Stress Variation in English by Alexander Tokar

Author:Alexander Tokar [Tokar, Alexander]
Language: deu
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783823391807
Publisher: Narr Francke Attempto Verlag Tübingen

r/d

3,949

~78. 79

l/r

581

~11. 59

l/r/d

460

~9.18

l/d

22

~0.44

Tab. 4: Degree-of-stress variation in the OED

The type “r/d” is the most frequent variation type, which, according to the OED, occurs particularly often in American English ( 3,915 ). An example of r/d-variation is the already discussed adjective meningococcic, which is pronounced /məˈˌnɪŋɡoʊˈkɑk(s)ɪk/ in American English. That is, the word vacillates between the right-prominent pronunciation /məˌnɪŋɡoʊˈkɑk(s)ɪk/ and the double-prominent double-prominent alternative /məˈnɪŋɡoʊˈkɑk(s)ɪk/. Similar examples include agronomic, adjutant general, air-to-air, machine-washable, macro-economist, etc., for which the OED gives the American English transcriptions /ˈˌæɡrəˈnɑmɪk/, /ˈˌædʒədənt ˈdʒɛn(ə)rəl/, /ˈˌɛrtəˈɛ(ə)r/, /məˈˌʃinˈwɔʃəbəl/, and /ˈˌmækroʊiˈkɑnəməst/. What can be seen in these transcriptions is that, again, these items’ lefthand components agro -agro-, adjutant, air, machine, and macro -macro- are said to be (ˈˌ)-stressed, which means that the level of stress borne by one of these component’s syllables vacillates between primary and secondary.

The type “r/d” is the most controversial variation category because, as explained in 2.2, primary-stressed syllables are phonetically not different from secondary-stressed ones ( Plag Plag et al. 2011 ). Thus meningococcic cannot vacillate between the stress contour /məˌnɪŋɡoʊˈkɑk(s)ɪk/, where /ˌnɪŋ/ bears secondary stress, and /məˈnɪŋɡoʊˈkɑk(s)ɪk/, where the same syllable bears primary stress, simply because /məˌnɪŋɡoʊˈkɑk(s)ɪk/ is phonetically equivalent to /məˈnɪŋɡoʊˈkɑk(s)ɪk/. Similarly, as Farnetani et al. Farnetani et al. (1988 ) and Kunter Kunter (2011 ) have demonstrated, concatenations of words such as adjutant general are perceptually either left- or right-prominent, with the latter, however, being double-prominent double-prominent from a speaker’s point of view. That is, when the listener perceives adjutant general to be pronounced /ˌædʒədənt ˈdʒɛn(ə)rəl/, it is actually pronounced /ˈædʒədənt ˈdʒɛn(ə)rəl/ by the speaker, with both (the stressed syllables of) the components adjutant and general receiving pitch pitch accents.

An example of the category “l/r,” which stands for left-prominence vs. right-prominence, is alongside. According to the OED, it is pronounced in British English either /əˈlɒŋsʌɪd/ or /əˌlɒŋˈsʌɪd/ (OED ). In contrast to the phonetically non-existent variation type “r/d,” the category “l/r” is phonetically real. As was mentioned on numerous occasions, left-prominent words have only one pitch pitch accent, which is placed upon these words’ lefthand components, while right-prominent words are double-accented (but perceived to have been accented only on their righthand components). That is, alongside can be aˈlongside vs. aˈlong ˈside, which is perceptually along ˈside.

Just like the category “r/d,” the combined type “l/r/d” is problematic because right-prominent and double-prominent double-prominent pronunciations are phonetically identical. An example is alike-minded, which is said to be pronounced /əˈˌlaɪkˈˌmaɪndᵻd/ (OED ) in American English, i.e., its pronunciation is supposed to vacillate between the left-prominent /əˈlaɪkˌmaɪndᵻd/, the right-prominent /əˌlaɪkˈmaɪndᵻd/, and the double-prominent /əˈlaɪkˈmaɪndᵻd/. But the right-prominent pronunciation /əˌlaɪkˈmaɪndᵻd/ is phonetically equivalent to the double-prominent /əˈlaɪkˈmaɪndᵻd/. Hence the only variation alike-minded can exhibit is that between the left-prominent aˈlike-minded and the perceptually right- but phonetically double-prominent aˈlike- ˈminded. Instances of the variation category “l/r/d” can thus be regarded as instances of the variation category “l/r.”

Finally, the category “l/d” can be illustrated with mother’s milk, which is said to be pronounced /ˈmʌðəz ˈˌmɪlk/ in British English ( OED ), i.e.,

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