Suffixes

Nouns

If the final syllable is strong, it is optionally stressed, e.g. idea [ai'dia], machine [ma'Jm], dispute [dis'pju:t], afternoon [a:fta'nu:n], balloon [ba'lu:n], champagne [Jaem'pem],/>o//ce [pa'li:s].

Otherwise primary stress falls on the penultimate syllable, or (with reduced vowel in the penultimate) on the antepenultimate, or, rarely, on the ante-antepenultimate, e.g.

• strong final syllable, penultimate stress: profile ['praufail], tomato [ta'ma:tao], window [Vmdau], soprano [sa'pra:nau], moment ['maumant];

• strong final, antepenultimate stress: anecdote ['aenakdaut], appetite ['aepatait], telephone ['telifaon];

• weak final, penultimate stress: encounter [irj'kaunta], language ['laerjg-WKI3], pattern ['paetan], complexion [kam'plekjan], chocolate ['tjbkht];

• weak final, antepenultimate stress: quantity ['kwnntiti], discipline ['di-siplm], camera ['каетэгз], history ['histan], analysis [a'naehsis], inno­cence I'masans];

• weak final, ante-antepenultimate stress: helicopter. ['hehkrjpta], televi­sion ['telrvi3n].

Some exceptions:

• final stress on weak syllables: hotel [hau'tel], personnel [p3:s9'nel], ciga-rette [siga'ret], (but ['sigaret] in GA and in young people's speech in
UK).

/1/ sometimes functions as a reduced vowel, as in pedigree ['pedigri:], and sometimes as a full vowel, as in vanilla [va'mla], and sometimes has both functions in one word, as in wicked [Vikid].

It should particularly be noted that there are two competing stress patterns for nouns with strong final syllables, one with final stress and one with an earlier stress. The final syllable in the latter case is sometimes said to be "extrametrical", i.e. outside the rhythm of the word.

Cigarette illustrates the problem of deciding whether to treat a word as a single root or as a sequence of a root plus an affix, e.g. in the case of [siga'ret], the analysis root cigar plus suffix -ette would produce the correct stress pattern in the same way that disk becomes diskette. (A similar prob­lem arises in the treatment of compounds.)

Suffixes maybe added to a root, e.g. nation, national, or they maybe added to an already combined root plus suffix, e.g. national, nationalist, national­istic. This part of a word to which a suffix is added is called stem. Some suffixes have no effect on the stress pattern of stems and hence are called stress neutral; in the complex word the primary stress remains where it is in the stem, e.g. 'bitter, 'bitterness. Other suffixes regularly take the accent themselves (are stress attracting), e.g. 'disk, diskette. Yet others have the effect of fixing the accent on a particular syllable of the stem (are stress-fixing), on the final syllable, e.g. 'definite — definition, or on the penultimate syllable, e.g. 'infant — infanticide (where the stem is infanti-), or varying between final and penultimate according to the same principle as that for roots, i.e. whether the final syllable of the stem contains, on the one hand, a short vowel in an open position or followed by only one consonant or, on the other hand, a long vowel or short vowel plus two consonants, e.g. 'medicine — medicinal, but iritestine — in'testinalbut there is a second commonly used variant intes'tinal. Unfortunately, many suffixes are not entirely regular in the accentual patterns they induce, belonging in one group of words to one category, and in another group of words to another category. In many cases variation occurs which is dependent on the type of stem, i.e. whether it consists of a free or bound morpheme; thus disa'gree, disagreement, but segment, tor'ment. Where more than one suffix is applied to the stem, the last suffix determines the word's accentual pattern, e.g. 'rational, 'rationalize, rationalization; fa'miliar,familiarity,familiarization.

There are some endings derived principally from Greek which are like suffixes in that they occur attached to a number of stems, but which have other Greek elements preceding them which themselves are like prefixes, and neither element has a greater claim to be considered as a root, e.g. phonograph, microscope. These are not treated in this section, but dealt with as compounds, since their stress patterning is similar to compounds.

(1) Stress-neutral suffixes. Included in this category are all inflexional and many common derivational suffixes. Some inflexions are non-syllabic like plural, possessive, and third person singular -s (but these are syllabic following /s, z, J, 3, tf, d3/, and past tense -t (this is syllabic following /t, d/); other inflexions are monosyllabic like -er, -est and -ing. Most derivational suffixes ending in -y(-ie), e.g. {-ary, -ery, -ory, -су, -асу, -ty, diminutive -y, adjectival -y, and ad­verbial -ly) are stress-neutral: infirm — infirmary, 'celibate—'celibacy, 'difficult— 'difficulty, pot — 'potty, 'usual — 'usually. Other suffixes in this category include -ish, -ism, -ist, -ize, -ment, and agentive -ermd female -ess, e.g. fool—foolish, 'alcohol— 'alcoholism, 'separate — 'separatist, 'circular— 'circularize, disa'gree — disagreement, lead— 'leader, 'lion — 'lioness. All the examples given here con­cern stems which are free forms: in the case of stems which are not free forms some of these suffixes fall into other categories.

(2) Stress-attracting suffixes. Some common derivational suffixes in this category are -ade, -eer, -esque, -ette, and -ation (which could be analysed into a double suffix -ate plus -ion), e.g. es'cape — esca'pade, 'moun­tain — mountain'eer, 'picture — picturesque, 'usher — usherette, 'private — privatization. Verbal -ate belongs here in disyllables, e.g. migrate.

(3) Stress-fixing suffixes.

On final syllable of stem — here belong -ic, -ion, -ity, e.g. 'chaos — cha'ot-ic, de'vote — de'votion, 'curious — curiosity. In the case of -ion most words are formed from free-form disyllabic verbal stems stressed on the second syllable and -Ion could therefore equally well be regarded as stress-neutral; however, since the final syllable on the stem is almost unexceptionally stressed in bound stems as well, e.g. com'plexion, o'ccasion, it is better regarded as stress-fixing.

On penultimate syllable of stem — the number in this category is small, the most important being verbal -ate in words of more than two syllables, most involving bound forms, e.g. 'augurate, exco'mmunicate, 'operate.

On final or penultimate of root according to the weight of the final syllable — here belongs -ative, which is added to a similar set of bound forms as is -ate above, cf. 'operative, 'qualitative, repre'sentative, argumentative. Here are also -ency and adjectival -al, e.g. 'presidency but emergen­cy, 'pharynx, pharyngeal but 'medicine, medicinal.

Besides those suffixes above which have been noted as preferring one pattern when suffixed to a free form and another pattern when suffixed to a bound form, there are others which vacillate freely between two patterns. A common suffix of this sort is -able which is in most cases stress-neutral, e.g. a'dore — a'dorable, com'panion — com'panionable, 'realize — 'realizable. How­ever, in a number of disyllabic stems with stress on the final syllable the stress may be shifted to the first syllable of the stem: 'admirable, 'amicable, 'comparable, 'lamentable, 'preferable, 'reputable, (ir)'reparable. But the general pres­sure from the stress-neutrality of -able may lead to alternative pronunciations of words with the stress on the final syllable of the stem which are given the status of the norm in EPD, 2003, e.g. Applicable, despicable, disputable, la'mentable, etc. To add to the confusion there are some changes in the opposite direction, e.g. 'demonstrate — demonstrable, 'extricate — ex'tricable, 'rec­oncile — recon'cilable (all of which have an alternative form with initial stress). In most cases the form with the shifted stress (either right to left or left to right) is still more acceptable pronunciation in RE

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