Re: USAGE: Stress in English

Mark J. Reed wrote:

>It's well-known that stress in English is not regular; in fact, it
>cannot be, as it is technically phonemic - although there are relatively
>few minimal pairs and they aren't universal.
>
Not really. The patterns are just slightly difficult for nouns and
verbs: unsuffixed verbs will count a final consonant as a syllable, and
parse that way, while nouns will count a final C as a coda of the final
syllable. That's why verb stresses are stable over the base, -ed forms,
and -ing forms.

There are several interacting regularities, but I don't think you can
argue convincingly that stress is phonemic.

--
Hell hath no fury like the vast robot armies of a woman scorned.
Shreyas

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