Binary suprasegmental features and transformational word-accentuation rules

Abstract

This paper demonstrates that the rules of the transformational stress cycle can be rewritten and simplified by substituting binary suprasegmental features for degrees of stress. The new prosodic features proposed for English are: (1) heavy, (2) accent, (3) intonation, (4) cadence, (5) endglide, and (6) emphasis. This binary suprasegmental feature system accounts for the grammar-expounding prosodic distinctions of English in an intuitively satisfying way; it factors out accentual and intonational phenomena conflated in ‘stress’; and it incorporates linguistically significant generalizations about the syntactic conditioning of prosodic patterns. In addition, it explains rhythmic and stylistic variations disregarded by previous stress rules; and it allows revision of the stress cycle in ways which enhance its economy and explanatory power while retaining its insights and concinnities.

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