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3 kurs vse lekcii po teor

The functions of word-stress

Word-stress has a constitutive function, as it moulds syllables into a word forming its stress pattern.

Word-stress has a distinctive function in English, because exists there different words in English with analogous sound structure which are differentiated in speech only by their stress pattern. E.g.

Noun / adjective verb

'Insult in'sult

'Subject sub'ject

Word-stress has an identificatory factory function, because stress patterns of words enable people to identify definite combinations of sounds as meaningful linguistic units. A distortion of the stress pattern may hamper understanding or produce a strange accent.

LECTURE 6