English Phonological System Review of Related Theories
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2. A number of words have two different stress patterns according to whether they are verbs or nouns, e.g., absent, accent, conduct, convict, digest,
separate, perfect, permit, present, suspect, transport. 3. When a suffix is added to a word, the new form is stressed on the syllable as
was the basic word, e.g., a’bandon
a’bandonment ‘happy
‘happiness ‘reason
‘reasonable 4. Words ending in {-tion, -sion, -ic, -ical, -ity,} almost always have primary
stress on the syllable preceding the ending, e.g., ‘public
pu’blicity bi’ology
bio’logical con’tribute
contri’bution e’conomy
eco’nomical 5. If a word ending in -ate or -ment has only two syllables, the stress falls on the
last syllable if the word is a verb, but on the first syllable if the word is a noun or an adjective. When stressed, the ending is pronounced [eyt], [m] [nt]; when
unstressed, it is pronounced [t],[m][n], e.g.,: cre’ate
de’bate in’flate
lo’cate ‘climate
‘senate ‘private
‘cognate
However, Giegerich 1992: 181 notes that stress in English is phonemic only to a limited extent. The main function of stress in English, he explains, is not
of differentiating words. Its main function is to maintain rhythm in connected speech. For this reason, he argues, English is a stress-timed-language in which
stresses occur at roughly equal timing intervals. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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