ASSIMILATION OF ACCENTUAL STRUCTURES OF BORROWINGS IN THE ASPECT OF BRITISH AND AMERICAN PRONOUNCING NORMS

Abstract

The paper views the assimilation of accentual structures of lexical borrowings in the aspect of British and American codified pronunciation norms. In the process of analysis, the genetic characteristics of the foreign words under study is described, accentual types that are involved in the formation of the accentual structures of lexical borrowings are identified, the peculiarities of the accentual structures of borrowed lexemes in the investigated variants are revealed, the accentual types, structures and varieties that are involved in the accentual variation of foreign words in the main variants of English in a comparative aspect are determined. According to the syllabic structure of the word, two-syllable borrowings are the most numerous ones in the investigated body of lexical units. Nouns perform the function of nomination and respectively prevail according to the lexical-grammatical characteristics. The results of the study indicate that coexistence within the norm of the accentual variants of words, which are formed by means of variation of place and degree of stress, is a special feature of the normalization of accentual structures of borrowings. The system of accentual structures with variants is established by determining the core, the main and peripheral systems of accentual types and structures. The vast majority of borrowings that take part in the accentual variation are French words. In British pronunciation norm French words are more adapted to the accentual laws of the English language compared to American pronunciation variant, but late French borrowings show the tendency of approaching the stress to the pronunciation of the source language. A significant part of the foreign words under study has a partial assimilation of accentual structures. The pronunciation of such borrowings is close to the accentual laws of the source language. The desire of native speakers to retain the original pronunciation of borrowed lexemes indicates an increased interest in other linguistic cultures, a good command of foreign languages and the expansion of interlanguage contacts. The prospect for further research of the phonological assimilation of foreign lexical borrowings is the establishment of the specificity of the process of assimilation of accentual structures in the aspect of other pronouncing variants of the English language in contrastive way with British and American pronunciation norms.