hi, i have a phonology test tomorrow. the subject is "stress placement and justification". but i have no idea how to justify the stress placement. for example, in the word "presidency" stress is on the first syllable. but in the word "refuse" stress is on the 2nd syllable. i know its like that because it sounds better, but i cant justify it.
does anyone have a rule or a tip to help me ? thks
Name:
Anonymous2007-08-26 22:20 ID:xENEdjuZ
What is this refuse doing on my /lang/?
Name:
Anonymous2007-08-26 22:28 ID:PdJUbAg5
je veut te niquer dans le pooper.
Name:
Anonymous2007-08-26 23:51 ID:bm0tuk4W
maybe it's the ones that blow out more air when saying them? I know the Chinese are picky about that shit. I didn't even know there was a "stress" thingy anyways so I don't know anymore than the 2 examples you gave.
Name:
Anonymous2007-08-27 0:01 ID:NJS/T9jy
>>1
They're asking you to explain why English words are stressed as they are? Good luck. Next up: rationale for the assignments of genders to nouns in German.
Name:
Anonymous2007-08-27 0:09 ID:3WkppV8m
It is entirely historically based, keeping the same rules as the language that it originated in.
eg. Spanish stresses the second to last syllable as a rule, so words like quesadilla and enchirito are stressed the same.
President is from the Latin præsidentum. Stress stayed on the first syllable.
Refuse comes from the vulgar Latin refusare. The last two syllables were dropped, but the stress remained where it was.