No, no, it's the *British* pronunciation of e.g. 'debris' that represents
stress shift :-) (Depending on your analysis, French either has accent on
the final syllable or doesn't have accent but just final boundary/phrase
tones, but either way it's on the last syllable.)
But to answer the question, I've never heard 'obstruent' with stress on
the second syllable.
Bob Ladd
On Wed, 8 Apr 2009, Martin J Ball wrote:
> I have a Speech Pathology colleague (of many years standing) who I have
> heard several times recently pronounce 'obstruent' as /@b'str.../
> I was wondering whether this is just because it is a word she had not heard
> said often (though in this same meeting I had used it several times*), or
> whether this is a recognized US variant (not in John Wells 2nd ed though). Is
> this another example of stress shift as in 'debris'?
>
> *In this connection, in my current doctoral seminar I have notied on several
> occasions that students ask me for the correct pronunciation of a name or
> technical term, say thanks, and then use it consistently with a different
> pronunciation than I just gave...
>
--
The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
Scotland, with registration number SC005336.
|