Maria Sherapovais in the news of late, and Ialways hear her family name pronounced "SharaPOva." Isn't iy "SherAPova in her native Russian? Why do we English speakers do it as we do? Besides Russian, I've heard Japanese names pronunced with non-native emphasis shifts. Why?
Originally posted by Geoff: Maria Sherapova is in the news of late. I always hear her family name pronounced "SharaPOva." Isn't it "SherAPova in her native Russian? Why do we English speakers do it as we do? Besides Russian, I've heard Japanese names pronounced with non-native emphasis shifts. Why?
I think stress on syllables is such an interesting topic. This discussion on Wikipedia attempts to explain the difference between stress and accent, though I am not sure I completely understand.
The terms stress and accent are often used synonymously, but they are sometimes distinguished, with certain specific kinds of prominence (such as pitch accent, variously defined) being considered to fall under accent but not under stress. In this case, stress specifically may be called stress accent or dynamic accent.
I notice that more and more I hear people pitching up at the end of a sentence as though it were interrogative, but it's not. Women seem to do it more often than men, and East coast people more than West coast. It drives me nuts!
Were we speaking Russian, wherein a repeated sentence with changed inflection is an affirmation, it would make sense, but these folks are speaking Amerrcun.
Well, goofy, I didn't understand it either. We all know Wikipedia isn't that reliable at times, so this must be one of those times.
Geoff, funny you should say this. I have a committee at work, which has Canadians. By the middle of the day, I found myself raising my voice pitch at the end of my sentences. How easily we can be influenced!
