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| − | The stress system of English is notoriously complicated, consisting of multiple levels of word-level lexical stress, which itself is complicated. On top of the lexical stress, English has stress prominence on different parts of compounds, such as compound nouns, and on different parts of grammatical phrases. In linguistics terminology, grammatical phrases refer to the following: | + | The stress system of English is notoriously complicated, consisting of multiple levels of word-level lexical stress, which itself is complicated. On top of the lexical stress, English has stress prominence on different parts of compounds, such as compound nouns, and on different parts of grammatical phrases. |
| − | * noun phrase (NP), which can include, e.g., a single noun, a noun modified by an adjective or following relative clause, or a compound noun
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| − | * verb phrase (VP), including predicates
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| − | * adjective phrase (AP)
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| − | * adverb phrase (AdvP)
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| − | * prepositional phrase (PP)
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| − | For compounds with stress patterns, we need to look at the following types:
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| − | * compound nouns
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| − | * compound adjectives
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| − | * compound verbs, including [[phrasal verbs]]
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| − | ==Compound nouns ==
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| − | Compound nouns can be written as one or two separate words, or hyphenated. Nonetheless, they are all compounds, and are stressed without concern for spelling patterns. Regardless of orthographic conventions or patterns, the primary stress is usually on the first element (component word), and secondary stress on other component words of a compound.
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| − | {| class="noborder"
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| − | | class="noborder"| '''arm'''chair
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| − | '''cow'''boy
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| − | gar'''age''' door
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| − | '''bus''' stop
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| − | | class="noborder"| '''swim'''ming pool
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| − | '''fast''' food
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| − | '''moth'''er-in-law
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| − | '''X'''-ray
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| − | | class="noborder"| '''cal'''cium chloride
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| − | '''toe''' surgery
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| − | '''pop''' song
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| − | '''break'''down
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| − | | class="noborder"| '''eye''' shadow
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| − | '''eye'''-opener
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| − | '''eye'''witness
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| − | |}
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| − | This is often true for even longer, more complex, and more novel compounds.
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| − | {| class="noborder"
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| − | | class="noborder"| '''fing'''ernail polish remover
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| − | '''main'''frame computer
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| − | '''res'''taurant preference survey
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| − | | class="noborder"| '''word''' processing class
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| − | '''word''' stress rules
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| − | '''warp''' drive engine
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| − | |}
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| − | Other complexities and quirks will be addressed here later.
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| − | ==Compound verbs ==
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| − | For compound verbs, the stress is sometimes on the second component, especially if they are made from Old English elements.
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| − | {| class="noborder"
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| − | | class="noborder"| under'''stand'''
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| − | '''underestimate'''
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| − | '''under-report'''
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| − | | class="noborder"| overin'''dulge '''
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| − | '''overflow'''
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| − | | class="noborder"| back engin'''eer'''
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| − | '''reverse engineer '''
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| − | |}
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| − | More often it can be on the first element.
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| − | {| class="noborder"
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| − | | class="noborder"| '''wat'''erproof
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| − | '''air'''-condition
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| − | '''down'''size
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| − | | class="noborder"| '''house''' sit (or '''house'''sit)
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| − | '''baby''' sit (or '''baby'''sit)
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| − | '''lip'''read
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| − | | class="noborder"| '''hand'''cuff
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| − | '''type'''write
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| − | '''ghost'''write
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| − | '''tip'''toe
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| − | |}
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| − | ===Phrasal verbs===
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| − | [[Phrasal verbs]] have their own complications, but generally, the phrasal verb particle is most often stressed.
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| − | {| class="noborder"
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| − | |-
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| − | | class="noborder"| get '''over''' it
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| − | went '''up'''
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| − | go '''around'''
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| − | |}
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| − | ==Compound adjectives ==
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| − | For compound adjectives, the stress is usually on the second component.
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| − | {| class="noborder"
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| − | | class="noborder"| bad-'''temp'''ered
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| − | old-'''fash'''ioned
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| − | well-be'''haved '''
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| − | first '''class'''
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| − | half '''price'''
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| − | | class="noborder"| short-'''sight'''ed
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| − | over-'''night'''
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| − | second-'''hand'''
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| − | hard-'''work'''ing
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| − | high-'''heeled '''
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| − | | class="noborder"| well-'''paid'''
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| − | narrow-'''mind'''ed
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| − | old-'''look'''ing
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| − | lime-'''green'''
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| − | '''top-notch'''
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| − | | class="noborder"| low-'''budg'''et
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| − | middle-'''aged'''
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| − | |}
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| − | However, the stress can sometimes shift to the first syllable when the adjective occurs before a noun (this can vary according to dialect, individual speakers, or how common the compound adjective is):
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| − | : A '''bad'''-tempered dog chased the '''middle'''-aged man.
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| − | A few are normally stressed on the first component.
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| − | {| class="noborder"
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| − | | class="noborder"| '''thought'''-provoking
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| − | '''child'''-proof
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| − | | class="noborder"| '''water'''proof
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| − | '''time'''-consuming
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| − | | class="noborder"| '''water'''proof
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| − | '''time'''-consuming
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| − | | class="noborder"| '''water'''proof
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| − | '''time'''-consuming
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| − | |}
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| − | == Phrasal stress ==
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| − | Similar to compounds is a form of stress over another type of phrase: a grammatical phrase<ref>Note: In the linguistics literature, a phrase and phrasal stress refer to the domain of a noun phrase, adjective phrase, prepositional phrase, and such; this is standard linguistic terminology. I have seen a few pedagogical materials that use "phrasal stress" to refer to what linguists call sentence stress, but this is non-standard terminology.</ref>. A small grammatical phrase can have its own stress patterns, where one of the word stresses is made stronger than the others within the phrase. This typically works in phrases like these:
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| − | 1. '''Noun phrase (NP):''' a noun with any combination of modifiers – adjectives, articles (the, a), and other modifiers (many, some, etc.); e.g.,
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| − | : ''a rock, the newspaper, an old computer, a defunct blood pressure gauge''.
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| − | 2. '''Adjective phrase (AP):''' an adjective by itself (e.g., in a predicate or with adverbial modifiers); e.g.,
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| − | : ‘very happy’ in ‘the researcher was very happy’
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| − | In a noun phrase, the noun usually receives more stress than accompanying adjectives or other modifiers. In an adjective phrase, the adjective usually receives more stress than preceding adverbs. For example:
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| − | {| class="noborder"
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| − | | class="noborder"|
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| − | an old '''computer''' (NP)
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| − | a defunct '''machine''' (NP)
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| − | it’s very '''interesting''' (AP)
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| − | It’s a very interesting old '''computer'''. (NP)
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| − | |}
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| − | We can see a distinct difference in stress patterns for noun phrases compared compound noun stress in examples like these – where mispronouncing the stress can alter the meaning.
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| − | {| class="apatable"
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| − | | class="header"| '''phrasal stress'''
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| − | | class="header"| '''compound stress '''
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| − | | class="noborder"| a hot '''dog''' (a dog that is hot)
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| − | a black '''bird'''
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| − | a high '''chair''' (any chair that is tall)
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| − | a red '''head''' (any head that is red-colored)
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| − | a black '''board''' (a wooden board that is black)
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| − | a white '''board''' (a board that is white)
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| − | a big '''bird''' (a large bird)
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| − | I live in a green '''house'''
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| − | I live in a white '''house'''
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| − | I live in a blue '''house'''
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| − | | class="noborder"| a '''hot''' dog
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| − | a '''black'''bird
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| − | a '''high''' chair (for small children)
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| − | a '''red''' head (a woman with reddish hair)
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| − | a '''black'''board (for classrooms)
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| − | a '''white'''board (for classrooms)
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| − | '''Big '''Bird (Sesame Street character)
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| − | I work in a '''green'''house
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| − | I live in the '''White''' House
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| − | I work in the '''Blue''' House
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| − | |}
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