[tied] Re: IE thematic presents and the origin of their thematic vo

From: tgpedersen
Message: 40310
Date: 2005-09-22

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Rob" <magwich78@...> wrote:
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...>
wrote:
> > Rob wrote:
> >
> > > On another note, do you know where the English accentual
> > > distinctions, such as accént vs. áccent and recórd vs. récord,
come
> > > from?
> >
> > To sum up a rather long and complex story, the stress in Franco-

> > Latinate words was essentially final (on the last full vowel) at
the
> > time they were borrowed, but later tended to be retracted (in
ways
> > depending on English syllable weight). Verbs and adjectives were
more
> > likely than nouns to retain final stress (primary or at
least
> > secondary), because they often occurred with syllabic suffixes
and
> > inflections, e.g. record --> recorded, recordeth,
recording,
> > recorder, and consequently the final syllable had fewer
opportunities
> > to become "extrametrical".
>
> There is evidence that some Modern English speakers hesitate
between
> initial and non-initial stress in some Latinate words,
> e.g. "impóssible" vs. "ímpossible", or even the "accent" words
> (personally, I tend to pronounce the noun and the verb the same,
with
> initial stress).
>
> The point you make, then, is that these English stress
alternations
> were not originally native to English itself, but rather that it
> acquired them from Latinate borrowings. That was the impression
> (there's that word again!) I had gathered already.


Odd, the impression I gathered from Piotr's posting was that English
stress patterns were created within English because of the syllabic
vs. non-syllabic nature of its verbal and nominal suffixes,
respectively. Cf German Rekórd, Rekórde with a syllabic nominal
suffix.


Torsten