WORD STRESS

WORD STRESS

English word stress is free, which means it is not tied to any particular position in the word – unlike Czech, where the stress is always on the first _______________. However, English stress is fixed in the sense that each word has a regular stress pattern, ie the stress falls on a particular syllable of a given word.

Thus in English, the stress falls regularly on the _____________ syllable of the words finish, answer, afterwards; on the __________ syllable in behind, result, together, impossible; on the __________ in understand, education; on the __________________in articulation, qualification immunisation.

In most English words there is only one main stress, but it may be accompanied by secondary stress in polysyllabic words. These are words of more than _______ syllable. (eg examiˡnation, photoˡgraphic).

Any four factors pitch, length, loudness and quality make a syllable more prominent than its neighbours.

In a sequence of identical syllables, such as /lelelele/ you can change, one or usually a combination, of these factors to produce a stressed syllable.

It is difficult to change just one of these without affecting at least one of the others. What is clear though is that the syllable with these features is more prominent than the others. It is stressed.

The rules concerning stress are rather complicated. There are also a number of exceptions. It is therefore best to learn the stress-pattern of each word individually, when you learn the word itself. Correct stressing of individual words is essential for good understanding.

Main Stress Patterns

1.Some stress-fixing prefixes, mainly of Latin origin attract the main stress.

ab- abdicate, abstract; ad- advent, adverse, a- apathy, atheism;

col- com- con- collocate, compact, concord; de- dedicate, desecrate;

dis- discord, dislocate; en- envoy, ensign; ex- excavate, exercise;

im- , in- immigrate, imminent, insect, injury; ob- oblong, obstinate;

per- permanent, perjury; pre- prefix, prejudice, pretext;

pro- promise, proverb; sub- subject, substance; sur- surcharge, surplus;

sym- symmetry, symphony; trans- transcript, transport, transfer.

2.Stress fixing suffixes occur in words which were borrowed from Modern French, stress in French being on the final syllable.

-ade parade, charade, promenade; -ache, moustache, panache;-ain,( in verbs) attain, disdain, ascertain; -aire questionnaire, millionaire;

-ale, morale, locale; -aque, opaque; -ee, payee, refugee, referee;

-een, canteen; -el, hotel, lapel; -eer, career, engineer, pioneer; -ese, Chinese, Japanese, journalese; -ess, princess, lioness -esque, picturesque, grotesque; -ete, compete, complete, delete; -etta, –etti, -etto, vendetta, confetti, libretto; -ette, brunette, cigarette, usherette; -illa, gorilla, flotilla, guerilla; -ice, police, advice; -ine, machine, sardine, magazine, routine, submarine; -ique, physique, unique, antique, technique; -iste, artiste,

-oon, cartoon, balloon, harpoon.

3.Suffixes which attract stress on the syllable immediately preceding it.