Dimensions Of Phonological Stress

Top researchers explore the nature of stress and accent patterns in languages, especially the nature of their representations and how people learn them.

Stress and accent are central, organizing features of grammar, but their precise nature continues to be a source of mystery and wonder. These issues come to the forefront in acquisition, where the tension between the abstract mental representations and the concrete physical manifestations of stress and accent is deeply reflected. Understanding the nature of the representations of stress and accent patterns, and understanding how stress and accent patterns are learned, informs all aspects of linguistic theory and language acquisition. These two themes - representation and acquisition - form the organizational backbone of this book. Each is addressed along different dimensions of stress and accent, including the position of an accent or stress within various prosodic domains and the acoustic dimensions along which the pronunciation of stress and accent may vary. The research presented in the book is multidisciplinary, encompassing theoretical linguistics, speech science, and computational and experimental research.

Explores the nature of stress and accent patterns in natural language using a diverse range of theories, methods and data.

Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: A, University of Wales, Bangor, course: Phonology, language: English, abstract: In many languages word stress is quite predictable: in Czech the first syllable of a word always carries the main stress. In French the ultimate syllable is the most prominent each time. The penultimate syllable is constantly stressed in Polish. As can be seen, there are strict general rules with respect to a word’s stress. In English, however, the stressing of a lexeme appears to be arbitrary rather than following certain stress rules. The spelling does not indicate a word’s pronunciation, let alone its stress. Moreover, the stress may even differ within the same word. Thus, thir'teen can be stressed on the last syllable, but in an environment of another word, e.g. 'thirteen 'pints, it can also be pronounced with a prominent first syllable in order to keep eurhythmy. Nevertheless, it looks like native speakers have a perceptual ability to say how many syllables a word has and to tell which syllable receives the most stress. Therefore, Carr (1999) considers three trisyllabic non-English words: Gigondas, Zaventem and tavola. The author points out that English speakers always tend to stress the penultimate syllable mispronouncing each of theses words. Why do speakers with English as their mother tongue react in this way? Is this a proof of generalisation and existing stress patterns? In this essay it is discussed whether the primary stress of singular words has to be learned, e.g. like their spelling or the sequence of their phonemes, or if the stressing of a lexeme follows internalized rules (due to a lack of space, secondary stress shall be excluded here). For a more concise analysis of the issue, three main bases concerning primary stress patterns are examined: the syntactic, morphological and phonological information of a word.

A team of world-renowned phonologists present new perspectives on word stress, exploring stress as a phenomenon, data selection, and analysis.

Do you have a fear of transcription? Are you daunted by the prospect of learning and handling unfamiliar symbols? This workbook is for students who are new to linguistics and phonetics, and offers a didactic approach to the study and transcription of the words, rhythm and intonation of English. It can be used independently or in class and covers all the pronunciation details of words, phrases, rhythm and intonation. Progress is deliberately gentle with plenty of explanations, examples and 'can't go wrong' exercises. In addition, there is an associated website with audio recordings of authentic speech, which provide back-up throughout. The audio clips also introduce students to variations in accents, with eleven different speakers. Going beyond the transcription of words, the book also ventures into real discourse with the simplification systems of colloquial English speech, rhythm and intonation.

In this volume, notable scholars honor James W. Harris for his contributions to Romance phonology. Inscribed within generative grammar, the studies seek to explain various phonological processes, structured around glides, aspects of onsets/codas as well as stress and weight. This book will be a useful reference tool for specialists in theoretical phonology, language acquisition, language in contact, bilingualism, and Spanish dialectology.