Wk. 3 English Stress

AnENGLISHSTRESSANDINTONATIONSTRESSInlinguistics,stressistherelativeemphasisthatmaybegiventocertainsyllablesinaword.Thetermisalsousedforsimilarpatternsofphoneticprominenceinsidesyllables.UnderstandingSyllablesTounderstandwordstress,ithelpstounderstandsyllables.Everywordismadefromsyllables.Eachwordhasone,two,threeormoresyllables.WordNumberofsyllablesDogDog1QuietQui-et2ExpensiveEx-pen-sive3InterestingIn-ter-est-ing4UnexceptionalUn-ex-cep-tion-al5ProminenceItwouldhavebeenlogicallypossibleforeverysyllabletohaveexactlythesameloudness,pitch,andsoon.(Someearlyattemptsatspeechsynthesizerssoundedlikethis.)Buthumanlanguageshavewaystomakesomesyllablesmoreprominentthanothers.Asyllablemightbemoreprominentbydifferingfromthesurroundingsyllablesintermsof:loudnesspitchlengthProminenceisrelativetothesurroundingsyllables,notabsolute.(Astressedsyllablethatisnearlywhisperedwillbequieterthananunstressedsyllablethatisshouted.)TherealizationofstressinEnglishInEnglish,thethreewaystomakeasyllablemoreprominentaretomakeit:louderlongerhigherpitched(usually)Inmanylanguages,changingwhichsyllableisstressedcanchangethemeaningofaword.Insomelanguages,stressedsyllableshaveahigherorlowerpitchthannon-stressedsyllables—so-calledpitchaccent(ormusicalaccent).Inotherlanguages,theymaybeareitherhigherorlowerpitchthansurroundingsyllables(apitchexcursion),dependingonthesentencetype.Therearealsodynamicaccent(loudness),qualitativeaccent(fullvowels)andquantitativeaccent(length).Stressmaybecharacterizedbymorethanoneofthesecharacteristics.Further,stressmayberealizedtovaryingdegreesondifferentwordsinasentence;sometimesthedifferencebetweentheacousticsignalsofstressedandunstressedsyllablesmaybeminimal.TYPESOFSTRESS:InEnglish,stressismostdramaticallyrealizedonfocussedoraccentedwords.Forinstance,considerthedialogueIsitbrunchtomorrow?No,it'sdinnertomorrow.thestress-relatedacousticdifferencesbetweenthesyllablesoftomorrowwouldbesmallcomparedtothedifferencesbetweenthesyllablesofdinner,theemphasizedword.Intheseemphasizedwords,stressedsyllablessuchasdinindinnerarelouderandlonger.Theymayalsohaveadifferentfundamentalfrequency,orotherproperties.Unstressedsyllablestypicallyhaveavowelwhichisclosertoaneutralposition,whilestressedvowelsaremorefullyrealized.Stressedsyllablesareoftenperceivedasbeingmoreforcefulthannon-stressedsyllables.Researchhasshown,however,thatalthoughdynamicstressisaccompaniedbygreaterrespiratoryforce,itdoesnotmeanamoreforcefularticulationinthevocaltract.EmphaticStressOnereasontomovethetonicstressfromitsutterancefinalpositionistoassignanemphasistoacontentword,whichisusuallyamodalauxiliary,anintensifier,anadverb,etc.Comparethefollowingexamples.Thefirsttwoexamplesareadaptedfrom.Roach(1983:144).i.ItwasveryBOring.(unmarked)ii.ItwasVEryboring.(emphatic)i.Youmustn'ttalksoLOUDly.(unmarked)ii.YouMUSTN'Ttalksoloudly.(emphatic)Someintensifyingadverbsandmodifiers(ortheirderivatives)thatareemphaticbynatureareIndeed,utterly,absolute,terrific,tremendous,awfully,terribly,great,grand,really,definitely,truly,literally,extremely,surely,completely,barely,entirely,very(adverb),very(adjective),quite,too,enough,pretty,far,especially,alone,only,own,-self.ContrastiveStressIncontrastivecontexts,thestresspatternisquitedifferentfromtheemphaticandnon-emphaticstressesinthatanylexicaliteminanutterancecanreceivethetonicstressprovidedthatthecontrastivelystresseditemcanbecontrastableinthatuniverseofspeech.Nodistinctionexistsbetweencontentandfunctionwordsregardingthis.Thecontrasteditemreceivesthetonicstressprovidedthatitiscontrastivewithsomelexicalelement(notion.)inthestimulusutterance.Syllablesthatarenormallystressedintheutterancealmostalwaysgetthesametreatmenttheydoinnon-emphaticcontexts.)ExamplesConsiderthefollowingexamples:a)DoyoulikethisoneorTHATone?b)b)IlikeTHISone.Manyotherlargercontrastivecontexts(dialogues)canbefoundorworkedout,orevenselectedfromliteraryworksforastudyofcontrastivestress.Considerthefollowing:Sheplayedthepianoyesterday.(Itwasherwho...)Sheplayedthepianoyesterday.(Sheonlyplayed(not.harmed)...)Sheplayedthepianoyesterday.(Itwasthepianothat...)Sheplayedthepianoyesterday.(Itwasyesterday..TonicStressAnintonationunitalmostalwayshasonepeakofstress,whichiscalled'tonicstress',or'nucleus'.Becausestressappliestosyllables,thesyllablethatreceivesthetonicstressiscalled'tonicsyllable'.Thetermtonicstressisusuallypreferredtorefertothiskindofstressinreferring,proclaiming,andreportingutterances.Tonicstressisalmostalwaysfoundinacontentwordinutterancefinalposition.Considerthefollowing,inwhichthetonicsyllableisunderlined:I'mgoing.I'mgoingtoLondon.I'mgoingtoLondonforaholiday.Aquestiondoesariseastowhathappenstothepreviouslytonicassignedsyllables.Theystillgetstressed,however,notasmuchasthetonicsyllable,producingathreelevelstressforutterances.Then,thefollowingisarrivedat.,wherethetonicsyllableisfurthercapitalized:I'mgoingtoLondonforHOliday.NewInformationStressInaresponsegiventoawh-question,theinformationsupplied,naturallyenough,isstressed,.Thatis,itispronouncedwithmorebreathforce,sinceitismore