Discourse
From Hull AWE
The word discourse is pronounced with two different stress patterns, depending on the word class to which it belongs in the sentence being spoken.
- In academic British English speech, the noun 'a discourse' normally has the stress on the first syllable: 'DIS-course' (IPA: /ˈdɪs kəʊrs/). (This is the principal pronunciation given in LPD, although OED gives it as second to the pattern like the verb.)
- Although it once meant predominantly a speech - a long and serious formal kind of talk, like a sermon or a lecture, "the prevailing sense" is now "A spoken or written treatment of a subject, in which it is handled or discussed at length; a dissertation, treatise, homily, sermon, or the like" (OED; AWE's emphasis). It has become more common in modern academic studies as a result of the use of the term Discourse analysis in Linguistics. This refers to considering the structure of a text, either written or spoken, longer than a single sentence. (This is the usual subject of grammatical analysis.) Analysing a text at a level above that of the sentence involves, for example, looking at the structure of an argument, or the plot of a novel; it may include overall tone, such as irony or satire; it may look at the turn-taking, if the text is a conversation.
- The verb is more commonly, but not exclusively, used of spoken than written language. OED's principal current meaning is "To hold discourse, to speak with another or others, talk, converse; to discuss a matter, confer", although it adds as a subordinate definition "to treat of in speech or writing".
Note
- This pattern of shifting stress in words that look identical but belong to two separate word classes is quite common in English.
- Quirk (1985) (Appendix I.56 B) describes the most common: "When verbs of two syllables are converted into nouns, the stress is sometimes shifted from the second to the first syllable. The first syllable, typically a Latin prefix, often has a reduced vowel /ə/ in the verb but a full vowel in the noun: He was con-VICT-ed (IPA: /kən ˈvɪkt ɪd/) of theft, and so became a CON vict (IPA: /ˈkɒn vɪkt/)" [AWE's rendition of IPA].
- There follows a list of some 57 "words having end-stress as verbs but initial stress as nouns in Br[itish] E[nglish]." Note that "in Am[erican] E[nglish], many have initial stress as verbs also". Quirk's list is the foundation of AWE's category:shift of stress. Additions have been made from, amongst others, Fowler, 1926-1996.
- Quirk (1985) (Appendix I.56 B) describes the most common: "When verbs of two syllables are converted into nouns, the stress is sometimes shifted from the second to the first syllable. The first syllable, typically a Latin prefix, often has a reduced vowel /ə/ in the verb but a full vowel in the noun: He was con-VICT-ed (IPA: /kən ˈvɪkt ɪd/) of theft, and so became a CON vict (IPA: /ˈkɒn vɪkt/)" [AWE's rendition of IPA].
- This pattern of shifting stress in words that look identical but belong to two separate word classes is quite common in English.