3.4. Word Stress

In comparison with the fixed accent in OE, the word accent in ME acquired greater positional freedom and began to play a more important role in word derivation. These changes were caused (1) by the phonetic assimilation of thousands of loanwords adopted during the ME period and (2) by the rhythmic tendency of a regular alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Probably, when French loanwords first entered the English language they retained their original stress on the ultimate or penultimate syllable. But this kind of stress could not be preserved for long as it did not conform to the English (Germanic) system. Gradually (as the loanwords were assimilated), the word stress shifted to an earlier syllable in the English fashion with quantitative changes which accent involves.

In disyllabic loan-words the accent moved to the first syllable, and unaccented final vowels shortened (if long) or became weak in accordance with the general Germanic tendency, e.g.

honour [ho΄nu: r > ΄honur], village [vi΄lα:dʒə > ΄vilidʒ].

Under the rhythmic tendency in words of three or more syllables, a secondary stress would arise at a distance of one syllable from the original stress. This new stress was either preserved as a secondary stress or else became the only or the principal stress of the word, e.g.

ME recommenden [reko΄mendən] > NE recommend [‚rekə΄mend], ME comfortable [komfor΄tablə > NE ΄kлmfətəbl]

In ModE later borrowings or those in less common use often retain the French accentual pattern with the stress accent on the final syllable, e.g.

ho΄tel, ma΄chine.

Nowadays the shifting of stress in French loanwords is still at work. Cf. [gə΄rα:ʒ]- [΄gæriʤ] – a thoroughly anglicized form.

Sometimes the shifting of the word stress is attributed not only to the phonetic tendencies but also to certain morphological factors. Thus, the stress did not move to the prefixes of many verbs borrowed or built in Late ME and Early NE, which agrees with the OE rule: to keep verb prefixes unstressed, e.g.

ME ac΄cepten, pre΄senten.

Cf. NE verbs be΄fall, mis΄take, for΄get.

Corresponding nouns (sometimes, but not always) received the stress on the first syllable: NE ΄present (noun) – pre΄sent (verb); ΄discord (noun) -dis΄cord (verb). The latter pairs of words show that the role of accentuation has grown: word stress performs a phonological function as it distinguishes a verb from a noun.

Thus, as the result of specifically English (or rather Germanic) tendencies, continuously applied to numerous polysyllabic loanwords the entire system of word accentuation has changed. The position of the word stress has become relatively free and its phonological application has widened: it can be shifted in word derivation, though it is never moved in building grammatical forms.

3.5. Vowels