Stress Assignment in English

The aim of this thesis is an examination of some aspects of word stress assignment in English. A survey of the literature shows that there has been controversy regarding the status of the phonological cycle as a mode of rule application as well as the role of suffixes in stress placement. To shed some light on this controversy, various hypotheses about the phonological cycle and the rule of suffixes are presented, among other related issues. In regard to the phonological cycle, this paper is limited to an exposition of the different hypotheses about the validity of the cycle as a mode of stress rule application. The role that suffixes play in stress assignment is examined in the light of the theory of stress proposed by Hayes (1981, 1982). The conclusion is that the cycle is crucial if one assumes that stress is derived but unnecessary if one assumes that stress is lexical and that Hayes' extrametricality rules account for the role of suffixes in a simple and straightforward way.