pretonicadj.n.
/ˌpriːˈtɒnɪk/, U.S. /priˈtɑnɪk/ Phonetics.
A. adj.
Coming immediately before a stressed or accented syllable.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > intonation, pitch, or stress > [adjective] > accent > stressed > with respect to group
subtonic1827
pretonic1864
post-tonic1880
protonic1890
nuclear1937
prestress1941
post-nuclear1944
pre-nuclear1952
internuclear1958
1864 Webster's Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. Pretonic, before a tone; as, a pretonic sound or note.
1884 C. H. Toy in Amer. Jrnl. Philol. Dec. 499 The pretonic vowel is either heavy or lightest, that is, shewā.
1895 W. M. Lindsay Short Hist. Lat. Gram. 29 The new law of accentuation..brought with it the possibility of a new variety, namely, suppression of the syllable preceding the accent, Pretonic syncope.
1963 M. A. K. Halliday in Archivum Linguisticum 15 13 The location, in each tone group, of the pretonic and tonic sections.
1990 Word 41 146 At least in the most common close copy stylization for Tone 2 and for Tone 3, the pretonic and tonic pitch movements were identical.
B. n.
A syllable or vowel which immediately precedes a stressed or accented syllable; = pretone n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > intonation, pitch, or stress > [noun] > accent > stress accent > stress group > syllables with respect to
subtonic1827
pretone1884
pretonic1892
head1922
nucleus1922
tail1922
peak1935
post-nuclear1944
precontour1945
nuclear1949
tonic1962
1892 Publ. Mod. Lang. Assoc. Amer. 7 169 As pretonics, however, they are found in the same rhyme.
1953 K. Jackson Lang. & Hist. in Early Brit. ii. 634 There is also..an h- prefixed to vowels; but in Brittonic there was not the same extension of this to pretonics not originally ending in -s in British that there was in Pr.I.
1973 Archivum Linguisticum 4 24 This kind of system may be dealt with in the same way as the different pretonics of the individual tones.
Derivatives
preˈtonically adv. in respect of the syllable or vowel immediately preceding a stressed or accented syllable.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > intonation, pitch, or stress > [adverb] > with accent > stress with respect to group
pretonically1930
nuclearly1966
1930 Rev. Eng. Stud. 6 176 The sense is now good..and the alliteration normal, ‘uncouth’ being stressed on the first syllable pretonically.
1953 K. Jackson Lang. & Hist. in Early Brit. ii. 322 It [sc. a Latin pronunciation (ɑu)] is not reduced pretonically to ŏ; e.g. awdur, cawlai.
1998 Hispania 81 170/1 Given the language's general preference for the placing stress on the penultimate syllable, it follows that any unstressed (i) will appear only pretonically.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1864