COMPLEXS WORD STRESS

1.      COMPLEX WORDS

The words that were described were called “simple”, word;  “simple”  in this context means, “not composed of more than one grammatical unit “ , so that, for example, the word ‘care’ is simple while ‘careful’ and ‘careless’  are complex; ‘carefully’ and ‘carelessness’ are also complex, and composed of three grammatical units each.

Complex word are of two major types: words made from a basic steam word with the addition of an affix, and compound words, which are made of two independent English words (i.e. ‘ice-cream’, armchair’,) Affix words.

Affixes are of two sorts in English.

v  Prefixes

Which come before the stem (e.g. Prefix ‘un-’+stem ‘pleasant’, = ‘unpleasant’)                    

v  Suffixes

Which come after the stem (e.g. stem ‘good’ + suffix ‘-ness’ = ‘goodness’)

Affixes will have one of three possible effects on word stress:

The affix itself receivers the primary stress (e.g. ‘semi + circle’, ‘s3:k!’= semicircle, ‘semIs3:k!’).

The word is stressed just as if the affix was not there (e.g. ‘pleasant’ ‘Pleznt, unpleasant’, ‘^n’Pleznt)

The stress remains on the stem, not the affix, but is  shifted to a different syllable (e.g. ‘magnet’ mǽgnat, ‘magnetic’, mǽg’netik”.

2.      SUFFIXES

A suffix is a letter pattern that is fixed to the end of a word.

We will consentrate on those which are common and productive. That is applied to a considerable number of stems and could be applied to more to make English word. The suffixes are referred to in their spelling form.

Ø  Suffixes carrying primary stress themselves

The primary stress is on the first syllable of the suffix. If the stem consists of more than on syllable there will be a secondary stress on one of the syllables of the stem.

Ex : ‘Japan’     ʤә’pӕn

The primary syllable is on the last syllable, but we add stress-carrying suffix ‘-ese’ the primary stress is on the suffix and the secondary stress is placed not on the second syllable but on the first.

Ex : ‘Japanese’ , ʤӕpә’ni:z

            ‘-ain’                : ‘ entertain’ ,entә’teɪn

            ‘-ee’                 : ‘ refugee’ ,refjʊ’ʤi:

            ‘ –ese’              : ‘ portuguese’ ,pᴐ:ʧә’gi:z

Ø  Suffixes that do not affect stress placement

‘-able’              : ‘comfort’  ‘kʌmfәt ; ‘comfortable’  ‘kʌmfɪәbl

‘-age’               : ‘anchor’  ‘ӕɳkә ; ‘anchorage’ ‘ӕɳkrɪʤ

‘-en’                 : ‘wide’  ‘waɪd’ ; ‘wide’ ‘waɪdn

‘-ful’                : ‘wonder’ ‘wʌndә ; ‘wonderful’  ‘wʌndәfl

‘-ing’                : ‘amaze’  ә’meɪz ; ‘amazing’ ә’meɪzɪɳ

‘-ish’                : ‘devil’  ‘devl ; ‘devilish’ ‘devlɪʃ

This is the rule for adjectives, verbs with stems of stems of more than one syllable always have the stress on the syllable immediately preceding ‘ ish’

Ex :      ‘replenish’       ri’pleniʃ

            ‘demolish’       dɪ’molɪʃ

Ø  Suffixes that influence stress in stem

The primary stress on the last syllable of the stem.

     

      ‘-ial’                 : ‘proverb’  ‘prɒvɜ:b  ; ‘proverbial’  prә’vɜ:biәl

      ‘-ion’               : ‘perfect’   ‘pɜ:fɪkt ; ‘perfection’  pә’fekʃn

      ‘-ious’              : ‘injure’  ‘ɪnʤә ; ‘injurious’  ɪn’ʤʊәriәs

      ‘-ty’                 : ‘tranquil’  ‘trӕɳkwɪl ; ‘tranquillity’  trӕɳ’kwɪlɪti

The suffixes ‘-ance’, ‘-ant’ and ‘-ary’

If the final syllable of the stem contains a long vowel or diphthong, or if it ends with more than one consonant, that syllable receives the stress.

‘-ance’                   : ‘importance’  ɪm’pᴐ:tns

‘-ant’                      : ‘consonant’   ‘kɑnsnәnt

‘-ary’                     : ‘military’  ‘mɪlɪtri

Here is a list of commonly used suffixes. Knowing these suffixes will help you to:

(1) work out the meaning of words

• -able / -ible when added to a verb, mean ‘can be done’; e.g. correctable, edible, unmistakable
• -ise / -ize are used to make verbs from nouns, and mean to change something or to go through a process; e.g. accessorise, apologise, initialise, synchronise
• -ology implies the study of a subject; e.g. biology, sociology, psychology
• -ness is used to make nouns from adjectives, and means to be something; e.g. airsickness, assertiveness, blindness, cleanliness

(2) recognise word class

• -ment (nouns) e.g. development, environment
• -ity (nouns) e.g. responsibility, prosperity, stability, stupidity
• -hood (abstract nouns) e.g. childhood, manhood
• -ship (abstract nouns) e.g. hardship
• -ive (adjectives) e.g. creative, alternative, comprehensive, qualitative
• -less (adjectives) e.g. careless, brainless, clueless, endless
• -al (adjectives and nouns) e.g. comical, cultural, historical, sexual, anal
• -ify (verbs) e.g. amplify, beautify, clarify, dehumidify, intensify

3.      PREFIXES

Stress in words with prefixes is governed by the same rules as those for words without prefixes. That is because the effect of prefixes on stress do not have the comparative regularity, independence and predictability of suffixes, and there is no prefix of one or two syllables that always carries primary stress.

4.      COMPOUND WORDS

Its main characteristic is that it can be analyzed into two (some can be more) English words. As woth the many of the distinctions being made in connection with stress, there are areas of uncertainty. For example; ‘photograph’ may be divided into two words, yet we usually do not regard it as compound, but as an affix words.

Some ways in writing compound words;

1. Written as one word, e.g. armchair, sunflower
2. Separated by hyphen, e.g. gear-change, fruit-cake
3. Separated by a space, e.g. desk lamp, battery charger

The third way causes confusion among the foreign learners because there is no clear dividing line between two-word compounds and pairs of words that simply happen to occur together quite frequently.

A few rules are given although there are not completely reliable. They are as the following;

1.      Words which do not receive primary stress normally have secondary stress. Normally, two-word compounds (two nouns) has the stress on the first element;

Typewriter – ‘taɪpraɪtә                       Suitcase – ‘sju:tkeɪs

Car-ferry – ‘ka:feri                              tea-cup – ‘ti:kΛp

Sunrise – ‘sΛnraɪz                             

2.      Compounds with an adjectival first element and the –ed morpheme at the end receive stress instead on the second element.

(Given in spelling only)

Bad-‘tempered

Half-‘timbered

Heavy-‘handed

3.      Compounds in which the first element is a number in some form also tend to have final stress:

(Given in spelling only)

Three-‘wheeler

Second-‘class

Five-‘finger

4.      Compounds functioning as adverb are usually final-stressed;

(Given in spelling only)

Head-‘first

North-‘East

Down ‘stream

5.       Compounds which function as verbs and have an adverbial first element take stress;

(Given in spelling only)

Down-‘grade

Back-‘pedal

Ill-‘treat

5.      VARIABLE STRESS

Stress pattern is not always fixed and unchanging in English word. Stress position may vary for one of two  reason:either as a result of the stress on the other words occurring next to the word in question , or because not all speakers of RP agree on the placement of stress in some words. The main effect is that the stress on a final –stressed compound tends to move to the preceding syllable if the following word begins with a strongly stressed syllable.

EX:

 bad –’tempered     but      a ‘bad- tempered ’teacher

half-’timbered        but       a ‘half-timbered  ‘teacher

heavy-’handed       but       a ’heavy-handed ‘sentence

The second is not a serious problem, but one that foreign learners should be aware of.  A  well-known example is ‘controversy’, which is pronounced by some speakers as  ‘kantrәv3:si           ’  and by others as kәn’travәsi; it would be quite wrong to say that one version was correct and one incorrect. Other example of different possibilities are ‘ice-cream’, ‘kilometer’ (‘kIlәmi:tә or kI’lamI).

WORD-CLASS PAIRS

There are several dozen pairs of two-syllable words with identical spelling which differ from each other in stress placement, apparently according two word class (noun, verb or adjective). When a pair of prefix-plus-stem word exists ,both them of which are spelt identically, one of which is a verb and the other is the either a noun or an adjective, the stress will be placed on the second syllable of the noun or adjective.

EXAMPLE :

• ‘export ’  ‘ekspƆ:t (N), Ik’spƆ:t (V)
• ‘import’ ‘‘ImpƆ:t (N), Im’pƆ:t (V)
• ‘present’ ‘preznt (N,A), prI’zent (V)
• ‘protest’ ‘prә⋃test (N), prә’test (V)

• ‘subject’  ‘sΛbd3Ikt (N), sәb’d3ekt (V)