress as pretonic and tertiary stress as posttonic. Besides there is no need to use separate stress marks to indicate each of them: the ordinary lowered stress mark before the primary accent will mean secondary stress, whereas the same mark after the primary accent will mean tertiary stress.

In the Russian word-stress system there are two degrees of word-stress – primary and weak. Some Russian words may have a secondary stress in addition to the primary one, but it is weaker than in English and often is not obligatory.

The above mentioned degrees of word-stress were established for words pronounced in isolation. But if a word is used in a sentence, the factors determining the degree of stress are more numerous, varied and altogether different from the factors, determining the degree of accent in a word pronounced in isolation. The degree of stress which a word receives in a sentence depends on the semantic factor (as semantically more important words are pronounced with greater stress), on the position of logical stress, on the turn of intonation, on the presence or absence of stressed syllables before and/or after it, on the speaker’s emotions, on the rhythm of the intonation

38. Functional characteristics of word-stress.

Like all phonetic phenomena, word-stress can be analized from a functional point of view as it performs three functions, such as constitutive, distinctive and recognitive.

The constitutive function manifests itself in the fact that every word, even a monosyllabic one, has its accent, which gives a finishing touch to creating the phonetic structure of the word as a language unit. Segmental phonemes are joined together into combinations and form syllables which are organized into the word by its accent. So, on the one hand, word-stress constitutes a word, it organizes the syllables of a word into a language unit which has a definite accentual structure, that is a pattern of relationship among the syllables. On the other hand, sound continuum becomes a phrase when it is divided into units organized by word-stress into words.

The distinctive function of word-stress, or rather of its degrees, makes word-stress a separate suprasegmental phonological unit which is called the wors accenteme. The number of word accentemes in a language with free word-stress is determined by the number of the latter’s distinctive degrees, The accentual patterns of words or the degrees of word stress form oppositions. In English there are two word-accentemes: primary and weak, corresponding to primary and weak degrees of word-stress.

Ex. 'import – im'port, 'black-bird – 'black 'bird (the opposition of primary and weak accentemes).

So, the distinctive function of word-stress in English helps to differentiate between parts of speech as well as compound words and word combinations.

The recognitive function of word stress consists in the correct accentuation of words, which facilitates their recognition and comprehension. Word-stress enables a person to identify a succession of syllables as a definite accentual pattern of a certain word. Correct accentuation helps the listener to makes the process of communication easier. If the accentual pattern of words is distorted, the listener’s attention is distracted from the contents of speech to its unusual form, and the normal process of communication is hampered. Misplaced word-stress does not only prevent normal understanding, but also often produces a comic impression.

39. The definitions of intonation and the syntagm and their interconnection.

Intonation is a complex unity of communicatively relevant variations of non-segmental, or prosodic features of speech which include melody, or the changes of the pitch of the voice, sentence stress, or the greater prominence of some words among other words of the utterance, tamber, or the special colouring of the voice and temporal characteristics. The latter comprise tempo, or relative speed of pronunciation, rhythm, or the regular occurrence of stressed and unstressed syllables, duration and pausation. This complex unity serves to express adequately, on the basis of the proper grammatical structure and lexical composition of the sentence, the speaker’s thoughts, volition, emotions, feelings and attitudes towards reality and the contents of the sentence. Each component of intonation has its own peculiarities, but in spoken language they cannot be separated from one another and function as a whole. They are equally important and mutually dependent.

Intonation is a language universal as there are no languages spoken in monotone, that is, without any change of prosodic parameters. Sequences of words, intoned on one note, with the same degree of stress, without any pauses between words and sentences and with the same rhythm and tempo, cannot be used to transmit any information as they are not organized into meaningful groups. At the same time, an isolated word cannot be regarded as a communicative unit performing a definite linguistic function without a special intonation.

Nowadays in linguistic literature the term “prosody” can be found which embraces the prosodic components and substitutes the term “intonation”.

Successive contours of intonation singled out of the speech flow are referred to as syntagms (syntactic approach) sense-groups (semantic approach), breath-groups (extra-linguistic approach), tone (intonation) groups (phonological approach).

The term “breath-group”is employed by some linguists to denote a complete sentence that can conveniently be said with a single breath, or in the case of very long sentences, the longest portions that can conveniently be said with single breaths. A breath-group usually coincides with a sense-group because pauses for breath are normally made at points where pauses are necessary or allowable from the point of view of meaning. But the term “breath-group” is ambiguous because in fluent speech an intake of breath does not necessarily indicate a sense-group; while, if the tempo of speech is slow, a new breath is usually taken after every sense-group. Moreover, words are joined together into groups by sense, and not because they are followed by a new intake of breath. The term “intonation group” reflects only prosodic feature of the group of words, but suggests neither the semantic nor the syntactic functions. The term “sense-groups” calls attention to the fact that such group of words makes sense when put together. It is not suggestive of the syntactic relations within the group, but it goes without saying that a group of words joined syntactically makes sense. The term “syntagm” suggests a syntactic relationship of a group of words, without indicating any semantic relation; yet it is quite clear that what is joined syntactically must make sense. Thus, the terms “sense-group” and ‘syntagm” are practically equivalent. However, the term “syntagm” is preferable, for it is connected with L. V. Shcherba’s syntagm theory that has exercised a great influence on several branches of linguistics, and has many followers among Russian linguists. According to this theory the syntagm is understood as the syntactic and semantic relations of words which are expressed phonetically. So a syntagm can be defined as the shortest possible unit of speech from the point of view of meaning, grammatical structure and intonation. Consequently, there are three main criteria to be used in dividing sentences into syntagms: semantic, grammatical and phonetic.

The syntagm is an indispensable feature of intonation. Syntagms are distinguished in connected speech by definite intonation patterns; no syntagms exist without certain intonation patterns, at the same time, no intonation patterns are possible without syntagms. Syntagms play a very important role in a language; they are responsible for the syntactic structure of the sentences we utter, as well as for the information they carry.

40. Melody. Each syllable of the speech chain has a special pitch colouring. Some of the syllables have significant moves of tone up and down. Pitch movements are inseparably accompanied with variations in loudness. It can be explained by the fact that on the acoustic level pitch correlates with the fundamental frequency of the vibration of the vocal cords; loudness correlates with the amplitude of vibrations. The pitch parameters include the distinct variations in the direction of pitch, pitch level, pitch range and pitch angle, or rate.

Pitch range is the interval between two pitch levels or two differently-pitched syllables or parts of a syllable. The pitch range of a whole syntagm is the interval between the highest-pitched and the lowest-pitched syllables. Variations in pitch range occur within the normal range of the human voice, i.e. within its upper and lower limits. The whole range may be normal, which is used in unemphatic delivery, wide and narrow which are brought into use in emphatic speech. These ranges, even in the case of an individual speaker, are not fixed, either absolutely or relatively to one another. They may, according to circumstances, be shifted slightly up or down, or expanded or contracted to a moderate degree.

Within the normal range of the speaking voice, i.e. within the interval between its lower and upper limits in unemphatic speech, most phoneticians distinguish three pitch levels: low, mid (or medium), and high. These pitch levels are, of course, relative, not absolute: a man’s voice produces the three in a lower register than a woman’s. There exist not only the obvious differences in the pitches used by men and women respectively, but also the smaller though noticeable differences between individuals of the same sex. In emphatic and emotional speech an extra high and an extra low pitch levels may be distinguished in addition to the three unemphatic pitch levels. The pitch level of a whole syntagm is determined by the pitch of its highest-pitched syllable which, in unemphatic speech, is usually the first stressed syllable of the syntagm.

Pitch ranges should not be confused with pitch levels, although the two are closely interdependent. For instance, the pitch range between two syllables or two parts of a syllable is narrow when the first of them is pronounced on a high level and the second on a mid level or the first on a mid level and the second on a low level. But the pitch range is wide, when the first syllable is pronounced on a high level and the second on a low one. The more the height of the pitch contrasts within the intonation pattern the more emphatic the syntagm sounds.

The significant change in pitch direction takes place in the nucleus where the pitch goes distinctly up or down. In terms of pitch ranges the high-falling tone is a tone with a wide pitch range (from high to low), whereas a low-falling tone has a narrow pitch range (from mid to low).

In English there are also cases when no audible nuclear tone movement precedes a syntagm boundary. In such a circumstance one may consider it to be the level nuclear tone. The tone of a nucleus determines the pitch of the rest of the intonation pattern following it which is called the tail. Thus after a falling tone, the rest of the intonation pattern is at a low pitch. After a rising tone the rest of the intonation pattern moves in an upward pitch direction. The nucleus and the tail form what is called terminal tone. The pre-nuclear part, consisting of the pre-head and the head can take a variety of pitch patterns. Variation within the pre-nucleus does not usually affect the grammatical meaning of the utterance, though it often conveys meanings associated with attitude or phonetic styles. The pitch of the pre-nuclear part may gradually descend or ascend to the nucleus or stay more or less on the same level. The pitch pattern of a syntagm is formed by the combination of the pitch movements in the nucleus and in the pre-nuclear part within a pitch range of different pitch levels.

The changes of pitch are not haphazard variations. The rules of such changes are highly organized. No matter how variable the individual variations of this prosodic component are they tend to become formalized or standardized, so that all speakers of the language use them in similar ways under similar circumstances.

41. Sentence-stress. In comparing word-stress with sentence-stress, we see that their function is different. The function of word-stress is to mould the words by indicating the strongest syllable in a word. The function of sentence-stress is different and more complicated. Sentence stress organizes the phrase phonetically, helps to make speech articulate, provides the basis for identification and understanding of the contents by contribution to clear rendering of the meaning. It indicates the end of the syntagm by means of strengthening the last syllable, by a definite pitch-pattern and frequently also by a pause. Sentence-stress is used to indicate the important words in a syntagm (from the point of view of grammar, meaning or the speaker’s attitude).

In accordance with these functions of sentence-stress, we may distinguish three types of it: (1) syntagm stress (unemphatic or normal sentence-stress); (2) logical sentence-stress; (3) emphatic sentence-stress. Each type is characterized by different degree of stress.

Syntagm stress is used in unemphatic speech to break up connected speech into syntagms and to indicate the important words in syntagms. Some linguists distinguish between syntagmatic (or primary) stress which singles out only the semantic centre of a syntagm and is usually realized in the last stressed word, and syntactic (or subsidiary) stress which emphasizes all the other notional elements of speech.

Logical stress is used to push into prominence a word or words in a syntagm that are significant from the point of view of meaning or of the speaker’s attitude to the subject discussed. It consists in shifting the syntagmatic stress from its normal place in the last stressed syllable to one of the preceding words.

So there are two positions of syntagmatic stress – unmarked, or normal position on the last lexical item of the syntagm, and marked, or special position on an earlier part of the syntagm, when the speaker wants to draw attention to it, usually to contrast it with something already mentioned, or understood in the context. In the first case the nucleus is called the end-focus. In the second case the nucleus is called contrastive-focus.

Ex. “Did your brother study in Moscow?” “No, he was born in Moscow.”

In a marked position, the syntagmatic stress may be on any word in a syntagm. Even words which are not normally stressed at all can receive nuclear stress for special contrastive purposes.

In exceptional cases, contrastive stress in a word of more than one syllable may shift to a syllable which does not normally have word stress. For example, if you want to make a contrast between the two words normally pronounced bu ' reaucracy and ' autocracy you may do so as follows: ' bureaucracy and ' autocracy.

Emphatic stress is used to express the speaker’s emotions or to suggest to the listener some idea or some shade of meaning which is not expressed in words. Sentence stress is made emphatic by widening the range of pitch of the nucleus, increasing the degree of loudness of the syllable, slowing down the tempo.

Degrees of stress in an utterance correlate with the pitch range system. Nuclear stress is the strongest – it carries the most important information. Non-nuclear stresses are subdivided into full and partial. Full stress occurs only in the head, partial stress occurs also in the pre-head and tail. Words given partial stress do not lose prominence completely, they may retain the whole quality of their vowels.

Sentence-stress and word-stress are mutually dependent. Their relationships consist in the modifications which the accent of a word undergoes when this word is used in a sentence. These modifications are as follows:

The word accent of a monosyllabic word may disappear in a sentence. This is usually the case with form words, in which the loss of stress usually results in their quantitative, qualitative or zero reduction. The word accent of a monosyllabic word may be retained in a sentence without any marked diminution or increase. This is usually the case with words forming the scale of a syntagm in unemphatic speech. The word accent of a monosyllabic word may be increased in different degrees in a sentence. A slight increase is observed when such a word forms the accentual nucleus of a syntagm. The increase may be very great in emphatic and emotional speech. The main word accent of a disyllabic and polysyllabic word never disappears altogether in a sentence. It may only become weaker, i.e. have the force of secondary or even tertiary stress, when such a word has no sentence-stress.

The functions of sentence-stress are accomplished in the English language by means of two main principles: the dynamic (the greater force of utterance) and the musical (changes in the direction of voice pitch), as well as by two subsidiary principles: the qualitative and the quantitative.

The dynamic principle applies also to word-stress; however, sentence-stress makes use of the emphatic degree of stress which is expressed partly by pitch variations, partly by the following methods:

a) glottal stop (Ex. It was "utterly im'possible! [it wəz "?Λtəli im'posibl]);

b) modifications of stress (Ex. "No! "Absolutely 'nothing. "Im"possible!);

c) specially distinct articulation of words, syllable by syllable (Ex. "Absolutely! ["æb-so-"lu:-tli]).

The activity of the musical principle is expressed in the pitch-patterns that are used in final stressed elements of syntagms, and also in the variations of pitch among the stressed elements within the same syntagm.

The quantitative principle, which plays a subsidiary role in English, mostly concerns consonants which are frequently lengthened for the sake of emphasis, especially sonorants (except [w] and [j]). Ex. Marvellous! ['m:α:vləs]; How late you are! [hau "l:eit ju α:]. Even a voiceless consonant may be lengthened: It's filthy! [its "f:ilθi].

As a rule, vowels in English are not subject to emphatic lengthening, especially short vowels. Vowel-lengthening is used freely in Russian for the purpose of creating emphasis. In English, the length of long monophthongs and diphthongs may be increased only when they are final or when followed by voiced consonants; in this position, even in unemphatic speech, vowels are longer. As to short vowels, they are lengthened only in two special cases: under the influence of emphatic tones (for example — the fall-rise) and in singing.

The presence of the qualitative principle is based not only on the fact that words may have no sentence-stress, but also upon the fact that the quality of the vowel may change. The word “ many ” has the vowel [e] in the first stressed syllable; but the quality of the vowel changes if the word receives no sentence-stress, and the vowel [e] of the first syllable is reduced to [ə]. Ex. How many pennies are there in a shilling? ['hau məni 'peniz α: ðər in ə '∫iliŋ]

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