Three reasons for accenting a definite subject

In 1971–72 a lengthy discussion took place inLanguageconcerning sentence stress (aliasnuclear stress, alias intonation nucleus placement) and its relationship to syntactic structure (Bresnan, 1971, 1972; Lakoff, 1972; Berman & Szamosi, 1972; Bolinger, 1972). Bolinger had the last word in stating that placement of the nuclear accent ‘is not explainable by syntax or morphology’ but ‘is a matter of information, not of structure’ (Bolinger, 1972: 633). According to this view words with low informational content (i.e. highly predictable) in a particular context or situation are unlikely to receive a nuclear stress, whereas words with high information content (i.e. highly unpredictable) are likely to receive a nuclear stress. In addition, ‘the speaker will put the main accent as far to the right as he dares, when assertive pressure is high’ (Bolinger, 1972: 644).