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Question 1 (Consolidate)

Using the conventional superscript and subscript strokes, mark the primary stress as well as any secondary stress on the following (mainly polysyllabic) paired words:

	aroma	aromatic
	different	differential
	envelop	envelope
	imagine	imagination
	position	positional
	suppose	supposition

Answer/discussion

a|roma	|aro|matic
|different	|diffe|rential
en|velop	|enve|lope
i|magine	i|magi|nation
po|sition	po|sitional
su|ppose	|suppo|sition

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Question 2 (Consolidate)

For each of the following homographs, identify the difference in pronunciation according to word class. Write your answers in a phonetic transcription and indicate where the primary stress will fall:

insult	noun, verb
contract	noun, verb
entrance	noun, verb
escort	noun, verb
frequent	adjective, verb
attribute	noun, verb

Also, what do you notice about the meanings of the various pairs?

Answer/discussion

insult	noun	[|ɪnsʌlt]	verb	[ɪn|sʌlt]
contract	noun	[|kɒntrækt]	verb	[kən|trækt]
entrance	noun	[|entrəns]	verb	[ɪn|trɑːns]
escort	noun	[|eskɔːt]	verb	[ɪ|skɔːt]
frequent	adjective	[|friːkwənt]	verb	[frɪ|kwent]
attribute	noun	[|ætrɪbjuːt]	verb	[ə|trɪbjuːt]

As you can see, all the pairs involve a difference in the position of the primary stress according to word class. In all the pairs apart from insult, vowels vary according to whether or not a syllable has prominence. In terms of meaning, all pairs have connected meanings, with the exception of entrance and the possible exception of contract. The noun contract refers to some kind of formal agreement, and contract can be used as a verb meaning ‘to make a formal agreement’. As a verb, contract is probably more commonly used to mean ‘reduce in size’. All three possibilities, however, come from the same Latin root. By contrast, the noun entrance and the verb entrance have unconnected meanings and different etymologies. The noun (meaning ‘access point’ or ‘arrival’) shares its root with the modern French verb entrer (‘to enter’), while the verb (‘to put under a spell’) is formed from the prefix en- and the noun trance, referring to some kind of hypnotic state. The similarity of the noun and verb forms is purely coincidental, but the different noun/verb stress patterns are still evident.

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Question 3 (Consolidate)

Using controversy as our main example, we noted in Section 11.3 that there are a number of words in English that have more than one accepted pronunciation. Here are the rest of the examples given in that section, along with a few additional ones. For each word, identify the possible pronunciations using the phonetic alphabet. Show the primary and secondary stress markings too.

kilometre, inventory, metamorphosis, romance, forehead, contribute

Answer/discussion

kilometre	[kɪ|lɒmɪtə]	[|kɪlə|miːtə]	57% : 43%
inventory	[|ɪnvəntəri]	[ɪn|ventəri]
metamorphosis	[|metə|mɔːfəsɪs]	[|metəmɔ|fəʊsɪs]
romance	[|rəʊ|mæns] / [rə|mæns]	[|rəʊ|mæns]
forehead	[|fɔː|hed]	[|fɒrɪd]	65% : 35%
contribute	[kən|trɪb|juːt]	[|kɒntrɪ|bjuːt]	73% : 27%

As you can see, both less frequently used words (metamorphosis) and commonly used words are subject to variant pronunciation. The figures in the last column relate to a (British English) pronunciation poll of selected words carried out in 1998 by Professor John Wells, and give an indication of the popularity of one pronunciation over another.

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Question 4 (Explore)

We saw in Section 11.2 that unstressed syllables normally contain the vowels [ə] or [ɪ], although [i] and [ʊ] can also occur, as can a syllabic consonant. In the following disyllabic examples, identify which syllable has most prominence, and then consider the status of the other syllable. You’ll find it helpful if you transcribe these examples using the phonetic alphabet.

heiress, wombat, yellow, cashew, gymnast, contact, forget, portrait

Answer/discussion

In the table below, the second column shows which syllable is most prominent, while the third column picks out the vowel that appears in the other syllable.

heiress	[|eəres]	[-e-]
wombat	[|wɒmbæt]	[-æ-]
yellow	[|jeləʊ]	[-əʊ]
cashew	[|kæʃuː]	[-uː]
gymnast	[|ʤɪmnæst]	[-æ-]
contact	[|kɒntækt]	[-æ-]
forget	[fə|ɡet] or [fɔː|ɡet]	[-ə-] or [-ɔː-]
portrait	[|pɔːtrɪt] or [|pɔːtreɪt]	[-ɪ-] or [-eɪ-]

As you can see, both short vowels ([e, æ]) and long vowels (the monophthongs [uː, ɔː] and the diphthongs [əʊ, eɪ]) occur in these syllables. Looking at the first six examples, it’s hard to classify these syllables as unstressed, as none of them contain the vowels [ə, ɪ], which are typically found in unstressed syllables. Although none of these examples are compound words, they seem to echo the pattern we saw in Section 11.3 for compound words like blacksmith and frostbite to contain both a primary and a secondary stress (with nouns usually carrying the primary stress on the first syllable). In the last two examples, there is the possibility for the less-stressed syllable to carry no stress at all (as in [fə^|ɡet] and [^|pɔːtrɪt], or to carry secondary stress. The choice is not entirely predictable, although you may like to try out some example sentences to see which pronunciation surfaces. These examples bear witness to the problem of indicating degrees of stress. (The examples romance and forehead from the previous question also illustrate this.) Interestingly, while dictionaries may well indicate secondary stress in compound examples like blacksmith, they won’t necessarily do so for examples like gymnast.

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