indicators of the stress in verbs with cons-vowel-cons ending

Question

in'cur
'cancel
ab'hor
per'mit
'alter

Are there any indicators supporting our intuition of the stress pattern in words like the above? Maybe the origins of those words or their letter or sound patterns?

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

iasadihAre there any indicators supporting our intuition of the stress pattern in words like the above? Maybe the origins of those words or their letter or sound patterns?

Well, these seem to have unstressed affixes:

in'cur
ab'hor
per'mit

CalifJim · Answer

iasadihAre there any indicators supporting our intuition of the stress pattern in words like the above?

Yes. In the majority of cases two-syllable verbs that consist of a prefix and root take the stress on the second syllable.

In your list in-, ab-, and per- are prefixes. can- and alt- are not prefixes.

Other examples: insist, return, deceive, complain, abstain, decide, discern, forget, believe, extract, profess, concede

________

Most two-syllable verbs that end in -er, -el, -le, or -en take the stress on the first syllable. alter, cancel, widen, sever, level, happen, canter, shuffle, listen. If there are more syllables the stress is on the next-to-last syllable. consider, deliver. But note that -fer, -pel, and -bel are roots, so these are stressed in refer, confer, prefer, repel, compel, rebel, etc.

As usual in English, there are exceptions.

CJ

Iasadih · Answer

Thanks everyone!

Now as I see it written I realise that I had such an intuition, but I instantly came up with a counterexample from the list!

It could have been "alter", which actually keeps the rule consistent. A clear lapse of reasoning..

Is this knowledge presented somewhere in a methodical way? I would like to see a complete list of such prefixes.

Are there any classes of exceptions to this rule, or just single specimen?

What do they have in common?

CalifJim · Answer

iasadihIs this knowledge presented somewhere in a methodical way?

I've never seen anything like that, but the internet is full of surprises.

iasadihI would like to see a complete list of such prefixes.

Again, I think you would be likely to find such a list on the internet. Try Google.

The most important are these.
Anglo-Saxon: a, be, for
Latin: ab, ad, con, de, dis, ex, ob, per, pre, pro, se, sub, trans

There are variants which are used when the root starts with certain letters.

ad can become af, at, as. admit, but affect, attest, assert.
con can become com, cor, col. concern, but compose, combine, correct, collect.
ex can become e. exert, but emit, evict.
sub can become suf, sus. subtract, but suffuse, sustain.

iasadihAre there any classes of exceptions to this rule, or just single specimen?

Classes of exception? Not that I know of.
Single verbs? I can only think of these, but there are probably others. forfeit, transfer, access, process, recess, accent, transit, and exit. These take the stress on the first syllable (i.e., the prefix), at least the way I pronounce them.

CJ

Iasadih · Answer

Thank you. It saves me a lot of effort in a process which would eventually lead nowhere. I mean, these cases do not sum up to a set of rules, do they.

BTW, process, access, transfer - I thought they were consistently stresses according to the part of speech. In which part of the world don't they get a shift to the prefix when a verb?

Oh, I see. California

CalifJim · Answer

iasadihthese cases do not sum up to a set of rules, do they.

No.

iasadihprocess, access, transfer - I thought they were consistently stressed according to the part of speech.

I grew up in the central part of the US. Now I live in California.

I have always heard both the verb and the noun pronounced the same for process, access, and transfer. process is interesting. When it means to apply a series of procedures, the verb is 'pro cess. When it means to move forward as in a procession (rarely used), it's pro 'cess.

I also hear per 'mit for both the verb and the noun, but in my own speech, the noun is always 'per mit.

iasadihIn which part of the world don't they get a shift to the prefix when a verb?

I think you meant 'when a noun'. The general rule is to stress the root for the verb and to stress the prefix for the noun.

CJ

Iasadih · Answer

Ah yes, it makes sense.

So it seems to follow that v 'permit must be newer than per'mit. It is counterintuitive.

And it surely does mess up the rule of doubling the last consonant, which demands that the last syllable be stressed.

You may say

I 'permit

but you do write

I permitted

what is your stressing in the latter, then?

CalifJim · Answer

iasadihSo it seems to follow that v 'permit must be newer than per'mit. It is counterintuitive.

You've got the wrong end of the stick. There is no verb 'permit. The noun is 'permit. The verb is per'mit. Nonetheless, some people (not I) use the non-standard noun per'mit. (Stress mark placed before the stressed syllable.)

iasadihdoubling the last consonant

I per'mit. I per'mitted. There's nothing non-standard here about the spelling of these verb forms.

The doubling rule is messed up in the case of verbs like transfer, however, which takes endings as if the second syllable were stressed, even for people (and that's most of us) who pronounce the verb 'transfer. I transferred.

CJ

Iasadih · Answer

My bad. I misread.

indicators of the stress in verbs with cons-vowel-cons ending

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