Теоретическая фонетика английского языка (803492), страница 14
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Syllabic Structure of English Words56I saw her eyes. - I saw her rise.I saw the meat. - I saw them eat.WORD STRESSSummarizing we might say that on the functional level of descriptionthe syllable could be considered as the smallest pronounceable unit withpotential linguistic importance. That is why it reveals its functional valueoccasi onally.By way ofconclusion we could enumerate the following peculiarities ofthe syllabic structure of English which are relevant for learners of English:1) syllabic boundary is inside intervocalic consonant preceded by a shortchecked vowel;2) the sonorants [1], [m], [n] are syllabic, ifthey are preceded by noiseconsonants: little, blossom, sudden;3) the typical and most fundamental syllable structure is of (C)CVCtype.Russian learners of English should be aware of the regularities governing the structure of monosyllabic and polysyllabic words.
Wrong syllabledivision on the articulatory level may lead to inadequate perception ofphrases and consequently to misunderstanding.3.1. Definition. The Nature of Stress3.2. English Word Stress. Production and Perception3.3. Degrees ofWord Stress3.4. Placement of Word Stress3.5. Tendencies in the Placement of WordStress3.6. Functions of Word Stress3.1. Definition. The Nature of StressSummaryThe sy][able is the sma][est pronounceable unit capable offorming morphemes, words and phrases. As a meaningful language unit it has two aspects:syllable formation and syllable division which form a dialectical unity.The syllable is a complicated phenomenon which can be viewed on fourlevels: acoustic, articulatory, auditory and functional.
There exist numeroustheories of the syllable. Some of them consider the syllable to be a purelyarticulatory unit without any functional value. The majority oflinguists regard the syllable as the smallest pronounceable unit which can performsome linguistic function.In English syllable formation is based on the phonological oppositionvowel - consonant.
Four types of syllables are distinguished: open, closed,covered and uncovered.The syllable division determines the syllable structure of the language,its syllable typology. Phonotactic possibilities of a language determine therules of syllable division.The syllable performs two functions: constitutive and distinctive.IIThe sequence of syllables in the word is not pronounced identically:some syllables are more prominent than the others. They are calledstressed syllables.
So stress is a greater degree of prominence of a syllableor syllables as compared to the other syllables of the word. A particularcombination of varying prominence ofsyUables in a word forms its stressI)attern.The effect of prominence of the stressed syllable is achieved by a number of phonetic parameters such as pitch, loudness, length, vowel qualityor their combination. As a result there appears a contrast between stressedand unstressed syllables.There is another term widely used in phonetic literature to describethis phenomenon - accent. The term "accent" generally refers to thepitch component of syllable prominence. Stress is a more general termI han accent because it includes both pitch and other components ofsyllable prominence.It should be mentioned that the word "accent" can also be used whenI he syllable is perceived as accented due to the pitch prominence and theword is viewed as an utterance or part of an utterance. Even when we proChapter III.
\VOrd Stress58nounce just one word there is a certain pitch change typical of a spokensentence. This phenomenon will be considered in the section of this bookdevoted to intonation.The nature of word stress can be studied from the point of view of production and perception. The production of stressed syllables requires moremuscular energy.
Greater muscular effort and muscular activity producehigher subglottal pressure and an increase in the amount of air expelledfrom the lungs. On the acoustic level this extra articulatory activity leadsto the increase of intensity, duration and fundamental frequency of thestressed syllable. On the perception level it corresponds to the increase ofloudness, length and pitch.3.2. English \VOrd Stress. Production and Perception3.2. English Word Stress.
Production and Perception.1Table 1Production and Perception ofthe Stressed SyllablesProduction and PerceptionStressed syllableProduction level Greater muscular effortAcoustic levelIncreasequencyPerception levelIncrease ofioudness,intensity, duration, fundamental fre-The balance of these components may be different in different languages. There are two main types of word stress in the languages of theworld: dynamic and tonic (musical). The dynamic stress is achieved bygreater force with which the syllable is prononuced. Greater intensityand duration of the stressed syllable which contains a vowel of full articulation contribute to the effect of prominence.
European languagessuch as English, German, French, Russian, have dynamic word stress.Musical stress is observed in Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese and otherlanguages. This type of stress is the result of the change of pitch in thestressed syllable.Figure 8Types ofWord Stressword stresstonic (musical)59As regards the English word there is no agreement among linguists about therole of particular acoustic parameters in creating the effect of syllable prominence. In other words, they have not arrived at the conclusion yet as to which ofthem contributes to a greater extent to our perception of a syllable as a stressedone.
The English linguists D. Crystal (1969) and A. Gimson (1981) agree thatEnglish word stress is a complex phenomenon, marked by the variations in force,pitch, quantity and quality. Different scholars rank these parameters in differentways, however each description of English word stress includes loudness, pitch,length and quality.
Let us give a brief overview ofeach of these parameters.When we hear a word we often perceive the stressed syllable as louder thanunstressed ones. It is the result ofgreater muscular effort which forces the streamofair between the vocal cords which vibrate more vigourously.
It creates the effect of greater loudness. However it is impossible to increase the loudness onlywithout changing other characteristics ofthe syllable.The syllable is perceived as prominent ifthere is a change ofpitch on it. Theacoustic correlate of pitch is the frequency ofthe vibrations of the vocal cords."Ifall syllables are said with low pitch except for one said with high pitch, thenthe high-pitched syllable will be heard as stressed and others as unstressed"(Roach, 2001). The placement of pitch change marks the seat of the stress. Itbe noted that it is not the direction of pitch change that matters here,what counts is the movement itself. The fIrSt syllable in the word 'import will beperceived as stressed both when pronounced with the falling or the rising tone(.import, )mport).
The shift of stress to the second syllable (import) will be accompanied with a pitch movement on the second syllable.The length of syllable contributes to the effect of prominence. A greateramount of energy in the production of stressed syllable leads to the increase ofits length as compared to the unstressed syllables.The quality of vowels also plays a certain role in creating the effect ofstress.A syllable tends to be perceived as prominent ifit contains a vowel which is different in quality from the vowels in other syllables.
\bwels in unstressed syllablesare affected by quantitative and qualitative reduction and vowels in stressed syllables are not. It creates a contrast which increases the prominence ofstressed syllable.To sum up, it is generally acknowledged that English word stress is a complex phenomenon formed by interdependent components: loudness,length and vowel quality. As regards the ranking ofthe components they are notequally important, but they generally work in combination.Chapter III. Word Stress603.3. Degrees of Word StressThe syllables in a word are characterized by different degrees of prorninence.
Objectively, there are as many degrees of stress in a word as there aresyllables. A. Gimson, for example, shows the following distribution of thedegrees of stress in the word examination (Gimson, 1981). However, it isimportant to distinguish the degrees of stress, which are linguistically relevant.In English they generally distinguish three degrees (levels) of stress: primary (strong, main, principal), secondary (half-strong, half-stressed) andweak (unstressed). In the word hdmtndti6n the primary stress is the strongest (marked 1), the secondary stress is second strongest (marked 2), all theother syllables (3, 4,5) are weak.
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