f the English language are connected with the vowel special and inherent prominence. In identical positions the intensity of English vowels is different. The highest in intensity is/a /, then u:, u, e, u, p> The quantity of long vowels and diphthongs can be preserved (a) pretonic and (b) post-tonic position. All English vowels may occur in accented syllables, the only exception is /, which is never stressed. English vowels/i, u, u/tend to occur in unstressed syllables. Syllables with the syllabic m, n/are never stressed. p> Unstressed diphthongs may partially lose their glide quality. In stressed syllables English stops have complete closure, fricatives have full friction, features of forties/lenis distinction are clearly defined.
Stress can be characterized as fixed and free. In languages ​​with fixed type of stress the place of stress is always the same.
In English and Russian word-stress is free, that is it may fall any syllable in a word:
a) idea sarcastic archaic
b) placard railway p> Stress in English and in Russian is not only free but also shifting. In both languages the place of stress may shift, which helps t0 differentiate different parts of speech, e.g. linsult-to inlsult, import-to imiport. p> When the shifting of word-stress serves to perform distinctive function, V. Vassil. p> Stress performs not only distinctive function, it helps to constitute and recognize words and their forms (constitutive and recognitive functions).
Strictly speaking, a polysyllabic word has as many degrees of stress as there are syllables in it. American and English phoneticians give the following pattern of stress distribution in the word examination. They mark the strongest syllable with primary accent with the numeral 1, then goes 2, 3, etc. [2; 180]
English word-stress is traditionally defined as dynamic, but in fact,
the special prominence of the stressed syllables is manifested in the English language not only through the increase of intensity, but also through the
changes in the vowel quantity, consonant and vowel quality and pitch of the voice.
'Most words of more than four syllables have 2 stresses: primary (nuprefixes and entry. The primary stress falls either on the third or the second syllable from the end and the secondary stress falls on the syllable separated from the nuclear syllable by one unstressed syllable: pro-ition, recog ition, etc.
The place of word-stress in English compound words principally de "rewrite" on the semantic factor, i. e. the element which determines the mean-of the whole compound has a primary stress. But most of the compound possess the nuclear stress on the l element: 'bookcase,' diligence etc, whereas compound adjectives have, as a rule, primary stress on element of the compound 'well-? oiown, ibsent - jinded, etc. [1; 34]
III. Word Stress tendencies
In spite of the fact that word stress in English is free, there are certain factors that determine the location and different degree of it. Prof. V. A. Vassilyev describes them as follows:
• the recessive tendency;
• the rhythmic tendency;
• the retentive tendency and
• the semantic factor
The first and the oldest of the English lexical stress tendencies (characteristic of all Germanic languages) known as the recessive tendency originally consisted in placing lexical stress on the initial syllable of nouns, adjectives and verbs derived from them and on the root syllable of words which belonged to other parts of speech and had a prefix. In most cases prefixes lost their referential meaning since then, with the result that recessive stress in present-day English of two subtypes:
1) unrestricted: when stress falls on the initial syllable, provided it is not a prefix which has no referential meaning. A great majority of native English words of Germanic origin are stressed this way: father mother husband, 'wonder
2) restricted: when stress falls on the root of the native English words with a prefix which has no referential meaning now: a'mong, be'come, before, fo, 'get, etc.
It is this tendency that determined the incidence of stress in a huge number of disyllabic and trisyllabic French words which had been borrowed into English until the 1 5th century (during and after the Norman Conquest). p> The presence in English of a great number of short (disyllabic and trisyllabic) words defamed the development of the so-called rhythmic tendency which results in alternating stressed and unstressed syllables. Borrowed polysyllabic words developed a secondary stress on the syllable separated from the word-final primary stress by one unstressed syllable. These words began to be pronounced, in isolation, on the model of short phrases in which a stressed syllable alternates with an unstressed...
