When you enter a protest or make a contest over it the accent is on the first syllable: a protest or a contest.
But when you use either word as a verb, you may accent either the first syllable or the second: I protest or I protest or Methinks the lady doth protest too much.
How is it that the verb form is different from the noun form? How is it that the verb form offers a choice, rather than being fixed one way or the other?
It's understandable that a word might coincidentally have such unusual variations, but it's hard to believe the same thing could happen, by coincidence, for two similar words. Surely there must be some common history.
I think the initial stress on the verbs is a recent development, a levelling of the difference. In some words the final stress on the verb sounds a bit old-fashioned: e.g. combat. But there are many, many pairs that differ like this, such as convict, convert, produce, rebel, import, etc. etc.
Some variation exists: so I say reSEARCH for both noun and verb, and REsearch sounds American, but I don't know which is original.
I have always presumed, though I don't know if it's true, that the difference must have arisen in Middle English when verbs still had an inflectional suffix: importen, convicten, etc. Then a constant rule of penultimate stress would give noun IMport, verb imPORTen.
Maybe it is because I'm from the Mid-West, but I'll say protest either way. If I was to say "I protest...", I would emphasize the second syllable, but for most cases, I emphasize the first. I'll never emphasize the second syllable of contest.
This is an interesting point, being from the Mid-West I'm exposed to pronunciations from different parts of the country, which could lead to my multiple ways of saying the same word. "Either" is a word I'll pronounce either way, depending on some unknown factor.
Hmmm, that's interesting, Sean. I, too, am from the midwest (Wisconsin originally, but Chicago for a long time). I agree with you on "protest," I think. However, I do say "contest, for example, if I were to contest a parking ticket.
I never say either with a long "i." I like it better, but I'd feel as though I were putting on airs.
quote: However, I do say "contest, for example, if I were to contest a parking ticket.
I don't know that I've ever said the word that way, or even used it in that sense. I would most likely "protest a parking ticket". I think that that meaning of "contest" has been overrode in my lexicon by "protest".
