Meaning change with emphasis shift

[Jeffrey Kopp]

Well, I expect Tony will send along a more informative reply (when he can).  But in the meantime (for anyone unaware what changing the pronunciation of "skookum" and "tenas" does to their meaning), I recall his saying in Workshop that "skookim" was strong, but "skoo-koom" was a spirit or force.  While "tennis" is small, little, or a child, I think he also said "ten-ass" was applied to a misbehaving child (or "brat").  

Emphasis is often added to a syllable (usually the first) of many English words to give them an ironic implication. I am curious myself whether this tendency worked itself (backwards) into the Jargon from English, or is also found in Native (or other) languages.  (Is this done in Yiddish, say, like the well-known technique of modified repetition to show skepticism?)

Jeff

(P.S. So much color has been contributed to American English by Yiddish.  I wonder: If television had been founded in Seattle instead of New York--would the whole country would be throwing around Jargonisms today?)

On Tue, 5 Nov 2002 09:04:08 +1100, Colin Bruce <cbruce at SMARTLINE.COM.AU> wrote:

>How often does a change in stress change an adjective into a noun?  I'm
>thinking of "skookum" and "tenas".