Accent Is Predictable (If You're a Mind-Reader)

In her ordering rule added to the stress assignments in Chomsky & Halle 1968, Bresnan 1971 accounts for examples offered by Newman 1946, in particular the types George has plans to leave. George has plans to l6ave. Helen left directions for George to follow. Helen left directions for George to f6llow. She is of course persuaded, as was Newman, that explanations of these accentual phenomena are to be found in the syntax, and dismisses as 'only apparent counterexamples' the contrary evidence set forth in Bolinger 1958, though admitting that 'a very few of Bolinger's examples-mostly idiomatic, e.g. money to btirn-remain unexplained' (263, fn. 3). As they were originally illustrations of an explanation at variance with Bresnan's, this statement should read 'unexplained in terms of the Nuclear Stress Rule (as modified)'. In other words, they remain valid counterexamples. My position was-and is-that the location of sentence accents is not explainable by syntax or morphology. (That of stress is so explainable, and we see here perpetuated a classic confusion of levels.) I have held, with Hultz6n 1956, that what item 'has relatively stronger stress [accent] in the larger intonational pattern is a matter of information, not of structure' (199). It is true that the examples I gave included a number of idioms, but the 'few' others represent prolific types, which I did not feel needed further demonstration. That was my error, which I want to remedy now. Along the way I hope to deal with the newer syntactic and morphological arguments brought forth in Bresnan 1972 (B72), Lakoff 1972 (L), and Berman & Szamosi 1972 (B&S). The last-named are closest to my position, but even they attach an importance to syntax that I think is unnecessary. Following are examples in which the Nuclear Stress Rule (NSR) as modified ought to eliminate the accent on the final verb, but either does not or need not. They are matched with others where the rule operates successfully. The point of the comparison is the nature of the verbs as lexical items: The end of the chapter is reserved for various pr6blems to comptterize. The end of the chapter is reserved for various pr6blems to solve. I have a p6int to emphasize. I have a p6int to make. I can't finish in an hour-there are simply too many t6pics to elucidate.