The Phenomenon of Stress

1
Chapter 11

• The Phenomenon of Stress
• wksht A-E

2
Basic Phonetics of Stress (1)

• Stress occurs on the syllable peak
• The sonority of the syllable peak permits the
  speaker to manipulate this segment in various ways

3
Basic Phonetics of Stress (2)

• Stress is associated with an increase in
  respiratory activity which causes an increase in
  one or more of the following
• vowel duration
• pitch
• loudness

4
Stress Assignment in Linear Phonology (Chomsky
Halle, 1968)

• Compound Stress Rule - assign primary stress to
  the vowel in the context
• ____ ...V1 ...N bla1ckbo2ard
• Main Stress Rule - assign primary stress to the
  vowel in the context
• V1 ... ____...NP bla2ck bo1ard

5
The Stress Subordination Convention in Linear
Phonology

• When primary stress is placed in a certain
• position, then all other stresses in the string
• under consideration at that point are
• automatically weakened by one. CH, p.16
• I4ts bla2ck.bo3ard cha1lk
• Claims that native speakers recognize an
  indefinitely large number of stress levels.

6
Linear Phonology - Other Problems

• treated stress as a property of individual
  segments rather than of syllables, but stress is
  a suprasegmental phenomenon
• assigned stress only on the basis of the
  neighboring stress, but
• stress may be assigned on the basis of a
  non-neighbor
• there is a widespread pattern of change caused by
  stress rules
• stress rules operate in relation to other stresses

7
Metrical Phonology

• s w
• black board
• a chalkboard
• Liberman. 1975
• Liberman Prince. 1977

• w s
• black board
• a board thats black
• Captures the relation between stresses
• Captures the suprasegmental nature of stress

8
Metrical Tree and Metrical Grid

• While Libermans metrical tree captured the
  suprasegmental nature of stress, there was one
  widely discussed phenomenon that it could not
  express The Rhythm Rule

9
Motivation for the Metrical Grid

• The Rhythm Rule
• thir.te_at_en ? thi_at_r.teen men
• It is difficult to state the Rhythm Rule in a
  tree structure
• w s ? s w
• only true when the following syllable is strong
• impossible to state with polysyllabic phrases
• Mi_at_ssissippi mu_at_d flats

10
The Metrical GridBefore the Rhythm Rule Applies

• Stress line 2
• Stress line 1
• Baseline
• thir teen men
• w s s

w
11
The Metrical GridAfter the Rhythm Rule Applies

• thir teen men

12
What Grammatical Phenomenon does Stress Correlate
with? wksht FG

• not meaning
• Time speeds by.
• Ti(me fli_at_es.
• Measure the speed of flies.
• 2 meanings, 1 stress pattern
• so stress doesnt correlate with meaning

13
Lexical Category Correlates with Stress

• The waiting was a to_at_r.mentN. His aching
  teeth tor.me_at_ntV him.
• Hes eating a ho_at_t dogN.
• A warm puppy is a hot do_at_gNP.

14
Stress in Old English

• Nouns Adjectives stress on 1st syllable
• le_at_ o da (people)
• go_at_.da (good)
• Verbs stress on first syllable of root
• Ze.co_at_.re.ne (chosen)
• fi_at_n.dan (find)

15
Stress Change

• OE ME
• Ma_at_rches of Ma_at_rch
• ro_at_tan to the ro_at_ote
• wQ_at_tere in li_at_cour
• Cases that were marked by unstressed endings in
  OE were marked by unstressed prepositions in ME.
• Articles (unstressed the, a, an) were introduced
• stress bearing syllable shifted from beginning of
  phrase to end of phrase.

16
Middle English Prosody

• Metrical Foot
• a group of syllables serving as a unit in verse
• Standard Poetic Metrical Feet
• iamb de-DUMM _at_
• anapest de-de-DUMM _at_
• trochee DUMM-de _at_
• dactyl DUMM-de-de _at_

17
Shift in Perceived Rhythm from OE to ME

• hQ_at_f.de se go_at_.da Ze_at_.a.ta le_at_.o.da
• ce_at_m.pan Ze.co_at_.re.ne a_at_ra e he
  ce_at_.nos.te
• dactylic
• whan that a_at_p.rill with his sho_at_u.res
  so_at_ote
• the dro_at_ghte of ma_at_rch hath pe_at_rced to the
  ro_at_ote
• iambic

18
Stress Clash H

• Sue Ann
• Stress clash occurs when 2 stressed syllables are
  adjacent

• Sue Ann Cook
• English resists stress clash. This resistance is
  represented in the Rhythm Rule.

19
The Rhythm Rule

• When two stressed syllables are adjacent, the
  lefthand stress moves left to the adjacent
  stressed syllable
• ?
• Sue Ann Cook ? Sue Ann Cook

20
The Rhythm Rule (2)

• When two stressed syllables are adjacent, the
  lefthand stress moves left to the adjacent
  stressed syllable
• ?
• 
  
• Bi.lly Jean King ? Bi.lly Jean King

21
The Rhythm Rule (3)

• When two stressed syllables are adjacent, and
  there is no asterisk in between the corresponding
  pair of asterisks in the line immediately below,
  the rhythm rule applies.

22
The Rhythm Rule (4)

• ?
• 
  
• 
  
• Mi.ssi.ssi.ppi mud ? Mi.ssi.ssi.ppi mud
• on ppi is not in the line immediately below the
  clash of ssi and mud

23
A rubric for assigning stars wksht, p. 5

• 1. Count the number of stressed syllables in the
  phrase
• 2. Every syllable gets a baseline star, so do
  not count baseline stars when using stars to mark
  the stress.
• 3. The syllable in the phrase that bears the
  primary stress should have as many stars as there
  are stressed syllables in the phrase.
• EXAMPLE Mississippi mud has 3 stressed
  syllables, so has 3 stars above the baseline.

24
Retraction Failure exercise K

• an. tique dea.ler an. tique dea.ler
• The Continuous Column Constraint Metrical grids
  must be continuous, without skipping lines.
• The Rhythm Rule cannot move the strongest stress
  of the phrase

25
Stress Clash (Again)

• ?
• 
  
• Mar.cel Proust Mar.cel proved
• Selkirk (1984) claims that, since the rhythm rule
  is disallowed in Marcel proved, a silent beat is
  added after Marcel to preserve the sense of
  alternating rhythm

26
The Direction of Stress Shift

• ?
• a noun sub.ject a noun sub.ject
• stress cannot shift to the right in English

27
The Direction of Stress Shift

• stress can shift right in German
• ?
• 
  
• sichtbar un.sicht.bar

28
Non-stressed Vowels

• All content words in English have a stressed
  syllable. Non-stressed syllables usually have a
  schwa as nucleus.
• p?trIS? s?mQnT?
• pr?pQr?tori
• If a word is clipped, the new word has a full
  vowel on the newly stressed syllable
• pQt sQm prEp
• Vowel reduction etc.

29
Stop Articulation depends on Stress

• t,d become after a stressed syllable
• la_at_tter, la_at_dder, ci_at_ty, cu_at_tting
• but not before a stressed syllable
• atta_at_in, reto_at_rt
• the degree of aspiration of voiceless stops
  depends on stress
• appe_at_nd ha_at_ppened
• strongly aspirated p weakly aspirated p

30
Rhythm

• one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight
• 691-5263
• The Telephone Game

31
Rhythm

• Rhythm is temporal patterning
• Rhythm implies relative timing where each element
  (sound) is determined relative to all other
  elements in the sequence
• The opposite of a rhythmic sequence is a sequence
  in which the elements are simply concatenated in
  time
• Concatenated elements are strings
• Rhythmic elements possess hierarchical
  organization (strong/weak)

32
Rhythm as an Aid to Perception

• Rhythmic constraints on speech production mean
  that speech is temporally patterned
• The existence of a pattern means that the
  listener can anticipate some elements of the
  pattern, making listening more efficient
• the general principle is that syllable
  durations are compensatorily adjusted so that
  accented syllables will tend to fall at
  equidistant intervals

33
So-called Stress-timed vs. Syllable-Timed
Languages

• equal-interval accent is a language universal
• in a language like English, with relatively fixed
  word stress and varying numbers of affixes and
  function words in between, the perceptual
  prominence of stressed syllables is enhanced
• in a language with relatively free word stress,
  the number of syllables between stressed
  syllables is fewer, giving the impression of
  evenly spaced syllables and less prominent stress
  (Martin, 1970)

34
Poetry is to Speech

• like marching is to walking
• English poetry is a heightened form of the
  stress patterns of everyday speech

35
References

• Chomsky, Noam and Morris Halle. 1968. The sound
  pattern of English. New York Harper Row.
• Liberman, Mark 1979. The intonational system of
  English. New York Garland (published version of
  1975 MIT diss.)
• Liberman, Mark Alan Prince. 1977. On stress
  and linguistic rhythm. Linguistic Inquiry.
  8.249-336.
• Martin, James. 1972. Rhythmic (hierarchical)
  versus serial structure in speech and other
  behavior. Psychological Review. 79.487-509.
• Selkirk, Elisabeth. 1984. Phonology syntax
  The relation between sound and structure.
  Cambridge, MA MIT Press.

36
Chapter 12

• Metrical Principles and Parameters

37
Definitions

• meter - a measured, patterned arrangement of
  syllables
• ultimate - last
• penultimate - next to last
• antepenultimate - 3rd from last
• wksht A

38
Stress above the Word

• 
  
• thir.teen men Al wants some beer

39
Stress above the Word

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• six five five four four eight oh
• End Stress (for English)
• stress the right-most asterisk.

40
Counterexamples to End Stress

• hot dog green house high school

41
Detour Word Level Stress

• Data - all nouns
• ci_at_.ne.ma a.ge_at_n.da ma.ga.zi_at_ne
• a_at_l.ge.bra con.se_at_n.sus chim.pan.ze_at_e
• 1st syllable stress 2nd syllable stress
  3rd syllable stress
• Question Is word stress rule-governed?
  wksht B1

42
Word Level Stress wksht B2-3

• Noun stress
• e_at_.le.phant hip.po.po_at_.ta.mus
• Here the stress is antepenultimate.
• To assign stress to English words, you start on
  the right and count leftward.

43
Stress Alternation

• English favors stress in alternate syllables.
• e_at_.l?.f?nt
• hI.po.po_at_.t?.m?s
• hQ.m?.mE.l?.dQ_at_n.T?.m?m
• But the last syllable doesnt alternate

44
Extrametricality

• Certain segments are ignored by metrical
  structure.
• These segments are always on the periphery of the
  word or phrase
• Extrametricality applies to the right edge of the
  stress domain in English

45
Extrametricality (2)

• applies to word stress
• e_at_.l?.f?nt
• hI.po.po_at_.t?.m?s
• hQ.m?.mE.l?.dQ_at_n.T?.m?m
• applies to compounds
• NhA_at_t d?g Ngri_at_nhaUs Nha_at_I skul

46
Extrametricality (2)

• does not apply to verbs
• a.sto_at_.nish con.si_at_.der de.te_at_r.mine
• does not apply to unsuffixed adjectives
• im.pli_at_.cit in.si_at_.pid do.me_at_.stic

47
Rule Interaction

• End Stress
• Stress right-most item
• Extrametricality
• Ignore right-most item
• (in compounds)
• Two rules are in apparent conflict.
• What can be done?

48
The Elsewhere Condition

• Extrametricality
• Ignore right-most item
• (in compounds)
• End Stress
• Apply elsewhere

49
The Metrical Foot

• Languages with alternating stress use one of two
  metrical patterns
• S(trong) - W(eak) or W(eak) - S(trong)
• Foot Foot
• The metrical foot is binary-branching
• The Strong branch of the foot is the HEAD ?

50
The Metrical Foot (2)

• Left-headed foot ( S W )
• Right-headed foot ( W S ) wksht C

51
English Foot Structure

• apply Extrametricality ltgt
• hip. po. po. ta. mus
• apply Footing ( ) ( )
• R-to-L Left-headed hip.po. po. ta. mus
• apply End Stress

52
Multiple Stress

• Stressed syllables alternate with unstressed
  syllables
• Vowels of unstressed syllables are extremely
  short

53
Parameters of Stress Assignment

• Foot head location
• Left (S W) or Right (W S)
• Direction of foot construction
• Right-to-Left or Left-to-Right
• Extrametricality
• No or Yes
• Left or Right
• End Stress
• Left or Right

54
Parameter Setting English

• ltgt
• hI.p?.pA.t?.m?s
• ltgt
• hI.p?.pA.t?.m?s
• ( ) ltgt
• ?.spQ.r?.g?s
• ( ) ( ) ltgt
• hI.p?.pA.t?.m?s

• Extrametricality
• Yes, Right
• Foot head location
• Left
• Foot construction
• Right-to-left
• End Stress
• Right

55
Parameter Setting Macedonian

• ltgt
• vo.de_at_.ni.car
• ltgt
• vo.de.ni_at_.ca.ri
• () ( ) ( ) ltgt
• vo.de.ni.ca_at_.ri.te

• Extrametricality
• Yes, Right
• Foot head location
• Left
• Foot construction
• Right-to-left
• End Stress
• Right

56
Parameter Setting Araucanian (Chile
Argentina)

• e.lu_at_.mu.yu
• ( ) ( )
• e.lu_at_.mu.yu

• Extrametricality
• No
• Foot head location
• Right
• Foot construction
• Left-to-Right
• End Stress
• Left

57
Parameter Setting Warao (Venezuela)

• ltgt
• yi.wa.ra.na_at_.e
• ( ) ( )( ) ( ) ltgt
• en.a.hor.o.a.ha.ku.ta_at_.i

• Extrametricality
• Yes (Right)
• Foot head location
• Right
• Foot construction
• Right-to-Left
• End Stress
• Right

58
Parameter Setting Hungarian

• bo_at_l.dog.ta.lan
• ( ) ( ) ()
• bo_at_l.dog.ta.lan.sQg

• Extrametricality
• No
• Foot head location
• Left
• Foot construction
• Right-to-Left
• End Stress
• Left

59
Parameter Guidelines

• Extrametricality
• Look for an even number of syllables (gt2) with
  an odd number of stresses ?.spQ_at_.r?.g?s
• Foot-head location
• Look for a word with 6 or more syllables
• Foot construction
• Look for an odd number of syllables if you
  assign S/W from left to right do you predict
  correctly?

60
Line Conflation

• Some languages have only one stressed syllable
  per word
• Stress line 2
• Stress line 1
• ltgt Baseline
• vo.de.ni.ca_at_.ri.te
• Line conflation deletes Stress line 1 from the
  grid to dispose of all the feet but the one
  bearing the main stress.

61
Universal Grammar

• UG is the system of categories, mechanisms, and
  constraints shared by all human languages and
  considered to be innate.
• A parameter is the set of alternatives for a
  particular phenomenon made available by Universal
  Grammar to particular languages.

62
Parameters and Learnability

• UG assumes that the child is born with certain
  parameters that are set one way or the other as
  the child is exposed to the L1
• UG implies that the child knows what to look for
• the UG parameter setting notion provides
  explanation for the rapidity of the childs
  learning

63
The Issue of the Innateness of Knowledge

• Piaget
• we are born with general human intelligence
• attributes of this intelligence enable us to
  learn language, among other things.

• Chomsky
• we are born with knowledge specific to language
  (the language acquisition device - LAD)
• the universal determinants of stress are among
  the parameters of this LAD