Secondary stress
Encyclopedia
Secondary stress is the weaker of two degrees of stress
in the pronunciation
of a word; the stronger degree of stress is called 'primary'. The International Phonetic Alphabet symbol for secondary stress is a short vertical line preceding and at the foot of the stressed syllable: the nun in proˌnunciˈation. Another tradition in English is to assign acute and grave accents for primary and secondary stress: pronùnciátion.
Most languages, if they have stress at all, have only one degree of it on the phonemic level. That is, each syllable
has stress or it does not. Many languages have rhythmic stress; location of the stress may not be predictable, but once the location of one stressed syllable (which may be the primary stress) is known, certain syllables before or after can be predicted to also be stressed; these may have secondary stress.
However, a few languages may have secondary stress that is not predictable, that is, phonemic. English is generally considered to be such a language, but this analysis is problematic.
Indeed, in some theories English has been described as having three levels of stress: primary, secondary, tertiary, and unstressed (or quaternary). For example, our examples would be ²coun.ter.³in.¹tel.li.gence and ¹coun.ter.³foil. However, these treatments often disagree with each other, and several respected phoneticians such as Peter Ladefoged
have noted that it is possible to describe English with only one degree of stress, as long as unstressed syllables
are phonemically distinguished for vowel reduction
.
Ladefoged et al. believe that the multiple levels posited for English, whether primary–secondary or primary–secondary–tertiary, are mere phonetic detail and not true phonemic
stress. They report that often the alleged secondary stress in English is not characterized by the increase in respiratory activity normally associated with primary stress in English or with all stress in other languages. In their analysis, an English syllable may be either stressed or unstressed, and if unstressed, the vowel may be either full or reduced. This is all that is required for a phonemic treatment. In addition, the last stressed syllable in a normal prosodic unit
(as in its citation form
) receives additional intonation
al or "tonic" stress. Since a word spoken in isolation (as for example when a lexicographer determines which syllables are stressed) acquires this additional tonic stress, it may appear to be inherent in the word itself rather than derived from the utterance in which the word is spoken. (The tonic stress may also occur elsewhere than on the final stressed syllable, if the speaker uses contrasting or other prosody
.)
This combination of lexical stress, phrase- or clause-final prosody, and the lexical reduction of some unstressed vowels, conspires to create the impression of multiple levels of stress. In Ladefoged's approach, our examples are transcribed phonemically as cóunterintélligence /ˈkaʊntər.ɪnˈtɛlɪdʒəns/, with two stressed syllables, and cóunterfoil /ˈkaʊntərfɔɪl/, with one. In citation form, or at the end of a prosodic unit
(marked [‖]), extra stress appears from the utterance that is not inherent in the words themselves: cóunterintélligence [ˈkaʊntər.ɪnˈˈtɛlɪdʒəns‖] and cóunterfoil [ˈˈkaʊntərfɔɪl‖].
It is perhaps because dictionaries present words in citation form that they make a primary–secondary distinction in stress. In general, tonic stress in citation form is marked as 'primary stress'; stressed syllables prior to that tonic syllable are marked as 'secondary stress', as in còunterintélligence, as in many dictionaries are any full vowels after that syllable, as in cóunterfòil. That is, many dictionaries merge some stressed ('secondary') syllables with some unstressed ('tertiary') syllables and call the result 'secondary stress'. Occasionally in these dictionaries full vowels before the tonic stress may also be marked for secondary stress. Bolinger (1989) notes that such dictionaries make use of the secondary-stress mark to distinguish full vowels from reduced vowels in unstressed syllables, as they may not have distinct symbols for reduced vowels.
The marking of full vowels as having secondary stress may be a partially regional (US) convention. John Wells
remarks, "Some analysts (particularly Americans) argue [...] that the presence of a strong [= full] vowel is sufficient evidence that the syllable in question is stressed. In the British tradition we regard them as unstressed."
To determine where the actual lexical stress is in a word, try pronouncing the word in a phrase, with other words before and after it and without any pauses between them, to eliminate the effects of tonic stress: in the còunterintèlligence commúnity, for example, one can hear secondary (that is, lexical) stress on two syllables of counterintelligence, as the primary (tonic) stress has shifted to community.
, the pitch accent
is lost from one of the roots in a compound word, but the erstwhile tonic syllable retains the full length (long vowel or geminate consonant) of a stressed syllable.
Rhythmic or syllable-weight based secondary stress is common, but generally predictable. For example, Romanian
has secondary stress every other syllable, starting with the first, as long as it does not fall adjacent to the primary stress. In other languages, heavy syllables may take secondary stress. However, in other languages the placement of secondary stress is not predictable, or may not be predictable for some words. This is frequently posited for Germanic languages. However, Bolinger (1989) notes that these may be cases of full vs reduced unstressed vowels being interpreted as secondary stress vs unstressed, as in English.
: generally, initial and final syllables (word boundaries) take secondary stress, then every other syllable before and after the primary stress (trochaic rhythm), as long as two stressed syllables are not adjacent and stress does not fall on /ə/. Examples are:
However, some technical words such as èn.do.crì.no.lo.gíe violate this pattern, which would predict *èn.do.cri.nò.lo.gíe; Booij (1999) suggests that because the prefix endo- is not native, secondary stress may be assigned to the first syllable of the root -crinology. There are also words where the trochaic pattern overrides boundary stress, as in pi.rà.te.ríj, gram.mà.ti.káal; unless these are due to lack of vowel reduction, they are unpredictable as stress.
Stress (linguistics)
In linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a word, or to certain words in a phrase or sentence. The term is also used for similar patterns of phonetic prominence inside syllables. The word accent is sometimes also used with this sense.The stress placed...
in the pronunciation
Pronunciation
Pronunciation refers to the way a word or a language is spoken, or the manner in which someone utters a word. If one is said to have "correct pronunciation", then it refers to both within a particular dialect....
of a word; the stronger degree of stress is called 'primary'. The International Phonetic Alphabet symbol for secondary stress is a short vertical line preceding and at the foot of the stressed syllable: the nun in proˌnunciˈation. Another tradition in English is to assign acute and grave accents for primary and secondary stress: pronùnciátion.
Most languages, if they have stress at all, have only one degree of it on the phonemic level. That is, each syllable
Syllable
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins .Syllables are often considered the phonological "building...
has stress or it does not. Many languages have rhythmic stress; location of the stress may not be predictable, but once the location of one stressed syllable (which may be the primary stress) is known, certain syllables before or after can be predicted to also be stressed; these may have secondary stress.
However, a few languages may have secondary stress that is not predictable, that is, phonemic. English is generally considered to be such a language, but this analysis is problematic.
Degrees of stress in English
In many phonological approaches, and in many dictionaries, English is represented as having two levels of stress. Secondary stress is important primarily in long words with several syllables before the primary stress, such as còunterintélligence [ˌkaʊntər.ɪnˈtɛlɪdʒəns], and after the primary stress in many compound words, such as cóunterfòil [ˈkaʊntərˌfɔɪl].Indeed, in some theories English has been described as having three levels of stress: primary, secondary, tertiary, and unstressed (or quaternary). For example, our examples would be ²coun.ter.³in.¹tel.li.gence and ¹coun.ter.³foil. However, these treatments often disagree with each other, and several respected phoneticians such as Peter Ladefoged
Peter Ladefoged
Peter Nielsen Ladefoged was an English-American linguist and phonetician who traveled the world to document the distinct sounds of endangered languages and pioneered ways to collect and study data . He was active at the universities of Edinburgh, Scotland and Ibadan, Nigeria 1953–61...
have noted that it is possible to describe English with only one degree of stress, as long as unstressed syllables
Unstressed vowel
In English, vowel reduction is the centralization and weakening of an unstressed vowel, such as the characteristic change of many vowels at the ends of words to schwa. Stressed vowels are never reduced in English.-Reduced vowels :...
are phonemically distinguished for vowel reduction
Vowel reduction
In phonetics, vowel reduction is any of various changes in the acoustic quality of vowels, which are related to changes in stress, sonority, duration, loudness, articulation, or position in the word , and which are perceived as "weakening"...
.
Ladefoged et al. believe that the multiple levels posited for English, whether primary–secondary or primary–secondary–tertiary, are mere phonetic detail and not true phonemic
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
stress. They report that often the alleged secondary stress in English is not characterized by the increase in respiratory activity normally associated with primary stress in English or with all stress in other languages. In their analysis, an English syllable may be either stressed or unstressed, and if unstressed, the vowel may be either full or reduced. This is all that is required for a phonemic treatment. In addition, the last stressed syllable in a normal prosodic unit
Prosodic unit
In linguistics, a prosodic unit, often called an intonation unit or intonational phrase, is a segment of speech that occurs with a single prosodic contour...
(as in its citation form
Citation form
In linguistics the citation form of a word can mean:* its canonical form or lemma: the form of an inflected word given in dictionaries or glossaries, thus also called the dictionary form....
) receives additional intonation
Intonation
Intonation may refer to:*Intonation , the variation of tone used when speaking*Intonation , a musician's realization of pitch accuracy, or the pitch accuracy of a musical instrument*Intonation Music Festival, held in Chicago...
al or "tonic" stress. Since a word spoken in isolation (as for example when a lexicographer determines which syllables are stressed) acquires this additional tonic stress, it may appear to be inherent in the word itself rather than derived from the utterance in which the word is spoken. (The tonic stress may also occur elsewhere than on the final stressed syllable, if the speaker uses contrasting or other prosody
Prosody (linguistics)
In linguistics, prosody is the rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech. Prosody may reflect various features of the speaker or the utterance: the emotional state of the speaker; the form of the utterance ; the presence of irony or sarcasm; emphasis, contrast, and focus; or other elements of...
.)
This combination of lexical stress, phrase- or clause-final prosody, and the lexical reduction of some unstressed vowels, conspires to create the impression of multiple levels of stress. In Ladefoged's approach, our examples are transcribed phonemically as cóunterintélligence /ˈkaʊntər.ɪnˈtɛlɪdʒəns/, with two stressed syllables, and cóunterfoil /ˈkaʊntərfɔɪl/, with one. In citation form, or at the end of a prosodic unit
Prosodic unit
In linguistics, a prosodic unit, often called an intonation unit or intonational phrase, is a segment of speech that occurs with a single prosodic contour...
(marked [‖]), extra stress appears from the utterance that is not inherent in the words themselves: cóunterintélligence [ˈkaʊntər.ɪnˈˈtɛlɪdʒəns‖] and cóunterfoil [ˈˈkaʊntərfɔɪl‖].
| Lexical stress? |
Quaternary level |
Description | Dictionary level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | Primary | The final stressed syllable in a prosodic unit Prosodic unit In linguistics, a prosodic unit, often called an intonation unit or intonational phrase, is a segment of speech that occurs with a single prosodic contour... , which receives additional prosodic Prosody (linguistics) In linguistics, prosody is the rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech. Prosody may reflect various features of the speaker or the utterance: the emotional state of the speaker; the form of the utterance ; the presence of irony or sarcasm; emphasis, contrast, and focus; or other elements of... (tonic) stress. |
Primary |
| Secondary | Other lexically stressed syllables in a word. | Secondary | |
| No | Tertiary | Full unstressed vowel Unstressed vowel In English, vowel reduction is the centralization and weakening of an unstressed vowel, such as the characteristic change of many vowels at the ends of words to schwa. Stressed vowels are never reduced in English.-Reduced vowels :... s. |
|
| Unstressed | |||
| Quaternary | Reduced vowels. |
- Lexical stress (inherent to the syllable)
- 1. Plus tonic stress: A syllable with both inherent (lexical) and prosodic stress in Ladefoged's account corresponds to primary stress in the quaternary and dictionary accounts.
- 2. Without tonic stress: A syllable with only lexical stress is treated as secondary stress by nearly all dictionaries, but this does not account for all cases of secondary stress in many of these dictionaries. It is equivalent to secondary stress in the quaternary account.
- No lexical stress (and therefore no stress at all)
- 3. A full unstressed vowel: An unstressed syllable with a full vowel that occurs after the primary stress is treated as having secondary stress by some dictionaries, but as an unstressed syllable when it occurs before the primary stress in nearly all dictionaries. It corresponds to tertiary stress in the quaternary account.
- 4. A reduced unstressed vowel: A reduced vowel is said be unstressed in dictionaries or to have quaternary stress in the quaternary account.
It is perhaps because dictionaries present words in citation form that they make a primary–secondary distinction in stress. In general, tonic stress in citation form is marked as 'primary stress'; stressed syllables prior to that tonic syllable are marked as 'secondary stress', as in còunterintélligence, as in many dictionaries are any full vowels after that syllable, as in cóunterfòil. That is, many dictionaries merge some stressed ('secondary') syllables with some unstressed ('tertiary') syllables and call the result 'secondary stress'. Occasionally in these dictionaries full vowels before the tonic stress may also be marked for secondary stress. Bolinger (1989) notes that such dictionaries make use of the secondary-stress mark to distinguish full vowels from reduced vowels in unstressed syllables, as they may not have distinct symbols for reduced vowels.
The marking of full vowels as having secondary stress may be a partially regional (US) convention. John Wells
John Wells
John Wells may refer to:People* John C. Wells , British linguist, phonetician and Esperantist* Jonathan Wells , real name John Corrigan Wells...
remarks, "Some analysts (particularly Americans) argue [...] that the presence of a strong [= full] vowel is sufficient evidence that the syllable in question is stressed. In the British tradition we regard them as unstressed."
To determine where the actual lexical stress is in a word, try pronouncing the word in a phrase, with other words before and after it and without any pauses between them, to eliminate the effects of tonic stress: in the còunterintèlligence commúnity, for example, one can hear secondary (that is, lexical) stress on two syllables of counterintelligence, as the primary (tonic) stress has shifted to community.
Phonemic secondary stress in other languages
There are other languages with secondary stress in compound words that behave like English. For example, in NorwegianNorwegian language
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
, the pitch accent
Pitch accent
Pitch accent is a linguistic term of convenience for a variety of restricted tone systems that use variations in pitch to give prominence to a syllable or mora within a word. The placement of this tone or the way it is realized can give different meanings to otherwise similar words...
is lost from one of the roots in a compound word, but the erstwhile tonic syllable retains the full length (long vowel or geminate consonant) of a stressed syllable.
Rhythmic or syllable-weight based secondary stress is common, but generally predictable. For example, Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
has secondary stress every other syllable, starting with the first, as long as it does not fall adjacent to the primary stress. In other languages, heavy syllables may take secondary stress. However, in other languages the placement of secondary stress is not predictable, or may not be predictable for some words. This is frequently posited for Germanic languages. However, Bolinger (1989) notes that these may be cases of full vs reduced unstressed vowels being interpreted as secondary stress vs unstressed, as in English.
Dutch
This is true of DutchDutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
: generally, initial and final syllables (word boundaries) take secondary stress, then every other syllable before and after the primary stress (trochaic rhythm), as long as two stressed syllables are not adjacent and stress does not fall on /ə/. Examples are:
- fò.no.lo.gíe, ín.fi.ni.tìef, Wá.gə.nìn.gən, èn.cy.clò.pe.díe, èn.cy.clo.pé.disch, èn.cy.clo.pè.do.lóog.
However, some technical words such as èn.do.crì.no.lo.gíe violate this pattern, which would predict *èn.do.cri.nò.lo.gíe; Booij (1999) suggests that because the prefix endo- is not native, secondary stress may be assigned to the first syllable of the root -crinology. There are also words where the trochaic pattern overrides boundary stress, as in pi.rà.te.ríj, gram.mà.ti.káal; unless these are due to lack of vowel reduction, they are unpredictable as stress.