Word Stress and Sentence Phonology

WORD STRESS AND SENTENCE ACCENT Héctor Ortiz-Lira

WORD STRESS AND SENTENCE ACCENT

HECTOR ORTIZ-LIRA, PhD Lecturer In English and Spanish Phonetics. Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación Universidad de Santiago de Chtíe

Originalmente publicado como Cuadernos de la Facultad. colección Monografías Temáticas N° 16, Facultad de Historia, Geografía y Letras. Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación. Santiago de Chile, mayo de 1998. © Hector Ortlz-Lira 1998 Se prohibe toda reproducción total o parcial por cualquier medio escrito o electrónico sin autorización escrita del autor.

CONTENTS 1

2

FUNDAMENTAL CONCEMS OF THE THEORY or PROMINENCE

1.1 1.2 1.2.1 1.2.2

Introduction Prominence Piich Loudness

1.2.3

Length

1.2.4 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7

Quality Stress and accent Accent and prominence Degrees of word stress Word stress notation Stress shift

„

STRESS IN F.NGI.ISH SIMPLE WORDS

2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7

3

,.

Iniroduclion „ Word stress and syllable patterning. Word stress and sufnxation Word stress and grammatical category Word stress in KP and American English Alternative stress patlcrns Word stress patlcrns 2.7.1 Two-syllable words 2.7.2 Three-syllable words 2.7.3 Hour-syllable words 2.7.4 Five-syllable words 2.7.5 Six-syllable words 2.7.6 Seven-syllable words

, ;...,

,

STRESS IN ENGLISH COMPOUND WORDS

3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5

3.6

Introduction Terminology Compound word stress and EFL dictionaries labels for stress in compounds and collocations Single stress in compounds and collocations 3.5.1 RECord player. 3.5.2 BOOKshop 3.5.3 RAINdrop 3.5.4 WIRE-lapping. TIME-consuming 3.5.5 WALKing slick, LENOing library. 3.5.6 • BLACKboard, RALDhead 3.5.7 MOTH-eatcn. V-shaped 3.5.8 HOMEsick 3.5.9 COOKbook, DAYbrcak 3.5.10 TAKE-oJf. 3.5.11 BACKground 3.5.12 OXford Street, DEANSgale 3.5.13 Miscellaneous Double stress in compounds and collocations.... 3.6.1 KITchen SINK

3.7

4.

3.6.2 BAhyBOY 3.6.3 BUCKingham PALace 3.6.4' • APpie PIE 3.6.5 COMpactDISC. SECond-HAND

40 40 40 41

3.6.6

BRAND-NEW

43

3.6.7 3.6.8

OLDFASHioned HAM-F/STed. HOME-MADE

43 43

3.6.9

ROLUng STONE

3.6.10 DARK BLUE 3.6.11 COOD-LOOKing 3.6.12 Miscellaneous Three-word compounds 3.7.1 SECond World WAR 3.7.2 morning AFler pill 3.7.3 MERRY-go round

Sn.NTP.Nrn ACCENT 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Nuclear accent 4.3 Nuclearily 4.4 Nucleus placement theories 4.4.1 The traditional model 4.4.2 The syntactic model 4.4.3 The semantic model

44

'.

...44 44 45 45 45 45 45 46 46 46 47 4H 4X 50 50

r7o REFERENCES PRACTICE MATERIAL

.71 .74

Word accent Word ii tt rr e eu u and and sentence jentence accent

PRESENTATION

r—\

PRESENTACIÓN

Tlie materials contained in this booklet have been designed to meet the needs of the students who are taking the last courses in English phonetics at leacher-training college level. We intend to offer the latest theory available in a way which is accessible to students, together with plenty of practice material for marking and reading.

El material de este cuaderno ha sido diseñado con el fin de satisfacer las necesidades de los alumnos de los últimos cursos de fonética inglesa a nivel universitario. Es nuestro propósito ofrecer los más recientes contenidos teóricos de una manera que resulte accesible a los alumnos, además de abundante material para practicar lectura y ejercitar marcación.

This booklet is divided into four main sections. In the first, an analysis is carried out of the basic notions related to prominence; in the second, the problem of stress in simple words is revisited; the third addresses the topic of stress in compound*, and in the fourth, postlcxical (or sentence) accentuation is examined in detail. We are aware that the students' success in matters of prosody is particularly influenced by their mother tongue, and that is why constant com/xirison with Spanish is made, in an effort to point out differences and similarities.

El trabajo está dividido en cuatro secciones. En la primera, se analizan las nociones básicas relacionadas con prominencia; en la segunda, se revisa el tema de la acentuación en palabras simples; la tercera pane desarrolla la acentuación de palabras compuestas, y la cuarta examina en detalle la acentuación contextual. Estamos conscientes de que la lengua materna ejerce particular influencia sobre los resultados que logran los alumnos en materia de prosodia y es por eso que, en un esfuerzo por resaltar diferencias y similitudes entre las dos lenguas, se recurre a constantes comparaciones con el castellano.

A final appendix contains practice material for users to analyse and mark. This, together with the examples in the chapters, represents the largest collection of data on the subject ever published for EFL purposes. A key to ¡he exercises together with a cassette containing the majority of the examples in the text are abo available.

El apéndice (d final {leí texto contiene material de práctica para ser analizado y marca/lo. Este, junto con los ejemplos de los capítulos, representa el mayor corpus publicado para propósitos de enseñanza. Existe una clave para los ejercicios y una grabación en cásete de la mayoría de los ejemplos.

W o r d ftret* and icntence accent

1

Fundamental concepts of the theory of prominence

1.1

INTROIMJCTION

r

In this opening chaplcr wc shall l(K>k al various concepts which arc central to a theory of prominence. This includes an analysis of notions such as .stress, accent and prominence, a discussion of the thorny issue of degrees of stress, notation systems for stress and accent, and finally a ro-exum i nation of stress shift. Since wc ate catering for learners whose mother tongue is Spanish, constant reference to similar prohlems in that language is included in our discussion.

1.2

PKOMINI-NOi

The first task we must embark upon Is to elucidate the distinction between the notions responsible for highlighting portions of utterance. Wc shall begin by analysing die most basic of the concepts, that of prominence.' When we speak wc give more emphasis to some parts of an utterance than to others. We can make a syllable stand out with respect to its neighbouring syllables in a word, and in doing so the word containing that particular syllable will stand out wiüi respect to die rest of the words in the utterance. The elements which produce prominence at syllable level are: (i) pitch contrast, (ii) loudness, (hi) length and (iv) quality. As with all aspects of speech, these correlates can be described and defined in articulatory, acoustic and auditory terms, i.e. from the point of view of the person (speaker) who produces prominence, from the physical viewpoint (thai is, sound wave behaviour), and from the listener's angle (i.e. the way he perceives prominence). In the EPL situation acoustic criteria seem lo be of limited application and consequently wc shall concentrate on die production and, more particularly, on the reception stages, rather than on the transmission phase. 1.2.1

PITCH

Differences in pilch arc produced at the vocal folds: the tenser the vocal folds, \hc faster they vibrate, and the higher the note thai is produced -an articulatory characterisation. Bui we cannot actually feel our vocal folds vibrating faster or slower. What wc hear is a higher or lower note. So aniculalorily pitch depends mainly on (he tension and consequent rale of vibration of the vocal folds. Auditorily, it is that property of a sound, in terms of which it can be placed on a scale running from high to low. 1.2.2

LOUDNESS

Prom an articulatory poini of view, loudness is caused by greater muscular energy and breath force. Auditorily, it is defined as that properly of a sound which enables us, using only our cars, to place ii on a scale going from loud to sofl. So the speaker feels Ihis feature in one way -extra energy- and the listener hears it in another way -extra loudness.

0

Héctor Ortlz Uro

1.2.3 USNWC H is not necessary for our purposes to define lcnglh from the point of view of the person who produces it. Auditorily, it is that property of a sound which enables us, using only our cars, lo place it on a scale dial goes from long to short. 1.2.4

QUALITY

Aniculaiorily, quality depends on the shape of the cavities or resonators (mainly the mouth), whose function is to modify -sometimes amplify, sometimes suppress— the almost inaudible note produced at the vocal folds (commonly known as 'voice' bul more appropriately, vocal fold vibration). Auditorily, quality is defined as thai feature in icrms of which two sounds, similarly presented and having ihc same pitch, loudness and length, are still perceived as different; we say lhat [<e] and [a:], for instance, differ in terms of quality. In English, syllables containing [a], [i], [u] and syllabic consonants arc normally perceived as weak; two vowels, [i) and fuj. play a dual role, and the rest arc strong. Another way of referring lo these two types of vowels is Tull and reduced. The following table summarizes the auditory correlates of prominence, eg. Correlates PITCH LOUDNESS LHNCrni QUALITY

Syllables high loud long sirong

•

•

<> <>

<->

low soft short weak

If we analyse the litlc of this chapter from the point of view of prominence, we will most probably conclude that there are four syllables which stand out from the rest Here we show them in small capitals, e.g. MJNdamcntal (X)Neepis of die TllliOry of PROMincnco. These four syllables arc made prominent mainly because they contain sirong vowel sounds produced with relatively greater loudness and, more important, with pitch movement or contrast.2 In sum, all four elements can play a part in making a syllabic stand out over the rest. They do not all play an equally important part, though, nor arc all four always present together. In ihc example above there arc also eight non-prominent syllables. These arc, from left to right, -da-, 'tal, of, the. -ry, of. -in-, -ence. all of which consist of weak vowels or, in the case of -tal, absence of vowel. There arc two syllables which arc more prominent than the eight weak ones, but less prominent than the first four we analysed, e.g. -men- and -cepts. These two contain the strong vowel [e], and it is fairly passible that in a normal reading of the utterance, a native speaker would identify syllabic -men- with some kind of a 'rhythmic beat', i.e. a combination of extra loudness and lcnglh. The really prominent syllables arc so identified because they display the most decisive of the elements producing prominence-pilch contrast. There is a notation system called 'interlinear toneiie', which is a lypc of narrow transcription for intonation in which each syllable is represented by a dot; a large dot indícales a prominent syllable; a small dot, a non-prominent one. Since ihc upper line corresponds to the speaker's top pitch range and the botlom line to his bottom pilch range, it

Word r t r e i i and sentence occent

/—

follows that the pitch of each individual syllabic, prominent and non-promincnl, can be shown. In the following diagram ihe size and highl of each syllable indicator represent only relative values, e.g. (1.1)

1.3

fAndamentl knnsepts sv ÓP 8iori av prominans

STRESS AND ACCENT

The labels stress and accent have a long tradition in prosodic studies bul it is only since the beginning of die seventies that ihc majority of phoneticians have come lo agree on die notions they refer to. Whereas prominence is exclusively a phonetic notion 'used to refer to the general distinctiveness of an utterance of any length' (Crystal, 1969: 120), stress and accent have phonological status. In this booklet wc arc also using prominence as a blanket term which covers all phenomena related to the highlighting of syllables in words and of words in longer utterances; hence me tille of the chapter. Important differences can be established between slress and accent. In the first place, stress is a feature of the word, a lexical abstraction or a dcconlcxnialiscd form which becomes concrete realisation only if the word gels an accent in an utterance; hence, accent is a feature of the utterance, i.e. a concrete, coniextualised category. This makes accent an observable phenomenon, as opposed to slress, which is merely analytical. To sum up, stress is a potential for accent and accent is an exponent of slress. Let us explain the above in practical terms. Dictionaries give every word of two or more syllables a stress mark; each stress pattern represents not only an entry in the dictionary but also an entry in our mental lexicon, i.e. each word is stored in our mind in the form of a pattern of sounds (i.e. a phonemic pattern) and a pattern of prominences (i.e. a slress pattern); in more technical terms, stress is a phonological property of words.3 Stresses in words, however, cannot guarantee that die word will get an accent in a particular context, since this will depend on two main factors -the rhythmic structure of the utterance, as will be explained in §1.7- and pragmatic-discoursal principles, which regulate accentuation according to (i) word classes -content words arc much more acccniablc dian structural words, (ii) ihe information structure of ihc utterance (roughly, words representing new information get an accent while those conveying given information tend not to), and (iii) language specific rules which, in the case of English, assign more accents to nouns than to verbs in particular constructions. (See chapter 4.) Monosyllables arc never shown bearing stresses in dictionaries. This docs not mean dial they do not have a stress but simply mat showing the slress on ihc only syllabic available would be redundant. This explains why an unstressed dictionary form may very well need an accent in a given context, as is the case in STRESS and ACcent have been NEAR SYNonyms for a LONG TIME, where a normal reading would assign accent lo four monosyllables.

0

H é c t o r Ortlz

Uro

The fact dial words make use of pilch contrast in ullcrances in order lo convey prominence -a feature ihey do not display at lexical, decontextualiscd level- has made various authors differentiate between stress and accent according to which of the correlates of prominence is the most dominant feature. Therefore, they define accent as a feature of prominence whose main perceptual component is pitch change; this has originated the Lcrm 'pitch accent', widely used in modern descriptions; by way of contrast, they define stress as a feature of prominence in which the dominant perceptual component is loudness. According to this view, in ( I . I ) the first dinx prominent syllables near stress, and the last, accent Followers of this view arc A.C. Gimson (1962). Crystal (1969), Lchistc (1970), O'Connor & Arnold (1973), and Cruitcndcn (1997).

1.4

ACCENT AND PROMINENCE

As was pointed out earlier, the most easily perceived type of prominence is pilch prominence signalled by changes in pitch; but since pilch contrast also happens to be die main indicator of accent, the two phenomena, accent and prominence, are often confused in certain contexts. In this section we shall attempt to point out the danger implied and clear up this confusion. There arc three main places in an intonation group* where pitch prominence can be confused widi pilch accent. The first occurs just after die last (nuclear) accent, particularly i f die prominent syllable is said on a relatively high pilch, e.g. some in example (1-2). or i f it performs a rising pilch movement after an accented fall, e.g. does in (1.3). In interlinear notation, prominent syllables arc marked as o. e g . (1.2)

d j u w o n t SAm

(1.3)

DDbi dAZ

• ^

oJ Confusion between accent and prominence in this position is die mast troublesome of all, since ihe major part of ihe meaning of die whole utterance is conveyed by die ponion beginning ai the last accent (technically known as 'nuclear tone"). What is crucial in our theory is dial neiuScr of these prominent syllables is accented because dicy do not initiate pitch conirasi, but simply complete it -some completes a rise and does, die rising end of a fall-rise. We shall say lhai a syllabic is accented when it begins pilch contrast As can be seen in ihe interlinear representation of examples (1.2) and (1.3) (conlexlualised below as (1.4) and (1.5). respectively), the last accents -WANT and BOH- - arc actually beginning pilch movement: the former, a movement 'up-from* and die latter, a movement 'down-from'. Spanish learners often mislake prominent syllables for accented ones at die end of ullcrances, particularly when a rising lone is involved, which results in an unmistakable sign of foreign accent, cf. (1.4)

These grapes arc dcLlcious. D'you WANT some'.' (*D'you wani SOME?)

(1.5)

A: B:

Nobody ever WRITES to her. BOUby does. (*Bobby DOES.)

Ambiguity bciween accent and prominence can also lake place before die first acceni in

Word streit and sentence accent

/—p.

ihc intonation-group, in ihc sirctch or utterance technically known as 'prc-hcad', and il involves words which arc of ihc unacccniablc lypc and usually lake weak-form pronunciations, e.g.. pronouns, auxiliary verbs, conjunctions, etc., as in (1.6)

it d39St didnt sks: ts mi

. . ^

Here the syllables itjust arc prominent but unaccented. The first pitch accent is realised as a 'step-down' on did and Ihc nuclear accent -cur, as a movement 'down-from'. In normal circumstances, the first lwo syllables would be very near the 'baseline', i.e. slightly above the bottom pilch. (This high, though unaccented, sirctch of utterance conveys an omphalic effccL) Examples such as There are NO possimlitiesf /6ori> nau posobibtiz/ and You'd've THOUGHT it was FtiAsihle! /jud 3v 8o:l it waz Fv.zMI can be said with a pilch pattern very similar to lhalin (1.6), particularly if a protesting overtone was lo be ailached; both can begin with two high (therefore prominent), unaccented syllables. Finally, ambiguity between prominence and accent can occur when the first pitch accent, which indicates ihc beginning of the 4 head' 5 , and Ihc last pilch accent, which is the nucleus, form a sequence of level iones, either high or low. The accentual status of any other prominent syllables occurring between these two accents will be obscured by die absence of pitch contrast, as is the case of Ihc syllables ask- and who's in It's NO good ASKing WHO'S to BLAME. Some authors refer to these syllables as 'tertiary stresses', since stresses do not involve pitch prominence. In the present analysis we shall leave the question unsolved and refer to these syllables as either accented or prominent Fortunately, in this position in the intonation-group, the neutralisation of the contrasi docs not have any practical effect, e.g. (1.7)

its nao gud a:skirj hu:z ts bleim

•

• • • • •

»X

The he pitch accents in a head such as that in example (1.1), sometimes referred to as 'slcpp ing head', form a scries of steps-down in which they do in fact initiate a movement and will be considered accents. In summary, (i) not all prominent syllables are accented, and (ii) the majority of accented syllables are prominent, though -given the phonological status of accent- it is perfectly possible to find accented syllables which arc perceived as non-prominent and, in extreme eases, accented syllables which are hardly perceived at all, e.g. the gesture which realises Ihc first accented syllabic in Jones' much quoted utterance Thank you pronounced (kkju] (1956: 245). The formulaic overtone implied by syllabic thank starling a rising movement from a rather low pilch makes the listener perceive only the second, prominent syllable, you. (Jones said there was a subjective stress on the firsl double consonant.) This solution poses

-—,

Héctor Ortíi Uro

another prohlem for the identification of accent, that of the 'subjective effort' hypothesis. The view is disputed by phoneticians who deny the possibility of considering syllables which are not perceived by the listener. Wc can think of similar patterns in Spanish, e.g. ¡Claw! as an answer implying the obvious, with a very low, voiceless first syllabic. The interlinear notation of the English utterance shows a prominent syllable only, e.g. (1.8)

k kju O

The native speaker and listener do not always depend on the same clues as the foreign student for the perception of accent. When two naiivc sneakers communicate, they are sharing the same linguistic code, and consequently wiil make judgements based noL on what they actually hear, but on what they know they should hear. From this point of view, the native listener's perception of accent is subjective as it is influenced by his previous knowledge of the language. He normally knows where accent is and will seldom confuse it with prominence. This type of confusion may lead to ambiguity. 1.5

DRGREES OP WORD STRESS

•

The question of how many levels of stress can be distinguished in English words is not without problems. The same can be said of Spanish, for that matter. Spanish speakers are normally aware of the existence of one syllabic in every word (of more than one syllable) which they idcniify as accented: this is the syllable carrying primary stress. The existence of other (secondary) stresses in relatively longer words is an aspect of Spanish phonology naiivc speakers tend not to he aware of, and one on which linguists do not fully agree. The existence of ai least two degrees of stress in certain English words of iwo or more syllables is an issue more firmly settled. The traditional American school of prosody accounts for four degrees -primary, secondary, tertiary and WMk (e.g. Tragcr & Smith, 1951: 37). Chomsky & Halle (1968: 16) speak of primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary or zero. In ihc British school, Kingdon (1958b) recognises the existence of three degrees-primary, secondary and weak or unstressed. The latest version (1989) of the IPA (Inlcmalional Phonetic Association) alphabet provides marks for Iwo degrees only, primary and secondary. Of the two pronouncing dictionaries published in Britain in ihc 90's, LPD (Weils, 1990:683) recognizes three main degrees of stress (primary, secondary and tertiary) plus two further degrees, which are typical of syllables carrying no stress marks hut which have a strong vowel (fourth degree) and a weak vowel (fifth degree). Although EPD (Jone.s, Roach & Hartman, 1997: xii) recognizes three levels, it finally slicks to only two in order to avoid unnecessary complexity. Roach (1991) operates with three -primary and secondary stress and prominent syllables. Lastly, GPE (Gimson & Cruitendcn, 1994) distinguishes four degrees -primary, secondary, full vowel and reduced vowel-, but at citation level, however, it operates with only two marks, one for primary and one for secondary. The following table shows ihc various levels of word sircss according lo GPE (1994), LPD (1990) and the present author

Word

GPE 1

2 3 4 5

stress and sentence a c c e n t

This work

LPD

primary stress secondary stress full vowel reduced vowel

©

primary stress secondary stress leniary stress strong vowel weak vowel

primary stress secondary stress prominent syllable non-prominent syllable

Only two degrees of stress will be accounted for and consequently marked in the present analysis. These two stresses have phonological status, i.e. their distribution in the word, together with the phonemic pattern -that is, each word taken as a sequence of phonemes and stresses-specify the phonological information with which the lexical item is recorded in the mental lexicon. The other two types of syllabic, prominent and non-prominent, are mere phonetic categories and arc left unmarked. A syllable is prominent when it contains a strong vowel or displays (but does not initiate) some kind of pilch movement or performs a rhythmic beat. If we want lo establish a correlation between degrees of stress, as a purely lexical feature, and accent, as a contextual feature, we can conclude that primary stresses are the most logical candidates for nuclear accents and that secondary stresses can become nuclear accents only in utterances implying some kind of contrast. (Problems related to accentuation in contexts will be analysed in chapter 4.) This type of difference between primary and secondary stresses is, then, of a functional nature; another view would be to differentiate between them in strictly phonetic terms and say that one is stronger (or weaker) than ihe oiher. A characterisation in perceptual terms is, however, subjective and liable to lead us into difficulty. The following diagram shows the possible correlations, starting from the least marked (i.e. 'normal') contexts; • means 'can be realised as', e.g.

Lexical

level

primary stress

Contextual ->

secondary stress

1.6

prominent syllable

-V

non-prominent syllabic

->

level

nuclear accent, prcnuclear accent, unaccented syllable in pre-hcad and tail; prcnuclear accent, unaccented syllable in prc-head and tail, nuclear accent in contrastivo contexts; unaccented syllable in prc-head and tail, nuclear accent in very conlraslivc contexts; unaccented syllable in prc-head and tail. *

WORD STRESS NOTATION

Phoneticians have used different notation systems lo represent word stress. Some of them show primary stresses only, while others show primary and secondary stresses; some notations arc of a more phonological nature, whereas others, more phonetically biased, indicate the pitch movement which normally accompanies stressed syllables -usually a falling tone on die last, primary stress. The following arc the most common types:

H é c t o r O r t i i Uro

0 •

1.6.1 The syllable carrying primary stress is capitalised; die secondary stress is left unmarked, e.g. . - . pronunciAlion, BAby sitter, plum PUDding 1.6.2 The stressed syllable is underlined; cither the primary only or both, primary and secondary stresses, can be shown, e.g. pronunciation, pronunciation,fcabysiller, plum pudding, pJum pjniding 1.6.3 The stressed syllables are assigned numbers, 1 lor primary, 2 for secondary, etc.; other numbers can be used to indicate further degrees of stress, e.g. }

1

7

I

1

3

1

I 4

1

4

1

I )

J

baby sitter, plum pudding, brand-new car, elevator operator 1.6.4 Stress marks arc placed either before or on lop of each syllable bearing ihc stress; several sub-systems can be identified, among which the system that uses for primary stress and , for secondary is the most widespread in EFL dictionaries and oüícr reference books produced in the UK; these marks have been recommended by the IPA for over 70 years. The tonctic-stress marking system invented by Kingdon (1939) continues to be the most widely used in intonation courses produced in Britain, c.g. 1.6.4.1

(' ^primary,, =sccondary,i =lcrtiary)

jdecon.tami'naiion, 'baby sitter, 'baby .sitter, 'baby.sillcr 1.6.4.2 (* =primary,' ^secondary) 'dccon'iamf nation, "baby sitter, plum spudding, 'plum'pudding 1.6.4.3 (* =primary,' =secondary,, =lcrliary) 'decoi^iamfnaiion.'elc.vator 'operator,'blackboard 'rubber 1.6.4.4 (' =primary,A = secondary,* = tertiary) dScontámináüon, White House, while house (=not a brown one), elevator operator 1.6.5 All syllables arc accounted for in 'interlinear notation' -a sort of pictorial, narrow transcription indicating stresses/accents and pitches. The conventions arc as follows: a large tailed dot = primary stress; a large filled dot = secondary stress; a large empty dot = prominent syllabic; a small dot = non-prominent syllable. This transcription was originally invented to show intonation, bul al this point we shall use il to indicate word stress. In (1.9), two words arc transcribed with their citation pronunciation, which normally implies falling intonation -first with lonelic-strcss marks and then in interlinear notation, e.g. (1.9)

'di:pa:fmentl

'diiksn'taimrneit ••

•o 1.6.6

(•> ^primary, • = secondary, o = prominent, • = non-prominent). This notation,

Word itretf and sentence • I W » » f f l W » M W W M « ^ ^

accent

(T7~l l'5 I

sometimes referred 10 as 'tadpole', is a simplifieaiion of the interlinear notation; it accounts :JT all four types of syllable with no indication of pitch movement e.g. brand-new car • o *>

differentiate • • «* • o

In this work we shall normally use the tonctic stress marking system, a sort of broad transcription which fulfills two roles: it displays accentuation by presence and pitch movement according to the shape of the mark; as explained before, prominence is left unmarked. The pictorial nature of the notation, which makes it relatively easy to interpret, together with the economy represented by the small number of marks it consists of, explain why the system has been successfully adopted in various intonation courses. The use of for primary stress shows the normal association of this stress with a falling nuclear lone, typical of citation forms. For instance, die citation pronunciation of the word departmental / d i : p a : f mentí/ contains all four levels of prominence/stress. If we number the syllables from 1 (left) to 4 (right) we find that syllable I hears secondary stress; syllabic 2 is prominent; syllabic 3 has primary stress, and syllabic 4 is non-prominent Notice, however, that in the citation pattern of the phrase departmental meeting /'di:pa:tmentl *mi:tirj/ the syllabic starting pitch contrast is no longer the third syllable, but the first. This phenomenon is explained in the next sccuon. 1.7

STRESS SHIFT

By definition, a syllable bearing primary sutss is the one which normally initiates pilch contrast; a secondary stress is less likely to be pitch contrast initiator, but it can certainly play that role when the rhythmic pressure of the context (i.e. the neighbouring prominences) causes the redistribution of stresses called 'stress shift'. This change of roles is ihc result of ihc tendency in English to separate strong, primary stresses by weak, unstressed syllables. A similar tendency is not unknown in Spanish. The problem is dial there is still a fairly amount of research to be done in order to identify the accentual behaviour of double-stressed items which reverse their stress paitems in a way similar to English when used in connected speech. This would explain why a word such as 'veinti * cuatro, with two potential stresses, becomes 'veinticuatro "mil, and why the question ¿Estás de acuerdo? can cilher get ihc answer Abso 'luta'mente or Abso 'lulamente de a' cuerdo. This tendency towards stress shift seems more noticeable in English than in Spanish. The pressure cxcricd by adjacent stresses in Spanish, for instance, would make an English speaker say the names Iván 'Torres and 'Fidel 'Castro, rather than die normal Spanish patterns / 'van 'Torres and Fi 'del 'Castro. Other pailcms. of ihc BBC type -/*bi: bi: 's'vJ, / b e be 'sd- arc the same in both languages, e.g. JVC, KLM. FBI, etc. Stress shift in English affects bolh simple and compound words whose cilaüon palicm consists of a secondary stress followed by a primary sircss in the same word. This doublestress pattern, however, accommodates lo the pallem of stresses which precede and follow in the text, in such a way thai stresses on consecutive (or almosl consecutive) syllables arc avoided. For instance, the accentuation of the phrase preconceived ideas comes from ihc citation patterns 'preconceived +i'deas. The resulting pattern is, however, 'preconceived i'deas, in which syllable pre-, originally carrying secondary stress, becomes the only pilch movement inilialor in the word, and ihc original primary stress, -ceived, becomes a mere rhythmic beal for which iherc is no mark available in our system. 7 (In other notation systems a mark is provided for these prominent syllables.) This stress palicm reflects ihc

0

Héctor Ónix Lira

attributive function of the adjective, i.e. the adjective premodifics the head of the NP. In Your i'deas are precon'ceived the adjective is predicative, i.e. it is part of the predicate, and consequently it is the secondary stress on pre- which is lost. Other examples with doublestressed simple words arc, e.g. (1.10)

citation forms: attributive use:

predicative use:

'atmos'pheric, 'audiovisual, 'auto'matic 'Let's di'scuss 'atmospheric 'pressure 'Why not 'use 'audiovisual 'aids We 'madethe 'tripón 'automatic 'pilot 77?e 'music was 'highly atmos 'pheric The System we use is audio 'visual The 'processis 'fidly auto'matic

Double-stressed compounds can also be subject to stress shift when used as adjectives or adverbs, either attributively or predicutively, e.g. (1.11)

citation form: attributive use: predicative use:

'double 'decker 'Double-decker 'buses are 'typically / 'love double- 'deckers

(1.12)

citation form: attributive use: predicative use:

'second- "hand I'm 'talking about 'second-hand "furniture The 'books were 'bought second-'hand

(1.13)

citation form: attributive use: predicative use:

'well- "formed 'This is an e 'xample of a ^ell-formed 'Sentences 'must be well-'formed

'British

"sentence

Similarly, proper names and names represented by initials can also undergo stress shift in the same conditions, e.g. (1.14)

citation form: attributive use: predicative use:

'Picca'dilly 'Let's 'goto 'Piccadilly 'Circus She 'fives near Picca'dilly

(1.15)

citation form: attributive use: predicative use:

*C"D The 'new 'version's on / 'have it on C "D

'CD'Rom

Stress shift also affects phrasal verbs, the citation patterns of which consist of two stresses, e.g. (1.16)

citation form: attributive use:

'come'out The 'pictures 'came out

'well

Word rtreií and sentence occent

predicative use:

The pictures

(TT^

didn't come "out

A small group of single-, late-stressed adjectives, exhibit a similar tendency. Their predicative pattern is the same as their citation pattern \ e.g. (1.17)

citation forms: attributive use:

ex'cess, com'pact. di "net We 'had to 'pay 'excess 'baggage I'd '¡ike to 'buy her a 'compact 'disc A 'transitive 'verb takes a 'direct 'object

(1.18)

predicative use:

¡'ma'fraidhe 'smokes to ex" cess The 'new 'flat is 've/y com 'pact We 'went to the 'beach di'rect

The above also occurs in a number of single-stressed place names, e.g. (1.19)

citation forms: attributive use: predicative use:

Ber '¡in. Bel 'fast 'When was the 'Berlin 'Wall blocked down? He 'liveson 'Belfast 'Avenue We 'went through 'East Berlin The 'capital of'Northern 'Ireland's Bel'fast

Finally, short phrases containing two stresses and which combine with further stressed material can also be affected by stress shift, e.g. (1.20) (1-21) (1-22) (1-23) (1.24) (1.25) (1-26) (1-27) (1-28) (1-29) (1.30)

very 'warm + ^welcome fairly 'new + cre'ation 'good 'night + kiss a 'hard 'day + night a 'lot 'more + rain a 'lot 'less + 'money not 'very + much 'much 'more + at'tention 'far 'Uss + exhaling quite a 'bit + 'older 'very 'little + time

= = = = = = = = = = =

a \ery warm 'welcome a 'fairly new ere 'ation a 'goodnight 'kiss a 'hardday's 'night a 'lot more "rain a 'lot ¡ess 'money not very 'much 'much nwre at'tention 'far less ex'citing 'quite a bit 'older 'very little 'time

—i IB \W\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\^^^^^

H é c t o r Ortiz Lira

2

Stress in English simple words

2.1

INTRODUCTION »

The first ihing thai needs lo be clarified is lo stale what we understand by simple word. Strictly speaking, a simple word is one which is made up of a single grammatical unii called stem, e.g. photograph, judge. Derivatives such as photography, photographic and prejudgement arc not, technically speaking, simple words, but complex, because ihcy contain affixes (ciihcr prefixes and/or suffixes). For EFL purposes, however, ii will be better lo consider all three examples as simple words. Stress in compounds will be dealt wilh in chapter 3. The second aspect is related lo Ihc way in which Spanish speakers can learn English stress pallems. The two main views on Ihc subject are that (Í) ihe rules lhat govern English stress placement in words arc so complicated, that students had bcilcr learn the pattern of each word as dicy learn Ihe word itself; (ii) Ihc learner should keep in mind the most common rules that predict stress placement in words and apply Üicm whenever necessary; these are phonological rules, which establish relationships between phonemic patterning and stress (in §2.2 stress is related to English vowels), and morphological rules, which indícale the relationship between suffixes and stress (sec §2.3) and also between grammatical class and stress, e.g. * progress (noun)-pm egress (verb; sec §2.4). A further rule, which has lo do with etymology, predicts stress placement according to whether the word is, for instance, of Germanic, Greek or Latin origin. However, given that our students of English arc, on the whole, not familiar wilh diachronic studies, we shall not take up this analysis. Finally, a special difficulty is met with stress variation -ihc stress pattern of a few words depends on British vs. American preference and, furthermore. RP speakers sometimes vary in die stress pattern they use, the result being thai a few words have alternative patterns (sec §2.5 and §2.6, respectively.) Spanish speakers arc recommended lo make use of as many different lypcs of information as possible in order to predict stress placement in simple words. They should also be aware of die large number of exceptions lo die rules. Rules and main exceptions are analysed in the next sections.9 2.2

WORD STRKSS AND SYJ.hAul.l' PATHiKNING

The English phonological vowel system may be said lo consist of two separate subsystems, strong and weak, each one correlating with syllabic stress. Thus, whereas stressed syllables can only have strong vowels, unstressed syllables can be made up of either strong or weak vowels. In Ihe table below, the column 'stressed* indicates what vowel phonemes can gel a stress in English syllables; the last two columns indícale what vowels make syllables eiüicr 'prominent' or 'non-prominent'. The following conclusions may be drawn from the table: (i) Any vowel apart from /a, i, u/-the so-called "unstrcssable vowels'- may occur with cither a primary or secondary stress; /i, u/ arc not lo be confused wilh /i:, u:/, e.g. bikini /bf ki:ni/. The rest of the vowels may be stressed or unstressed.

Word

stress e n d sentence

0

accent

(ii) Ail long vowels and certain short vowels always make syllahles prominent; Ihis means that they arc inherently prominent (iii) /i, u/belong to both subsystems. For instance, in the word minimum rm\mmsm/. I\l plays the part of a strong vowel in syllabic I and a weak vowel in the next syllahlc. Syllables containing/i, u/ arc prominent if they arc stressed; this is because these vowels do not have inherent prominence. The last Tour types of syllables arc always considered nonprominent

stressed Strong

vowels

prominent

non-prominent

(long):

i:

a:

u: 3: all diphthongs

Strong

vowels

(short):

1

D O A

Weak

vowels: i i

U u

syllabic consonants

Other rules help predict stress in words depending on the phonological structure of the syllable involved. For instance, in the verbs supply, prefer, explain, etc., the stress coincides wilh a long vowel, whereas in vary, differ, etc., the final short vowels arc unstressed. Something similar occurs with the nouns control, desire, debate, on the one hand, and with story, metre, apricot, on the other. Still other rules are based on the number of syllables and (inaj consonants a word has. This type of information is prohably the most

Héctor

Ortix

Uro

complicated lo remember, bul experience has shown ihal lhc lask is made easier if a more meaningful clement is brought into the discussion. For instance, a comparison of long Spanish cognate words with lhc corresponding English forms may help learners fix stress patterns in their minds, e.g. English verb forms ending in -ate(d), -ify (-ified), -ise(d), etc. and Spanish forms in -ar, -ado, etc. bring out marked differences, as in (2.1)

"complicate, * complicated 'decorate, "decorated 'modify, "modified "satisfy, 'satisfied 'organize, "organized ' realise," realised

-

complicar, complicado deco 'rar, deco "rath modifi'car, modificado satisfa "cer, satis 'fecho organi 'zar, organi "zado reali "zar, reali* zado

In general, English three-syllable words have a strong tendency lo bear stress on the antepenultimate syllable. ' In lhc next section, the influence of suffixes on word stress is looked at in givuler deplh. 2.3

WORD SiKliSS AND SUlTIXA'nON

Word stress is partly predicted from morphology. This means Ihal lhc addition of suffixes will determine stress placement according to whether the suffix leaves lhc siem pattern unaltered, or wheihcr it attracts stress towards itself, or shifts it lo the preceding syllable. The following arc among lhc most productive examples: 2.3.1 SUI-nXIiS NOT AH'ECTING STliM STRiüSS -able, -ible -ful -less -ly -ment -ness Exceptions:

re ^ly, re "liable; "notice, 'noticeable; di * vide, di * visible 'plenty, 'plentiful; for" get, for'gelful "colour, "colourless; re"gard, re'gardless 'passionate, "passionately; "separate, "separately "manage, "management; de'velop, de'velopment de"cisive, de'eisiveness; 'arbitrary, 'arbitrariness ad'mire, 'admirable; com"pare, "comparable;pre"fer, "preferable e"lect, "eligible; négleet, 'negligible. Also intelligible

2.3.2 SUIWXnS ATTRACTING STRKSS -ee -ese -ette

ad'dress, 'address"ee; "interview, 'interview'ee 'journal, journal "ese; Ja"pan, 'Japan'ese disc, di'skette; "laundry, launderette

2.3.3 SUFnXBS RJUKCTINü STRESS The following suffixes reject stress to the immcdiaicly preceding syllable, e.g. •4c -ion

'artist, artistic; e'eonomy, leco"nomic o"btige, 'obli "gation; in"spire, 'Inspi "ration

Word stress and sentence

0

accent

~ity

*curious, lcuri'osity; "solemn, so"lemnity

Exceptions:

"Arab, 'Arabic. Also arithmetic, 'catholic, 'lunatic, 'politic, 'rhetoric

Learners arc well-advised lo pay aiicniion lo the rules governing ihc so-called 'stress alternations' resulting from the addition of affixes to stems so as to form related words. The application of phonological rules may cause changes in both ihc patlcrn of phonemes and stress placement An examination of Ihc correspondence between phoneme and spelling reveals that vowels vary with stress. These rules may provide studcnLs with further clues to predict stress patterns. In the following examples, ihc tadpole notations do not indicate prominent, unsircsscd vowels, as in diplomat /vdipbma2tA e.g. (2.2)

{9s • •)

*+

diplomat photograph benefit demtycrat politics competence (2.3)

(.«0

thi repeat invite 2.4

(•»**) diplomacy photography beneficence democracy political competitor

*•*

< •

<

VI

•)

diplomatic photographic beneficial democratic politician competition

( • • • > •)

explanation competition inclination derivation repetition invitation

WORD STRESS ANI> GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY

Stress placement may distinguish between certain nouns and adjectives, on ihe one hand, and verbs, on the other, most of which are two-syllable words with identical spellings and identical or similar phonemic paticms. This is one of the easiest rules for the prediction of stress placement which learners can pul into practice. All ihcy have to remember is lhai nouns and adjectives take stress on the first syllabic and verbs on the second. Notice thai a similar rule opérales in die Spanish noun 'término and the adjective 'último and the corresponding verbs termino, termi'nó, id timo, idti "mó. In this section we shall examine 40 of ihc most common pairs. In the majority of cases, the unstressed syllable of the verb contains a weak vowel (e.g. suspect isa'spekt/, contest /kon'test/. bul this tendency is not so strong with nouns and adjectives, since the unstressed syllables of these words arc. prominent, e.g. /"kontest/, /"SASpekt/. as can he seen in: (2.4)

annex conveti

II!

accent contrast exploit pervert record

attribute convict extract produce survey

conduct decrease frequent progress suspect

conflict

defect object project

contest desert perfect protest

contract escort permit rebel

Héctor Ortii Lira

©"'

In u lew eases il is only iho stress puliem whieh distinguishes between noun and verb. asín the pair A import/(n.) --/inip:>:t/(v.). Similarly: (2.5) dictate 2.5

digest

discount

increase

insult

torment

transput '

WORDSTRI-SS IN RP AND AMI.RICAN I-WÍI.I.MI

There is notieeable variation in stress placement between British and American I-nglish particularly in words of French origin. In general, the tendency here is for Americans U> place die primary stress on ihe last syllable, following a more Trench' pronunciation, so to speak, whereas the British prefer an early stress. The following is a list containing lite most common examples Of two. three-, and four-syllable words. They are mostly nouns, with a few adjectives, e.g. 2.5.1 TWO-SY1.LAB1J- WORDS RP

2.5.2

-

AmE

{m •)

(• • )

(• ^ )

(*» •)

Itallet, beret, brochure, cofé, cliché, collage. coupe, crochet, debris, detail, gateau, glacé, poté, plateau, precis, premiere, sachet, vaccine; Verbs in -ate: dictate, donate, locate, migrate, vibrate, etc.; moustache, stewardess, trachea;

THRI:I;-SYU-ABM:WORDS

(••*•) <•*••) (• • 9\ )

(•••*) (•••») (•>"•)

attache, fumeéie); cabaret, emigré, matinee, protege, resume; cigarette, magazine, margarine, souvenir;

2.5.3 I;OtIR-SYI.I.ABI.i: WORDS •• -• (• vi • •) (•••>•)

»•m (v\ • • • •I (•»••)

advertisement lalxiratom aluminium

A further difference between British and American English involves presence or absence of vowel reduction in the suffix of a lew words ending in -ary, -ery. -ory, -any, -berry with primary stress either on the antepenultimate or earlier syllable. Whereas the British version favours elision of schwa, the American version prefers a strong vowel, whieh some views identify with secondary or tertiary stress. We shall say the difference docs not imply stress but merely prominence, e.g. (2.6) secretary, library monastery, cemetery

RP Asckralri, Matbri/ fmnnostrt, "semotri/

-

AmE f sekrateri/laibreri/ f mnnastcri, 'semateri/

Word itreu and sentence accent

territory, category /"terstri, 'kaMagri/ Aterat^ri, 'kxtagn:ri/ testimony, matrimony ftestimoni, "majtrimani/ Atcstimouni, 'nuetnmouni/ Strawberry, blackberry Astraibri, 'blaekbri/ /*slrn:beri, *bla*kberi/ 2.6

ALTERNATIVE STRESS PATTERNS There are a number of words wiüi optional stress pallcms, uV most common of which students should be aware of. in order not to discard the options they have not adopted as incorrect In most cases preference Ls due to generation differences among RP speakers. The list below contains some of the most representative examples, with the recommended option first, following the information given in the current pronunciation dictionaries. The following notations do not account for prominent syllables, e.g. 2.6.1 TWO-SYLLABLE WORDS (m\ •) ~ (• m ) adult, brochure, bureau, contact (v.), decade, defect (n.), detail, finance, meanwhile, mishap; (• m ) -

(•> •)

bouquet, elsewhere, ice cream, regime, research, terrain, weekend;

2.6.2 TllRliE-SYLLABLEWORDS (••»•) (*»••) • •

_

(•»"•) (• •» •) . ,-

disputant, exquisite, uprising; sonorous, uprising; registrar, souvenir, submarine;

(•*••)

-

(•••>)

caravan, discotheque, kerosene;

2.6.3 Rxm-SYLLABLIi WORDS (•«•••) •m •• -

(••»••) m •- •

• • • •) -

(••*!•)

controversy, exigency, formid/ible, kilometre; applicable, contribute, demonstrable, despicable, disputable, explicable, hospitable, metallurgy nomenclature; television

2.6.4 PlVIS-SYLLABIJi WORDS (• • • ! • •) — (•>•••) 2.7

momentarily, necessaiily

WORD STRESS PATTERNS

The main stress paneras in their citation forms are illustrated in the next section. The following principles an,* worth mentioning, e.g. (i) Every word has one. and only one. primary stress. (ii) Secondary stresses (normally one. less frequently two) always precede, and never

Héctor Ortíz U r o

0

follow, primary stresses in words. (See §1.6 and ft33 lor other views). There is a strong tendency in English for secondary and primary stresses to be separated by unstressed syllables. Therefore, consecutive stresses -secondary and primary- are relatively unusual. They derive mostly from prefixaiion. e.g. redo /'riidu:/, unlike /'AnTaik/. etc. (iii) A three-syllable word with a primary stress on the last syllable has a secondary stress on the antepenultimate syllable, e.g. magazine f'mxi}3 7.i:nJ; in a few eases where the primary stress is on the penultimate syllable, the secondary may occur on the previous syllable. e.g. remtirry /'rii'mieri/. A four-syllahle word with a primary stress on the penultimate syllable has a secondary stress on the first syllable, e.g. conversation /'konva seijn/; if it has the primary stress on the last syllable, then the secondary stress will normally be on the first syllable, e.g. misunderstand/'misAnds sta;nd/. (iv) Five- and six-syllable words with the primary stress on the fourth syllable from the left take the secondary stress either on the first syllable, e.g. organisation / ' r ^ i p n a r / e i j n / . or on Ihc second, e.g. consideration /kan'stdn'reijn/. Similarly, irritability I iriLVbibti/, responsibility fT\'snot\ii3b\\M\f. (v) linglish derivatives do not always follow the stress pattern of the roots they come from. e.g. person I *p3:sn/. personification /pa'snnifi 'keijW; compare /kam pea/, cttm/mrable f komprsbl). (vi) Primary stresses usually separate vowels occurring in sequence and hiatus is produced, rather than the corresponding semi-vowel+diphthong sequence (us Spanish .phonology would prefer), e.g. variation /'veorPeiJn/. gratluation / ' g r a ^ i T c i J n / . Cf. * We shall use the so-called 'tadpole* notation to account for syllables (see §1.6.6), e.g. 2.7.1

TW<>-SYI.LABLIi WORDS

2.7.1.1

Primary stress+unstressed syllable (•) •) senate, mountain, chocolate, preface, island, circus, colour

2.7.1.2

Primary stress+promincnt syllable (»> o) contrast, access, contact, empire, expert, aspect, climax

2.7.1.3

Unstressed syllablc+primary stress (• ^ ) again, fatigue, career, caress, patrol, offence, renuirk

2.7.1.4

Prominent syllable+primary stress (6 «^ ) canteen, cartoon, champagne, augment, shampoo, technique

2.7.1.5

Secondary stress*primary stress (• •> ) unknown, Chinese, farewell, eighteen, mayonnaise, rebuild, defrost

2.7.2 TMRIili-SYI.LABI.li WORDS

2.7.2.1

(*.•) fortunate, lunatic, catholic, literature, necessary, comfortable

Word liren and sentence occent

2.7.2.2

(TT\

(•> • o) corridor, absolute, catalogue, caravan, handicap, ¡xiragraph

2.7.2.3 ( o o . ) subtitle, pullover, cucumber, triangle, rectangle, corpuscle 2.7.2.4

(•*•) advantage, determine, develop, consider, horizon, abandon

2.7.2.6 ( o ^ « ) ambition, fantastic, authentic, optician, transmission, partition 2.7.2.7

(• •> o) distribute, tomato, recipient, attache, contribute, fiancee, tolxicco

2.7.2.K

( • »» -) substandard, non-fiction, scientific, subconscious,

2.7.2.9

2.7.3

prejudgement

(•••») guarantee, seventeen, cigarette, magazine, refugee, recommend

FOUK-SYn.Ani.K WORDS

2.7.3.1

<•>•••) category, accuracy, arbitrary, delicacy, eligible, ceremony, irritable

2.7.3.2

(m - o . ) commentator, calculator, architecture, ofn'rator. centimetre, interlanguage

2.7.3.3

(^--O) characterize, systematize, automobile, capitalize, regularize, counterattack

2.7.3.4

(•*..) obligatory, demonstrative, laboratory, certificate, advertisement

2.7.3.5

(-«i'o) appreciate, enthusiast, preoccupied, a/xdogize. similitude, economize

2.7.3.6

(o •> • •) authority, mortality, diameter, orthogra/my, antiquity, bicarlxmate

2.7.3.7

(«-r).) variation, circulation, elementary, conversation, idiotic, interference

2.7.3.8

( « o » . •) acceptation, departmental. importation, conurlxition, retardation

Héctor Ortiz Lira

2.7.3.9

(•••*>) superimpose, underemployed, hypercorrect. interconnect, interrelate

2.7.3.10 (• * . . - ) uncountable, subcontinent, mismanagement, postgraduate,

coauthoring

2.7.4 FlVL-SYLLABLL WORDS 2.7.4.!

2.7.4.2

(*>••••) figuratively, capitalism, qualitatively, cannibalism, speculatively

(-•»•••) inevitable, inailequacy, communicative, vocabulary, Catholicism

2.7.4.3

(.^-o-) accelerator, sophisticated refrigerator, enthusiasm, collaborator

2.7.4.4

(•••>••) curiosity, university, pedagogical, capability, possibility,

2.7.4.5

(••*> -o) differentiate, underestimate, rehabilitate, decontaminate,

2.7.4.6

inexplicable

counterespionage

(••••>•) classification, characteristic. Mediterranean, qualification, organization

2.7.4.7

<••-•>-) continuation, consideration, appreciation, pronunciation,

2.7.4.8

association

(••••)•) predisposition, devaluation, prefabrication, revaluation, miscalculation

2.7.5

SlX-SYi.LABI.l-:WORDS

2.7.5.1

(••».•••) unexceptionable, indistinguishable, unimaginative,

2.7.5.2

individualism

(•••*>••) characteristically, discontinuity, unsystematically. irritability

2.7.5.3

<.•.*>-.) familiarity, availability, inferiority, responsibility,

2.7.5.4

impossibility

(•••••>.) electrification, experimentation, personification,

exemplification

Word itreit and sentence accent

2.7.5.5

(•••••>-) differentiation, mispronunciation, recapitulation, individualistic

2.7.6

SEVEN-SYLLABI-E WORDS

2.7.6.1

(-•-.*..) intelligibility, inevitability, invulnerability, impracticability

2.7.6.2

(••••*..) irresponsibility, unconventionality, superficiality,

unrealiability

1

—\ 28 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\m^^^

Héctor Ortix Uro

3

Stress in English compound words

3.1

INTKODUCIION

Stress in English compounds, with its varying position, is a real stumbling-block for Spanish-speaking learners due mainly to the rather fixed occurrence word stress has in Spanish. Two types of phenomena are meant by variation: first, the primary stress of English compounds may go on cither the first or die second clement in the citation pattern and. secondly, this may also vary according to context On the other hand, all citation patterns of Spanish compounds have the primary stress on the second clement, irrespective of internal structure and meaning, e.g. sacacorchos, cuatro*cientos, cantautor, mercaá> " negro, radio reloj, etc. This section offers the learner a simplified taxonomy of the main classes of compounds and collocations, illustrated widi a fairly modern corpus. Raüier dian commit each particular item to memory -an impossible task- students arc recommended lo memorize the stressassignment rules and put them into practice every time Üiey come across a new compound. Associations between patterns and meanings as well as constant comparison between similar structures producing contrasting pairs of the type ^walking stick -rolling 'stone, etc. will help identify 'normal' examples and exceptions. Students arc also advised to check word stress in dictionaries whenever they arc in doubt and say the words out loud a number of times so as to help fix them in their memory. 3.2

TERMINOLOGY

Quirk ctal. (1985: 1567) define compound as 'a lexical unit consisting of more than one base and functioning both grammatically and semantically as a single word.' No account for stress is present in this definition, but later on, at pp. 1592-1593, they characterize compound nouns as generally taking the primary stress on the first clement and although they acknowledge the existence of a smaller number of compounds with the primary stress on ihe second element, they also admit that lin some cases we may be in doubt as to whether we should regard sequences with this stress pattern as compounds or as free syntactic phrases'. Now, if we leave aside stress placement as Ihe basic criterion of analysis and take the semantic aspect as the decisive factor to identify compounds (i.e. the degree of cohesion • hetween die elements), wc will also come across certain word combinations whose compound status might be in doubt. For instance, how should wc consider relatively common two-clement constructions which frequently co-occur, such as slim chance and feeble hope, none of which arc given as individual or even subordinate entries in dictionaries? Furthermore, should wc rely on dictionary status for a two-clement lexical unit to be considered a compound? Notice that a third criterion, that of spelling, has not been brought into the discussion, due to the fact that a fairly degree of variation can be found in the way compounds arc written -as one single word, or as two words, cither separated by a space or a hyphen. Wc shall bypass die difficulty posed by compounds by acknowledging die existence of other word combinatioas which the learner would also do well to incorporate into his mental lexicon, irrespective of the fact that diey may not conform fully lo the category of compound.

W o r d í t f í M and

sentence

accent

ttlttlfiaURNKRmKHttliiWilitliUtiHt

Following Carney (1991: I ) we shall lake into consideration ihe notion of collocation, which he conveniently defines in phonological terms: 'Any frequently recurring two-element structure |...J for which a stress pattern may he predicted.' This category includes collocations which can he found in EFL dictionaries of a general kind -not necessarily specialist pronunciation dictionaries-, e.g. virtual reality, national curriculum, etc., plus a few others which have not got (and probably w i l l never gel) dictionary status, e.g. insufficient evidence. A random examination of the two standard pronunciation dictionaries. LPD (Wells, 1990) and EPD (Jones, Roach & Martman. 1997) reveals interesting differences in the corpus offered, as the following sample of two-element collocations shows, e.g.

I PI) artificial insemination artificial intelligence artificial kidney artificial respiration bus bar bus boy bus conductor busman bus shelter bus station bus stop good afternoon good book goodbye good itay good e vening Good Friday good grief! Good Heavens! good looker good looks goodman good morning good night good offices good Samaritan goodwife goodwill good-hearted good-humoured good-looking good-natured good-tempered

EPD •

* * '< *• *i i

«* * *

•

• • •

• •

'

»

« « •t «» * ••

i

a

•

• •

• • * ' •

*» •» ' • •

• •

0

HtCtor

3.3

COMPOUND WfflDSlüÉ JUDIA

rt.l

DülíMIS

All EFL dictionaries can he of help in mailers of information about .stress. The main differences between them lie in the notation system they use lo show primary and secondary stresses, in the corpus they include and, occasionally, in the patterns Ihcy show, e.g. OALD

(comcr

'shop ,user-'friendly

CIDE

IcomcrOshop II uscr-1 friendly

.Third 'World QThird I World

'Home Office iHomcGOffiee

CCED earner shop

u.scr-fn£ndly

Third Wo.rld

Hume Office

WCE

.user-'friendly*

.Third 'World*

'Home .Office

.uscr-'friendly*

.Third'World*

'Home, Office

,user-'friendly (stress shift)

.Third'World

'Homc,Officc

LPD

( comcr'shop

'comer shop EPD

t comer'shop

'home ,page

(Notes lo the abbreviations: OALD : Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 1995. CIDE: Cambridge International Dictionary of English, 1995. CCED : Collins Cobwld English Dictionary, 1995. LDCE: Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 1995. LPD : Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 1990. EPD : English Pronouncing Dictionary, 1997.)

These examples show that: (i) CCED is the only dictionary which does not use the stress marks ' and , to indicate primary and secondary stresses, respectively. CIDE uses two systems, stress marks in the main dictionary and black and white rectangles in the Phrase Index. - (ii) WD records alternative stress patterns whenever they arc in common educated use, as shown by corner shop. EPD does so less frequently. (iii) Only LDCE and LPD indicate the possibility of stress shift (by means of the wedge sign * ) all the time; EPD docs so only occasionally, with the phrase 'stress shift*. (iv) Whereas the majority of dictionaries indicate the existence of an extra stress after the primary (e.g. secondary for EPD and tertiary for LPD), a few ignore that possibility. (v) EPD probably contains the most up-dated corpus, as shown by the inclusion of a term such as home page. As with simple words, we shall use the tonetic-strcss marking system, of generalized use in the British school of prosody, which indicates stressed syllables hy means of ' (secondary stress) and % (primary stress), following Kingdon (1958b), Windsor Lewis (1969), Finch & Ortiz (1982) and Gimson & Cruttcndcn (1994). These arc distributed in words in such a way that only one primary stress may occur in a compound word, and the

Word í t r e i i and sentence accent

fT7"\

primary stress is always ihc last stress; the secondary stress always precedes the primary and never the other way round. Thus, some of the examples above would be marked as follows: 'user-^friendly

'Third "World

" Home Office

Tertiary and further degrees of stress will be ignored. The following patterns show ihc distribution of stresses in polysyllabic compounds, e.g. LTD

EPD

This work

con^muni'cations. satellite communications satellite .Continental 'breakfast continental 'breakfast

3.4

com:muni"caiions satellite 'contincntal"breakfast

LABlvLSTORSTR1-SS IN COMPOUNDS AND COLLOCATIONS

The stress patterns of English compounds and collocations have been given different labels in the literature. Most of ihcm describe the placement of the main, primary stress; these arc shown in (a). There is a set of labels which refers to the number of stresses and is given in (b), e.g. "woman doctor (=ginecólogo) "English teacher (=profcsor(a) dc ingles) (a)

early stress initial stress compound stress E-2 strong-weak (b) single stress

'woman"doctor (=doctora) 'Knglish"teacher (=profcsor(a) inglds(a)) late stress final stress phrasal stress E-l weak-strong double stress

(i) The labels 'early' and 'late*, which refer to the fact that it is the first clement that has 'more stress' than the second, arc found in Wells (1990: 150). (ii) 'Initial' and 'final' stress arc the names used by Fudge (1984: 134-137). (iii) The labels 'compound' vs. 'phrasal' (Chomsky & Halle, 1968) arc misleading because the pattern consisting of a primary stress on the second element (which is typical of noun phrases such as an incredible blonde) can also be found in many compounds, as will be shown in the word-lists that follow; a characterisation of compounds in terms of stress placement is, then, unsatisfactory. (iv) In the labels E-2 and E-l (Poldauf, 1984: 106), E stands for 'element', or participating word, and the numbers denote position, starting from the right; therefore, E-I stands for the word on the right, and E-2, for the word on the left.

H é c t o r Ortiz Lira

1*1 The categories slrong-wcak (sw) and weak-strong (ws), of rhythmic nature, the relative prominence of the two sequences -a basic notion in metrical theory, as ojvessed, for instance, by Ladd (1996) and, in general, by all supporters of the mctricalj»rtcgmcntal theory. (vi) The reasons for the labels 'single' vs. 'double' (Jones, 1956; Kingdon, !958b; Fnch& Ortiz, 1982) arc that (a) by virtue of a generally agreed principien primary stress is also considered the last stress in an utterance; (b) a late primary stress -i.c main stress on the second lexical item- can be (and normally is) preceded by a secondary stress on the first element. In this work we shall use the terms 'single' and 'double' in order lo emphasise the role of secondary stresses in processes such as stress shift. For EFL purposes, compounds can be organised according to the type of stress pattern -e.g. single (early) vs. double (late), i.e. a phonological classification- or according to the function of the resulting collocation -eg. nouns vs. adjectives, i.c. a syntactic-functional taxonomy. Here we will lake the former criterion as die basis for the organisation of the corpus, and will indícale ihe function of the resulting pattern. The patterns exemplified here arc all citation forms, i.c. the patterns of compounds and collocations said in isolation. 3.5

SINGLE STRESS IN COMPOUNDS AND COLLOCATIONS

3.5.1 ^record player (i) Noun 1+noun 2 (N1+N2), where Nl {record) is the direct objcci of the action of the agent N2 {player). The resulting collocation functions as noun. (ii) The ageni usually ends in -er, -or, and can be either human or non-human. (iii) Sometimes the direct object relationship between Nl and N2 is less obvious, as can be seen in (b), e.g. (a)

ballet (lancerbricklayer cement mixer eggbeater goalkeeper housekeeper lie detector newsvendor proofreader shock absorber songwriter taxi driver windscreen wiper

(b) babysitter cradle-snatcher grasshopper scaremonger stockbroker (c)

Exceptions:

bandleader bullfighter cassette recorder food processor hairdresser landowner mine detector painkiller purse-snatcher shopkeeper stallholder tin opener word processor

blood donor cabinet-maker dishwasher fortune-teller hairdryer law-breaker moneylender pa/fenhanger screwdriver skyscraper tape recorder tongue twister

chain-smoker drug dealer housebreaker schoolteacher tlieatregoer

churchgoer fishmonger hunger striker screenwriter vacuum cleaner

stage manager, school governor

bookkeeper cash dispenser dressmaker lue-sniffer olidaymaker lawnmower newsreader park keeper shareholder slide projector taxpayer video recorder

Í

coat hanger Oeiger counter pressure cooker slum dweller

Word itreii and sentence accent

3.5.2

/—

'bookshop

(i) Noun 1+noun 2 (N1+N2), where Nl {book) delimits the meaning of N2 {shop), hy staling 'what type of thing' it is. The resulting compound usually functions as noun. (ii) Single stress is the commonest pattern in NI+N2 collocations. In many oLher examples, an Nl with more specific reference favours double stress, as in 'kitchen '.sink (sec §3.6.1). Similarly, whereas 'school 'secretary has specific reference, 'schoolboy has not. In other pairs this criterion docs not seem to operate very clearly, e.g. uni 'versity 'lecturer vs'school teacher. (iii) Single vs. double stress can be responsible for changes in meaning, as in (b). access road airhostess airport apron strings bank account bedroom binh control birthrate blood presare bloodhound bookmark bread box child abuse clothesline coffee cup cupboard love death rate dish towel football girlfriend handbag headphone hunchback keyboard license plate motorbike mountain range newsletter nightclub paper clip phone book pocket money police station price tag question mark record library room service safety pin schoolgirl

address book airietter air terminal aptitude test bar code lyedspread birthday card blockhead blood relation book club bookstall buffet car Christmas card clothespeg coffee table daylight death squad drug abuse footnote guidebook headache heart attack hunger strike ladybird life insurance motorcar nail scissors newspaper nighttime paperback phone box pocketbook post office problem child question tag roadblock rulebook saladi>ar schoolmaster

advice column airline amusement arcade bachiche bedbug bedtime birthday party blood bank blood transfusion book token bookworm call box clothes brush coffee bar credit card daytime deposit account drug addict footpath hairpin headlamp heartfailtae identity card laptop love affair motorcycle nail varnish newsstand ozone layer papenvork phonecard police force postcard punctuation mark raincoat road tax rush hour sandwich course schoolmate

aircraft airmail animal kingdom ballot box bedclothes birth certificate birthplace blood group blood vessel bookcaseboyfriend cash card clothesbasket coffee break crime rate death penalty disabled access earphones footstep hairstyle headline heat wave key ring library card money order mountain bike newsagent night shift panda car penalty area photo album police officer press conference puppy dog rainstorm road works safety belt savings account schoolmistress

Héctor Orxil Ura \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\mwm\\\\m schoolwork seaman sex appeal shop assistant soup spoon space suit store detective surface mail table tennis tea towel teaspoon time signal toy shop water/nilI wind instrument wristwatch

seafood seaport shock treatment slot machine space-age sports car sunglasses systems analyst tea bag teamwork teatime timetable video arcade waterpower window seat

(b) *family name (=surnamc) "toy factory (=whcrc toys arc made) "party line (^shared phone line)

3.5.3

sea level seashell shoelace sound effects spacecraft sports jacket sunroof table manners teabreak teapot time bomb toilet roll watercolour waterproof windstorm

seagull seashore shoeshop soup plate spacelab stamp collection supply teacher tablecloth tea party tear gas time limit tootltache watermelon wheelchair word order

family "name (^family reputation) toy factory (=l'or a child lo play with) 'party "line (=po!ilical view)

"raindrop

Noun l+noun 2 (N1+N2), where Nl {rain) is usually a mass noun indicating ihc material N2 {drop) is made of. Scmanücally. the collocation expresses an 'unintentional accumulation' rathcrthanan 'intendedconstruction', e.g. breadcrumb sawdust waterfall

3.5.4 "wire-tapping,

dunghill snowflake

dustheap soap bubble

sand dune soapflake

"'time-consuming

(i) Noun+verb [-ing] (N+V[ingj), where N is the object of V, i.e. 'X laps wire', as in (a); in other examples, the role of the noun as objeel is less obvious, as in (b). (ii) Some resulting collocations can function mainly as nouns, e.g.*wire-tapping, mainly as adjectives, e.g. "time-consuming. (a)

bookbinding childbearing hairdressing fiorse racing mind reading proofreading sightseeing tinwsaving weight lifting wrongdoing

bookkeeping dressmaking hair-raising housekeeping money laundring role playing surfriding troublemaking wind surfing

beekeeping fee-paying hair-splitting labour-saving moneylending sliareholding thought-pro voking troubleshooting window dressing

breathtaking fire fighting heartbreaking language teaching painstaking sidesplitting time-consuming typewriting word processing

or

Word stress and sentence accent

(b)

(c)

air-conditioning housewarming oil painting tap dancing

brainstorming kerb crawling pony-trekking window-shopping

handwriting food poisoning

Exceptions:

family planning

zebra crossing

3.5.5 "walking

stick, "¡ending

shoplifting

hang-gliding law-abiding ski jumping

library

(i) Verb [-ingj+noun (V|ing]+N), where N is not in subject relation to V. Thus, in ^Walking slick, the noun docs not do the walking itself; the meaning is rather 'a slick for walking'. The noun sometimes represents the place or time for the action of the verb, as in "shopping centre znd'freezing point; these examples arc listed in (a). (ü) in'lending library the noun docs perform lhc action indicated by the verb, i.e. 'the lihrury lends books', hut lhc action is not in progress; other examples of this lype are those in (n). (iii) Contrasting examples due to single vs. double stress can be found in (c). (a)

baking powder boarding school building society closing time dialling tone driving licence filing cabinet frying pan insulating tape living room parking hi purchasing power rowing boat shopping list skipping-rope spending money swimming trunks tuning fork whopping cough

balancing act bowling alley carving knife cooking apple dining car driving seat filling station housing estate ironing board meeting point parking meter reading matter selling point shopping mall sleeping bag stepping-stone teaching hospital waiting list writing paper

bathing costume breathing space changing room chewing gum dining room driving test finishing school hearing aid knitting needle melting point, playing field reading room shaving cream singing lesson sleeping car stumbling block teething troubles waiting room

boardinghouse building block climbing frame dancing lesson drinking water eating apple fishing rod icing sugar launching pad parking light polling station recording studio shopping bag sitting room sleeping pill swimming pool tracing paper washing powder

(b)

ansu'ering machine nursing home rocking chair soldering iron sticking plaster travelling expenses

cleaning woman operating system rolling pin sparking plug teaching practice vending machine

humming bird printing press sealing wax spinning wheel training college washing machine

mincing machine publishing house sewing machine steering wheel training course watering can

(c) "moving van (=a removal van) "sleeping partner (^concubine)

'moving "van (=a van actually moving) 'sleeping "partner (--inactive business partner)

C—N

36

Héctor Ortli

Lira

\\\\\\\\™\\\\\\\\\\\w\\\\\\\M^^^

3.5.6 'blackboard,

'baldhead

(i) Adjcctive+noun (A+N) collocaiions arc a very common type oí construcüon in English. They usually take double stress by default, as if they were phrases. (Cf. N1+N2 compounds in §3.5.2, which arc considered to lake single stress by default.) There ¡s, however, another group of A+N collocations with a more specialised meaning which take single stress; some of these can be considered to be long-established compounds. The number of adjectives participating in these constructions is relatively small; they arc generally one- or two-syllable long and arc of low semantic specialisation, e.g. black, free, hard, high. etc. On the whole. A+N compounds with single stress are much more restricted than NI+N2 compounds with single stress (i.e. those in §3.5.2). (ii) In some cases there is a potential contrast between the specialised meaning of the compound (with single stress, as in "blackboard) and the phrase consisting of die same two elements (with double stress, as in 'black 'board), as shown in (c). (iii) In summary, the main points regarding A+N collocations are: (1) A+N collocations functioning as nouns normally have double stress, e.g. a tomic 'energy; (2) Some A+N collocaiions functioning as nouns have a specialised meaning and take single stress, e.g. 'blackberry and the rest of the examples in (a); (3)Some A+N collocations functioning as nouns and taking single Stress are called 'bahuvrihi* /'ba:hu: s vri:hi / compounds. They are used to designate a person by specifying a physical or mental characteristic, e.g. a man who has a grey beard is a * greybeard. Others designate objects, e.g. a book wilh a hard cover is a 'hardback, etc.; sec examples in (b); after effects anything black people bluebird commonplace deadlock everything freelance given name grandmother green belt hardhoard highlight high street hotplate low season middle school quicksand shortcake sick leave soft spot stronghold sweetshop wildcat

anybody blackberry blacksmith Christian name current account dry dock first name freephone grandchild grandpa greengrocer hardware high-rise highway last name madhouse old boy real estate shorthand sick pay software strong ¡x>int whiteboard wild flower

anyone blackboard black spot cokkream darkroom everybody freehand freeway granddaughter grandson greyhound highbrow high school hothouse lowbrow middle man oulgirl right angle short list smallpox special school sweet corn whitewash wildlife

anyplace blacklist bluebell comic strip deadline everyone freehold funny bone grandma grandstand grey matter high jump high season hotline lowland middle name open day shortbread sickbay small talk strongbox sweetheart wholesale wise guy

Word" itreii and sentence accent

(»>

(c)

bod-mouth greenback lazybones redhead smart-arse

big-mouth hardback loudmouth redskin thickhead

'blackbird (=Sp. mirlo) * blackboard (=writing surface) * bluebell (=$p. jacinto) 'common room (=collego staff room) "crossword (=iypc of word puzzle) "funny man (= a comedian) "darkroom (-for processing films) "English teacher (bleacher of English) *greenhouse (=glass building for plants) 'Greenland (=Sp. Groenlanitia) 'grey matter (=hniins) 'heavyweight (=hcaviesi type boxer) 'hotplate (=part of a cooker) 'special school (=for disabled children) "White House (=US President's residence)

3.5.7 "moth-eaten,

busybody hardtop paleface sleepyhead

fathead heavyweight redbrick slowcoach

'black "bird (=any bird which is black) 'black "board (=any hoard which is black) 'blue "bell (-any bell which is blue) 'common "room (=one used jointly) 'cross "word (=an angry word) 'funny "man (=a strange man) 'dark "room (= a room which is dark) 'English"teacher (=teaehcr who is English) 'green "house (=any house which is green) 'green "land (=any land which is green) 'grey "matter (^anything grey) 'heavy 'weight (=a weight which is heavy) 'hot 'plate (=a plate which is hot) 'special 'school (=out of the common) 'white "house (=any house which is white)

"V-shaped

(¡) Noun+partictplc (N+P) in which N is usually the subject of P, i.e. moths have eaten X; more examples arc those in (a). (ii) The relationship between N and P is more complex in (b): in 'corpus based we undcrsiand 'based on a corpus\ in "toilet-trained, 'trained to use a toilet', and in "egg* shaped, 'shaped like an egg.' (Üi) The function of the resulting collocation is adjectival and the early-stress pattern of the citation form docs not vary when die compound is used cither attributively or prcdiealivcly, e.g. citation form: attributive use: predicative use: (a)

(b)

"moth-eaten a xmoth-eaten 'sweater Those i deas can be tie scribed as 'moth-eaten.

action-packed heartfelt moonlit sunburnt weather-beaten

coin-operated hen-pecked snowbound

air-conditioned heartbroken star-spangled

frostbitten landlocked star-crossed time-honoured

weather-bound

flea-bitten horror-stricken snow-capped terror-stricken windswept

blue-coloured oval-shaped type-written

bed-ridden pear-shaped white-washed

cigar-shaped red-coloured

sunlit

H é c t o r Ortíz

38

Uro

\\\Mmm\wAvM»ttran^

3.5.8

'homesick

A very short inventory of noun+adjcctivc (N+A) compounds have single stress. stress The em remains unaltered in posunodifying positions, e.g. / felt very "homesick, e.g. pattern accident-prone 3.5.9 "cookbook,

colour-blind

poverty-stricken

streetwixe

daybreak

(i) Verb+noun (V+N) result in compounds functioning mainly as nouns and sometimes as adjectives; they are illustrated in (á). Main exception: lstop *press. (ii) Noun+vcrb (N+V) collocations function as nouns; sec (b). breakneck chat show pickpocket stopgap

call girl cutthroat playboy swearword

carrycot hdldtill pushchair talk show

(b)

corkscrew sunrise

fire escape sunset

firefly sunshine

3.5.10

lili

(a)

landslide

cease-fire know-all spendthrift rolkall

'take •off

Vcrb+paniclc (V+Pe). originating double-stress phrasal and prepositional verbs, take single stress when functioning as nouns, e.g. to ltake "off is nominaliscd as a "take-off see examples in (a). V+Pc can also function as adjective, as in a 'breakaway faction. backup breakup comeback fallout hangover knockout playback push-up see-through spin-off takeaway

3.5.11

blackout brush-up countdown flashback hideaway letdown play-off

rip-off

shoot-out standby turnover

breakdown ckeckin cutback go-ahead kickoff letup press-up roll-on sit-down stopover write-off

breakthrough checkout cutout handout knockdown lookout pullover runaway sit-in tailback write-up

"background

Advcrb+noun (Adv+N) originate compounds which function.mainly as nouns, e.g. aftereffect foreground in-patient overdose

Antichrist foreman infrastructure overheads

crossroads foresight outlaw overtime

forearm foretaste overcoat postscript

Word itresf and icntence accent

CT

//^////////////////^^^^^^

I»'

supermarket

subsection 3.5.12 * Oxford

underclothes

underground

Street,'Deansgate

The nouns street and gate do not Uüce stress in street name collocations, which makes the patterns single-stressed. On the contrary, all other words denoting thorough fares are stressed (see §3.6.3), e.g. Bond Street Regent Street Southgate 3.5.13

Fleet Street Deansgate

Princess Street Fishergate

Miscellaneous

3.5.13.1

3.6

Downing Street Bishopsgute Westgate

Verb+advorb originate nouns, e.g. get-together know-how

standstill

3.5.13.2

Verh+verh originate verbs, nouns and adjectives, e.g. touch-type (v.) make-believe (n.) slapdash (adj.)

3.5.13.3

Abbrcviation+neun originate nouns, e.g. A-level O level L-driver T-junction U-turn V-neck

T-bone

DC)llBl.liS'l1UüiSlNtX)MI,OlJNüSANl>CX)lJ-(XVVn()NS 3.6.1

'kitchen

sink

Noun l+noun 2 (NI+N2), where Nl has specific reference, as in 'kitchen *sink (=die sink of the kitchen). In some cases, N1 may represent an organisation, a location, or a lime, as in (a). Nl can also be a value, as in (b). Noun-genitive cases arc included in (e). In all cases the resulting compound functions as noun. e.g. (a)

academy award bedroom window city centre family allowance fellow citizen ground floor ¡awn tennis mass production office party school hall ¡own hall

bank holiday block letters daylight robbery family doctor fellow creature group therapy life expectancy morning paper pedestrian precinct school uniform trade union

bay window Itottom drawer diningroom table family planning girl Friday hall porter life imprisonment mother tongue platinum blonde school year twin beds

(b)

dollar bill

peso coin

pound note

bedroom slippers camp bed district nurse family tree girl guide headmaster lump sum night watchman Saturday night shop window zebra crossing

Héctor Ortiz Lira

© (e)

devil's advocate women's lib

3.6.2

'baby

gentleman's agreement

students' union

teacher's pet

'boy

Noun ! + n o u n 2 ( N l + N 2 ) . where the referent is both Nl and N2. e.g. in 'baby ihe referent is both a baby and a boy, e.g. add rain guardian angel mother hen radio telescope twin sister

3.6.3

baby girl infant prodigy poison gas strip cartoon woman driver

'Buckingham

clock radio junk food queen bee student teacher woman writer

'boy

garden city learner driver queen mother twin brother

Palace

Noun l+noun 2 (NI+N2), where Nl (and sometimes also N2) is a proper name; (he majority are place names, as in (a). Examples of street names are those in (b). Group (c) includes proper noun-genitive examples. For exceptions consisting in single stress patterns, sec (d) and §3.5.12. Cambridge University Channel Tunnel Father Christmas Davis Cup Hudson River Hollywood stars June Eyre James Bond London Bridge London Airport Mexico City Mexican wave Niagara Falls Mother Nature River Thames Panama Canal Tom Collins Shetland Islands Yorkshire pudding World Cup

(a)

Achilles heel Chicago Tribune Gaza Strip Hyde Park Jodrell Bank Magellan Strait Molotov cocktail North Sea Sherlock Holmes Union Jack

Atacama Desert Christmas Day Greater London Iron Curtain Loch Ness Manchester City Morse code Paddington Station Sherwood Forest World Bank

(b)

Fifth Avenue Stainburn Drive Penny Lane

Oxford Circus Milton Close Hammersmith Flyover Spring Gardens Oxford Road Leicester Square

(c)

Adam's apple

Aladdin's cave

Hobson 's choice

Noah's ark

(d)

Exceptions:

Home Office

Lake District

Labour Party

3.6.4

'apple

Bedford Crescent Plymouth Grove Mancunian Way

'pie

(i) Noun l+noun 2 (NI+N2), where Nl {apple) is frequently a mass noun N2 {pie) is made of. The difference with the 'raindrop type of compound (sec §3-5.3) is that this implies intentionalily; sec (a). (ii) Exceptions to the above rule are single-stressed collocations mainly with juice and cake, as in (b).

Word f t r c n and wntence accent

(iii) Double vs. single stress may produce different meanings, as illustrated in (c). (a)

bacon sandwich camomile tea cream cracker fruit salad ivory tower mince pie rag doll rubber stamp stone wall

banana split carbon dioxide crystal ball glass fibre lemon curd mud pie rice pudding sausage roll suede shoes

brick wall chocolate biscuit custard apple gold medal lemon squash plum pudding rope ladder semolina pudding

bronze medal cotton wool fish finger iron gate log cabin pork pie rubber band silver medal

(b)

Exceptions:

lemon juice Christmas cake cornflakes

orange jutce fruitcake coconut milk

chocolate cake sponge cake

(c)

'paper "bag (=bag made of paper) "paper bag (=bag for newspapers) cheese "biscuit (=onc made of cheese) "cheese biscuit (=onc for eating with cheese)

1

3.6.5

'compact

v

disc,

'second-hand

(i) Adjcctivc+noun (A+N) collocations which function as nouns usually take double stress by default Most adjectives occurring in this type of compound are unlikely to occur in single-stressed compounds due to their semantic specificity, as illustrated in (a). This type of collocation is very productive. Some adjectives take the form of '-cd' adjcctivals; other, less specialised, adjectives participating in compounds arc shown in (b); mast of the items in this section function as nouns; a few, mainly as adjectives. Section (c) includes collocations involving proper names, and section (d), the main single-stress exceptions. (ii) A+N collocations can also function as adjectives, some of them as cither pre- or postmodifiers (i.e. attributively and prcdicauvcly), such as double-stress 'second- 'hand, and others mainly or only as prcmodificrs (i.e. attributively), such as single-stress "redbrick (sec §3.5.6). The 'second-'hand type of compound is illustrated in section (b). (iii) EFL learners must bear in mind the changes in the stress patterns that some of these compounds undergo when they function as adjectives and are either followed or preceded by another stress in connected speech. This type of change, called 'stress shift* in the literature, is a clear indication of the tendency in English to avoid the occurrence of adjacent stresses, as explained in §1.7. This can already be seen in some of the collocations in (a),cf. 'conti"nental ~ 'continental *breakfast\ 'undi"vided 'undividedat"tention.e.g. (a)

abominable snowman acid rain artificial respiration audiovisual aids cardinal point classified ad current affairs diplomatic immunity domestic animal foreign affairs

absolute majority ancient monument atmospheric pressure automatic pilot citric acid common sense deadly sin direct object domestic appliance farther education

accidental death animated cartoon atomic energy barbed wire civil war continental breakfast definite article dirty trick floppy disk general knowledge

Héctor

genetic engineering guided missile indefinite anide inflationary spiral literary criticism minimum wage national anthem natural science personal computer plastic surgery postal order preconceived ideas printed circuit professional advice public opinion public transport secret service sexual harassment skimmed milk square root undivided attention

back garden black currant broad beans cold feet double bed first aid front door free port good cause hard cash hard labour high-class last straw lost property middle finger plain-clothes round trip second-hand short story soft fu rnish ings wet blanket Arctic Circle Deep South Greater London Middle East Old Testament Red Cross Roman alphabet

Ortiz Lira

giant panda honourable mention industrial action intellectual property live performance mobile library native speaker nervous breakdown personal stereo political prisoner practical joke premarital sex private detective proper noun pid)lic relations sacred cow seventh heaven sexual intercourse special delivery string ed-insirument vicious circle

bad news black eye brown rice dark glasses double-decker first-class frontpage fidl-length green fingers hard currency red carpet high fidelity long-distance loudspeaker old man red tape safe sex second helping slow motion Strong language white elephant Big Brother European Community Holy Ghost National Trust Open University Red Sea Round Table

best man black market brown sugar dark horse easy chair first-rate full house full stop happy event hard disk hard luck high tea long-term low tide open-air rough diamond second best second thoughts small change sweet nothings

glottal stop identical twin industrial revolution intensive care magnetic tape modal auxiliary natural history nuclear reactor plain clothes possessive pronoun precious stone prime minister private school public library public school secret admirer sexual discrimination single bed square brackets syllabic consonant wishful thinking bestseller black pudding close shave dead end false alarm flat feet full moan full-time happy medium hard drugs hard shoulder last night lost cause middle class ¡x¡ n-time round figures second class short circuit small print tall story

Black Sea Common Market Good Friday Grand Canyon Holy Scripture Middle Ages New Delhi New York Pacific Ocean Promised Land Received Pronunciation Royal Highness Russian roulette

Word

(d)

rtmi

and sentence

accent

Scottish Gaelic

Supreme Court

Wild West

Yellow Pages

Exceptions:

Black Country West Country

Holy Week White House

¡¿>ng Beach

3.6.6

'brand-

"new

Noun+adjcctivc (N+A) collocations give rise mainly lo adjectives. The double-stress pattern corresponds to the citation pattern; as prcmodificr ii takes carly-siress and as posimodificr, laic stress, cf. a 'navy-blue * sweater -I pre 'fer navy- "blue; sec (a). A small group of N+A collocations with double-stress functions as nouns; these are listed in (b), e.g. (a)

bone-dry class-conscious navy-blue post

free

sky-high stone-dead user-friendly (b)

bone lazy dirt cheap ozone-friendly rent-free snow-white stone deaf worldwicle

Amnesty International attorney general God ahniuhtv ilmighty notary public prince consort proof positive Sunday best

3.6.7

'old-

bottle green duty-free pitch-black sea-green stone-blind stone sober

brick-red knee-deep pitch-dark sky-blue stone-cold tax-free

crystal clear poet laureate secretary-general

director general president elect surgeon general

"fashioned

Adjectivc+noun+adjectival J-cd| (A+N[-ed]) combinations give rise lo a group of very common adjectives with double stress in their citation patterns. Stress shift modifies this default pattern in a way similar to that in §3.6.5 and §3.6.6, e.g. 'totally absent- "minded -an 'absent-minded pro Yessor: absent-minded close-fisted empty-handed high-pitched long-winded open-minded stiff-necked tightfisted 3.6.8

bad-tempered cold-blooded empty-headed high-priced middle-aged quick-tempered strong-minded

broad-minded dark-haired fat-bottomed high-spirited narrow-minded quick-witted sweet-tempered

blue-eyed double-breasted four-legged ill-humoured one-sided round-shouldered three-storeyed

'ham- "fisted, 'home- "made

(i) Noun 1+noun 2+adjcctival |-ed| (NI+N2|-cd]) collocations result in adjectives with double stress by default; this pattern is modified by the stress shift rule in the regular fashion, i.e. predicativcly: She is 'very self-con "tained and attributively: a 'self-contained "flat

0

Héctor Ortiz Lira \\\\V\\Wm\\\\\\WM\\\\\Wm^

MWTO1MWWM

(ii) NornHjarticiplc (Nt-P) compounds, which also function as adjectives, behave in a similar way to the previous group, e.g. tm-cfwte6iinned kmd4mtted mum-made self-employed mHor-made

3.6.9

bell-bottomed handmade middle-aged self-made

'rolling

filter-tipped handwritten self-centered self-satisfied

ham-fisted machine-made self-contained self-taught

'stone

Verb |-ing|+noun (V(-ing|+N) originate nouns in which N is usually the subject of the verbal action in V, i.e. 'the stone rolls'. The corresponding collocation with single stress (i-c. §3.5.5) is much more productive, e.g. falling star floating voter leading actor living memory moving picture running commentary sitting target spitting image underlying form working week

3.6.10 'dark

finishing touch freezing cold leading author living wage moving staircase running total sitting tenant standing order visiting professor

flying colours helping hand leading question loving kindness paying guest running water sleeping policeman standing ovation weeping willow

fiying saucer leading article living fossil missing link revolving door shooting star sliding door supporting role working-class

"blue

Adjective 1+adjcctivc 2 (A1+A2) produce double-stress adjectives by default, which arc readily subject to stress-shift, e.g. 'Anglo-A 'merican -An 'Anglo-American a agreement: Anglo-American British-American Latin American royal blue 3.6.11 'good-

Anglo-Chilean a/irk green light blue

Anglo-Saxon deaf-mute light green

bitter-sweet double-quick red-hot

'looking

Adjceuvc+verb |4ng] (A+V|-ing|) give rise lo adjectives with double stress in thi? lexical pattern as well as stress shifted versions, c.g: An 'easygoing 'teacher (attributively) He's 'very easy* going (prcdicalively). easygoing hard-working long-suffering

ever-changing heavy-going outgoing

everlasting long-lasting

far-reaching long-playing

forthcoming longstanding

Word stress and sentence

3-6,12

Miscellaneous

3.6.12.1 3.6.12.2 3.6.12.3

3.7

accent

Self+vctb [-ing| origínale adjectives, e.g. self-catering self-defeating self-raising

self-supporting

Noun (agen t)+ad verb originate nouns, e.g. hanger-on looker-on runner-up

passer-by

Advcrb+partieiplc give origin to adjectives, e.g. farfetched far-flung far-gone

Ti IRII1 •-WORD COM POUNDS

The following lists contain some of the most common three-word collocations classified according to their stress patterns. The entries appear in alphabetical order and no account is given of die rules which have yielded the final patterns. The pattern in §3.7.1, the most frequent, contains mainly stress-shifted modifiers attached to a final stressed noun. The great majority of examples function as nouns. 3.7.1

'Second World

"War

apple pie bed blackboard jungle commonsense decision five-pound charge long-range missiles nextdoor neighbour one-track mind rearview mirror self-made man ten-poundfee threC'iing circus twenty-pound fine 3.7.2

morning

"after

audiovisual aids broken-hearted ¡over first degree murder five-star hotel micklle-age spread nuclear-free tone one-way traffic roll-top desk soft-boiled eggs test-tube baby top-class model two-piece suit pill

April Fool's Day left-luggage office, no-win situation poison-pen letter 3.7.3

back-alley abortion closed circuit television firsthand account happy-go-lucky nationwide broadcast old age pension open-heart surgery self-confessed liar stamped addressed envelope three-day week twenty-p stamp well-balanced diet

autonomic nervous system love-hate relationship non-stick frying-pan red blood cell

good luck charm no-go area parent-teacher association school-leaving age

fire-insurance policy mature-age student

greenhouse effect windscreen wiper

"merry-go-round

coffee-table book Inkjet printer

t

s

46

Héctor

Ortlx Lira

\\\K\m\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\m^^

4

Sentence accent

4.1

INTRODUCTION

Scniencc accent is an aspect of posllcxical phonology which .some authors ascribe lo the area of accentuation and others lo the area of intonation. For Halliday (1967), who analyses the problem under the name of 'tonicity', this is one of the three components intonation basically consists of.12 His view is widely shared by other phoneticians in Britain. The close interaction between intonation and accentuation made Kingdon (1938) devise his 'tonelic stress' marking system (§1.6.4). in order to account for both prosodies simultaneously accentuation by the presence of the marks and intonation by the shape thereof. In the USA, writers, with the exception of Bolingcr, have analysed stress and pilch as sepárale fcaiurcs. Bolingcr (1958) argued that syllables arc made prominent mainly by means of pitch movement (see f<x>lnolc 4), while admitting that other pitch movements contribute lo intonation exclusively. In the present work, senlcnce accentuation (i.e. the prominence pattern of utterances) and intonation (i.e. the pilch pattern of utterances) will be analysed as two independent aspects (or as 'the two sides of the intonational coin', according to Ladd, 1996). Whichever position we lake, this is an aspect of prosody where some of the most importan! body of theoretical discussion has developed in the last two decades or so. The main objectives of chapter 4 are, in the first place, to discuss the terminology related to the subject; secondly, to examine long-slanding notions such as normal, conirastive and emphatic accent and, finally, to analyse the principles which govern nuclear accent placement; these were mentioned in §1.3. 4.2

NUCUiAR ACCENT

Following the British tradition of prosody. Ihc present analysis of scniencc accentuation is based on ihc notion of nuclear accent, which in §1.4 was phonciicaJly identified as ihe syllabic starting the last pitch movement (contrast, obtrusion) in an intonaiion-group and, functionally, as the syllable that marks Ihc beginning of the most meaningful portion of utterance. In this respect, Crutlcndcn (1997: 42) explains that 'Ihcrc seems to be some general psycho linguistic principle ai work whereby the processing of intonational meaning lakes place at the end of each |inlonalion-| group and the most recent signal carries die most meaning*. Linguists writing as far back as the 17th century took an interest in problems related to emphasis on one word rather than another in an utterance as part of Ihcir concern for elocution, and this became more noticeable towards the end of die 18th ccniury. Although the concept of nucleus can be seen in linguists' writings towards the turn of ihc ccniury, nobody seemed lo feci the need lo define it Sweet (1913), the mosi influential phonetician of ihe 19th century, called ii 'predominant stress'. The beginning of the 20th century is ihe period where intonation look off, and clear schools of thought began to develop. Palmer (1922). the founder of the nuclear approach to inlonalion. defined nucleus as 'Ihe stressed syliahlc of the most prominent word' in an utterance. After Kingdon (1938), already mentioned as die inventor of Ihc 'lonclic-siress* marking syslem, came Crystal (1969) and O'Connor & Arnold (1973). AU of them coincide in establishing the interdependence

Word rtrew and jentence accent

¡-—%

between prominence and pilch and in general agree on ihe internal structure of intonationgroups. (See footnote 5.) One further point in common is that none of them elaborated a theory of nucleus placement One of the main differences between the British and the American schools of prosody is the theoretical status attached to the last accent of the utterance. Americans in general, including Bolinger and, more recently, Picrrehumbcrt (the main representative of the aulosegmontal theory), ignore the notion, as did the Spanish school of prosody. To sum up, according to the British school of prosody, nucleus is a feature of intonation which coincides with a stress; in the American school, nucleus is mainly a feature of stress which may or may not co-occur with pitch movement That is, both approaches agree in terms of one basic notion, viz. the existence of a degree of accent which overpowers all other accents in the intonation-group. Independent of theoretical affiliation, the notion of nuclear accent, whether formally acknowledged or otherwise, has received a multiplicity of names in the literature. 'Tonic syllabic' is the term used by Halliday (1967). Crystal (1969) and Bruy.il (1994). Bolinger acknowledges the existence of what he variously calls 'terminal accent', 'last main accent' and 'major accent'. Other names have been used --'primary accent/stress*, 'terminal accent/stress', 'final accent/stress', 'focal accent/stress', etc.; the term 'sentence stress' can also be found, but students had belter be warned about it, due to the occasional overlapping of ihe terms stress and accent One final word about the term 'sentence accent': we have adopted this label mainly because of its wide acceptance in ihe prosodic literature. It may, however, not be the most accurate, due to the implications of the word 'sentence'. More precise terms would be, for instance, 'ultcrancc-level accentuation' or 'postlcxical accentuation'. Since a key factor to convey meaning involves the last accent in the intonation-group and because there arc important differences in the way English and Spanish assign the location of this accent, we shall devote an extensive portion of this chapter to matters related to nucleus placement 4.3

NuCLIiARITY

Nucleus has been defined according to formal and functional criteria. In general, definitions can be classified into three main groups: (i) phonetic, (ii) distributional, and (iii) functional. Some definitions can be allotted to two groups simultaneously: (i) Phonetic definitions concentrate on the type of prominence displayed by the nuclear syllable. Here wc find definitions which refer to 'the stressed syllable of the most prominent word', 'major pitch movement', 'the syllabic carrying maximal prominence', 'the syllabic at which a significant pilch movement begins', etc. (ii) Distributional definitions refer to position in ihe intonation-group, usually the word 'last', e.g. 'the last prominent syllable', 'the last fully stressed syllable', 'the last main accent', 'the final accented syllable', 'the rightmost of a number of assigned accents', etc. (iii) Functional definitions, of a more phonological nature, say what ihe nucleus does, e.g. the centre of an intonation contour with which 'Ihe comment of the utterance would be associated' (Danes, 1967: 226), 'the primary cue to what the speaker considers ihe most important part of his utterance' (Culler, 1984: 87), the 'chief means of signalling the focus marking', 'a phonological reality that is relevant outside the area of pitch contours proper' (Gusscnhoven, 1984: 22, 326-327). and the location which determines whether 'a broad focus interpretation is possible' (Ladd, 1997: 203).

Héctor Ortiz Lira ¡48 I miWftwmwmwmmmm^

As became clear in footnotes 4 and 5, we have prefened a distributional definition of nucleus over a phonetic one, since it is perfectly posible to find a nuclear accent whose pitch movement is less prominent than a prcnuclcar pitch accent.'3 4.4

NUCLEUS PLACEMENT THEORIES -

Approaches lo nucleus placement belong mainly lo four schools of thought: the traditional, the syntactic, the semantic, and the focal. It should be pointed out that some views arc not totally independent of each other, and that there is a diversity of intermediate positions. 4.4.1

T i IE TRADITIONAL MODEL

One of the most traditional analyses bases its argumentation on a classification of words according to the semantic burden they carry and consequent capacity of acecntabilily when used in connected speech. The division into lexical items (also called content words) and structural items (or function, or grammatical words) - corresponding roughly to 'open' and 'closed' classes (Lyons, 1977) - has been adopted mainly (but not exclusively) by EFL writers due to the simplicity implied by the approach: ihc former category has been found to be far more accentablc than the latter. (A similar assumption can be found in the American school, e.g. Trager and Smith. 1951, and Chomsky and Halle. 1968). The following tables summarise the information given by authors of three different theoretical persuasions -Quilis (1985) for Spanish, and Pike (1945) and Kingdon (1958a) for English- on the subject of accented and deacccntcd word categories, for comparison's sake: WORD-CLASSED TYPICALLY ACCENTED QL':i : ^ _ i : - \ _

PIKE (1945)

nouns

nouns

adjectives

adjectives

pronouns (subjective, objective, indefinite, possessive, demonstrative, interrogative) determiners (demonstrative, numerical, cardinal, ordinal, indefinite,

pronouns (indefinite, demonstrative. interrogative)

nearly all nouns adjectives (proper, participials) pronouns (demonstrative, possessive, emphatic, interrogative) determiners (demonstrative, numerical, cardinal, ordinal, interrogative, negative)

interrogative, indefinite

articles) verbs (main, auxiliary)

verbs (main)

ach-crhs

adverbs (time, place, manner) interjections

preposition (según) conjunctions (compound)

KINGDON (1958a)

verbs (main, negative auxiliaries) adverbs (time, place, manner, frequency) interjections longer prepositions conjunctions (emphatic)

Word itreis and sentence oceent

WORD CLASSES TYPICALLY tiNACCliNTl-D QUTLIS(1985)

pronouns (complement, reflexive)

.PIK2UI.ÍM5Í.

pronouns (reflexive, personal)

determiners (possessive, definite ¡mieles) verbs (auxiliary) adverbs (relative) prepositions most conjunctions

adverbs (degree) prepositions

KINGDqN (1958a) nouns of wide denotation pronouns (reflexive, relative, personal, reciprocal) determiners (possessive, relative, indefinite, articles) verbs (affirmative auxiliary in statements) adverbs (degree, relative) prepositions (monosyllabic) conjuntions (co-ordinating, subordinating. comparative)

fonns of address

Analyses of data confirm the assumption: Crystal (1969: 267) reports that 'tonicity was almost entirely restricted to the four "lexical" classes, namely nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs (93%)* and compares his results with the 9 5 % obtained by Quirk ct ul. (1964). Interestingly, Crystal is puzzled at the marked predominance of nouns over verbs. The above description of word classes has been incorporated into another traditional rule of nucleus placement, viz. that generally known as nuclear accent on the 'Last Lexical Item' rule (LL1 for short). The first formal characterisation is in Halliday (1967: 22-23): 'the Ionic, in neutral tonicity, falls on the last lexical ilem in the tone group'. This means that in utterances which do not express contrast or emphasis, i.e. those which arc neutral (or normal), the nuclear accent occurs on the last noun, verb, etc. On the other hand, there arc two conditions under which 'marked tonicity' can occur when a non-final clement (cither structural or lexical) is 'contrasúvc*, and when a final element is 'given *, i.e. 'has been mentioned before or is present in the situation'. Two examples adapted from Halliday can illustrate the difference: (4.1)

A: Sorry. I've just broken an eggcup B: 'Don't .worry. There's a'nolher one in the 'cupboard. (Neutral tonicity; nuclear accent on the last lexical item.)

(4.2)

A: Here's the eggcup you wanted. But we need an extra one, I'm afraid B: There's a'nolher one in the cupboard. (Marked tonicity; B takes cupboard as given and so the nuclear accent falls on the last new lexical item.)

In an analysis of a corpus of about 1,200 intonation-groups, Altcnbcrg (1987) found that (i) there is a strong tendency for the last lexical item to cany the nucleus (78%); (ii) English nouns have the greatest potential for prosodic prominence-and particularly nuclear accent (73%); (iii) the nuclear accent falls on the last word of the intonation-group in 88% of

'

!

SO

H é c t o r Ortiz Lira

\\\\\\\\m\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\m

Ihe cases; this suggests replacing a rule based on the lexical-structural distinction, such as ihe LLI rule, by a purely positional rule for predictive purposes, i.e. a kind of 'Last Item' rule of accent which could be worded: "There's a strong tendency for in tona lion-groups to have the nuclear accent on the last item.' This, by the way, is the rule which appears to govern nuclear accent placement in Spanish (Ortiz-Lira, 1994). 4.4.2 Tm-SYNTACnCMODIiL The traditional representative of \hc syntactic approach is Chomsky & Halle (1968). Their main tenet is stated by the authors at p. 25: 'Once the speaker has selected a sentence with a particular syntactic structure and certain lexical items f...] the choice of stress contour is not a mailer subject to further independent decision.* And the following footnote: *Wc assume thai the position of emphatic stress is marked in the surface structure, and we neglect matters that we have assigned to the Qieory of performance.' The syntactic approach to nucleus placement can he summarised in three main points: (i) Accent placement is determined exclusively by syntactic structure and predicted by rute, without any reference lo cither semantic or pragmatic faciors; since syntactically driven rules can assign only one accentual pattern to each syntactic structure, it follows thai (ii) Each utterance has a normal or neutral accent placement, and consequently (iii) Any other options for nucleus placement arc considered special, i.e. either con tras live or cmphaLic. This detcrminislic approach was soon found inadequate to deal not only with a numher of utterances of anormal type, i.e. those ending in an accented final lexical item, bul also with a variety of other patterns which lake an early accent but would still be considered unemphatic and non-contrastivc, as in (4.3), where both final lexical items, open and made are unaccented, e.g. (4.3)

A: What are you doing'here? B: You left the" door open A: Or perhaps you got a'key made

Important ammendmcnls to the original generative approach through the introduction of information elements into the discussion were introduced, among others, by BrCSnan (1971) and Schmerling (1976). In spile of Ihe correlations which can be found between acceniability and syntax, the exclusively syntactic view to nucleus placement is generally considered untenable in the current literature. 4.4.3 THE SEMANTIC MODEL The main (and probably only) re presen tali vc of the semantic (also known us the 'highlighting') model is Bolingcr (1972, 1978, 1986). He argues that speakers assign accents by some kind of a mental mechanism which directly reflects their intern, totally ignoring syntactic factors. Bolinger opposes this 'free will' approach to the deterministic view in most of his writings on the subject, and concludes thai it is ihe speaker, not the grammar, which 'does the choosing'. He explicitly criticises Chomsky (1971: 205) for automatically claiming the need for conirastivc accent in cases of syntactic parallelism, as in (4.4), (with adapted notation):

Word itreis and «entence accent

(4.4)

r—

John is neither liAgcr lo please, nor HAsy to please, notCKRiain lo please

Bolingcr argues that ihc above paliern is also used in constructions which are not syntactically parallel, but are made parallel by means of accent. While explicitly slating that 'thesyntax in no way determines the accent placement', Ladd (1980: 79-80), an exponent of the focal approach, would argue that parallel is a semantic notion signalled by focus, as shown in (4.5), where three different accent patterns render three different meanings: (4.5)

A: When was the last lime you saw any of your relatives? B¡: My MOTllcr called me ycsicrday-docs thai count? (=would my mother count as a relative?) B2: My mother CA1JJ-D mc yesterday-docs that count? (=would calling count as some kind of seeing?) B 3 : My MOTllcr called Mü ycsicrday-docs that count? (=would my mother getting in touch with me count the same as my getting in touch with her?)

In Bolinger's view, words will get an accent according to their relative or absolute semantic weight expressed in terms of uricxpeeledncss; thus, highly predictable words are unlikely to be accented (e.g. make and things), whereas highly unpredictable words arc likely to carry accent (e.g. emphasise and insects), as in: (4.6)

1 have a * point to make

(4.7)

1 have a poinl to "emphasise

Similarly, absolute semantic weight is at play in examples such as: (4.8) Those are "crawling things (4.9) Those arc crawling "insects Lexical information load and speakers' intention are pivotal factors in Bolinger's ihcory. His theoretical position that the location of nuclear accents is determined by 'soman lie and emotional highlighting' is put into practice by two interacting accentual notions, 'accents of interest' (4.10 and 4.11) and 'accents of power' (4.12 and 4.13), neither of which is formally defined anywhere. The former allow the speaker to highlight individual words (i.e. they 'inform'), and the lalier allow the arrangement of the accents, so that they can occur near the beginning and/or the end of the intonation-group (i.e. they 'impress'). All examples arc from Bolingcr (1986). e.g. (4.10)

A: Why don'l you like fluorescent lamps? B: The "hum annoys mc. (Annoyance is expected; accent of interest on the noun.)

(4.11)

A: You look worried B: I "am worried. My "mother's going in for an operation. (Deflated end créales a particular effect because it goes against expectations.) I couldn't be"gin to tell you all the trouble I've been through. (One single 'exclamatory early accent' of power.) Good morning. How arc'you? (As an opener, not as a response; an exclamatory late accent of power.)

(4.12) (4.13)

The semantic view to accent placement, however, also runs into difficulty wilh certain

» S2

H é c t o r Ortiz Lira \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\^^^^^

patterns, such as the different degree of aeccntabilily of English arguments and predicates. As will be seen in the next section, nouns normally take prevalence over verbs in matters of accentuation. Bolingcr's only explanation is his notion of 'downplaying*, but downplaying is also evoked to account for problems as dissimilar as the deacccnting of nipoatcd material, as in (4.11), or of the so-called 'empty words', as in (4.8). The two last approaches, the syntactic and the semantic, caused extensive arguments and counter-arguments at the beginning of the 70's; the central point of the discussion was to explain controversial accentual patterns. 4.4.4 THE BOCAL MODEL A general idea of focus is one which we do not seem to find much difficulty in understanding, in spite of the fact that it remains an ill-dcfincd notion in the literature; it appears as if authors generally avoid defining iL In general terms, and irrespective of theoretical affiliation, we intuitively assume that 'focusing is a central part of what we do when wc accent* (Ladd, 1979: 98). We will restrict the discussion to focus in connection with (and realised by) nuclear accent assignment. One of the first mentions of the term focus along these lines is introduced by Halliday (1967) when he talks about 'points Of information focus', as part of the theory that explains the way in which intonation relates to information structure in spoken language. He also examines the distinction between marked and unmarked focus. Focus has also been variously characterised. Culicovcr & Rochemonl (1983) have suggested that focus is determined by context; for Gussenhovcn (1984) and Maidment (1990), focus marks semantic constituents; for Ladd (1979), Tocus is a syntactic phenomenon; according to Selkirk (1984), focus applies to syntactic constituents, and Allciton (1978) does not think it possible to define it in phonological or syntactic or even semantic terms. What we do know is that focus represents an intermediate level of analysis, i.e. it provides a convenient device to explain the (quite often) elusive correlation between a phonological notion such as nuclear accent and prominent material of different lengths (from one syllabic to whole constituents and sentences), and particularly the word which authors have variously characterised as the most deserving of the label 'new', the most important, informative, newsworthy, unpredictable, etc. Focus, then, is not to be defined according to nucleus placement; the relationship is rather the other way round: the accentual pattern of an utterance (including the nuclear accent) is the physical manifestation of the focus of the utterance. Summing up, there is general agreement that (i) accents signal focus; (Ü) not all focused constituents need lake an accent, and (iii) unfocused constituents do nol lake an accent Our main lask will be lo identify ihc focus of an utterance and within the focused portion, the syllabic bearing the nuclear accent Since, by definition, the nuclear accent consists of a single syllable, the difficulty arises when there is a large portion of utterance in focus - sometimes even the whole of the intonation-group. 4.4.4. l

BROAD AND NARROW FOCUS

Two further concepts will be adopted here, which arc closely connected with the information structure of the utterance: broad and narrow focus; the former was coined by Ladd (1980) and refers to the fact that the information conveyed by the intonation-group is completely new ('all-new') and therefore 'in focus'. On the other hand, an utterance is in

Word itren and sentence accent

narrow focus when only a portion of il is in focus, i.e. when it contains new and given information.1* This is illustrated in the next examples: (4.14) to (4.17) are in broad focus. They can be thought of as B's responses to questions such as What's the matter?. What's new?. What happened?, etc.; we can also say that the answers provided by B arc unexpected and therefore come 'out of the blue'; B's exchanges in (4.18) lo (4.20) arc in narrow focus, i.e. they contain given information, i.e. information already present in the discourse, e.g. (4.14) (4.15) (4.16) (4.17)

[I Ibr'got to 'bring my * library card],,^-^ [My 'car broke down| r < x : u s [The 'president's de'eided to sub'mit his l rc5ig , nation| KX . us ['Too many 'cooks 'spoil the 'broth]j.xx;us

(4.18)

A: B: A; B: A; B:

(4.19) (4.20)

Did you sleep well? [In"crcdiblyl!<)Clts well You say you need twenty-five rn«rty-li=oais n v c What do you think of the new measures taken? Were they effective? I think they were 1 "inlpocus effective

The above examples appear to indicate that scope of focus is a matter of degree, going from the broadest (broad focus) to the narrowest, as shown in (4.20), where a single morpheme is brought into focus. More specifically, in utterances in broad focus, the general tendency is for the nuclear accent to go on the last lexical item; the only exception is (4.15) which, together with other similar patterns, will be explained in §4,4.4.5; in (4.14), the accent falls on the lexically stressed syllabic of the single-stressed lexical item (compound) library card. In utterances in narrow focus the nuclear accent goes on the focused constituent. Three general conclusions emerge from the examples: (i) the narrower the focus, the more obvious nucleus placement is (i.e. the more direci its relation to accent); (ii) the nuclear accent falls within the focused material; (iii) the focused material involves new information. (For focused constituents involving given information, which are consequently accented, see §4.4.4.4.) 4.4.4.2

ADVANTAGES OPTHH HOCA1. APPROACH

We shall now analyse the reasons why the focal analysis is a clear advantage over the semantic and syntactic views. In the first place, il takes contextual and pragmatic aspects into account, without necessarily disregarding syntactic considerations. One clear example of the superiority of Ihe focal analysis is that it can satisfactorily explain similar surface patterns which are ambiguous between different readings. For instance, (4.21)

I saw 'John this morning

can be interpreted either as in (4.22). i.e. a 'normal*, broad-focus reading, or as in (4.23), i.e. a contrastive, narrow-focus reading, e.g. (4.22)

A: Why are you so happy? B: [I saw Mohn this momingJpQ^s

H é c t o r O r t i l Lira [54

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\^^^^

(4.23)

A: Did you sec "Pclc this morning? B: I saw [ "JohnJrocjg this morning

The last two examples also show that nucleus placement alone (John, in this case) cannot indicate the scope of the focus; this can only be done by taking contextual and situational considerations into account. The focal approach can also offer a satisfactory explanation for the accentual patterns traditionally called 'neutral' and 'contrastive/cmphalic'. We shall say that normal nucleus placement is the pattern of an utterance in broad focus; contrastive and emphatic accentuation correspond to utterances in narrow focus. But, as we shall see now, normal nucleus placement docs not only leave the focus broad, but also unspecified. For instance, the accentual pattern in (4.24)

We attended an international "conference last week

can derive from different types of focus, from broad (as in 4.25) lo narrow, in difTcrcnl degrees of narrowness, e.g. (4-25) (4-26) (4.27) (4.28)

A: B: A: B: A; B: A: B:

What's the news? IWe attended an international What did you do? We (attended an international Where did you go? We attended (an international Where did you go last week? We attended (an international

"conference last weekj^cus 'conference last wccklRx-us "conference last wcek| l o c u S "conferencclrocus hrt week

Clearly, it is not possible lo characterise a given accentual pattern as being in either broad or narrow focus without considering contextual factors. Another advantage of the focal approach is that it can offer more satisfactory answers to patterns of interference across languages. For instance, if a native speaker of English has to explain why he has arrived late, he might say (4.29)

I My "car didn't work| l<x - lIS

A native speaker of Spanish, on the other hand, will normally say: (4.30)

(HI auto no me funcio'nólpoajs

A semantic view of nucleus placement can only claim that the English speaker is more interested in the car and the Spanish speaker in the working -a very weak argument Instead, we shall say that focus is a language universal concept, and the ways in which languages realise focus through accent ¡ire language specific, i.e. the rules governing the relationship depend on each language in particular. Ladd's contribution to a theory of nucleus placement is significant His notions of 'dcaccenting' and 'default accent'1' arc central issues in his theory and of very practical

Word it re I* and sentence

accent

&

value from an EFL poinl of view. He defines dcacccniing as 'absence of Ihc |acceni| lhai an ilem would normally have' (1979: 107). Bul deacccnüng also implies moving die nuclear accent onto an ilem which is thus accented by default. In sum, a nuclear accent can result from applying focus on a particular constituent (focus accent), or as a result of default accent through dcaccenling. Examples of default accent arc those in (4.32) and (4.34). ll is worth noticing that in the majority of cases ihc nuclear accent is shifted to the left (as shown in 4.32). and sometimes to the righl of the broad-focus versions (as in 4.34); ihc hroad-focus versions are (4.31) and (4.33), e.g. (4.31) (4.32) (4.33) (4.34)

A: B: A; B: A: B: A: B:

Whai'sine matter? I'm afraid I have some very distressing "news. (I-'OQJS ACCIÍNT) Any news? I'm afraid I have some very drsiressing news. (DEFAULT ACCliN"!") What's the matter? This is not a subject we could reach a "compromise about. ÍRXHJS ACCi-NT) Couldn't we reach a compromise*? This is not a subject we could reach a compromise a*bouL (Oia-'ADI.T ACX'.liNT)

Default accent and narrow focus accent arc ihc two types of non-neutral accent placement Ladd recognises. As for ihc concept of conlrastive accent, we shall understand both default accent 'that may result from the dcaccenling of an item thai would otherwise be accented' (Ladd, 1979: 129), and narrow focus accent arising from a desire to contrast. 4.4.4.3

NKWNESS AND GIVI-NNESS

Attempts lo formalise a theory of information structure, including die concepts of given vs. new information, arc due lo work begun by the Prague linguists at the beginning of ihc century. However, it was Halliday's concern to explain Ihc process lhal link information with intonation which led him in 1967 to elaborate an explicit theory of information structure. For Halliday, (i) given information is optional and nol marked by pilch; (ii) ihc unmarked position of given information is al the beginning of the inlonalion-group. and (iii) the condition of givenness is determined by the speaker. We shall say thai statement (i) is only a general tendency. (Sec §4.4.4.4.) Halliday defines new information as 'dial pari of Ihc information unit |...| which the speaker has decided lo present as not being already availahlc lo ihc hearer' and given information as 'thai which ihc speaker decides lo treat as already known or assumed' (Halliday, 1970: 40). For Kuno (1978: 282-283), givenness is information 'recoverable from preceding coniexi'. For Brown & Yule (1983) it is information 'physically present in the context' or 'mentioned in the discourse'. Various characterisations speak aboul information 'in Ihc air' or 'on stage', 'shared knowledge', 'common ground', 'background', 'assumed familiarity', etc. Finally, given information can be established bolh linguistically (when it is physically present in ihc discourse) and situationally (when it is related lo a particular situation or nonlinguistic context). Apart from the examples given in (4.18) lo (4.20), which involve repetitions of ihc type well vs. increttibly well, linguistically given material may be established through various types of sense relations: (i) synonymy (4.35), (ii) hyponym/ supcrordinaic (4.36), (iii) converse (4.37), and (¡v) part/whole (4.38); siluaiionally given is illustrated in (4.39), e.g.

H é c t o r Ortiz

56

Lira

\\w\AMmVMW^^

(4.35) (4.36) (4.37) (4.38) (4.39)

A; Shall we lake a detour lo avoid ihc lown centre?

I *haic diversions. Would you like a coke? 'Sorry. I don'l 'fancy soft drinks. I leni it to John. 'Why did he borrow it, may I ask? I've sprained my ankle. You'll have to 'rest your leg com* plctcly. A: (watching B, who is ready to bile inio a nice apple) What a 'nice apple!

B: A: B: A: B: A: B:

4.4.4.4

NUCUJUS PIJtCRMBNT AND üMsNNUSS

We have slated lhat in general lenns deacceniing is related lo givenness and accenting lo newness. In ihis section we shall examine some of (ho main instances of given information which, in spile of its condition, is brought inlo locus and then rcaccented. Identical material can be reused, foealised and accented as a process of recapitulation on the part of the addressee, lo make it clear to the speaker lhat he agrees with him (4.40), or thai he has understood the message (4.41); as a means to reitérale information for clarification purposes (4.42); wilh the purpose of marking the beginning of a new aspect of the same topic (4.43); when there arc no new ilems in the discourse context (4.44); when ihc same form conveys iwo different meanings (in 4.45, ihe form Liverpool has iwo referents - Ihc football leum and ihe cily), and because of intonation idiomalicity (4.46), e.g. (4.4Ü) (4.41) (4.42)

(4.43) (4.44) (4.45) (4.46)

A: B: A: B:

Would you like a coffee? ' Yes. A 'coffee would be , nice Two oh six double three double one 'Two oh 'six double 'three double 'one. "Righi

A; Who discovered America? B: 'Christopher Columbus A; Co'lumbus.'YcS-'Exccllcni (Because we're so far away, I can never get fresh milk and yoghurt.) "Yoghurt may 'not be as 'crucial as 'milk. buL.. A: And you decided lo come hack B: I de'eided locóme 'hack. T o s We 'hope to 'show the 'real "Liverpool at 'Liverpool It's 'not what you "said, it's the 'way you 'said il

Cruitendcn (1997: 82-86) examines three further types of reacccntuation: contrasts, as in (4.47), where girls arc part of class; echoes, as in (4.48), and insists, as in (4.49), e.g. (4.47) (4.48)

The 'whole 'class took part. But 'only the 'girls got a prize A; Buy me six pairs, will you? B: 'Six'pairs?

(4.49)

A: Whal kind of rock do you like? B: I don'l 'like rock

Word stress and sentence

4.4.4.5

accent

fT~

EXCEPTIONS TO I.I.I RULIi

In §4.4.4.1 wc staled that in utterances in broad focus, the nuclear accent will verj likely go on the last lexical item, a reworded version of Halliday's LLI principle. Thi: traditional rule implies that if the accent falls on a previous lexical item, or on a grammalica item, then the utterance is in narrow focus. As we also advanced in the same section however, there are a number of constructions in broad focus in which the nuclear accen goes on a lexical item preceding die last (e.g. (4.15)). These exceptions to the last léxica item rule of accentuation are examined now. The first group involves utterances made up o arguments (i.e. noun phrases acting as subjects) and predicates (i.e. verbs and predican nouns or adjectives), which show a marked prevalence of arguments in matters o accentuation; the second group relates to final items with low semantic weight 4.4.4.5.1

'Event' sentences

Typically, this relatively short type of utterance consists of a non-pronominal subjee followed by an intransitive predicate. Crullcnden (1997: 75) identifies the verb as one whicl denotes appearance or disappearance (particularly wilh human subjects) or misfortune (vcr often with non-human subjects). Examples of 'event' sentences can be found in various EL' practice materials, but a satisfactory explanation for their accentual behaviour is scldon attempted in them. Thompson (1981: 48-49) was one of the first to clearly stale dial 'hot] the noun and die verb are new information, but the noun is stressed'. Gusscnhovcn (1984 42) identifies 'event* sentences as those referring to historical events, i.e. those in whic! 'something was (is, will be, might have been, was not, etc.) an event*, i.e. a past, preseni future or presumed event Schmcrling (1976: 81-98) calls these uiieranccs 'news sentences* in which die whole of diem is news and 'predicates receive lower stress than thei arguments', as die following examples indicate: (4.50) (4.51) (4.52) (4.53) (4.54) (4.55) (4.56) (4.57)

The 'water's running The 'baby's crying The 'keltic's boiling There's a 'bus coming! My'headaches The 'car broke down An 'accident happened The 'children will walk in

There arc various kinds of exceptions to the above rule. Ladd (1980: 91) warns aboi the diíTcrcni accentual behaviour of proper nouns, since 'names seem to be much les acccnlablc than other NPs in identical contexts', as in (4.58), and Faber (1987: 344) an Crullcnden (1990: 13) claim that in sentences containing human subjects and agentive vert both have to take an accent, as shown in (4.59a); (4.59b), on the other hand, contains a noi human subject, e.g. (4.58) (4.59)

Jesus 'wept (a) It'sjusi my'daughter |'shivering-(b) It's just ihc 'door slamming

Gusscnhovcn (1984) describes exceptions such as utterances whose subjects ai quantifiers and pronouns (4.60); definitional sentences (4.61); contigency sentences (4.6!

Héctor Ortiz Lira

3

the meaning here being 'if there arc thieves, they will be prosecuted'); sentences with generic arguments (i.e. those referring to whole classes of entities, 4.63), and sentences in which the predicate is complemented (4.64). These exceptions • marked (a)- arc accented on the predicate; regular 'event' sentences -shown as (h)- bring out the contrast, e.g. (4.60) (a) 'Everybody has c'scaped! ~ (b) The 'prisoners have escaped! (4.61) (a) 'Milk is "animal -(b) The 'milk's in the sun (4.62) (a) 'Thieves will be "prosecuted - (b) "Thieves have been around (4.63) (a) 'Ice 'melts - (b) If you're 'not "careful, | 'ice will form (4.64) (a) Our 'dog's my'steriously disap'pearcd -(b) Our "dog's disappeared The Spanish versions of these utterances typically have prcdicatc+argumcnt word order, with the nuclear accent infinalposition, e.g. (4.65) Scsu'bió la'leche (4.66) SccorVila'lu/. (4.67) Empc'/.ó el semanario (4.68) Me fa'llaron los "frenos •

4.4.4.5.2 Nouns + infinitives Newman's (1946; 179) much quoted pair of examples (4.69) and (4.70) is probably the first formal account of sentences with a NP followed by an infinitive sequence in terms of syntactic relations, e.g. (4.69) (4.70)

I have instructions to leave (=1 have to leave instructions) I have instructions to "leave (-1 have been instructed to leave)

In (4.69), the noun is the object of the verb, and in (4.70), the verb is the complement of the noun. Similarly, as an answer to an invitation like Are you coming with us tonight? we may get any of the following: (4.71) I've got a 'couple of 'letters to write (4.72) I've gota 'coupleof "books to read (4.73) I've got 'all these "shrimp to clean In this type of construction, however, there arc cases which present a certain degree of variability between accent on the noun and accent on the verb. For instance, Bolingcr (I9R6: 125-126) notices, neither of the following examples in (4.74) and (4.75) could be unmistakably signalled as the broad-focus version, because the noun and the verb have similar semantic weight -low in (4.74) and high in (4.75), e.g. (4.74) (4.75)

(a) John has 'things to "do - (b) John has "things to do (a) John has a 'life to 'uve - (b) John has a 'life to live

The following pairs reveal clear differences between English and Spanish, e.g. (4.76) (4.77)

I don't 'know which 'bus to lake-No 'sécuál 'bus to'mar 'Put the "plates to warm - 'Pon los 'platos a calen"lar/ 'Pon a calcn'tar los 'platos

Word stress and sentence oeeent

4.4.4.5.3

\

Wh-cjuestiüns ending with a verb

In this type of utterance, the nuclear accent normally goes on the noun representing the object of the verb, ralhcr than on the verb. These constructions, consisting of questions introduced by a noun-headed wh-complement, made generative grammarians reformulate the original rules assigning accent, by considering contextual factors and claiming that accent placement can be determined from surface structure, all of which originated a considerable body of discussion in the early 70*s. Gusscnhovcn (1984) underlines the speaker's interest in the queried argument signalled by the wh-word. which will typically be a [+focus| element, and will consequently get an accent These are a few examples: (4.78) (4.79) (4.80) (4.81) (4.82) (4.83)

'How's the 'homework going? 'Where docs 'most of our "fruit go to? 'Whose uní brella have I taken? 'What "brand do you buy? How much "sugar do you add? 'Whose aefvice did you follow?

Crultendcn (1997) notices that if the verb has further complementation, the nuclear accent will not go on the object, e.g. (4.84) (4.85)

Whose ad'vicc did you Tindrnosl "useful? Which 'programme do you 'use to make "drawings with?

The Spanish broad-focus versions take the nuclear accent on ihc last lexical item, be il a noun or a verb, e.g. (4.86) (4.87)

¿'Cómo van las la"reas? ¿'Que* marca "compras? 4.4.4.5.4

Final relative clauses

It is doubtful whether Hal lid ay's (1970: 119) explanation for the accentuation of defining relative clauses can be illuminating enough to understand the rationale behind the pattern. In (4.88) (here with adapted notation): (4.88)

'Have you got a spare "tape recorder I could borrow for an hour or two?

he explains dial ihc speaker has decided to put the relative clause after the nuclear accent because it is obvious that have you got a spare...? can only introduce a desire to borrow something, which, in a way. makes it an utterance in narrow focus. In fact, we can safely state that in English relative clauses, the nuclear accent normally goes on Ihc argument (noun), irrespective of the condition of new or given of the information in the clause, and ihc length of il. For instance, both (4.89) and (4.90) can be considered lo be in broad focus, and the rest in narrow focus; (4.91) and (4.92) arc questions containing restrictive relative clauses in definite NPs. The last examples arc relatively long clauses, e.g. (4.89) (4.90)

A: (Showing B a jewellery catalogue) 'Can you see a "necklace here you'd like? "Pain, | 'have you got any 'old maga" zincs you wouldn'tmind giving away?

Héctor Ortiz Lira

0 (4.91) (4.92) (4.93) (4.94)

'Where's that "book you borrowed? 'What about that "story you were telling me? 'I'm putting a'way some of the "junk that's been lying around since last Christmas I'm in'trigucd by these 'flashes that scientists have observed round here at this lime of year.

Schmcrling (1976: 55-56) claims that nucleus placement depends on context; (4.95) would be considered normal in a neutral context, and (4.96) in the context of a hospital, e.g. (4.95)

'This is the "doctor 1 was telling you about

(4.96)

'This is the doctor I was "telling you about

The Spanish counterparts prefer the nuclear accent on the rightmost content word, e.g. (4.97) (4.98)

Lcdia 'Marcos los 'lihros que querría '¿Dúndepu 'sisteel 'libro que sa'easte? 4.4.4.5.5 Nouns + adjectives/participles

Constructions containing predicative adjectival adjuncts have received the least attention in the literature. The following examples in broad focus show that they are also exceptions to LLIt e g . (4.99) (4.100) (4.101) (4.102)

'Don't let the "dog loose He 'left the "door open He 'had one of his "ribs broken 'Keep your "eyes shut

• A typical construction exhibiting unaccented participles is the type of utterance indicating causation, here (4.103) and (4.104), and sentences with present participles, as (4.105), e.g. (4.103) How 'often do you have your "house painted? (4.104) I 'must have a new ex"hausl-pipc fitted (4.105) 'Get the "fire going Bolinger (1985: 97-98) supplies two examples with predicative adjectives, both of which arc answers to the question Why are you so upset?, and explains (4.106) as 'accident state' (i.e. a type of 'news' sentence) and (4.107) as an 'essential characicrisüV (cf. Gusscnhovcn's category of definition), e.g. (4.106) The "floor is dirty (4.107) 'Pornographic 'books arc "dirty Spanish once again favours accentuation on the last item, e.g. (4.108) Dc'jóla 'puerta a"bicrta (4.109) Man*ten los 'ojos ce"nados

Word stnss and sentence accent

4.4.4.5-6

/TT\

Transitive verbs + object •+ verbal particle

This type of structure has been accounted for in various descriptions, both EFL and otherwise. It consists of a transitive phrasal verb followed by a direct object (i.e. an argument) and a verbal particle, all of which arc in focus. The phrasal (or phrasal prepositional) verb is the predicate and the particle may cither precede or follow the direct object (e.g. 'bring in the *thg vs. lbring the *dog in). The second pattern is the most difficult for Spanish-speakers to deal with successfully, e.g. (4.110) 'Keep your "head down (4.111) 'Arc you going to bring "packages in? (4.112) 'Don'l forget to 'put the "clock back 4.4.4.5.7

Indirect questions

In this type of construction the nuclear accent goes on the objects of the verbs, provided they are full NP ohjeets and not pronominal ones (e.g. something), while the verbs themselves are left unaccented. Although parallel Spanish constructions arc not impossible to find, these generally adopt a vcrb+noun word order, as shown in (4.116), c.g. (4.113) (4.114) (4.115) (4.116)

I 'wonder 'how many'albums Sinatra's recorded You 'can't i'maginc 'how much'effort Mark put into it I for1 gel what "make Jack recommended (a) I 'wonder how 'long the 'video lasts - (b) ¿ 'Cuánto dura'rá el vfdeo?

4.4.4.5.8 Subject +passive verb Structures made up of subjects and passive verbs arc analysed by Gusscnhoven (1984) separately from 'event' sentences, which involve intransitive verbs. These examples can be taken as responses to a question such as What happened?, e.g. (4.117) The "Governor's been kidnapped! (4.118) 'Classes have been cancelled! (4.119) The 'missing "link has been found! Passive sentences in Spanish, the same as 'event' sentences, have different word order with a nuclear accent as far to ihc right as possible. c.g. (4.120) ¡Scsuspcn'dicron las "clases! 4.4.4.5.9

Objects of general reference

Schubigcr (1935: 14) is one of the first reports of the type of pattern in which objects are deacecntcd when they arc 'colourless substantives practically equivalent to pronouns', e.g. (4.121) 'Jack is for'evcrdis' pleasing people (4.122) I 'must ex'plain matters (4.123) I 'muslbe'licvc in Üiings

Héctor Ortiz Uro

B •

Kingdon (1958a: 173) refers lo these items as 'nouns of wide denotation*, and offers pairs such as the following for contraslive purposes: (4.124) (a) 'Let's go 'round to 'my place ~(b) 'Let's go 'round to my * office Later. Bolinger (1972) also compared items of different semantic weight (see (4.8) and (4.9)). In fact, BoHnger's theory of 'accents of interest' allows him lo display a plethora of examples, including fossilised collocations whose accentual patterns would better be treated as invariable, such as 'reading matter. Ladd (1997: 180-183) points oul thai 'English treats negative indefinites rather like other arguments, while it treats non-negative indefinites as similar lo personal pronouns', as seen in the following pairs: (4.125) (a) I'saw 'nobody - (bj I 'saw "Mary (4.126) (a) She "heard something - (b) She 'heard some'footsteps Notice thai Spanish negative and non-negative pronouns are treated as ordinary arguments: (4.127) (a) 'Nocseu'ehúa 'nadie-(b) Bscu'chc* 'algo-(c) Escu'che* 'pasos The dcacecnting of items wilii low specificity in utterances in broad focus is a very strong tendency in English, but exceptions arc also to be found, as can he seen in: (4.128) I think you're a 'vcrycon'siderate ^person (4.129) , That's the, principle of the 'thing! -

4.4.4.5.10 Final vocatives The prosodic behaviour of English vocatives in final position in an inionalion-group is an arca where consensus has in many respects been reached. For Kingdon (1958a: 105. 110) final vocatives arc tagged on, forming part of the tail of the nuclear tone; for Crystal (1969: 264) the nuclear accent is placed on the penultimate lexical item and the vocative is 'nuclear tai!'; Gussenhovcn (1984: 116-138) and Crutienden (1997: 36, 77) agree that final vocatives do not take pitch accent, c.g. (4.130) Your 'taxi's waiting, love (4.131) Good'morning, doctor Consensus declines with the interpretation of vocatives with a rising pilch movement following a previous fall. This has given rise lo various positions, some of which are clearly inconsistent or ambiguous. By the criteria presented here, a vocative such as that in (4.130) can only finish ihc rising movement initiated previously, on the nuclear syllable (as illustrated by ihe interlinear nolaiion (1.3) on p. 12), c.g. ••

(4.132) Good "morning, doctor (cf. *Good "morning,, doctor) In Ortiz-Lira (1994) ample evidence is given of the accentual behaviour oí final vocatives in Spanish.17 These can take iwo main options: they can be deaccenicd (Ihe pragmatically unmarked version) or accented (the marked version). c.g. (4.133) A'púrese, pues, hombre (4.134) j A'púrese, pues, ¡ "hombre!

Word stress and sentence

accent

fTT

4.4.4.5.11 Final reporting clauses This area has been practically ignored in the Spanish inlonalion literature. In English, on the contrary, there is consensus in treating final reporting clauses (alias reporting phrases, background phrases, quoting clauses, direct speech markers, parenthetical verbs, etc.) as incapable of carrying nuclear accent. Intonationally, they are the continuation of the falling and rising movements initiated by the falling and rising nuclear tones of the host sentences: (4.135) I 'don't want Logo "out, he said As with vocatives, patterns with a falling pilch movement in the host sentence and a rising reporting clause is an area where consensus decreases. In view of the definition of nuclear accent we have adopted, diese clauses will be treated as post-nuclear and marked with an undivided, compound fall-rise, e.g. (4.136) 1 'don't want to go "out, he said Finally, in those cases where the reporting clause is modified by an adverbial requiring further pilch movement (an example of 'double focusing of information'), the adverbial may be assigned a separate intonation-group, e.g. (4.137) 'Who are 'you, said the caterpillar [ ^sternly 4.4.4.5.12 Finaladveihials The most thorough trcaimcm of the accentuation (and inlonalion) of advcrbials is Cruttcnden (1981). The present description will be based on the general classification of advcrbials inlo 'sentence' (i.e. disjuncls and conjuncts) and 'non-scntcnec' (i.e. adjuncts and subjuncis).1* In this section we shall concentrate on the class of advcrbials which are normally unaccented in Knglish, in spile of the fact thai they are content words; examples of accented advcrbials will also be examined for comparison's sake. We shall organise nonscnicnce advcrbials in two groups: adjuncts denoting time and place and subjuncis expressing courtesy, degree, and proper functioning. 4.4.4.5.12.1

Adverbials of time, and place

Authors have suggested two different kinds of solution for the treatment of final advcrbials of time and place. Halliday (1970). whose preoccupation is to account for the way in which intonation relates to information, associates final time and place advcrbials with 'minor information points', i.e. with information which is secondary or dependent A similar view is held by Kingdon (1958a) and O'Connor & Arnold (1973). All three views put forward the use of rising inlonalion (low-rise, and less frequently fall-rise) on ihc adverbial, a tone which is associated with information of subsidiary nature. The other, more radical, solution suggests leaving the adverbial unaccented. For instance, Brown (1990: 94) states that 'time phrases which modify a predicate are very frequently placed last in the lone group and do not receive the tonic', and provides the next three examples, the last of which (4.140) focuses on the adverbial, for obvious contrasiive purposes, e.g. (4.138) 'Autumn seems lo be a'rriving a utile 'early this year (4.139) 'Britain's 'trade balance was in the 'red by a 'hundred and 'nincly 'three 'million 'pounds last month

H é c t o r Ortíx

B

Lira

*

(4.140) The 'prime 'minister has had to 'cancel his 'visillo 'Plymouth lo'day | but he 'hopes to 'go to" morrow In the following examples taken from ihc lilcrature lime and place adverbials are given wiih a rising intonation (here wiih simplified notation), e.g. (4.141) A: Any news of John? B: He's 'coming "home | to, day (O'Connor & Arnold, 1973: 93) (4.142) The 'dress 'won't be "finished ÜII next .week (Kingdon, 1958a: 35) (4.143) He 'didn't come "home last , night (Halliday, 1970: 38) (4.144) There arc "deer in those , woods (Halliday, 1970:38) (4.145) A: What's the mailer? B: It's a bit "chilly | in , here (O'Connor & Arnold, 1973: 269) The following utterances tn hroad focus arc representative examples of unaccenlcd adverbials of place, e.g. (4.146) (4.147) (4.148) (4.149)

Ex'cusc me. 'Does a Mr "Henderson live here? (On the phone) ll 'sounds pretty "lively al your end "Wailed There's a "fly in my soup! There's amo" squilo on your arm

Sometimes speakers may choose to focus on, and therefore accent, final adverbials; in other contexts, the adverbial happens to be ihc only aeccntablc lexical item, eg. (4.150) A: I'm looking for a polo neck sweater, please B: They're over "here, | on ihc "left. There's been 'ralher a "rush today Time adverbials can be brought into narrow focus for contrastivc or emphatic purposes, eg(4.151) A: B: A: (4.152) A: B: (4.153) A: B: (4.154) A: B:

You had a "denial treatment this morning? "Yeah The e'leventh this 'year? (Gussenhoven, 1984: 113) I'm starving, the canlccn closes ai three, and I still have all this lot in read Why don't you eat something "now? Can I borrow your ladder? "Sorry, | 'Mark borrowed it "yesterday, | and he 'hasn't rc'turncd ii I'm Tom Fletcher. I've got a room reserved "Oh, | Mr "Fletcher. 'We Ihoughi you were coming to"morrow. We've reserved a room for you to"morrow nighi. But 'don't ,worry. There 'should be a room free tonight (Adapted from O'Connor & Fletcher, 1989:59)

Notice, however, thai adverbials can also he brought inio focus in contexts which arc not necessarily conirastive, e.g. (4.155) A: Any news of John?

Word

s i r e » a n d sentence accent

r—•>

•

B[: 'Yes. Wc a'grccd lo 'mcclin ihc 'main 'library B 2 : "Yes. Wc a'grccd lo 'meet in Ihc 'main 'library lo'morrow B3: "Yes. Wc a'grccd lo 'mcclin ihc 'main 'library to'morrow at 'fouro"clock 4.4.4.5.12.2 Adverbials of courtesy, degree and proper functioning The courtesy subjunets please and thanks (and olher related forms), when final in ihe utterance, arc non-nuclear, e.g. (4.156) A: 'Have another'helping, please B: I 'really have had enough, thank you The nuclear option can be considered lo be pragmatically marked (i.e.' KM, \" please'.), cither to emphasise Ihc courtesy, or to indicate attitudes such as insistence or even annoyance. Degree subjuncts. on the olher hand, fall into two groups, 'down-loners', which reject nuclear accent, and '¡mensillers', which arc usually accented, e.g. (4.157) (4.158) (4.159) (4.160) (4.16!)

Your 'rucksack 'weighs a 'ion. practically I'm 'just going 'out for a bit I was bc'ginning to 'think I 'didn't bc'long in ihcrc.sori of She 'lost her 'head com'plctcly I'm 'sure she won't 'mind m the 'slightest

Informal intensifies this and that can premodify other adjectives and adverbs representing given information and therefore attract nuclear accent themselves, e.g. (4.162) A: I suppose he has a very negative approach to his work B: Well, it 'isn't all 'thai bad, | actually (4.163) A; How can he spend such a fortune on cigarettes, 1 wonder B: lie 'doesn'tsmoke "thatheavily Adverbs of 'proper functioning' (Gusscnhovcn. 1984: 38) tend lo reject ihe nuclear accent in contexts such as: (4.164) A: B: (4.165) A: B:

Shall we reconsider Ihe arrangement aboul the cleaning and ihc cooking? Do you 'think il'll 'work O.K.? What's wrong wilh Granny? She 'can't'hear properly

4.4.4.5.12.3

Sentence adverbials

Sentence adverbials (i.e. disjuncts and conjuncts), which modify ihe whole utterance, normally occur as aficnhoughis and are appended at ihe end of intonaiion-groups. cither unaccentedly or wilh the rising paliem described above; (4.166) lo (4.168) illuslralc disjuncts and (4.169) to (4.171), conjuncts; notice that rather prefers an unaccented tail, e.g. (4.166) He 'promised lo be "good, naturally (|, naturally) (4.167) 'Prices wcnl "up, unfortunately (¡un, fortunately) (4.168) It's a 'question of equality, basically (|, basically)

Héctor Ortix Lira

0

(4.169) 'Allour 'friends are going to Ihc 'Lake District. 'Wc arc going to the "seaside, though (|, though) (4.170) 'Take school-'lcavers who 'can't afford unfversily, for instance ((for , instance) (4.171) 'R'P is 'not a "dialect, | but an'accent, rather Another group is made up of 'reinforcing' advcrbials, which tend to resist being appended to the main intonation group and take a falling intonation, e.g. (4.172) (4.173) (4.174) (4.175) (4.176)

I 'couldn'tbe'lievcit, | "honestly There were 'millions of cars on the road, | "literally 'I'm not 'taking 'any of his'bullying, | "definitely He 'lost his "watch; | an ex'pensive one "loo She's an 'excellent "actress, | and 'good-looking "also

4.4.4.5.12.4

Sentence vs. non-sentence adverbial*

Some adverbial forms may function as both sentence (disjuncts) and non-sentence (adjuncts), the difference lying in their accentual behaviour. Notice that identical accentual tendencies occur in Spanish, e.g. (4.177) (4.178) (4.179) (4.180) (4.181) (4.182)

'John speaks "English, naturally (|, naturally; disjunct) 'John speaks 'English "naturally (manner adjunct) Wc went'home, happily (¡, happily) Wcwenl 'home 'happily 'Alice 'tried to interfere, between you and me (| between you and , me) 'Alice 'tried to inter'fcrc between 'you and 'me

In (4.177), the disjunct naturally indicates that the speaker finds it natural that John should speak English. As an adjunct, in (4.178), naturally expresses the way in which John speaks English. A similar distinction can be found between sentence and non-sentence advcrbials in Spanish (here with simplified punctuation), c.g. (4.183) 'Habla in"glés naturalmente (=como es de esperar) (4.184) 'Habla in'glés naturafmenle (=con naturalidad) Similarly, then, as a non-sentence adverbial meaning 'at that time' usually lakes an accent; cf. unaccented then as an inferential conjunct, eg. (4.185) I'm 'loldihai 'Alan will be 'in on'Tuesday. Do you 'think you could 'talk to him "then (=when he comes; adjunct) (4.186) You say that 'Alan is the 'only one who can 'solve my "problem. Do you 'think you could "talk to him then (=in that case; conjunct) Spanish reacts raiher similarly: (4.187) Nos 'vemos en'tonccs(=ai the agreed time) - Nos "vemos, entonces (=as a result of the agreement wc have just come lo)

Word itreíí and sentence

accent

, ,

4.4.4.5.13 Other patterns in broad and narrow focus The last scctanis a miscellaneous collection of rules which apply to different items and constitute a problematic area for Spanish speakers. 4.4.4.5.13.1

Fossilised expressions

There arc a number of commonly used expressions with a fixed accentual pattern which learners are advised to commit to memory just like ordinary compounds. Some of these phrases reflect the generalised tendency to accent nouns (arguments) at the expense of verbs (predicates).19 The last seven examples have a contrasiive overtone. Here we shall list a few of them in decontextualised form; only the nuclear accent is shown, e.g. to make one's "mouth water to pull the ' wool over sb 's eyes to get one's "fingers burnt to keep one's "fingers crossed to get on like a "house on fire to have a "screw loose

to allow the 'dust to settle to see which way the 'wind is blowing to look like something the "cat brought in to keep one's "head above water tomakeone's "hair stand on end to have a good "headon one's shoulders

till the "cows come home at the 'best of times to 'my way of thinking asfaras "I'm concerned on "second thoughts in "oneway in "otherwords in "myopinion 4.4.4.5.13.2 Any- in negative statements Negative statements with any may have a broad focus version with an accent on the preceding verb; the accent on anything is a narrow-focus accent,20 e.g. (4.188) A; Shall we get into the car now? B: 'Yes. I 'don't think I'm for getting anything (Cf. 'How many 'times do I 'have to "tell you! I'm 'not forgetting "anything!) (4.189) 'Come 'straight to my "office. You 'don't have to'see anybody. (4.190) A: Did you plan this? B: "No, | I didn'i plan "anything 4.4.4.5.13.3 Reflexive vs. emphatic pronouns Reflexive pronouns arc unaccented, whereas emphatic ones are accented, eg. (4.191) (4.192) (4.193) (4.194)

He 'won't 'worry unless you "hurl yourself That 'nice-looking 'girl in the 'middle really "fancies herself We've 'already "proved ourselves.'Now wecan re'lax for the'rcslof our "lives I 'don't quite 'feel my self today *

(4.195) A; B: (4.196) A; B:

Sometimes you scare me Sometimes I scare my"self Believe me. I'm a different person now 1 'have to 'sec it for my"self

—-v 6t\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\W

4.4.4.5.13.4

Héctor Ortír Lira

Verbs of belief and verbs of saying

ITie prosodic behaviour of certain verbs of belief and saying sometimes depends on whether the proposition was accomplished or not. If lhc subjeel happens lo be right, the main accent (i.e. a fall) goes on the introductory verb and the predicate is taken to be given information; if the subject is wrong, the predicate becomes new information and gets the nuclear accent. The Spanish translation of the verb form / thought in the next two examples will clarify the issue: in (4.197) the subject is right (Sp. ya me parecía a mi); in (4.198) the subject is wrong (Sp. yo pensé, pero me equivoqué). In (4.199), being on the phone and getting in touch arc synonymous expressions. In (4.200), B, takes Colin and somebody else as coreferential and treats the latter as given information; in the last example, B2 considers Colin and somebody else as different referents, e.g. (4.197) A; Manchester Untied two. Leeds United two B: I "thought it would be a draw (a , draw) (4.198) A; Manchester United two, Leeds United one B: I , thought it would be a "draw (4.199) A; That was Fiona on the phone B: "Ah yes. She "said she'd gel in touch with me (, touch with me) (4.2U0) A; Colin was in charge of the proof-reading B,:"Oh, | "no! I was a"fraid somebody else would do it B2:"Good! I was afraid somebody "else would do it 4.4.4.5.13.5

Vocative vs. apposition

Since a final vocative cannot take a nuclear accent in English (as in 4.201), Pamela, in (4.202) can only be interpreted as an appositivc, i.e. its referent is identical to that of the previous noun phrase next-door neighbour, e.g. (4.201) She's my 'next-door "neighbour, Pamela (4.202) She's my 'next-door "neighbour, | "Pamela In Spanish, however, nuclear accents on both noun phrases can neutralise such difference, i.e. Pamela, in (4.203), might be interpreted as cither vocative or appositivc, e.g. (4.203) Es mi vc"cina. | Pa"mela 4.4.4.5.13.6

Syntactic focusing

Apart from nucleus placement (the most common way of focusing in English), speakers may want to resort to grammatical focusing, such as the use of cleft constructions. In these, the accent goes on the focused items, which in negative sentences (4.206) may be given, thus leaving the rest of the given information unaccented, e.g. (4.204) A: B: (4.205) A: B:

What a fabulous watch Peter gave you! "Beautiful. But it was "Paul who gave it to me Docs Paul know about the watch? It was Paul who "gave it to me

Word t t r e i t and fentence accent

(To)

(4.206) A: Sorry about the noise. I know you were irying to concentrate B: It's not the "noise that I hale, | but the "heal 4.4.4.5.13-7 Prepositions Apart from obviously conlraslive contexts such as nor ON the table but UNder the table, prepositions can also become nuclear in contexts where the last lexical ilem is given, e.g. (4.207) If you 'can't 'count on your "brother. | 'who can you count *on?

(4.208) A: Can we talk for a little while? B: 'What is it you 'want to lalkaboul? (4.209) A; Where shall I run? B: 'This is an a'lomic 'bomb. There's 'nowhere to run "to (4.210) The 'view to the 'summit is 'said tobcmag'nificcnt-ifyoucan get 'to the summit 4.4.4.5.13.8 Adverbs vs. prepositions Sequences consisting of verb+prcposition and verb+adverb arc distinguished by absence or presence of pilch accent, respectively. For instance, in (4.211), GO on means 'lo bascan opinion' andGOCW, 'tocontinue talking': (4.211) You 'want me to 'help you 'find your 'missing "cat, | but you 'haven't 'given me 'much to "go on. You were 'saying about the 'colour. 'Go ,on Similarly, (4.212) 'That's the 'bed my "maid sleeps in. 'Oh, | I for'got to 'lell you I have a 'maid who 'sleeps "in (4.213) 'This is the 'music that 'turns me "on (=cxcilcs) (4.214) 'This is the 'pivot the 'wheel "turns on (=gyratcs) (4.215) 'What 'lime did she 'come "lo? (^regained consciousness) (4.216) Just 'look what we've "cometo (=rcachcd) 4.4.4.5.13.9 Operators Operators (i.e. the first or only auxiliary in a finite verb phrase, and also be as a main verb) do not lake the nuclear accent in sentences in broad focus. Since their central role is to signal posilivc/ncgative polarity, Ihcy take nuclear accent in order to express contrast, e.g. (4.217) A; Why didn't you talk to the supervisor? B: Pdidtalktohim! (4.218) A; I wish you loved mc B: But I "do love you (4.219) A I didn't want to leave a message. In case there was someone else B: There's "been no one else (4.220) A They won't listen? You should punish those little devils B: They're "being punished!H"hey "arc being punished! (4.221) You 'say you no "longer call it a threat. What "do you call it then?

S

Héctor Ortiz Lira \\\\\\\\\\\\\\m\\\\\\\\m\w

NOTES The area of prosody is one in which diere is considerable terminological disagreement This can be a hindrance lo students who consult different authors. "JTicy .should, therefore, make sure bow each author defines the terms he uses to explain his theory. 'Hie term 'obtrusion' is used by some authors to refer to the fact dial the pitch of a .syllable deviates from a relatively constant pitch line and is dtcreforc perceived as different (prominent) from the previous syllables -either higher or lower. The term was coined hy Bolinger (1958) and can also be found in I .add (1980, 1996) and Cruttendcn (1997). Bolinger speaks of upward and downward obtrusion and Crultciiden (1997), of stcp-up and step-down in pitch. The phrase 'pilch change' is also found in the literature. We prefer to use die word 'contrast' because of its similarity widi Spanish. For further information, see (!rultcnden (1997, chapter 2). We shall define "menial lexicon' a* "the stored mental rcprcscniaiion of whai we know about the lexical iicms in our language' (Crystal, 1997: 221). Following the British tradition, wc have adopted die notion of intonation group (o rufa lo die basic unit of intouarioua) structure into which utterances can be divided. Il can be defined as a winl or a group i>r words (e.g. a clause, a subject, an adverbial, a vocative, ele) unified by a tune. Jiach intonation group has a hierarchical internal structure based on ihe prominent parts known as pitch accents. An adaptation of I ,auu"s (1996: 45-46) definition of pilch accent isas follows: a pitch feature consisting mainly, bul not exclusively, of a pilch movement which signals that Utc syllable widi which it is associated is prominent in die utterance. The last pitch accent is called Uic nucleus or nuclear accent, wiUioul which an Intonation group would be considered incomplete. Other names for intonation group arc: lone group, tone unit, intonalional phrase, word group, sense group, breath group, etc. Apart from the nuclear accent, an intonation group can have one or more pilch accents preceding it. The stretch of utterance which begins with a pilch accent is called fiead Informational ly sneaking, the head plays the part of modifying die meaning conveyed by the nuclear tone. An example of an intonalion-group displaying all possible components is: ({Into) |'nation is a 'subject of increasing ¡ml Fpor] [lancc)| prchcad head nucleus tail In extremely contrastivc contexts even a non-prominent syllable can become nuclear, e.g. Did you say 'intend or* pretend? 1 Stress shift has been profusely described in the Ittcralure. Jones (1956: 253-254) called it 'rhythmical variations'. Knowles (1987: 124-126) describes it as die 'intermedíale accent rule'. Metrical phonologists refer to the resulting strong-weak-strong sequence as Ihe 'iambic reversal' rule fl J hetmán &. Prince, 1977: 319; Hogg & McOully. 1987: 132). Two-syllahlc words affected by stress-shift rulas pose an extra problem lo analysts. A different explanation from the one offered is to say dial diese words have an underlying double-stress pattern and arc Uicrcforc subject to stress-shift rules, i.e. 'ex'cess, 'conCpact. \xk of consensus is shown by words such as Berlin and Belfast. Berlin is given with only one stress in EPD but widi two in LPD. EPD provides two alternatives for Belfast, boüi single-stressed, i.e. -'- and ' - ; LPD, on the other hand, prefers the doubtc-strcss pattern. The approach to word stress adopted in this booklet can be said to belong to die traditional model, which is, in our experience the most convenient for HFL purposes. The most modem view -the metrical approach- considers stress a relational notion expressed in terms of strong and weak syllables forming metrical feet. The following figures show die relationship between stress placement and number of syllables in linglish and Spanish, adapted from Delator (1965). The figures, given in percentages, show Ihe predominance of words with a stress on the penultimate syllabic in Spanish.

W o r d i t r r n and sentence accent

2~syllab Ic words Unglish Spanish

/—-

4-syllablc words

í syllable words

1st

2nd

1st

2nd

3rd

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

74 78

26 22

55 6

39 74

P

33 0

36 II

29 SO

2 9

20

Notice tint thai; arc a Tew otscs where stress docs not differentiate between grammatical classes, i.e. verbs and nouns and/or adjectives nave die same phonemic and stress patterns, e.g. af dress, 'comment, "concrete, de'posit, di'rect, ex"press,*'process. For Halliday (1967), the dircc meaningful choices of intonation arc 'lone' (the pilch paiicm pn>pcr). 'tonicity 1 (Uic location of the last accented syllable -or 'nucleus') and 'tonality' (the distribution of the intonation-groups). These form the set of phonological systems which Halliday collectively refers to as intonation. In this booklet the mark | will be used to indicate only those intonation-group boundaries which do not coincide with a stop. -.' The definition of nucleus adopted here is not wiUiout problems, since nucleus perception tests reve;il that native listeners ik) not always coincide in identifying die last pitch movement, particularly when it consists of a rise preceded by a fail. For a discussion of this topic, sec Cruttcndcn (1997). Fur similar, but not necessarily identical, views on focus (broad and narrow), sec also Guxscnhovcn (1984). Ladd (1996) and Cruttcndcn (1997). 1 .add (1996. ch. 5) is also a good discussion on the distribution of •cecals wimin focused constituents. I-adtl (1996: 293) later admits thai the term 'default accent' should be replaced by a new term, in view of die different meaning assigned by computer jargon nowadays. The first attempt* at explaining the accentual patterning of 'event* sentences can be found in Palmer (1922: 73)andSchubiger(l935: 84). Palmer.' for instance, speaks of 'statements pulling forward a fact not previously mentioned', and Schubigcr, of 'announcements* which consist grammatically of a subject aitd a predicate but, psychologically speaking, arc all predicate Halliday also acknowledges the existence of intransitive clauses wiüi inanimate nouns as subjects; since these constructions violate 1,1 J , he is forced to describe them as examples of marked (i.e. non-neutral) information focus. The intonation of final vocatives in Spanish is particularly susccplihle to pragmatic factors ; i i l geolcctal use. 'Ire use of pitch-accented vocatives in certain varieties of Spanish (e.g. Argentine, Colombian, Venezuelan, Peninsular) appears to be less marked than in Chilean Spanish. The most detailed grammatical and pragmatic accounts of adverbials are Quirk el al. (1985) and Grecnbaum & Quirk (1990). Gussenhoven (1984; 111-116), on the other hand, proposes four categories of adverbials, apart from time-space markers, viz. (a) 'cohesion markers', such as additives (e.g. as a matter of fact, actually), infercntials (e.g. then, of course), concessives (e.g. however, though), reinforcing (e.g. of course, if necessary); contrastivc (eg. on the other hand, for a change)', (b) 'hearer-appeal markers', such as you know. I mean, thanks, please; (c) "comment clauses', such as / suppose. I wonder, I hope-, and (d) 'appmximatives'. such as in a way, or more, or something, and so on. Two dictionaries, OALO and CIOE, are particularly useful for dicir information on die accentuation of ready-made expressions. In this respect they are even more informative than the two standard pronouncing dictionaries, LPD and EPD. A further difficulty relates to the tone used with diese pronouns, e.g. She 'won 7 talk to 'anybody (=she is quite incommunicative). Cf. She 'won't talk to "anybody (=but she does talk to selected people).

RKFKRKNCES Allcrion, D. (1978). "The notion of" givenness" and its relations to presupposition and to theme.' Lingua. 44. 133-168. Altcnbcrg. D. (1987). Prosodia patterns in spoken English. Studies in the correlation between prosodv and grammar for text-to-speech conversion, Lund: University I*rcss. Bolingcr. IX U (1958). 'A theory or pilch accent in Knglish'. Word, 14. 2-3, 109-149. Bolinger, I). L. (1972). 'Accent is predictable (if you're a mind reader)'. Language, 48, 3, 633-644. Bolinger. D. L (1978). 'Free will and determinism in language: or. who docs the choosing. the grammar or the speaker?' In Suftcr. M. (cd.). Contemporary studies in Romance linguistics, pp. 1-17. Washington: Georgetown University Press. Bolinger, D. L. (1985). 'Two views of accent'. Journal of Linguistics, 21, 79-123. Bolinger. D. L (1986). Intonation and its parts. Melody in spoken English London: Edward Arnold. Brazil. 1). (1994). Pronunciation for advanced ¡earners of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Brcsnan. J. (1971). 'Sentence stress and syntactic transformations'. Language. 47,2.257-281. Brown. G. (1990). Listening to spoken English. Harlow: Umgman Group UK Limited. Brown. G. &. Yule, G. (1983). Discourse analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University l*rcss. Carney. T. (1991). 'Knglish compound stress revisited'. Unpublished notes. University of Manchester. Chomsky. N. (1971). 'Deep structure, surface structure, and semantic intcrprelation'. In Steinberg, D. & L. Jakobovils (eds.), Semantics: an interdisciplinary reader in philosophy, linguistics and psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University l*rcss. Chomsky, N. & Halle. M. (1968). 77* sound pattern of English. New York: Harper & Row. Cruttenden. A. (1981). 77ie intonation of English sentences with special reference to sentence advertíais. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis. University of Manchester. Crullentlcn. A. (1990). 'Nucleus placement and three classesof exception'. In Ramsaran, S. (cd.). Studies in the prommciation of English, pp. 9-18. London: Roullcdgc. Cruttenden, A. (1997). Intonatú»! (2nd cdn.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Crystal, D. (1969). Prosodic systems and intonation in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Culicovcr, P.W. & Rochcmont. M. (1983). 'Stress and focus in Knglish'. Language, 59, 1, 123-165. Culler, A. (1984). 'Stressand acccnl in language production and understanding*. In Gibbon, I). & H. Richtcr (eds.). Intonation, accent & rhythm. Studies in discourse phonologv, pp. 77-90. Berlin: Waller dc Gruytcr. Danes. F. (1967). 'Order of elements and sentence intonation'. In Bolinger, D.L. (ed.) (1972), Intonation, pp. 216-232. Harmondsworlh: Penguin Books. Delattre, P. (1965). Comparing the phonetic features of English, French, German and Spanish. London: George G.. Harrap & Co. Ltd. Fabcr, D. (1987). "The accentuation of intransitive sentences in Knglish'. Journal of Linguistics, 23, 341-358. Finch. D. & Ortiz-Lira, H. (1982). A course in English phonetics for Spanish speakers. London: Heincmann Educational Books. Fudge, K. (1984). English word-slress. London: George Allen & Unwin. Gimson. A.C. (1962). An introduction to the pronunciation of English. Ixmdon: Kdward Arnold. Gimson, A.C. & Cruttenden, A. (1994). Cimson's pronunciation of English. London: Kdward Arnold. Grcenbaum, S. & Quirk, R. (1990). A student's grammar of the English language. Harlow: I-ongman Group UK Limited, (¡ussenhoven, C. (1984). On the grammar and semantics of sentence accent. Dordrecht: Foris Publications.

Word stress and sentence occent iiiirginrffrTrriTiritiMWtwwT^^

rzz .'iniuiBiniBimwiammaii 173

Halliday, M.A.K. (1967). Intonation and grammar in British English. The Hague: Moulon. Hallitlay. M.A.K. (1970). A course in spoken English: intonation. London: Oxford University I*TCSS.

Hogg. R. & McCully. C.B. (1987). Metrical phonology: a coursebook. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Jasscm. W. & Gibbon, D. (1982). 'Rc-dcfining English accent and stress*. Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 1.2-16. Jones. I). (1956). An outline of English phonetics. Cambridge: W. HefTer & Sons Ltd. Jones, IX. Roach. P. & Hartman, J. (1997). English pronouncing dictionary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kingdon. R. (1939). 'Tonclic stress marks Tor English*. Le Maítre Phonétique, 68. 60-64. Kingdon, R. (1958a). The groundwork of English intonation. London: Longmans. Kingdon. R. (1958b). The groundwork of English stress. London: Longmans. Kuno, S. (1978). 'Generative discourse analysis in America'. In l>ressler. W.U. (cd.). Current trends in textlinguistics. pp. 275-294. Berlin: Waller dc Gruytcr. Ladd. D. R. (1979). 'Light and shadow: a study of the syntax and semantics of sentence accent in Hnglish'. in Waugh. I~R. & Van G>ctscm. K (cds.). Contributions to grammatical studies-semantics and syntax. I.cidcn: IÍJ. Brill. Ladd, I). R. (198(1). The structure of imonntiomd meaning: evidence from English. Bloominglon & London: Indiana University Press. Ladd, D. R. (1996). Intonational phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. I.ehlsle. I. (1970). Suprasegmentals. Cambridge. Massachusetts: The MAT. IVcss. Lewis, J. Windsor (1969). A guide to English pronunciation. Oslo: Scandinavian University Books. Liberman, M. & Prince. A.S. (1977). 'On stress and linguistic rhythm'. Linguistic Inquiry. 8. 249-336. Lyons. J. (1977). Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Maidmcnl. J.A. (1990). 'Kocus and lone in Knglish intonation". In Ramsaran, S. (cd.). Studies in the pronunciation of English, pp. 19-26. London: Routlcdgc. Newman, S. (1946). 'On the stress system ofKnglish*. Word. 2. 3. 171-187. O'Connor. J.I>. & Arnold, G.F. (1973). Intonation of colloquial English. London: Longman. O'Connor, J.D. & Fletcher. C. (1989). Sounds English: a pronunciation practice book. Harlow: Umgman Group UK Limited. Ortiz-Lira. H. (1994). A contrastive analysis of English and Spanish sentence accentuation. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis. University of Manchester. Palmer. H.K. (1922). English intonation, with systematic exercises. Cambridge: Heifer. Pike, K.L. (1945). The intonation of American English. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Poldauf, I. (1984). English word stress. Oxford: Pergamon. Quilis, A. (1985). El comentario fonológico y fonético de textos. Madrid: Arco Libros S.A. Quirk, R.. Duckworth. A.. Svartvik. J., Rusiccki. J. & Colin. A. (1964). 'Studies in the correspondence of prosndic to grammatical fcalures in Knglish'. In Proceedings of the 9th International Congress of Linguistics, pp. 679-691. The Hague: Moulon. Quirk. R.. Grecnbaum. S.. I.cech. G. & Svartvik. J. (1985). A comprehensive grammar of the English language. Harlow: Longman Group UK Limited. Roach. P. (1991). English phonetics and phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Schmerling. S.F. (1976). Aspects of English sentence stress. Austin: University of Texas Press. Schubigcr. M. (1935). The role of intonation in spoken English. Cambridge: HelTer. Selkirk. H. (1984). Phonology and syntax: the relation between sound and structure. Cambridge. Massachusetts: The M.I.T. I*ress. Sweet. H. (1913). Collected papers of Henry Sweel. Oxford: Clarendon l^ess. Thompson. 1. (1981). Intonation practice, i^indon: Oxford University l*rcss. Tragcr. G. I„ & Smith. H. L. (1951). An outline of English strttcture. Washington: American Council of Learned Societies. Wells. J.C. (1990). Longman pronunciation dictionary. Harlow: Longman Group UK Limited,

a

Héctor Ortiz Lira

Practice

material

Students arc advised to analyse ihe following words, phrases ami sentences, sort out the various categories (where applicable), * identify Ihe rules that govern their patterns of prominence (stress or accent) and mark them. In the case of connected speech, they should separate intonation-group boundaries. Finally, they should read the Hems out loud. 1.

Stress in simple words commence canal vaccine

suburb except suspense

folklore lament

impulse robot massage

com rol distinct dónale

1.2

t niervo I recipient pyramid

disciple sarcasm tribunal

entertain decisive contagious

cauliflower recognize maintenance

expertise molecule advertise

1.3

optimism penicillin

centenary situated

apparatus mediocre

profitable escalator

irreparable hereditary

1.4

commemoratii'e communication contamination improvisation

1.5

allergy-allergic narrate-narraüve

1.6

vary-variable-variation imitate-imitation-imilative refer-reference-referential demonstrate-demonstration-demonstrative observe-observatory-observation

1.1

2.

café

recommendation intelligible interrogation intoxicated

suburb-suburban refer-referertce

academy-academic . apply-applicable

indivisible abominable

remedy-remedial exclaim-exclamatory

Stress in compounds and collocations 2.1

heavy metal guided tour lime immemorial preventive medicine interior decorator refrigerator-freezer

2.2

population explosion multiplication table television programme

2.3

slicking point naming shoe greeting card

learning disability firing-squad mining industry hopping mad pronouncing dictionary learning process

losing battle fishing grounds consulting room |(

2.4

habit-forming free thinking wishful thinking

namedropping public funding phone-tapping

shoplifting French dressing spine-chilling

2.5

Three-word compounds and collocations Third World countries

natural gas personal computer juvenile delinquency

examination paper registration number Independence Day

native speaker illegal immigrant founder-member

concentration camp reacreation ground magazine stand

decision-making family planning sleepwalking

infant mortality rale

front-page news

Word stress o n d sentence a c c e n t

hormone replacement therapy silver wedding anniversary video cassette recorder British Broadcasting Corporation pidylic service announcement next-door neighbour fancy dress party great-grandmother all-night party 3.

4.

Internal Revenue Service public-address system computer aided design teacher training
left-hand drive all-day meeting four-wheel drive all-round athlete

never-never land peak, time traffic redbrick university second-class citizen three-piece suite fairy godmother back-seat driver forget-me-not stone-cold sober

New Year's Eve All Saints' Day new-laid eggs New York City

Stress shift 3.1

insufficient prepositional disappointing North Sea

insufficient evidence prepositional phrases a disappointing result North Sea oil

coed unskilled HIV IBM

a coed school unskilled labour HIV positive IBM compatible

3.2

never-ending

Work at school is never-ending Learning a foreign language ¿? a never-ending process

seven years old

Tom is a seven-year-old child Rosie is seven years old

outdoor

An outdoor life is extremely healthy Farmers live mainly outdoors

out of the way

I love visiting out-of-the-way places It's a nice area but a bit out of the way

off-putting

George's behaviour is really off-putting She gave him an off-putting look

Sentence accent 4.1 Sentences: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.

Even a tragedy can have a happy ending. Better the devil you know than the devil you don't know. An apple a day keeps the doctor away. A positive anything is better than a positive nothing. When is a door not a door? Very simple: when if s ajar. To be or not to be. That is the question. Ciod help the poor, for the rich can help themselves. Young men think old men fools, and old men know young men to be so. The truth, the whole truth, and nollung but the truth. You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. I hope you don't mind my saying this, but I don't like that tic you' re wearing. He decided to buy not the most comfortable car but the most expensive one. If the soup had been as hot as the champagne, and the champagne as old as the chicken, and the chicken as fat as the waiter, the meal would' vc been perfect!

Héctor Ortiz Lira

@ mmmm\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\^^^^ 14. 15.

16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 4.2

There is only one thing in [he world worse lhan being talked about, and that is not being talked about. I can't get the new battery into my clock. I can gel the back off all right, but it's getting the new one under the thingummy that's the problem. It won't go in at all. Rosie is in a complete daze. Cupid's been at work. They met in a launderette. In he walked and it was love at first sight. At peak times the underground system runs every couple of minutes. At off-peak limes it's every ^VG or seven minutes. Arc you the person who was in the oUicr day? Yes? I thought I recognised your voice. Listen, the house is still on offer, but I can't give you an answer straight away. Pets arc lovely but they all have their advantages and disadvantages. A cat is easier because it cleans itself and all the rest of it. A dog can take you for a walk and you have to go even when you feci lazy. 1 was horn in nineteen fifty-two, and my wife in nineteen sixty-two. We have two children. Paul, who's finccn. and Jane, who's fourteen. Dialogues:

1.

A: What business are you in? D: !¡Me? I'm lo computen at die moment. Aé -A Cw*4- Cv* >-& JfrpP&Qujfr

2.

A: What about the job you wcre_applying for? It was a bank, wasn't it? B: That's"right. I heard from ihcm this morning. 1' ve got an'intcrvicw next week.

3.

A ThatVnonc of your .business. B: On the*contrary. I think il's'vcry much my business.

4.

A: Are you in Santiago for/Tbusiness or pleasure?--> oj'rvpftll'K, Pw/.'^x-* B: For'business and pleasure. _( ,¿ f^ ) ^ v Ui ; , ; ¡a y

5.

A: I have news for you. Not the very best of news, I'm sorry to^ay. », Í W . Á J M 1$ B: If you tell me the bad news/in a good wajVhVon'i sound so bad. M.*^*

6.

A: I'm sorry/i couldn'l help you. B: A fineiiicmf you turned out to be!

7.

A: Do you thinkJTom will succeed? J^-*^ B: I don't think so, I know so! .„>/>- W ^ *

8. ¡jji^v\/-/c 1 9. 10.

11. 12.

A: B: A: B: A:

y>

>JJ*

¿- yjj^t- ífcjv/í-liA-

i**4t>*r1r\

iv^l j¡^(^^T

Were you able to/ind the plaee all right':. { -*No. And to make things worse, Uic^phonc' s just gone dead.® 7 h t h e * «ay to. going? ~ IvtvtU»^ Yes, here it is. Shall I pour or will you? I" m terribly worried about you, honestly. You haven" t been eating much and you're such a workaholic. B: Come on, don't lay it on. You* re imagining things. A: Can't find your glasses again? B: No, V m afraid. But Uiey' ve got to be somewhere! A: Don't forget the agreement that you and 1 came 10. B; I know. I'll help you on condition that you' II help me in return.

Word stmt

13. 14.

and sentence

accent

A: How can 1 gel in louch with the gas people? B: Well the numher lo ring is one six four, double two three I wo. A: The instructions arc to transcribe inio RP or inlo our own accent if we don' i speak RP ourselves, li. Whatever will the teacher think or next?

15.

A: , B: 16. A: B:

I have a confession to make. I' vc just realised I left the money behind. Couldn' t we phone somebody? Or don't you trust anybody? Now dial Jim's walked out on us, who's going to help us? Nobody. Wc' ve got to help ourselves.

17.

I'd like lo lake Kmlly with us. What time does the last show begin? Eight thirty. But I'm sure it's a film for adults only, definitely. Have you been to the south of Chile, by any chance? Yes. And I've been to the north too. What will happen lo programmes that run from midday to midnight? V ve no Idea. What happens to those is anyone's guess.

18. 19.

A: B: A: B: A: B:

20.

A: What can I do now Lhat the whole project has been cancelled? B: None of my business I guess. That's your funeral.

21.

A: It's a real business filling in this form, isn' t it? B: You're telling me! It's a nightmare, really!

22.

A; My sister's coming to sec mc tomorrow. I'd like lo lake her to the theatre. I wonder what's on. Have you seen the paper? B: Sorry, mate, bul you want your eyes tested. There, right in front of you!

23.

A: B: A: B:

24.

Now we're in a fix! We'll never get that pay rise. Come on, you should look on the bright side of things. Are you going lo wear thai swimsuit you bought jusl recently? Of course. Specially if what's his name is there.

25.

A: I want you to look at this picture. What do you think ft's a picture of? B: As far as I can make out, it's a small square inside a big circle.

26.

A: If I asked you to become my partner, what would you say? B: I wouldn' l know what lo say.

27.

A: B: A: B: A: B:

28. 29.

Do you think the rest of the hoard will be pleased with what I* vc done? You've been ll»e biggest contributor so far, hy Tar! As simple as dial! l>i you want to see John? He wants lo sec mc. you mean. I certainly don* I want lo sec him. Two more policemen have been kicked out, according to the news. I-aw makers can' i be law breakers.

30.

A: I wonder why Meg keeps turning mc down. B: She won' l go out with anybody. Remember she's got her finals in June.

31.

A: I'm sorry I've kept changing the lime, but twelve is alsoouiof the question. B: Not lo worry. Is ihrce a good ümc for you?

Héctor Ortiz Lira

© 32.

A: The second-floor offices are being dceoraled. D: 1 know. I wish they'd do [he Ihird floor ones as well.

33.

A: Guess whal! I've passed my driving lest! B: Good for you- Now wc can drive away for a day or Iwo, can't we? A: What's the use of having a good-looking husband if he's always bad-

34.

B:

lompered? My husband isn't goo
35.

A: Most people think of an actor' s life as glamorous. What's your opinion? B: Well yes, il has its glamorous side, of course. Bui think of all the lines and moves he has lo learn.

36.

A: Wc mustn* l forget Ann's birthday. Shall I get her a book or .something? B: Well,it's her sister who likes reading. Ann's fond of music. And clothes. A: That settles il then. What si/c (joes she lake?

37.

A: What's Ihc name oí that plant you gave me? B: Which plant? A: The pale green one with the bright red berries.

38.

A: I'm afraid the picnic's out. It's pouring outside. B: Well, they promised rain. A: Yeah, it looked like rain anyway.

39.

A: Tom, where's the book 1 lent you ihc other day? B: I lefi il on your desk. Together with the cassette I borrowed, remember? A: I'm afraid I don'l. The trouble is I wanl to lend it lo somebody.

40.

A: Which flat shall wc choose? B: Well, the one in Bunon Square had a lovely kitchen. But the one in Stanley Street was cheaper. A: Never mind Ihc kitchen. Let's go for Ihc cheap one.

41.

A: B: .-• • A: B:

Hvcr been to Mexico? Never been near (he country. Would you like to g« there? I'd leap at Ihc ehance!

42.

A: B: A: B:

How do you picture your ideal man? Slim and athlelic, with jet hl.uk hair and greenish blue eyes. And aboul twcniy-fivc. I suppose? Nearer thirty-five

43.

A: B: A: B: A B: A: B;

Could I have your name, please? Robinson. Robinson. And your first name? George Robinson. Is it five yet? Ten minutes past five. My watch says five o' clock. If s ten minutes slow Ihcn.

44.

Word stress and sentence aceffnt

45.

46.

47.

A: D: A: B: A: D:

Hello, Paul Harrison speaking. Hello, Paul. Hrie here. Is Jenny in? No, she's nol. Would you like lo leave a message? Yes. please. Tell her that Krie ealled. She's gol some papers lo sign. How did (he trip go? Did you enjoy yourself? Yes. I suppose I did. Dul lei me loll you something. No nutre package (ours for me, where you simply can' l choose the food you' d like ¡o eai. A: Was it thai bad? D: It's Ihe monotony of il (hat gels me. Always the same. I think chefs all have onc-irack minds! A: B: A: B: A: B:

Where do you live? I live in Bedford Slreet. I thought you lived in Bedford Avenue. No. Bedford Slreet. There* s a Bedford Koad, Isn't there? There' s a Redford Koad. hut no Bedford Road.

4.3 Analyse accent placement and type of focus and then provide the rest of the dialogue: 1(a) 2(a) 3(a) 4(a) 5(a) 6(a) 7(a) 8(a) 4.4 1(a) 2(a) 3(a) 4(a) 5(a) 6(a) 7(a)

He shaved and look a hath. 1(b) He didn't take a shower. lie took a bathHe failed completely. 2(b) He failed unfortunately. I'm afraid nol. 3(b) I'm afraid so. . Can 1 offer you somcihing? 4(b) Can I offer you a drink? Promise you won'l tell anyone. 5(b) l*romisc you won't tell my parents. That's a promise I will stand by. 6(h) There were lots of people standing by. You know that it belongs to me. 7(b) It belongs lo me you know. Someone's coming to the door. 8(b) A policeman's coming to the door. The following exchanges correspond to speaker li; provide A: 1 'hoped you'd recognise me. 1(b) 1 t hoped you'd "recognise nic. I was a'fraid nobody would come. 2(b) 1 was a, fraitl nobody would 'come. It's'ten to four. 3(h) It's 'lento "four. 3(c) If sien "to four. On the 'first of 'May. 4(h) On Ihe Tirsi of May. 4(c) sOn the first of May. 'How many "languages do you speak? 5(b)'How many 'languages do you "speak V in 'off to die "seaside tomorrow. 6(b) I'm 'off lo ihe 'seaside to"morrow I think we 'like each oUicr. 7(b) 1 think we like each "olhcr.

Editado por Librería Blackpool Deán Funes 395 5000 Córdoba - Argentina Este libro se terminó de imprimir en Marzo de 1999 en los talleres gráficos de Letras de Córdoba Mariano Moreno 1196

Tel: 0351 - 4692962 de la Ciudad do Córdoba

ISBN: 950-9686-02-6

WORD STRESS AND SENTENCE ACCENT Dr Ortiz-Lira presents a consistent and comprehensive account of the theory of prominence both at lexical and postlexical levels. It is intended for graduate and undergraduate students of English phonetics, particularly at teacher training level. The work is divided into four sections. Section 1 deals with the general theory of prominence. Sections 2 and 3 address the problem of word stress, both simple and compound. Finally, section 4 examines sentence accentuation in the light of past and present theory and is, to some extent, a simplified version of The author's doctoral thesis. Students' success in matters of prosody is particularly influenced by their mother tongue, and that is why constant comparison with Spanish is made, in an effort to point out differences and similarities. A final appendix contains practice material for users to analyse and mark. Apart from around 2,500 words, the corpus comprises nearly 300 sentences and dialogues and represents the largest collection of data on the subject of postlexical accentuation ever published for EFL purposes. A cassette containing the majority of the examples is also available.

The author Héctor Ortiz-Lira is lecturer in English and Spanish Phonetics at Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación (Santiago) and Universidad de Santiago in the undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. In 1974 he took an M A in Phonetics at the University of Leeds and in 1994 a PhD at Manchester University. Héls the coauthor of A Course in English Plwneticsfor Spanish Speakers (1982].