Ictus and Breve
Fussell (1965/1979), Turco (1968/1986), and Williams (1986) all use the ictus for stressed syllables, and the classical breve for unstressed syllables. Corn (1997) describes this as a notation which evolved from the classical notation.
˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / |
But SOFT! What LIGHT through YONder WINdow BREAKS? |
Symbol | Syllable Type | Description |
/ | Stressed | Syllable carries the stress |
˘ | Unstressed | Syllable is not stressed |
Corn goes on to state that the most common approach adopted for marking fine gradations of stress has been to add the symbol \ for 'intermediate stress'.
Symbol | Syllable Type | Description |
/ | Stressed | Syllable carries strong stress |
\ | Intermediate stress | Stress on syllable is between strong and weak |
˘ | Unstressed | Syllable is not stressed; that is, weak. |
Turco's version of this is to use a dot (·) to indicate the middle syllable in a string of three unstressed syllables has been 'promoted' to a secondary or weaker stress.
Symbol | Syllable Type | Description |
/ | Stressed | Syllable carries strong stress |
· | Secondary stress | A weak syllable 'promoted' to secondary stress. |
˘ | Unstressed | Syllable is not stressed; that is, weak. |
Read more about this topic: Systems Of Scansion