A feature of Russian speech is accentological norms that native speakers try to comply with. But sometimes in conversations there are “cakes”, “call”, “contracts”, “spoil” or “beautiful” with the wrong stressed syllable. Experts count up to two hundred "problem" words.
The prevalence of such errors creates a stable basis for their reproduction in speech. Oddly enough, even those who have successfully passed the Russian language exam begin to have doubts when listening to a report or news on television or radio. Either they don’t remember the rules themselves, or they make mistakes in interviews when, for example, they speak with the wrong accent about the most beautiful winter landscapes, images, Christmas trees, decorations…
Referring to dictionaries and reference books is a good solution. Note that there are words in relation to which there is no unambiguous answer even among linguists. Fortunately, the emphasis on "beautiful" (in all cases of this adjective)fixed and does not raise doubts among specialists.
Degrees of comparison
The comparative degree of the word "beautiful" has two forms. Simple - "prettier". Difficult - "more beautiful." If we are interested in the style of speech, then the first option is neutral. The second one is well suited for scientific articles, documents, since it is clearly bookish in nature.
Stress in complex form is not a problem. But the stylistically neutral "more beautiful", which is also used in colloquial speech, sometimes causes difficulties. The correct stress in "prettier" falls on the second syllable.
Superlatives
The superlative does not differ from the comparative in terms of stress. In "the most beautiful" the emphasis also falls on "and".
But here's what you need to pay attention to. There are simple and compound forms in both types of degrees. The complex superlative form, "the most beautiful", is used in all styles of speech. And the simple one - "the most beautiful" - has mainly a bookish character. So to speak, the opposite is true.
The combination of the word "most" with the superlative degree of an adjective, which can be found on the pages of works of the 19th century, is now considered obsolete. Thus, using the word "most beautiful" with the pronoun "most" is not allowed.
Fixed accent
What prevents you from pronouncing the words "beautiful, beautiful" with the right accent? It would seem that a clear fixed accent on "and" in the cognate "beautiful, beautiful" should help in memorization.
Probably, it is the words in which the emphasis is shifted that are confusing: "smart - smarter - smartest", "strong - stronger - strongest", "kind - kinder - kindest".
Language evolves and norms can change. But now there is no doubt: the words "beautiful - more beautiful - most beautiful - most beautiful" have the same stress - on the second syllable.
What gets in the way and what helps to remember
Very often does not remember the correct stress cinema. The speech characteristics of the characters should reveal the image conceived by the author. But the film "We'll Live Until Monday" is one thing, in which there was an episode with a mistake by a young teacher and an awkward situation associated with it.
Another thing is the numerous films and series where the characters (positive in every sense) speak some strange "surzhik", which you can't even hear in reality. Incorrect speech "gets stuck" in memory, popping up unexpectedly in the conversations of children and adults.
Remember the emphasis "the most beautiful, the most beautiful" rhymes help. Teachers come up with verses where the correct stress is reproduced with ease. For example:
Beautiful winter -
How the houses glow, Beautiful Christmas trees -
Green needles.
It would be nice to repeat the serieswords with stress fixed on the second syllable, which is heard distinctly. These rhymes will come in handy for composing new rhymes. For example, "happiest, funniest, joking, grumbling"…
Yes, and decline again in cases: "the most beautiful, the most beautiful, the most beautiful, the most beautiful"…
