PRONUNCIATION STRATEGIES

WORD STRESS

Three kinds of word stress

Pronunciation of the -ed ending
Stress and meaning (verb/noun)
Verb and noun/adjective alternation

THREE KINDS OF WORD STRESS

Syllables with primary stress are in uppercase.

Syllables with secondary stress are in lowercase.
Syllables with reduced stress have a line through them.

Listen to the following examples. Each word is said twice. Practice saying the words
using the rubber band technique. Click here
INtellect
exPOnent
transPARent
OScilate
eQUIPment
preLIminary
Listen to the following words. Each unstressed vowel (schwa), has a line through it. Each
syllable with primary stress is in uppercase. Remember (Any vowel a,e,i,o,u can be
reduced to schwa sound) Click here
1. METHod
2. RANdom
3. STAtus

4. comPOnent
5. VErify
6. maTErial

7. phiLOsophy
8. inDIgenous
9. CHALlenge

10. deFIcient
11. imPLIcit
12. inCORporate

Listen to these words in sentences: Click here

1.
2.
3.

Which METHod do you use to code data?

Informants were selected at RANdom.
In some societies, there is a direct relationship between one's social
STAtus and one's wealth.
4.
It's a one-year course that includes four comPOnents.
5.
We'll have to VErify the figures before submitting the final document.
6.
A porous maTERial is not optimal for our experiment.

Listen to these words in sentences <contd>: Click here

7.
Ethnographers may identify differences in phiLOsophy and culture.
8.
The maple tree is inDIgenous to Canada.
9.
I'm interested in knowing who will CHALlenge Prime Minister Chrtien
in the next election.
10. Those who are iron deFIcient may want to eat spinach and take iron supplements.
11. Instructions must be exPLIcit in order to avoid misunderstandings.
12. You are encouraged to inCORporate text and images.
Find one word in each group that has a different stress pattern.
Click here

Ans:

1.
authorize
concentrate
correspond
deviate

2.
assess
complex
comply
occur

3.
alternative
arbitrary
manipulate
parenthesis

4.
denominator
intermediate
perpendicular
rudimentary

Correspond

Complex

Arbitrary

Denominator

PRONUNCIATION OF THE -ED ENDING (N.B. & = schwa)

Listen to the following sentences. Does the last sound in the italicized word sound like /t/, /d/
or /&d/?
Click here

Results from the two studies overlapped.

The author defined the terms in the introduction.
The graph illustrates how sales fluctuated over the year.