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English Is A Roller-Coaster Language
- English speech alternates stressed and unstressed syllables, giving it a roller-coaster rhythm compared to flatter languages like French.
- That up-and-down stress pattern creates the natural cadence poets and dramatists later used as meter.
Stress History Shapes Word Patterns
- Old English favored stress on the first non-prefix syllable, a pattern from Proto-Germanic that survives in many basic words.
- Later French, Latin, and Greek loans shifted stress patterns, producing tensions that English often resolved by anglicizing stress placement.
Stress Shifts To Preserve Rhythm
- English speakers redistribute stress to preserve a balanced alternating rhythm when words gain suffixes or change form.
- This redistribution can permanently alter pronunciation over time, not just for single utterances.