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Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0266078400010026 How to cite this article: Augustin Simo Bobda (1997). Further demystifying word stress. English Today, 13, pp 48-55 doi:10.1017/S0266078400010026 Request Permissions : Click here
AUGUSTIN SIMO BOBDA is Associate Professor of English Language at the Advanced School of Education (Ecole Normale Superieure) of the University of Yaounde I, Cameroon. He holds a Doctorat d'Etat in English Language from the same university, and several ELT certificates from Cameroon, Britain and America. He has published widely on English phonology, non-native English usage, ELT, and sociolinguistics. His books include 'An Introduction to Spoken English' (University of Lagos Press 1993), and 'Aspects of Cameroon English Phonology' (Berne: Peter Lang 1994). The latter book is a generative study of a "New English" where the author proposes the concept of "trilateral process" as a new theoretical approach for the study of such Englishes.
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-iance, etc.) = i V(C) = i plus Vowel, optionally plus Consonant. (b) -eate, -eous (Taylor's list to which we can add -ea, -eum, -eus, etc. = e V(C), which is phonologically the same as (a) since the initial "e" is also pronounced / i / as in venereal /vi'nianal/, erroneous /I'raunias/. (c) -ual, -uant, -uance, -uate (Taylor's list to which we can add -ua, -uous, -uum, etc.) = uV(C). These groupings, which I have seen in my own teaching to be quite within the reach of the learner, give him or her a greater power of generalization and prediction. In an account of stress placement, it seems more convenient and more illuminating to analyse all together the relevant suffixes and the preceding stem-forming "i", "e" and "u", since all the sequences have the same stress behaviour. McArthur (1992:1002), to whom Taylor (p. 49) refers, does not follow this principle, since he treats the -ian of Canadian, -ial of torrential, -eal of laryngeal, -ual of residual on the one hand, and -al of colonial, industrial, and -ous of censorious, laborious, on the other hand, differently. He treats -ian, -ial, -eal, and -ual in the first case as suffixes which cause stress to fall on the preceding syllable and -al, -ous in the second case as suffixes which cause stress to fall two syllables before. I believe here that the -al of colonial and industrial is exactly the same as that of torrential, and should not be analysed separately. In relation to stress placement, the -ous of censorious should also be analysed with the preceding "i" as -ious, and seen to have the same stress behaviour as -ian, -ial, etc. The third point concerns the stress behaviour of the ending -al. Taylor (p. 50) observes that it causes stress to fall on the "immediately preceding syllable" if the word ends with two consonant letters. Taylor thus gives the example of the stress pattern of horizontal, accidental, experi'mental, monu'mental, governmental, where the ending -al is strong, as different from 'regional, 'national, 'natural, pro'cedural, consti'tutional, where -al is weak. But what about 'adenoid+al - ade'noidal, 'anecdote+al - anec'dotal, 'commune+al - com'munal? The ending -al is preceded by a single consonant letter in each case, and yet it shifts stress to the preceding syllable. A more dependable explanation of the factors determining the stress behaviour of -al is therefore necessary. It involves the distinction between strong and
weak clusters, a distinction which can be exploited in many other situations. A strong cluster consists of any of the following endings: tense vowel (diphthong or tense monophthong); e.g. betray tense vowel plus consonant; e.g. anecdote /aenekdaut/ vowel plus two or more consonants; e.g. accident, experiment, monument A weak cluster consists of any of the following: lax vowel; e.g. Africa, nature /neit/a/, procedure^ /pra'si:d33/ lax vowel plus consonant; e.g. pastor^ /pa:st3r)/, pivot/pivat/, palate /paetat/. After this distinction, we can now safely observe that -al is (a) strong after a strong cluster and (b) weak after a weak cluster; (a) explains, not only the stress pattern of horizontal, accidental, etc. but also that of ade'noidal, anec'dotal, and com'munal, while (b) takes care of that of 'natural, 'regional, and other words like pro'cedural, 'pastoral, 'pivotal. Other endings which are sensitive to the distinction between strong and weak clusters are -ative and -atory. This distinction explains the difference in stress pattern between argumentative, demonstrative, illustrative and 'qualitative, 'federative, au'thoritative; and between compensatory, con'fiscatory and e'liminatory, 'respiratory, etc. The fourth remark on Taylor's paper is that his useful listing of endings and their stress behaviour could have been more exhaustive. In his treatment of stress-determining endings, why does Taylor limit himself to endings that shift stress to the preceding syllable? One clearly understands space limitations. But it would have been quite helpful for him to say something about the other categories of endings: those which attract stress towards themselves, those which trigger stress two syllables backwards, etc. This gap is filled in Panels 1 and 2.
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which explains the difference between in'valid (not valid) and invalid (disabled), com'mittee (a body of persons) and commit'tee (a person committed) is less well-known, but affects relatively few words and may not need to be overemphasized in ESL and EFL. The length of a word also counts sometimes. It can be held responsible for the difference between 'fragment+ary - 'fragmentary and 'element+ary -* ele'mentary (-ary shifts stress to the preceding syllable of a long word ending in a consonant cluster). But here again, only a handful of words owe their stress pattern to their length, and this parameter may not need to be stressed. But the origin of a word is a much more important hint. Teachers and students probably need to be told that words of old English origin and old loans usually have a typical Anglo-Saxon stress pattern which is backward, while more recent loans, which are often recognizable, retain the stress pattern of the donor languages. Thus, French loans are usually stressed on the final syllable. The words shown in Panel 1 to have self-stressed suffixes (e.g. masca'rade, affair, ma'laise, ciga'rette) are examples. Many nouns which have final stress like corresponding verbs (e.g. ap'plause, con'sent, suc'cess) are further examples. Final examples include the nouns and adjectives in Panel 3. Loans from other Romance languages (Latin, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese) are mostly
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stressed on the penultimate syllable as seen in Panel 4. Loans from Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese are usually recognizable by their final open syllables, usually in a and o as in arena, aroma, banana; concierto, embargo, volcano. Learners usually bind the above loans with final or penultimate stress to the Anglo-Saxon backward stress. For example, Cameroonian speakers usually produce 'caprice, 'elite, 'acute, 'astute, 'discreet, 'arena, 'assassin, 'embargo, 'umbrella.
ously stressed as (CamE) 'labourer, ba'nana, not 'la'bou'rer,'ba'na'na. One other fact concerning non-native Englishes that needs to be stressed is that, as with native Englishes, their stress pattern is predictable. And here again, endings are a very useful hint. For example, Panel 6 shows a range of endings which have a systematic stress property in CamE. The key to the abbreviations is the same as in Panel 5. Note that in CamE, as in other related varieties, the stress properties of word endings tend to be more systematic than in native English, that is, have fewer exceptions, if any at all. For example, the stress patterns of RP neces'sarily, 'admirable, Tanza'nia, 'spiritual, 'television (cf Panel 5) are generalized in CamE to 'necessarily, admirable, Tan'zania, spiritual, television. A more comprehensive discussion of stress rules in CamE and related varieties can be found in Simo Bobda (1994), Simo Bobda (forthcoming in World Englishes), Simo Bobda and Chumbow (1995).
Some important exceptions to rules based on endings involving one or two words
End -ly - ism -age - or - able - ia - ual - ion uary - mony - iscent - osis SR SN SN SN SN SN after a free base PS1 PS1 PS1 PS1 PS2 SS SS Examples 'happily, 'competently 'tribalism, bi'lingualism advantage, 'percentage 'indicator, professor 'conquerable, con'testable Indo'nesia, Ro'mania ha'bitual, residual con'cision, intro'duction 'February, o'bituary 'ceremony, 'patrimony de'hiscent, remi'niscent diagnosis, symbi'osis Exceptions mili'tarily, neces'sarily ca'tholicism, infantilism con'cubinage, 'equipage e'xecutor fctr 'execute) 'admirable fctr ad'mire) Tanza'nia 'spiritual 'television 'antiquary, 'reliquary he'gemony con'cupiscent meta'morphosis
\
\
Key: end = ending; SR = stress rule; SN = stress-neutral; PS1 = stress on preceding syllable; PS2 = stress two syllables backwards; SS = self-stressed
\
\
Panel 7. Conservative forms (CF) precede new forms 1 and 2 (NF1 and NF2), representing a descending degree of acceptability. This readjustment of stress to the antepenultimate syllable is not new in English. It has
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been going on since the 18th century, as seen in the data in Panel 8 reported by Stannard Allen (1965) and Crystal (1984). The second case of regularization concerns disyllabic loan nouns from French whose stress
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\^
'cig 'ex
has been moving from the final syllable to the initial syllable to fit the backward stress pattern of Anglo-Saxon words. Examples are provided in Panel 9. Aitchison (1981:97) reports that this backward movement of stress in disyllabic nouns, which started in the 16th century with only three words, had in 1981 already affected 150 words and was continuing to affect other words. The third type involves the regularization of
the accentual property of affixes. For example, the -ade of decade is becoming SS as in blo'ckade, cha'rade; the -ual of spiritual is becoming PS1; the -ly of necessarily and militarily is becoming SN; the -ute of-bute verbs (e.g. distribute, contribute, attribute) is becoming PS2 as in 'constitute, 'institute etc. All this is shown in Panel 10. A further case of regularization concerns cases where the stress of the derivative is readjusted to that of the base. We have above examples of this pattern with com'parable,
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X \
'dispute 'rampage
X \
preferable, re'parable (after com'pare, prefer, re'pair); 'militarily, 'necessarily (after 'military, 'necessary); to which we can add sub'sidence (for the conservative form 'subsidence), after sub'side. The new forms provided throughout the analysis are taken from Crystal (1988:60), Wells (1982, 1990, 1994), Rosewarne (1984, 1994a, b), Coggle (1993), and Bauer (1994).
Conclusion
The foregoing analysis, after Taylor's paper, thus suggests even more ways in which word stress is predictable, in native English as well as in New Englishes, and is becoming even more so with time. I believe that most of the myth surrounding English word stress in EFL and ESL circles is either due to the inability of the teacher himself/herself to understand it, or to
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his/her readiness to underestimate the mental capacity of the learner, who will understand the working of this aspect of English phonology, if it is properly introduced. I have given many of the foregoing explanations in my advanced classes, and they have generally been understood. ED
Rosewarne, D. 1984. "Estuary English." In the Times Educational Supplement, 19 October 1984. . 1994a. "Estuary English: tomorrow's RP?" In English Today 37, pp. 3-8. . 1994b. "Pronouncing Estuary English." inEnglish Today 40, pp. 3-6. Simo Bobda, A. 1994. Aspects of Cameroon English Phonology. Berne: Peter Lang. . (Forthcoming in World Englishes') "Atoye's "Word Stress in Nigerian English' Revisited." References & B.S. Chumbow. 1995. "Some Characteristic Features of Cameroon English Phonology." Paper Aitchison, J. 1981. Language Change: Progress or presented at the English in Africa Conference, Decay? London: Fontana Press. Grahamstown, South Africa, 11-14 September Bauer, L. 1994. Watching English Change: An 1995. To appear in the Proceedings. Introduction to the Study of Linguistic Change in Standard Englishes in the Twentieth Century. London: Stannard Allen, W. 1965. Living English Speech. London: Longman. Longman. Spencer, J., ed. 1971. The English Language in West Coggle, P. 1993. Do You Speak Estuary? London: Africa. London: Longman. Bloomsbury. Taylor, D.S. 1996. "Demystifying word stress." In Crystal, D. 1984. Who Cares About Usage? English Today 48, pp. 46-52. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Wells, J.C. 1982. Accents of English. 3 Vols, Cambridge: . 1988. The English Language. Harmondsworth: University Press. Penguin. . 1990. Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. London: Delattre, P. 1965. Comparing the Phonetic Features of Longman. English, French and Spanish. Heidelberg: Julius . 1994. "Summing-up: continuity and change in RP." Gross Verlag. Handout, Summer Course in English Phonetics, McArthur, T. 1992. "Suffix." In The Oxford Companion UCL. to the English Language. Oxford: University Press, p. 1002.
are more likely to get the stress right. The essential point is that in the varieties of English I was considering, stress and vowel quality are mutually dependent. Simo Bobda says that I mistakenly classify -ish as an ending that attracts stress to the immediately preceding syllable. But there are two such suffixes in English. The one I was referring to is a verbal suffix, as in astonish, diminish, admonish, etc. The one Simo Bobda refers to is an adjectival ending, which does indeed behave as a weak ending. As for the grouping of the endings, again I largely follow Guierre, on the grounds that although it may be technically correct to analyse some of them together as Simo Bobda does (e.g. -ial and -al), in my experience users of English do not necessarily think of them in that way. From a pedagogical point of view it may well be simpler to present them separately. The point about the -al ending is well made, and I agree that a more satisfactory account can be achieved by using the concept of strong
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