LCA1Y020

Phonétique – Phonologie

Stress and Stress Patterns

Anne Guyot Talbot – room 752
[email protected]

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Stress – what is STRESS? (1)

Lexical STRESS Sentence STRESS

• the main syllabe in a word • the main syllable in a

• always full vowel sentence (may concern a
• surrounded by reduced phrase)
vowels • a stressed syllable (full
• particularly eligible for vowel, never reduced)
tone variation • starting point for pitch
variation
• Sometimes called
 a full vowel is longer nucleus if last in IP
than a reduced vowel 2
Stress – what is STRESS? (2)
Acoustic correlates of lexical stress:

• length (longer than syllable with a reduced vowel)

a) Those porcupines aren’t dangerous b) The wallabies are dangerous

7 syllables
5 full and 2 reduced vowels 2 full and 5 reduced vowels

2s 260ms 1s 880ms

• intensity (though not easily perceived as such – loudness)

• pitch variation (but not necessarily) 3
Stress – what is STRESS? (2)

• Stress patterns are represented with digits, assigning one digit

to each syllable in a word.
• 1 for primary level of stress (the lexical stress)
• 2 for secondary level of stress (rhythmical and derivational
pre-lexical stress)
• 0 for unstressed syllables

• Ex: recording == re . cor . ding

0 1 0

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Recording with Praat

• Record the sentence: “It was the church.”

• Praat

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Recording with Praat

• Free online software : http://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/praat/

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Recording with Praat

Plug your hands-free kit and start talking

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Recording with Praat

Change the title if you want

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Recording with Praat

Save to list or save to list and close (it closes

the recorder window)

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Recording with Praat

Select “1 sound – name of your file” in the

Objects list.
Click on “View & Edit”

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Recording with Praat

It was the

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Recording with Praat

was

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church
Recording with Praat

It was the

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church
Stress pattern

The rhythm of English requires that no word can begin with two
unstressed syllables : *00, and that two stressed syllables will be
separated by at least an unstressed one: *21

• When ONLY two syllables precede the main stress, the secondary
stress falls on the first

(1) mathematics /2010/

(2) education /2010/
(3) perspicacity /20100/

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Stress pattern

• When more than two syllables precede the main stress,

think of the nearest deriving form (= the root word):
=> The main stress of the deriving form becomes the secondary
stress of the derived form

(3) character /100/ -> characteristic /20010/

(4) eradicate /0100/ -> eradication /02010/
(5) organise /100/ -> organisation /20010/

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Where is the stressed vowel in English?

At word level:
• on the root of word (notion of morphology)?
• on the full vowel (notion of production or perception:
problem if you are a learner of English)?

ex: bib, manage, recording, giggle

All this is true and false :

ex: phonology, definition, ladybird, angelic

It depends on other constraints that are hierarchically organised 16

==> morphological level still
 Where
is the
stressed
vowel
in
English?

17

Fournier, J. M. (2010). Manuel d'anglais oral. Editions OPHRYS.

 Where is the stressed vowel in English?

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Fournier, J. M. (2010). Manuel d'anglais oral. Editions OPHRYS.

Endings (1)

• An ending
• located at the end of the word;
• an orthographic sequence;
• same number of letters;
• identical letters.

• Examples:
• relate
• Alternate
• communicate <-ate> is an ending in these words
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• administrate
Endings (2)

• In monosyllabic words (= one-syllable words), there is NO ENDING,

even if:
• located at the end of the word;
• an orthographic sequence;
• same number of letters;
• identical letters.

• Examples:
• rate
• date
• fate <-ate> is not an ending in these words
• late = root 20
• mate
Endings (3)

• In compounds, if the last element is a monosyllabic word,

there is NO ENDING even if:
• located at the end of the word;
• an orthographic sequence;
• same number of letters;
• identical letters.

• Examples:
• boilerplate = boiler + plate
• classmate = class + mate
• floodgate = flood + gate <-ate> is an not ending in these words
• cheapskate = cheap + skate = root
• birthrate = birth + rate 21
Suffix (1)

• A suffix is
• a special type of ending;
• attached to an autonomous word;
• used to make new words;
• used in a word-formation process called derivation.

• Examples: <-ate> is a suffix with these autonomous words

• oxygen + ate > oxygenate
• active + ate > activate
• consider + ate > considerate
• fortune + ate > fortunate
• assassin + ate > assassinate
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Autonomous words

Derivation
Suffix (2)

• In these examples:
• *segreg + ate > segregate ?
• *concentr + ate > concentrate ?
• *confisc + ate > confiscate ?
• *deterior + ate > deteriorate ?
• *hesit + ate > hesitate

Non-autonomous words

NO derivation

 <-ate> is a not suffix.

 It's an ending. 23
Suffix (3)

• Word formation: derivation

active + -ate > activate

Deriving form suffix derived form

derivation

new word = verb

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Suffix (4)

• Word formation: derivation: special case

+ -y > economy
+ -ist > economist
*econom- + -ise/-ize > economise/economize
+ -ic > economic
Non-autonomous
deriving form + -ical > economical

derivation via suffix substitution

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Stress-neutral suffixes

• Stress neutral suffixes – not all suffixes are stress neutral

• stress does not shift to another syllable in the derived form when
adding the suffix;
• the primary stress falls on the same syllable in the deriving form and
in the derived form.
• no exceptions (neutral or not)

• Examples
• ˈactive + -ism > ˈactivism
• ˈcapital + -ism > ˈcapitalism
• conˈservative + -ism > conˈservatism
• roˈmantic + -ism > roˈmanticism
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 <-ism> is a stress-neutral suffix
Stress-imposing suffixes and endings (1)

• stress imposing = stress does shift to another syllable in the

derived form when adding the suffix OR always falls on the
same syllable relatively to the suffix or ending (compare
several words)
• suffixes and endings may be stress imposing;
• primary stress falls on a different syllable in the deriving form;
• a stress-imposing ending imposes stress on a specific syllable in
words where it appears; always the same (or it is counted as an
exception)
• there may be exceptions.

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Stress-imposing suffixes and endings (2)

• Examples: stress-imposing ending <-ity>

vi . ˈci . ni . ty ce . ˈle. bri . ty

3 2 1 3 2 1

af . ˈfi . ni . ty ˈcha . ri . ty
3 2 1 3 2 1

 <-ity> is a stress-imposing ending because stress falls on the

3rd syllable counting from the end of the word (stress pattern
/-100/) in all words where it appears. 28
Stress-imposing suffixes and endings (3)

• Examples: stress-imposing suffix <-ity>

ˈhu . man hu . ˈma. ni . ty

1 0 3 2 1

e. ˈlec . tric e. lec . ˈtri. ci . ty

1 0 3 2 1

 when deriving with <-ity>, stress shifts to a different syllable

in the derived form.
 <-ity> is a stress-imposing suffix. 29
Stress-imposing suffixes and endings (4)

• Examples: stress-imposing suffix <-ity>: problematic case 1

• in . ˈtense + -ity > in . ˈten . si . ty
0 1 0 1 0 0
• ab . ˈsurd + -ity > ab . ˈsur . di . ty
• ma . ˈture + -ity > ma . ˈtu . ri . ty
• ba . ˈnal + -ity > ba . ˈna . li . ty

 coincidence: <-ity> is stress imposing (/-100/), but no stress

shift because stress /1/ is on the last syllable in deriving forms.
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Stress-imposing suffixes and endings (4)

• Examples: stress-imposing suffix <-ity>: another characteristic

ex . ˈtreme + -ity > ex . ˈtre . mi . ty

/iː/ /e/
di . ˈvine + -ity> di . ˈvi . ni . ty
/aɪ/ /ɪ/
se . ˈvere + -ity > se . ˈve . ri . ty
/ɪə/ /e/

The stress constraint entails a change of the quality of the

stressed vowel in the derived form: from a tense vowel to a 31
lax vowel : ‘VCV- and 100 = Luick’s pronunciation rule
Ending – VV (C(e))

• VV (C(e)) => /-1/

• Ba'zaar, addres'see, guaran'tee, refu'gee, refe'ree, trai'nee

• Sham'poo, kanga'roo
• Bal'loon, car'toon, co'coon

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Ending – CCe

• CCe=> /-1/

• Gi'raffe, ga'zelle, bi'zarre, fi'nesse, bru'nette

• Exceptions:
• 'charlotte, 'omelette, 'palette

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Ending – ade

• -ade => /-1/

• Ar'cade, ballus'trade, barri'cade, bri'gade, cas'cade, pa'rade

• Exceptions:
• 'decade, 'marmelade, 'renegade, 'tribade

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Ending – ese

• -ese => /-1/

• Chi'nese, japa'nese, leba'nese, etc. , o'bese

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Ending – eur/euse

• -eur/euse => /-1/

• Ama'teur, chaf'feur, dan'seur, li'queur,

• The same applies to borrowings in –aire such as question'naire

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Ending – (es)que

• -(es)que => /-1/

• An'tique, ba'roque, tech'nique, u'nique, gro'tesque,

pictu'resque

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Ending –C2 + adjectival ending in V(C(e))

• -C2 + adjectival suffix in V(C(e))=> /-10/

• C2 = 2 consonants (careful : C2 = 1C as in <-ch> in ache, <th>

in bathe, <Cr> in matrix, <Cl> in title)

• V(C(e)) = -al, -an, -ent, -ive, -ous (monosyllabic suffixes)

• An'cestral, e'ternal, hori'zontal, senti'mental

• Mo'roccan, su'burban,
• In'tensive,
• In'dulgent, con'sistent 38
• Di'sastrous, hor'rendous, tre'mendous
Ending –(i, e, u,) + V(C(e))

• –(i, e, u,) + V(C(e)) => /-100/

• cafe'teria, nos'talgia, phila'delphia, para'disiac, ma'terial

• 'nausea, 'cereal, 'ocean, 'linear, 'nuclear
• 'gradual, indi'vidual, 'usual, at'tenuate, 'fluctuate,
• 'genuine,
• tu'multuous, in'genuous

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Stress-imposing endings - summary

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