<!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN">
<html><head><style type="text/css"><!--
blockquote, dl, ul, ol, li { padding-top: 0 ; padding-bottom: 0 }
--></style><title>Re: query: lexical stress in
acronyms</title></head><body>
<div>Dear David (et al),</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Swiss German (which is Alemannic, dialectologically speaking)
differs from German German (including, I believe, German varieties of
Alemannic) in having an initial effect:</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><u>S</u>BB<x-tab> </x-tab><u>ess</u> bee
bee<x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab>(Schweizer<u> Bundes</u>bahnen)</div>
<div><u>S</u>BG<x-tab> </x-tab><u>ess</u> bee
gee<x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab>(Schweizer<u> Bank</u>gesellschaft)</div>
<div><u>D</u>RS<x-tab> </x-tab><u>dee</u> err
ess<x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab>(Schweizer Radio DRS, no idea what it abbreviates)</div>
<div><u>E</u>TH<x-tab> </x-tab><u>e</u>e tee
haa<x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab>(Eidgenoessische Technische<u> Hoch</u>schule)</div>
<div><u>F</u>DP<x-tab> </x-tab><u>eff</u> dee
pee<x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab>(Freisinnig-Demokratische Par<u>tei</u>)</div>
<div><u>S</u>F<x-tab> </x-tab><u>ess</u>
eff<x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab>(Schweizer<u> Fern</u>sehen)</div>
<div><u>P</u>C<x-tab> </x-tab><u>pee</u>
tsee</div>
<div><u>T</u>V<x-tab> </x-tab><u>tee</u>
fau<x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab>(Televisi<u>on</u>)</div>
<div><u>A</u>G<x-tab> </x-tab><u>a</u>a
gee<x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab>(<u>Ak</u>tiengesellschaft)</div>
<div><u>K</u>Z<x-tab> </x-tab><u>kaa</u>
tsett<x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab>(<u>Kran</u>kenzimmer)</div>
<div><u>O</u>ECD<x-tab> </x-tab><u>oo</u> ee tsee
dee<x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab>(Organisation fuer wirtschaftliche Entwicklung</div>
<div><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab>und
Zusammenarbeit)</div>
<div><u>Z</u>DGST<x-tab> </x-tab><u>tsett</u> dee gee ess
tee<x-tab> </x-tab>(Zentrale<u> Diens</u>te
Gene<u>ral</u>stab)</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>etc.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>In German German you get this sort of effect only in instances of
salient contrasts:</div>
<div><u>P</u>KW<x-tab> </x-tab><u>pe</u> ka
we<x-tab>
</x-tab>(Per<u>so</u>nenkraftwagen)</div>
<div><u>L</u>KW<x-tab> </x-tab><u>ell</u> ka
we<x-tab>
</x-tab>(<u>Last</u>kraftwagen)</div>
<div><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab>compound stress, regardless of contrast</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>but regular</div>
<div><u>A</u>KW<x-tab> </x-tab><u>a</u> ka
we<x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab>(A<u>tom</u>kraftwerk)</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<div>But this wasn't really my point. My point is that you need
to look at tones and intonation to appreciate what is going on here,
and what you naively describe in terms of the placement of
"stress". There's lots of relevant work.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>As to Swiss German vs. German German, they are well known to
differ tone-wise (default pitch accent L*H in SG, H*L in GG;
etc.), but not lexical/phrasal stress-position-wise. </div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Frans</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Dear all,<br>
<br>
I'm interested in patterns of lexical stress in a specific type of
acronym -- let's call them letter-by-letter acronyms -- whose
pronunciation consists of each letter bearing its own individual name,
eg. English US [yu:es], LFG [elefji:], etc. (Not all languages
have letter-by-letter acronyms, for example Hebrew does not.)<br>
<br>
In two languages that I'm familiar with, English and Papuan Malay,
word stress is commonly or predominantly penultimate; however,
letter-by-letter acronyms invariably place the stress on the last
syllable, eg. [yu:ES], [elefJI:]. Is this a coincidence, or is
there a general principle at play here? (One might perhaps wish
to argue that the final stress is phrasal rather than lexical, but in
other respects these acronyms behave like single words.)<br>
<br>
I'd appreciate any comments, data from other languages, and
bibliographical references to stress patterns in letter-by-letter
acronyms.<br>
<br>
Thanks,<br>
<br>
David<br>
<br>
--<br>
David Gil<br>
<br>
Department of Linguistics<br>
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology<br>
Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany<br>
<br>
Telephone: 49-341-3550321 Fax: 49-341-3550119<br>
Email: gil@eva.mpg.de<br>
Webpage: http://www.eva.mpg.de/~gil/</blockquote>
<div><br></div>
</body>
</html>