Германские языки | Филологический аспект №01 (69) Январь 2021

УДК 81

Дата публикации 14.01.2021

Ударение в американском английском

Абалян Жанна Арменовна
Ассистент Департамента английского языка и профессиональной коммуникации Финансового Университета при правительстве Российской Федерации, г. Москва, ZAAbalyan@fa.ru

Аннотация: Цель исследования - проанализировать словесные ударения в американском английском и определить акцентные паттерны многосложных слов. В данной статье рассматривается литературное произношение в американском варианте английского языка на примере четырех аудиоисторий Эдгара Аллана По, записанных агентством Соединенных Штатов в Вашингтоне. Научная новизна исследования заключается в комплексном анализе типов ударения и произношения в американском английском. В результате доказано, что в американском английском, в отличие от британского английского, существует троичное ударение, а в отдельных словах может быть более трех ударений.
Ключевые слова: американский английский, произношение, ударение, слоги, интонация

Word-stress in American English

Abalyan Zhanna Armenovna
Assistant of Department of English language and professional communication of Financial University, Moscow

Abstract: The aim of the article is to analyze the word-stress in American English and to define the accentual patterns of polysyllabic words. The article considers the literary pronunciation of the American variant of the English language, namely the audio version of four stories by Edgar Allan Poe, recorded in Washington D.C. by United States Information Agency. The scientific innovation of this research is the complex analysis of stress types and pronunciation in American English. As a result of the research it was proven that in American English, unlike British English, there is also a tertiary stress and in some words there can be three stresses.
Keywords: American English, pronunciation, stress, syllables, intonation

Правильная ссылка на статью
Абалян Ж.А. Ударение в американском английском // Филологический аспект: международный научно-практический журнал. 2021. № 01 (69). Режим доступа: https://scipress.ru/philology/articles/udarenie-v-amerikanskom-anglijskom.html (Дата обращения: 14.01.2021)

I. Introduction

The English language is the national language of many countries including Great Britain, the United States of America, Australia, New Zealand and the greater part of the population in Canada. Today all the English-speaking nations have their own national varieties of pronunciation. The pronunciation of every national variety of English has peculiar features that distinguish it from other varieties of English.

The development of the American English has rather short history. It was developed under peculiar conditions and they were different from those under which the English language developed in the UK.

American English pronunciation of today is by no means homogeneous. British and American word-stress possesses a nomenclature of word stress-patterns that have features more common to the both varieties than what differentiates them. The major point of difference concerns the distribution of stress within the stress pattern to which a given word belongs.

Thus, the aim of the paper is to analyze the word-stress in American English and to define the accentual patterns of polysyllabic words.

The object of the investigation is the literary pronunciation of the American variant of the English language, namely the audio version of four stories by Edgar Allan Poe, recorded in Washington D.C. by United States Information Agency.

The hypothesis of the investigation lies in the fact that stress patterns of lots of American words will differ from the pronunciation of the same patterns of English words.

The theoretical significance of the paper is that this investigation will be a further investigation of peculiarities of accent in American English.

The practical value is that the results of the paper may be helpful for the students who are interested in different national variants of the pronunciation of the English language and they may be used in the process of learning English language.

The structure of the paper is as follows:

  1. The Introduction where the aim is set;
  2. The Theoretical Part where the principle differences and problems of the distribution of stress within the word in American and British English are discussed;
  3. The Methodology of the experiment where all the stages of the conducted analysis are described;
  4. The Experimental Part where the experimental material is described and analyzed;
  5. The Conclusions where the main conclusion are drawn;
  6. The Bibliography containing 6 items;

II. Methodology of the experiment

To conduct the experiment we have chosen four stories by Edgar Allan Poe from the book “Edgar Allan Poe: storyteller”. The book was published by English Language Cultural Division Educational and Cultural Affair, United States Information Agency in Washington, D.C.

The recordings accompanying the book are samples of literary American English pronunciation.

The texts are read by a male voice.

The length of the recording is 60 minutes.

The analyzed texts are descriptive narrations.

The auditory analysis was conducted by the scientific superviser and by the author of the paper.

The aim of this auditory analysis was to find polysyllabic (simple and compound) words the stress-patterns of which are perceived as different from those of the British literary pronunciation.

Having listened to the recorded texts we singled out 120 words which were classified in the following way:

First of all we grouped the chosen words according to their grammatical categories. The following grammatical categories were found:

-Nouns (simple and compound)

-Verbs (including phrasal verbs)

-Adjectives

-Pronouns

-Adverbs

-Numerals

-Conjunctions

The second step was to group the found words according to the number of syllables.

The third stage was to group the words according to their accentual patterns.

To represent the accentual patterns of the analyzed words graphically we use the following symbols:

- (a dash) is used to indicate a syllable;

'- (a small vertical line high up just before the syllable it relates to) is used to indicate primary stress as in today /- '-/;

ֽ- (a low mark just before the syllable it relates to) is used to indicate secondary stress as in revenge / ֽ- '-/;

ֽ- (a low mark just before the syllable it relates to) is used to indicate tertiary stress as in January /'- - ֽ-/.

We use the term “secondary stress” to indicate the pretonic secondary stress and the term “tertiary stress” to indicate the posttonic secondary stress.

The final stage of the analysis was to find features which might be characteristic of the American version of pronunciation of the chosen words.

These features were described and then conclusions were drawn. 

III. Practical Part

  Having listened to the analyzed recorded texts we singled out the following groups of words stress-patterns of which are different from those in the British literary pronunciation.

Nouns

1. two-syllable nouns (4 examples)

  • Stress-pattern: primary stress + tertiary stress /'- ֽ-/

Examples: 'win ֽdow; 'gold ֽfish; 'friend ֽship

  • Stress-pattern: secondary stress+ primary stress /ֽ- '-/

Example: ֽre'venge

2. three-syllable nouns (10 examples)

  • Stress-pattern: primary stress + tertiary stress /'- - ֽ -/; /'- ֽ - -/

Examples: 'ene ֽmies; 'business ֽman; 'business ֽmen; 'alco ֽhol; 'maga- ֽzine; 'litera ֽture; 'gentle ֽmen; 'pala ֽces; 'inn ֽkeeper

  • Stress-pattern: secondary stress + primary stress / ֽ- - '-/

Example: ֽ masque'rade

3. four-syllable nouns (5 examples)

  • Stress-pattern: primary stress + tertiary stress /- '- - ֽ-/; /'- - ֽ- -/

Examples: Ro'mantiֽcism; ex'periֽence; 'diffiֽculty

  • Stress-pattern: primary stress + primary stress /'- - '- -/

Example: 'uni'versity

Names of months

Three-syllable words (2 examples)

  • with the suffix –ary

Stress-pattern: primary stress + tertiary stress /'- - ֽ-/

Example: 'Janu ֽary

  • without the suffix -ary

Stress-pattern: secondary stress + primary stress /ֽ- '- -/

Example: ֽ De'cember

Place-names

1. two-syllable words (1 example)

Stress-pattern: 1 primary stress /- '-/

Example: New 'York

2. three-syllable words (3 examples)

  • Stress-pattern: primary stress + primary stress /'- - '-/

Example: 'Balti'more

  • Stress-pattern: primary stress + tertiary stress /'- - ֽ-/

Examples: 'Charlotts ֽville; 'New York ֽCity

3. four-syllable words (2 examples)

  • Stress-pattern: primary stress + primary stress /'- - '- -/

Example: 'Massa'chusetts

  • Stress-pattern: secondary stress + primary stress /ֽ- - '- -/

Example: ֽ Phila'delphia

Verbs

1. two-syllable verbs (3 examples)

  • Stress-pattern: secondary stress + primary stress /ֽ- '-/

Examples: ֽ des'troy; ֽ re'ceive

2. three-syllable verbs (3 examples)

  • Stress-pattern: primary stress + tertiary stress /'- - ֽ-/

Examples: 'recog ֽnize; 'rea ֽlize  

  • Stress-pattern: primary stress + primary stress /'- - '-/

Example: 'under'stand

 

3. four-syllable verbs (1 example)

Stress-pattern: secondary stress + primary stress + tertiary stress

/ֽ- - '- ֽ-/

Example: ֽinte'res ֽted

Phrasal verbs

1. consisting of two monosyllabic words (15 examples)

Stress-pattern: 1 primary stress /- '-/

Examples: care 'for; goes 'on;  pull 'off; put 'out; moved 'back; stay 'out; cut 'out; got 'well; lay 'down; went 'down; take 'down; come 'out; cry 'out; thrown 'out; went 'by

2. consisting of a monosyllabic verb and a two-syllable adverb

Stress-pattern: 1 primary stress /- '- -/; /- - '-/

Examples: went 'over; gone a'way, turn a'way

3. consisting of a monosyllabic verb and a polysyllabic adverbial construction

Stress-pattern: 1 primary stress /- - - '-/

Example: went far a'way

Adjectives

1. two-syllable adjectives with the negative prefix –un (5 examples )

Stress-pattern: primary stress + primary stress /'- '-/

Examples:  'un'real; 'un'just; 'un'true; 'un'known; 'un'born

2. three-syllable adjectives (5 examples)

  • with the suffix –ary

Stress-pattern: primary stress + tertiary stress /'- - ֽ-/

               Examples: 'nece ֽssary; 'liter ֽary

  • with the negative prefix –un

Stress-pattern: primary stress + primary stress /'- '- -/

Examples: 'un'usual; 'un'happy; 'un'certain

1. four-syllable adjectives (2 examples)

  • Stress-pattern: primary stress + primary stress /'- '- - -/

Example: 'im'possible

  • Stress-pattern: secondary stress + primary stress /ֽ- '- - -/

Example: ֽ mys 'terious

Pronouns

1. two-syllable pronouns (6 examples)

  • with the second component –body, -thing

Stress-pattern: primary stress + tertiary stress /'- ֽ-/

Examples: 'no ֽbody; 'some ֽthing; 'any ֽthing

  • with the second component –self

Stress-pattern: secondary stress + primary stress /ֽ- '-/

Examples: ֽ it'self; ֽ my'self; ֽ him'self

1. three-syllable pronouns with the second component –one,

-thing, -body (3 examples)

Stress-pattern: primary stress + tertiary stress /'- - ֽ-/

Examples: 'every ֽone; 'every ֽthing; 'every ֽbody

Adverbs

1. two-syllable adverbs (19 examples)

Stress-pattern: 1 primary stress. /- '-/

Example: to'day

Stress-pattern: secondary stress + primary stress /ֽ- '-/

Examples: ֽto'day; ֽa'way; ֽin'side; ֽout'side

Stress-pattern: primary stress + tertiary stress /'- ֽ-/ is found in the adverbs:

 

  • with the suffix –ly

Examples: 'strong ֽly; 'near ֽly; 'dead ֽly; 'great ֽly; 'quick ֽly;

'firm ֽly; 'soft ֽly; 'hot ֽly; 'deep ֽly

  • without the suffix -ly

Examples: 'al ֽready; 'al ֽmost; 'al ֽways; 'out ֽside; 'in ֽside

1. three-syllable adverbs

  • with the suffix –ly (8 examples)

Stress-pattern: primary stress + tertiary stress /'- - ֽ-/

Examples: 'angri ֽly; 'sudden ֽly; 'quiet ֽly; 'final ֽly

Stress-pattern: primary stress + tertiary stress /- '- ֽ-/

Examples: en'tire ֽly;  di'rect ֽly

  • with the prefix –un and the suffix –ly

Stress-pattern: primary stress + primary + tertiary stress

/'- '- ֽ-/

Example: 'un'friend ֽly

  • without any affixes

Stress-pattern: secondary stress + primary stress /ֽ- '- -/

Example: ֽfor'ever

  1. four-syllable adverbs (3 examples)
  • with the suffix –ly

Stress-pattern: primary stress + tertiary stress /- '- - ֽ-/

Example: a'pparent ֽly

  • with the prefix –un and the suffix –ly

Stress-pattern: primary stress + primary stress + tertiary stress

 /'- '- - ֽ-/

Example: 'un'usual ֽly

  • with the suffix –less

Stress-pattern: secondary stress + primary stress /ֽ- - - '-/

Example: ֽneverthe'less

1. five-syllable adverbs (1 example)

  • with the suffix –ly

Stress-pattern: primary stress + tertiary + tertiary stress

/'- - ֽ- - ֽ-/

Example: i'mme ֽdiate ֽly

Numerals

1. two-syllable numerals (2 examples)

Stress-pattern: primary stress + primary stress /'- '- /

Examples: 'four'teen; 'eigh'teen

2. three-syllable numerals (1 example)

Stress-pattern: primary stress + primary stress /'- - '- /

Example: 'seven'teen

Conjunctions

Tree-syllable conjunctions with the second component –ever

(2 examples)

Stress-pattern: secondary stress + primary stress /ֽ- '- -/

Examples: ֽ when'ever; ֽ how'ever

Compound words

1. two-syllable words (6 examples)

Stress-pattern: primary stress + tertiary stress /'- ֽ-/

Examples: 'Red  ֽDeath;  'black  ֽclock; 'dead  ֽman; 'black

 ֽroom; 'cat’s  ֽneck; 'Black  ֽCat

2. three-syllable words (2 examples)

Stress-pattern: primary stress + tertiary stress /'- ֽ- -/; /'- - ֽ-/

Examples: 'home ֽcity; 'all a ֽround

3. four-syllable words (2 examples)

  • Stress-pattern: primary stress + tertiary stress /'- - ֽ- -/

Example: 'baby ֽsister

  • Stress-pattern: secondary stress + primary stress /ֽ- - '- -/

Example: ֽCoca - 'Cola

 

IV. Conclusions

Thus, as it is known British and American English differs in the pronunciation of individual words.

Our auditory analysis shows that there is a distinct difference in the distribution of stress in British and American English. The major point of difference lies in the fact that words belonging to the same grammatical category have different accentual patterns. This feature is found in two-, three-, four-, five-syllable words.

We analyzed the following grammatical categories the distribution of stress in which was characteristic of American English Pronunciation:

  • Nouns
  • Verbs
  • Adjectives
  • Adverbs
  • Pronouns
  • Numerals
  • Conjunctions

In two-syllable words we found the following distribution of stress:

/- '-/ in adverbs, place-names and phrasal verbs, e.g. care 'for;

/ '- ֽ-/ in nouns, pronouns, adverbs, compound words, e.g.

            'win ֽdow;                                         

/ֽ- '-/ in nouns, verbs, pronouns, adverbs, e.g. ֽdes'troy;

/'- '-/ in adjectives and numerals, e.g. 'un'real;

In three-syllable words the following distribution of stress was found:

/'- - ֽ -/ in nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, adverbs, names of

             months, place-names and compound words, e.g. 'Janu ֽary;                      

/'- ֽ - -/ in nouns and compound words, e.g. 'innֽkeeper;

/ ֽ- - '-/ in nouns, e.g. ֽmasque'rade;

/'- - '-/ in verbs, numerals, place-names, e.g. 'unders'tand;

/- '- ֽ-/ in adverbs, e.g. di'rectֽly;

/'- '- ֽ-/ in adverbs, e.g. 'un'friendֽly;

/ֽ- '- -/ in adverbs, names of months, conjunctions, e.g.

             ֽDe'cember;

/- '- -/ in phrasal verbs, e.g. went 'over;

/- - '-/ in phrasal verbs, e.g. turn a'way;

In four-syllable words we found the following distribution of stress:

/'- - ֽ- -/ in nouns and compound words, e.g. 'eduֽcation;

/- '- - ֽ-/ is found in nouns, e.g. ex'periֽence;

/'- - '- -/ in nouns and place-names, e.g. 'uni'versity;

/ֽ- - '- ֽ-/ in verbs, e.g. ֽinte'resֽted;

/'- '- - -/ in adjectives, e.g. 'im'possible;

/ֽ- '- - -/ in adjectives, e.g. ֽmys'terious;

/- '- - ֽ-/ in adverbs, e.g. a'pparentֽly;

/'- '- - ֽ-/ in adverbs, e.g. 'un'usualֽly;

/ֽ- - - '-/ in adverbs, e.g. ֽneverthe'less;

/ֽ- - '- -/ in place-names, e.g. ֽPhila'delphia;

/- - - '-/ in phrasal verbs, e.g. went far a'way;

  In five-syllable words we found only one model:

/'- - ֽ- - ֽ-/ in adverbs, e.g. i'mmeֽdiateֽly.

It is interesting to point out that in American English there is a great number of polysyllabic words with tertiary stress. And, indeed, there is a tendency related to the American pref­erence for an early primary stress, since this makes the incidence of tertiary stress more frequent, whereas the British preference for later primary stresses in the word makes the secondary, or pre-tonic, stresses essential.

Thus, tertiary stress in American English words may fall on:

  • the second component -body, -thing, -one in pronouns, e.g. 'no ֽbody;
  • the suffix –ary in adjectives and the names of months, e.g. 'Janu ֽary;
  • the suffixes –ly and -less in adverbs and adjectives, e.g. 'deep ֽly; ֽneverthe'less;
  • the suffix –teen in numerals, e.g. 'four'teen;
  • the suffix – ize in verbs, e.g. 'rea ֽlize;
  • posttonic syllables in words such as 'win ֽdow; 'gold ֽfish; 'friend ֽship; 'ene ֽmies; 'business ֽman; 'alco ֽhol; 'maga- ֽzine; 'litera ֽture; 'gentle ֽmen; 'pala ֽces; 'inn ֽkeeper; Ro'mantiֽcism; ex'periֽence; 'diffiֽculty; 'eduֽcation; 'al ֽready; 'al ֽmost; 'al ֽways; 'out ֽside; 'in ֽside;
  • a number of place-names, e.g. 'New York ֽCity
  • posttonic syllable in compound words in which the first element (which is usually an adjective) bears primary stress, e.g. 'Red ֽDeath.

  We also found a lot of words in which secondary stress precedes primary stress. Such pattern is found in two-, three-, four-syllable words.

  Secondary stress in American English words may fall on pretonic syllables in:

  • nouns, e.g. ֽmasque'rade;
  • adverbs, e.g. ֽout'side;
  • names of months, e.g. ֽ De'cember;
  • conjunctions, e.g. ֽ when'ever
  • past participles of verbs, e.g. ֽinte'res ֽted.

  In many cases primary stress may fall on:

  • the negative prefixes –un, -im, e.g. 'un'real, 'im'possible;
  • the first syllable of such words as 'eduֽcation, 'uni'versity, 'Janu ֽary, 'under'stand;
  • the second component –self in pronouns, e.g. ֽhim'self;
  • the second component –ever in conjunctions, e.g  ֽ when'ever.

  Summing up the results of the experiment we may say that the following accentual patterns may be found in AE words:

  1. two equally strong stresses, e.g. 'un'real, 'under'stand;
  2. two stressed syllables of different degrees:
  • secondary stress + primary stress, e.g. ֽre'venge;
  • primary stress + tertiary stress, e.g. 'maga ֽzine.

Thus, the following three degrees of stress were found:

  1. the strongest degree/primary stress
  2. very weak degree of stress/posttonic or tertiary stress
  3. a weaker degree of stress/pretonic or secondary stress

These three degrees of stress may be distributed in the following way:

secondary stress + primary stress + tertiary stress, e.g. ֽinte'res ֽted;

primary stress + primary stress + tertiary stress, e.g. 'un'usualֽly;

primary stress + tertiary stress + tertiary stress, e.g. i'mmeֽdiateֽly.

The results of the experiment can be used by English-learning students. It will be helpful for those who are interested in the pronunciation of national variants of the English language, especially for those who want to master the American variant of pronunciation. They may also be of help for English-learners both in the practical and research work.


Список литературы

1. Bryson, Bill “Mother-tongue. The English language”, London, 1990
2. Crystal, David “The Cambridge encyclopedia of the English language”, Cambridge, 1995
3. Hockett, Charles F. “A course in modern linguistics”, New York: Macmillan, 1958
4. Jones, Daniel “An outline of English phonetics”, Cambridge, 1976
5. Lass, Roger “Phonology: An introduction to basic concepts”, Cambridge, 1984
6. Laver, John “Principles of phonetics”, Cambridge, 1994

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