Lecture 5

Stress
Definition Types of stress Nature of stress Placement of stress within words Simple words Derived words Compound words Word class pairs Strong form and weak form
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Definition
Stress is an extra force exerted on a particular syllable or a particular word in spoken language. The stressed syllable or word is said with greater energy, and stands out in a word, phrase or sentence. Examples: father /f\/ information /nf\men/

John bought a new car yesterday

Types of stress
1. Word stress: is an extra force put on a particular syllable of the word. It is usually fixed. For example: invite 2. entertain

Sentence stress: is an extra force put on a particular word in a sentence. Sentence stress is not fixed. It depends on the speakers feelings and attitudes and the message that he wants to get across to the listener. For example: John bought a new car yesterday.
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The nature of stress

1. We can study stress from the point of view of production and perception. From the production point of view, the production of stress is generally believed to depend on the speakers using more muscular energy than for unstressed syllables. From the perception point of view: all stressed syllables have one characteristic in common, and that is prominence. At least four factors make a stressed syllable prominent: loudness, length, pitch and vowel quality. Generally, these four factors work together in combination though syllables may sometimes be made prominent by means of only one or two of them. 4

2.

Levels of stress
1. Primary stress (tonic/nuclear): is the strongest type of stress. It is marked by a small vertical line high up just before the syllable it relates to. Secondary stress (non-tonic): it is weaker than primary stress, but stronger than unstressed syllables. It is usually found in words of four or five syllables. It is represented in transcription with a low mark. For examples: photographic anthropology economical nationality

2.

3. Unstressed: can be regarded as being the absence of any recognizable amount of prominence.
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Placement of stress within words

In order to decide on the stress placement, it is necessary to make use of some or all of the following information. Whether the word is morphologically simple or complex. (whether the word is a simple, derived or compound word). a. b. c. The grammatical category to which the word belongs. The number of syllables in the word. The phonological structure of the word.
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a.

Simple word stress

1. Two syllable words a. Verbs b. Adjectives c. Nouns d. Adverbs and prepositions 2. Three syllable words a. Verbs b. Nouns c. Adjectives
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Two-syllable verbs
a. If the second syllable of the verb contains a long vowel or a diphthong or it ends with more than one consonant, that second syllable is stressed. E.g. provide contain protest agree

More examples: select, arrest, design, inform, invent, prefer, depend, occur, succeed, deny, apply, record, invite.
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b. If the second syllable contains a short vowel and ends with one or no consonant, the first syllable is stressed. Examples: enter travel equal, answer. c. The final syllable is also unstressed if it contains /@U/. Examples: follow borrow
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worry open

More examples: menace, settle, marry, differ,

Two-syllable Adjectives
Two syllable adjectives are stressed according to the same rules as verbs. Examples: correct polite heavy sincere major complete happy precise

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Two-syllable Nouns
a. If the second syllable contains a short vowel, the stress will be on the first syllable. Otherwise, it will be on the second syllable. money office estate autumn delight canoe reason larynx balloon affair pocket surface
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Notes
Other two-syllable words such as adverbs and prepositions seem to behave like verbs and adjectives. Examples: beyond seldom again before except never behind very after across
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Three-syllable verbs
a. If the last syllable contains a short vowel and ends with not more than one consonant, the last syllable will be unstressed, and stress will be placed on the second syllable. encounter abandon b. determine remember

If the final syllable contains a long vowel or a diphthong, or ends with more than one consonant, the final syllable will be stressed. entertain intervene introduce recommend
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Three-syllable Nouns
a. If the final syllalbe contains a short vowel or /@U/, it is unstressed. If the second syllable contains a long vowel or a diphthong, or it ends with more than one consonant, the second syllable will be stressed. potato cathedral disaster advantage

b. If the final syllable contains a short vowel and the second syllable contains a short vowel and ends with not more than one consonant, both the final and middle syllalbes are unstressed, and the first syllable is stressed.
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quantity enemy animal antonym c.

cinema alphabet company character

If the final syllalbe contains a long vowel or a diphthong or it ends with more than one consonant, the stress will usually be placed on the first syllable. paradise architect photograph exercise marigold attitude
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Three-syllable Adjectives
Three-syllable adjectives seem to need the same rules as Nouns to produce stress pattern such as: opportune possible important enormous accurate insolent derelict absolute similar popular

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Complex word stress

Derived words
Stress on the affix No change in stress placement The stress remains on the stem but is shifted to a different syllable.

Compound words
Primary stress on the second element Primary stress on the first element.
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Stress in derived words

1. The affixes will have one of three possible effects on the word stress. The affix itself receives primary stress. circle employ person Portugal cigar picture mountain semi-circle employee personality Portugese cigarette picturesque mountaineer
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2.

The word is stressed as if the affix were not there. comfort marry refuse wide wonder amaze red power punish poison glory comfortable marriage refusal widen wonderful amazing reddish powerless punishment poisonous glorify
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3. The stress remains on the stem, not the affix, but is shifted to a different syllable. advantage proverb climate injure tranquil photograph economy equator advantageous proverbial climatic injurious tranquility photographer economical equatorial
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Compound words
a. If the first word/part of the compound is in a broad sense adjectival, the stress goes on the second element with a secondary stress on the first. loudspeaker full moon fast food new moon open hearted ill mannered
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b.

If, however, the first element is, in a broad sense, a noun, the stress goes on the first element. car ferry tea cup suitcase bottle feed boatpeople farm house airplane bodyguard bedroom
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Word class pairs

In English, there are pairs of two syllable words with identical spelling which differ from each other in stress placement, apparently according to word class. The rule is as follows: The stress will be placed on the second syllable if the word is a Verb, but on the first syllable of the Noun or Adjective. abstract conduct contrast desert abstract conduct contrast desert
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escort export import insult object perfect permit present produce rebel record subject

escort export import insult object perfect permit present produce rebel record subject
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Strong and weak forms

There are certain well-known English words that can be pronounced in two different ways which are called strong form and weak form. I like that I hope that you are fine It is possible to use only strong forms in speaking, and some foreigners do this. Usually, they can still be understood by other speakers of English, so why is it important to learn how weak forms are used? a. Most native speakers of English find an all-strong-form pronunciation unnatural and foreign sounding, somethings 25 that most learners would wish to avoid.

 More importantly, speakers who are not familiar with the use of weak forms are likely to have difficulty understanding speakers who do use weak forms. Since practically all native speakers of English use them, learners of the language need to learn about these weak forms to help them understand what they hear. Almost all the words which have both a strong and weak form belong to a category that may be called grammatical words such as auxiliary verbs, prepositions, conjunctions... It is important to remember that there are certain contexts in which only the strong form is acceptable, and others where the weak form pronunciation is the normal.
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 a.

The strong form is used in the following cases: When the word occurs at the end of a sentence. What are you looking at? I am looking at my pictures. Where are you from? I am from Vietnam

b.

When a weak form word is being contrasted with another word. The letter is from him, not to him. He likes her, but does she like him?
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A similar case is what we might call a co-ordinated use of prepositions. I travel to and from London a lot. A work of and about literature.

c.

When a weak form word is given stress for the purpose of emphasis. You must marry me I have to go You must choose us or them.

d.

When a weak form word is being cited or quoted You shouldnt put and and the end of a sentence. 28