Stress

重音

A term used in phonetics to refer to the degree of force used in producing a syllable. The usual distinction is between stressed and unstressed syllables, the former being more prominent than the latter (and marked in transcription with a raised vertical line, [‘].) The prominence is usually due to an increase in loudness of the stressed syllable, but increases in length and often pitch may contribute to the overall impression of prominence. From the viewpoint of phonology, the main function of stress is to provide a means of distinguishing degrees of emphasis or contrast in sentences (sentence stress). In the American structuralist tradition, four such degrees are usually distinguished, and analysed as stress phonemes, namely (from strongest to weakest) (1) ‘primary’, (2)’secondary’, (3)’tertiary’, and (4)’weak’. These contrasts are, however, demonstrable only on words in isolation. Alternative views recognized different kinds and degrees of stress, the simplest postulating a straight stressed v. unstressed contrast. In distinctive feature theories of phonology, the various degrees of stress are assigned to the syllables of words by means of the repeated application of rules (such as ‘lexical’, ‘compound’ and ‘nuclear’ stress rules). Some analysts maintain there is a distinction to be made between linguistic contrast involving loudness and those additionally involving pitch.

语音学用来指用力发出一个音节。通常区分重读和非重读音节，前者比后者突显（记音时在上角加短竖线标记[‘]）。这种突显一般归因于重读音节响度的增加，音长和音高的增加也会造成突显的总体印象。从音系学的观点看，重音的主要功能是为句子内的强调和对比提供一种区别程度的手段（句重音）。按美国结构主义的传统，重音通常分为四度，并分析为重音音位，即（从最强到最弱）：（1）主重音，（2）次重音，（3）再次重音，（4）弱重音。但这种区分只适用于表示孤立的词。其他观点区分不同种类和不同程度的重音，最简单的一种观点只假设重读和非重读的对立。音系学的区别特征理论通过规则的重复应用（如“词汇”、“复合词”、“核心”重音等规则）给词内音节指派各种程度的重音。有的分析者坚持只区分涉及响度的语言学对立和另外涉及音高的对立。