7.3 Verb Stress
7.3 Verb Stre
(1) Generally, verb focus is on the ult: stress ult if the rhyme on the ult is heavy;
if not, go to the next left heavy syllable.
Heavy ult stressed Unstressable ult, thus penult
stressed
achíeve bálance
admít blóssom
agrée bóther
annoúnce dístance
confíne púnish
impórt vísit
replý díffer
(2) Exceptions to the general tendency: there are the cases that penult is
stressed despite the fact that the verb has a heavy ult.
díagram wórry árgue réscue stúdy énvy
** A word copy[kapi] is obscure; the final vowel [i] can be full vowel, not heavy.
(1) Generally, verb focus is on the ult: stress ult if the rhyme on the ult is heavy
if not, go to the next left heavy syllable.
Heavy ult stressed Unstressable ult, thus penult
stressed
achíeve bálance
admít blóssom
agrée bóther
annoúnce dístance
confíne púnish
impórt vísit
replý díffer
(2) Exceptions to the general tendency: there are the cases that penult is
stressed despite the fact that the verb has a heavy ult.
díagram wórry árgue réscue stúdy énvy
** A word copy[kapi] is obscure; the final vowel [i] can be full vowel, not heavy
(3) English has dozens of orthographically identical word-pairs differentiated by
stress as nouns (penult stress) or verbs (ult stress), especially, in disyl-
labic
words:
abstract compress conduct
address conflict contrast
ally discharge extract
convict project refund
export suspect progress
insert subject reject
permit protest refuse
(4) The difference of stress is accompanied by vowel reduction in the unstressed
syllable, and thus these noun-verb pairs, although homographs, are not
homophonous.
abstract N [ǽbstrækt] V [əbstrǽkt]
convict N [kánvɪkt] V [kənvíkt]
protest N [prótɛst] V [prətɛst]
refuse N [rɛfjus] V [rəfjúz]
(5) Not all two-syllable words that are both nouns and verbs follow the stress
switch rule. Some have the stress on the penult (e.g. sílence, tríumph,
hárvest, prómise: N, V) and others have it on the ult (e.g. surpríse, deláy,
resúlt: N, V) for both nouns and verbs.
7.4 Secondary Stress
- In more than one syllable words, it is possible that a primary stress(strong
stress) and a secondary stress(light stress) can be assigned in the words; for
example, the words photography and photographic show different patterns.
In the first word [fətágrəfi], we have one prominent syllable (second or
“antepenult” syllable), we have two prominent syllables in the morphologically
related word [fòtəgrǽfɪk] (first(secondary stress) and third(primary stress),
or “pre-antepenult” and “penult”).
(5) Not all two-syllable words that are both nouns and verbs follow the stress
switch rule. Some have the stress on the penult (e.g. sílence, tríumph,
hárvest, prómise: N, V) and others have it on the ult (e.g. surpríse, deláy
resúlt: N, V) for both nouns and verbs.
7.4 Secondary Stress
- In more than one syllable words, it is possible that a primary stress(strong
stress) and a secondary stress(light stress) can be assigned in the words; for
example, the words photography and photographic show different patterns.
In the first word [fətágrəfi], we have one prominent syllable (second or
“antepenult” syllable), we have two prominent syllables in the morphologicall
related word [fòtəgrǽfɪk] (first(secondary stress) and third(primary stress),
or “pre-antepenult” and “penult”).
(1) In agreement with Ladefoged’s (2001) account of stress patterns, the differ-
ence
between the primary stress and the secondary stress will be treated as a
difference in pitch instead of stress.
(2) Both syllables (primary and secondary stressed) have prominence, and their
difference results from the superimposition of the pitch pattern
(3) The syllable that is commonly known as the primary stressed syllable is the
one with the major pitch change.
(4) Thus, both the first and the third syllables of photographic have prominences,
but only the third will show the major pitch change, which is called the tonic
accent.
(5) We can say that
(a) an English syllable is either stressed (+stress) or unstressed (-stress);
(b) if there is only one prominent syllable in the word, then it necessarily is
the stressed syllable and has the tonic accent, while if there is more than
one prominent(stressed) syllable, then only one of them will have the
major pitch-changing tonic accent;
(c) a stressed syllable necessarily has a full vowel (no vowel reduction can take
place in a stressed syllable); thus vowel reduction is relevant only for
unstressed syllables.
