Chapter 5 Word Stress It should first be pointed out that there are two kinds of stress: word stress and sentence stress. The former is concerned with the stressing of individual words of two or more syllables when they are pronounced in isolation. The latter refers to the stress that falls on certain word or words semantically important (语义上重要的) in a sentence . Here we shall only deal with the rules for the stressing of individual words. In English we usually find that simple words consisting of two or more syllables and a weak stress on the remaining syllable or syllables: ′happy, re′port, ′hospital In certain word of more than two syllables we find a secondary stress (次重音) besides the principal stress (主重音). ?admi'ration ?maga'zine ?repre'sent There are also a good many words which contain two or more syllables that have an equally strong stress on two of these syllables. Such word are said to have double stress or level stress (双重音或平级重音). ′Chi′nese, ′ four′teen, ′un′known 207. Generally speaking, there is no fixed place for strong stress in English words. In most cases no rules can be formulated, and even when they can, they have many exceptions. Although English word-stress is complicated, there are still some general rules which can be observed. They are as follows: For most English word of two or three syllables, the stress falls on the first syllable, e.g. ′apple, ′carry. ′problem, ′holiday, ′primary For words of three or more syllables, the stress normally falls on the third syllable form the end: ′family ′recognize de′mocracy phy′losophy e′conomy For words of two or three syllables with one of the following prefixes (前缀), the stress usually falls on the syllable following the prefix: a- a′bove a′go a′long be- be′come be′low be′gin com- com′bine com′pare com′plain con- con′tain con′clude con′nect de- de′tect de′sign de′termine em- em′bark em′ploy em′body en- enc′ourage en′gage en′joy es- es′cape es′pecial es′tablish ex- ex′change ex′cuse ex′cited im- im′portant im′ply im′press in- in′form in′tend in′deed ob- ob′tain ob′jective ob′serve per- per′mit per′form per′suade pre- pre′pare pre′fer pre′pay pro- pro′pose pro′mote pro′nounce sub- sub′mit sub′merge sub′jective trans- trans′form tran′slate tran′splant 4. For words the following suffixes, the stress nearly always on the syllable preceding the suffix: -ian music′ian politic′ian -ic atom′ic democrat′ic -ical phys′ical poli′tical -id sol′id stup′id -ial soc′ial part′ial -ion revolut′ion discuss′ion -ify simpl′ify beaut′ify -ible poss′ible terr′ible -ient suffic′ient pat′ient -ience pat′ience exper′ience -ity possibi′lity responsibi′ity -ish fool′ish pun′ish -eous courag′eous hid′eous -ious consc′ious delic′ious -ive nat′ive progess′ive -ant import′ant depend′ant Note: The following suffixed do not influence the place of word-stress: -ed, -es, -er, -est, -or, -ary, -ory, -ment, -ous, -cy, -ry, -ty, -al, -ure, -ute, -ble, -ar, -ly, -less, -ness, -ful, -ing. prision-prisoner move-movement conquer-conqueror carry- carrying custom-customary beauty-beautiful proper-property sorrow-sorrowness quick-quickly help-helpless 5. Some suffixes attract the primary stress (主重音) onto themselves. There is a secondary stress on the first syllable in words with such suffixes. Suffixed of this kind are as follows: -ain, -ee, -eer, -ier, -ade, -ival, -itis, -mental (-ental). Examples: refuge [′ref]-refugee employ-emplyee engine-engineer mountain-mountaineer fundament-fundamental accident-accidental bombard-bombardier lemon-lemonade gastric-gastritis heptic-hepatitis 6. Words formed through the combination of a prefix or a suffix with a distinct meaning of its own usually have double stress. One stress falls on the root syllable, the other on the suffix or the prefix, e.g. Chineses, thirteen, illegal, disloyal, half-finished, unknown, coexist, non-essential, misinterpret, semi-official But there is no stress on the prefix(1) if the word which is formed by means of the strong prefix is in common use, e.g., im′possible, un′uaual, (2) if the word to which it is addes is not in common use, e.g., un′bounded, un′wieldly used). (3) if the word does not correspond to the meaning which it has without the prefix, e.g., over′come, mis′give (not commected in meaning with the verb to come′ and the verb to give). It must be remembered that the semantic factor in English word-stress gives way to the rhythmical factor. Since there is a tendency to alternate stressed and unstressed syllables, a double-stressed word may lose one of its stresses if a stressed syllable immediately precedes or follows. Thus we pronounce: ′thir′teen, but ′thirteen ′hundred or ′just thir′teen ′sea′side, but ′seaside ′sports ′un′known, but the ′unknown ′soldier 208. Many English words of three or more syllables have two stresses: primary and secondary. The presence and the position of the secondary stress in English words are governed by the following rules: All English words of more than three syllables with the primary stress on the third or fourth syllable from the beginning have a secondary stress on the first or second syllable, e.g. ﹑revo′lution, ﹑recom′mend, ﹑corres′pond, e﹑xami′nation Words of three or more syllables in which the stress falls on the first or second syllable are pronounced without a secondary srress, e.g. ′hospital, ′necessary, o′pinion, con′temporary. All English words with the primary stress on the fourth or fifth syllable from the beginning, formed with suffixes which attract the primary stress onto the syllable immediately preceding the suffix, have a secondary stress on the syllable on which the primary stress falls in the original words. Examples: in′vestigate-in﹑vesti′gation par′ticipate-par﹑tici′pation pe′culiar-pe﹑culi′arity ex′periment-ex﹑perimen′tation A munber of two-syllable words in English have two different stress patterns according as they are vervs or nouns (or adjectives). For example: Noun/Adjectives (′ ) Verb(′ ) progress produce increase object conduct perfect 209. Stress in compound words Most English compound words have a strong stress on the first element, e.g. ′copy-book, ′bookcase. Some have a strong stress on the second element, e.g. man′kind, short′coming. There are also some which have double stress, e.g. ′stone-bridge, ′brick-′house. Special attention is called to the following cases of compound nouns: In compounds of two nouns, if the first noun indicates the material of or with which the second is made, we use double stress. For example, ′Paper ′bag means a bag made of paper. Other examples of words with double stress are: ′brick-′house (meaning a house built of bricks) ′stone-′bridge (meaning a bridge built of stone) ′stone ′hammer (meaning a hammer made of stone) In compounds of two nouns, if the first noun indicates the use of the second one, we have single stress on the first element. For example, ‘paper bag’ means a bag for keeping paper in. Other examples are: (1) ′farm tool (meaning a tool for doing farm work with) (2) ′pencil-box (meaning a box for keeping pencils in) (3) ′stone hammer (meaning a hammer for breaking stones) In compound nouns if the first noun implies some contrast, we have single stress on the first noun, for example, ′date tree, ′birth-place, ′post-office. ′Women′s Day In compound nouns if the first noun implies some contrast, we have single stress on the first noun. For example, ′stone breaker (meaning a man or machine that breaks stones), ′English teacher (meaning a teacher who teaches English), ′group leader (a person who leads a guoup). In the combination of a gerund and a noun we always have single stress on the gerund. For example: ′printing-shop ′swinmming-pool ′reaing-room ′working-condition In the combination of a present participle and a noun, the noun must be stressed. For example: ′floating′boat ′running′water ′smiling′girl ′singing′bird In many compound adjectives, we have double stress. For example: ′hand-′made ′hard-′working ′well-′known ′good-′looking ′bad-′tempered ′absent-′minded In the following combinations we have a single stress on the first noun, as the second noun (member or man) is a noun of wide denotation: ′League member, ′PL′A man.