An investigation on word stress errors commonly made by third year english major students at hanoi pedagogical university n02 and some suggested solutions

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY N 0 2 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY DOANH THI HONG CHUYEN AN INVESTIGATION ON WORD STRESS ERRORS COMMONLY MADE BY THE THIRD

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY N 0 2 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY

DOANH THI HONG CHUYEN

AN INVESTIGATION ON WORD STRESS ERRORS

COMMONLY MADE BY THE THIRD YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR

SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS

SUPERVISOR: NGUYEN THI HA ANH, M.A

ABSTRACT

It cannot be denied that word stress is one of the essential factors in Phonetic and Phonology Word stress is frequently used in speaking to help people communicate effectively Stress is put on the main syllable, so it helps listeners distinguish words which have similar form and understand the speaker’s purpose However, it is hard for learners to remember all the stress rules

The subjects of the research were K39 English Bachelor and K39 English Pedagogy at Hanoi Pedagogical University N02 Because the third year English major students often make errors when they speak, this research work focused

on analysis common errors in the pronunciation of word stress and aimed to help the students pronounce more effectively

The author used test survey and recording method to find out the errors and suggested some solutions to improve that situation

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

Title: An investigation on word stress errors commonly made by the third year English major students at Hanoi Pedagogical University N 0 2 and some suggested solutions

I certify that no part of this thesis has been copied from other author’s works without acknowledgement and this thesis is written by me under the instructions from my supervisor

Date submitted: May 2016

TABLE OF CONTENT

PART ONE INTRODUCTION

I Rationales of the study 1

II Research objectives 2

III Research presupposition 2

IV Research scope 2

V Research methods 3

VI Significance of the proposed research 3

VII Organization of the research work 3

PART TWO DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND I.1 Literature review in brief 5

I.2 Definition of pronunciation 6

I.3 Aspects of pronunciation 6

I.4 Factors that affect pronunciation learning 8

I.4.1 The native language 8

I.4.2 The age factor 8

I.4.3 Amount of exposure 8

I.4.4 Phonetic ability 9

I.4.5 Attitude and identity 9

I.4.6 Motivation and concerns for good pronunciation 9

I.5 Concepts of English word stress 9

I.5.1 Basic concepts related to English syllables 9

I.5.2 Definition of English word stress 10

I.5.3 Nature of stress and levels of stress 11

I.5.4 Function of stress 12

I.5.5 Placement of stress 12

I.5.5.1 Two-syllable words 13

I.5.5.2 Three-syllable words and more than three-syllable words 14

I.5.5.2.1 With verbs 14

I.5.5.2.2 With nouns 14

I.5.5.2.3 With adjective 15

I.5.5.3 Complex words 15

I.5.5.3.1 Suffixes and prefixes 14

I.5.5.3.2 Compound words 17

I.5.5.4 Word-class pairs 17

I.6 Concepts of sentence tress 18

I.7 How to pronounce English effectively 18

CHAPTER TWO THE STUDY II.1 Survey 22

II.1.1 Purpose of the survey 22

II.1.2 Population of the survey 22

II.1.3 Form of the survey 23

II.1.4 Construction of the test 23

II.1.5 Preparation of the survey 24

II.1.5.1 Test items 24

II.1.5.2 Arrangement of the test items 24

II.1.6 Data analysis procedures 25

II.2 Recording 26

II.2.1.Purpose of recording 26

II.2.2 Population of recording .26

II.2.3 Construction of recording paper 26

II.2.4 Preparation of recording 26

II.2.4.1 Recording paper 26

II.2.4.2 Arrangement of the recording paper 26

II.2.5 Data analysis procedures 27

II.3 Common errors in the placing English word stress and causes 27

II.3.1 Results of the survey 27

II.3.2 Common errors in the placing English word stress and causes 29

II.3.2.1 Errors and causes in putting stress on three-syllable verbs 29

II.3.2.2 Errors and causes in putting stress on the mixture of both two and three-syllable words 30

II.3.2.3 Errors and causes in placing stress on the syllable of two-syllable adjectives 31

II.3.2.4 Errors and causes in putting stress on the mixture of three-syllable words and more than three-syllable words 31

II.3.2.5 Errors and causes in placing stress on the syllable of two-syllable nouns 32

II.3.2.6 Errors and causes in putting stress on three-syllable and more than three – syllables nouns 32

II.3.2.7 Errors and causes in distinguishing part of speech based on stress of two-syllable words 32

II.3.2.8 Errors and causes in putting stress on three-syllable adjectives 33

II.3.2.9 Errors and causes in placing stress on the syllable of two-syllable verbs 33

II.3.2.10 Errors and causes in placing stress on the syllable of two-syllable

adverbs and the mixture of two-syllable words 33

II.4 Recording 34

II.4.1 Results of recording 34

II.4.2 Common errors in the pronunciation of English word stress 34

II.4.2.1 Errors and causes in the pronunciation of three-syllable and more than three-syllable words .34

II.4.2.2 Errors and causes in pronouncing with equal stress for all syllables 35

II.4.2.3 Errors and causes in the pronunciation of two-syllable words 35

II.5 Suggested solutions 36

II.5.1 To the teachers 36

II.5.2 To the students 33

PART THREE CONCLUSION References 42 Test survey

Words for recording

Key

PART ONE INTRODUCTION

I RATIONALES OF THE STUDY

English, the international language, has been learned widely; it helps people communicate with other parts of the world Undoubtedly, English is required in many sectors such as educational sector, medical sector, private sector, bank, transportation, etc For students who are English learners, they can build up a good career by having good English; therefore, it is very essential to learn this language

Vietnamese learners have met a lot of difficulties in learning English especially the pronunciation of English words To improve their speaking skill, learners can focus on every aspect of pronunciation One of the most effective aspects that can change significantly a person’s pronunciation is stress

In order to improve pronunciation, speakers must know the placement of the word stress and sentence stress It is very difficult for listeners to listen to the words that are stressed incorrectly Some words might be misunderstood because they may have more than one meaning based on stress placement In addition, sentences are pronounced with wrong stress can bring different nuance and meaning

If students are good at speaking, this skill could support to listening comprehension The third year English major students at HPU2 have been studying English for year as their major, but they still make mistakes in pronouncing word stress Additionally, observing the third year English major students while they are studying Phonetic and Phonology, I see that they still make mistakes in stress Therefore, being aware of the problems and hoping to help the third year English major students better in pronunciation, the topic

named an investigation on word stress errors commonly made by the third year English major students at Hanoi Pedagogical University N02 and some suggested solutions was conducted

II REASERCH OBJECTIVES

The study aims to get the following targets:

1 To help the third year English major students at HPU2 be better at pronouncing based on stress

2 To point out the main errors in English stress commonly made by the third year English major students at HPU2

3 To find out the causes of the errors English stress commonly made by the third year English major students at HPU2

4 To propose some solutions to minimize the errors commonly made by the third year English major students at HPU2

III RESEARCH PRESUPPOSITION

To achieve the aims mentioned above, some questions are raised:

 What are the most common word stress errors made by the third year English major students at Hanoi Pedagogical University N02?

 What are the causes of these errors?

 What should be done to limit the student’s errors in order to improve their pronunciation?

IV RESEARCH SCOPE

Stress, which is one of the most important parts of English pronunciation, includes word stress and sentence stress However, because of limited time and experience, the author only focused on the errors in the pronunciation of English word stress commonly made by the third year English major students at HPU2 The number of students involved in the research was 100 (69 students from K39 English Bachelor & 31 students from English Pedagogy) They were

in the third year at university and their knowledge of English and skills were nearly accomplished Moreover, they had been studying Phonetic and Phonology

V RESEARCH METHODS

To gain the aims of the research, there are two methods that the researcher employed:

1 Conducting test survey and analyzing the results

2 Recording the student’s voice and examining the pronunciation of stress

3 Proposing suggestions and solutions to the problems

The causes of word stress errors were found by private talk and the author own experience After conducting test survey, the author saw that there were lots of wrong answers, so a private talk was hold with 5 students to find out the reason why they made mistakes Besides, the author gained experience when studied Phonetic and Phonology last year as the third year English major student

VI SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH

There had been a phenomenon: the third year English major students have been studying English for years, but they still make mistakes in pronouncing word stress To solve this problem, the study was conducted The study brings some benefits for the third year English major students in order to help them pronounce correctly word stress, better their speaking skill and they can communicate effectively

VII ORGANIZATION OF THE RESEARCH WORK

The research is divided into three main parts: Introduction, Development, and Conclusion

Part one Introduction includes the rationales, research presupposition and the aim of the study In addition, it provides the scope, methodology, the signification and the organization of the study

In part two, there are two chapters The first is theoretical background,

then common errors in pronunciation of English stress

Part three Conclusion summaries the whole research and suggests some solutions

PART TWO DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER ONE: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

I.1 LITERATURE REVIEW IN BRIEF

English stress has been defined and focused by several phoneticians, grammarians, and doctors Almost, they pay attention to the definition, rules and ways of pronouncing from Vietnamese people

In the book English phonetics and phonology, Roach (1983) presents the

basic theoretical background with 20 unit courses Stress pattern is put on the pages 72 to 87 and intonation from 119 to 159 In fact, this is a book that has the best overview on phonetics and its practical exams are also helpful

Nguyen, (2008) has A research into word stress patterns in English The

study mainly focused on word stress In part two, chapter 1, he mention the definition & the knowledge to place the stress Chapter 2 talks about the rules of placement within the simple words concluding two-syllable ones Others, he works on complex words and word class pairs The research is useful and in detail work However, the author just writes about word stress and related problems and he does not point out the mistakes

An, (2010)’s thesis is An analysis on word stress errors commonly made

by 12 th grade students in Le Quy Don High School, Hai Phong and some solution The study finds out the most common word stress errors and the

causes of the errors then suggests possible solutions But, its subject is high school students, not English major students

In the book The pronunciation of English, Charles W Kreidler (1989)

mentions deeply all the issues related to pronunciation such as language and speech, consonants, vowels and glides, the rhythm of English speech, intonation and in particular, predicting word stress

Throughout the book Teaching English Pronunciation, the author, Joanne

Kenworthy emphasizes on pronunciation and developed speaking skill Part one mentions the basic principles of teaching pronunciation, intelligibility and its assessment, building awareness and concern for pronunciation, sound and spelling, etc Part two is about some problems encountered by speakers in some countries and it suggests strategies in each case

In general, they work on the theory of English word stress some of them talk about errors in word level However, they do not study deeply on common errors and it is necessary to have a study on that problems Therefore, I decide

to have a research on word stress errors commonly made by the third year English major students at Hanoi Pedagogical University N02 and some suggested solutions to help the students pronounce more effectively

I.2 DEFINITION OF PRONUNCIATION

Pronunciation is the way a word or language is spoken or the manner in

which someone utters a word

Pronunciation plays a very important role in communication for learners

To communicate effectively they must speak clear and make themselves understood Sometimes simply using the right vocabulary and structure is not enough

I.3 ASPECTS OF PRONUNCIATION

 Word stress

Word stress is an extra force put on a particular syllable of the word in spoken language; it is usually fixed That syllable will be pronounced higher, louder, and longer

 Rhythm

Rhythm is the relatively equal beat between stressed syllables It has often been claimed that English speech is rhythmical and that rhythm is detectable in the regular occurrence of stressed syllables English has stress-timed rhythm means stressed syllables will tend to occur at relatively regular intervals whether they are separated by unstressed syllables or not

(Roach, 1983)

 Weak forms

When the monosyllabic word is unstressed in a sentence, its pronunciation is quite different from when it is stressed The vowel will be quite short and distinct and it often is schwa /ə/ An example is an unstressed form of “not” In sentences, it is written as “n’t” and other forms such as “I’m”,

is new in speaker’s utterance and what is known

I.4 FACTORS THAT AFFECT PRONUNCIATION LEARNING

I.4.1 The native language

The native language seems to be a minor factor which effects pronunciation learning, but in fact, it is a very important one Students from different nationalities have various degrees of difficulty learning proper pronunciation The difficulty depends on how their native language is different from English Phonemes are different between 2 languages and the way the mouth, teeth, and tongue used are also different For example, there are some differences between Vietnamese and English in term of phonetic The pronunciation of consonant “d” in English differs from Vietnamese Moreover, the “th” sound does not exist in the Vietnamese language

I.4.2 The age factor

It is believed that if someone wants to learn the pronunciation of a second language like a native speaker, he should start it as a child The younger students are, the easier it is for them to get accurate pronunciation Adults still tend to remain their mother-tongue accent when they pronounce other languages

I.4.3 Amount of exposure

Amount of exposure that learners receive is also affect learning English

If the learners live in an English-speaking country for long time, the constant exposure will affects pronunciation skill They have more opportunities to listen and use English then their English will be better In contrast, if they do not live

in an English-speaking environment, there is no such advantage However, this

is not always true in term of residency Some people use other languages when they live in English-speaking environment while some speakers use English a lots in their work and study in non-English-speaking countries and their ability

is quite good

I.4.4 Phonetic ability

There are some people who have original ability of learning foreign language while others do not They are able to distinguish among sounds better and imitate sounds more accurate; hence, this is an advantage that helps them get good results “Poor discriminators” do not have benefits from pronunciation drills and tasks In fact, all people have this basic phonetic ability except who are deaf, if not they cannot speak their mother tongue

I.4.5 Attitude and identity

Person’s “sense of identity” and feelings of “group affiliation” are two factors that strongly affect the achievement of accurate pronunciation of foreign language In conversation, if speakers adopt and imitate the way partners speak,

it makes the receivers feel familiar to the speakers Those getting positive feelings tend to develop more accurate and native-like accents; it also a motivation When it comes to identity, the factors influence the development of

an accent in a speaker’s first language also is a part in the development of an accent in a foreign language

I.4.6 Motivation and concerns for good pronunciation

Among English learners, some of them seem to concern more about pronunciation than other learners and those often have better pronunciation The desire to pronounce well is also a motivation; in contrast, if learners do not care about pronunciation or its value, they won’t be motivated to do it well They need to understand their way of speaking impacts listener’s understanding and feelings

I.5 CONCEPTS OF ENGLISH WORD STRESS

I.5.1 Basic concepts related to English syllables

Peter Roach presents that a syllable is a unit which consists of a vowel as the centre and/or consonant(s) before and after it A syllable can be part of a word or it can coincide with a word

Consonants are the sounds in the production of which one articulator moves towards another or two articulators comes together, obstructing the air-stream can’t get out freely For example: /m/, /p/, /k/, /v/, z/

According to Peter Roach (19983), “vowels are sounds in which there is

no obstruction to the flow of air as it pass from the larynx to the lip”

Longer vowels tend to be longer than shorter vowels in similar context The symbols consist of one single vowel plus a length mark made of two dots They are different from short vowels not only in length but also in quality, resulting from differences in tongue shapes and lip positions

Long vowels: /iː/, /ɜː/, /aː/, /ɔː/, /uː/

Short vowels: /æ/, /e/, /ʌ/, /ɒ/, /ʊ/, /ɪ/, /ə/

(Roach, 1983)

The book Accurate English written by Rebecca M Dauer (1992) says

stressed syllables sound louder, are usually longer, and have clear vowels and

stronger consonants In a word said in isolation, stressed syllables are higher pitched; in sentences, a pitching change (a change in melody from high to low

or low to high) often occurs on stressed syllables

In addition, he also states unstressed syllables sound softer, are usually

shorter, and are frequently reduced or centralized This means that the vowels tend to become /ə/, /ɪ/, /ɚ/ or /ʊ/ and the consonants are weaker The pitch does not change direction on unstressed syllables

I.5.2 Definition of English word stress

There are several definitions of English stress Daniel Jones (1909) defined stress is the degree of force which a speaker pronounces a sound or a syllable One of the definitions stated by Rebecca M Dauer (1992) is that in all words of two or more syllables, one syllable is more prominent, louder, or more noticeable than the other syllables in that word

In the book A university grammar of English, Randolp Quick (1976) says

stress is concerned with the perception of relative PROMINENCE Additionally, we speak of “stress” when we are considering the prominence with which one part of the word or of a longer utterance is distinguished from other parts

Randolp Quick also mentions the stress within the word that this is a binary opposition – stress verse no stress – though it is often relevant to distinguish an intermediate or secondary stress We mark stress with a high vertical stroke before the syllable carrying the stress

Within a word, there is another stress mark called secondary stress which

is the weaker of two degrees of stress in the pronunciation of a word; the stronger degree of stress being called primary The International Phonetic Alphabet symbol for secondary stress is a short vertical line preceding and at the foot of the secondarily stressed syllable

I.5.3 Nature of stress and levels of stress

Generally, each English word is made up of one or more syllable For example, the words “nice”, “plan”, “day”,… are single syllable; “depend” and

“content” are two syllables; and so on

Stressed syllables have the same characteristic is “prominence” according

to Peter Roach It can be seen that the stressed syllable will be pronounced louder and stronger than others Considering two aspects production and perception, first, the production of stress use more muscular energy than unstressed syllables Discussing the perception, there are four factors that make

a stressed syllable prominent: loudness, length, pitch and vowel quality

The levels of English stress are presented by Peter Roach (1983) as three levels: primary stress, secondary stress, and unstressed Primary stress, the strongest type, is marked by a small vertical line high up before the syllable it

relates to The next is secondary stress which is stronger than unstressed syllables but weaker than primary stress It is found in four or five-syllable words and signed by a low mark The third is unstressed which is the absence

of any recognizable amount of prominence

I.5.4 Function of stress

Stress is extremely important in the process of learning pronunciation It

is not appeared in all languages but English Speaking with correct stress helps the listeners understand deeply Pronouncing with stress is exactly the way native speaker communicate Without stress, it is impossible to fully comprehend the expression and implications that go with words In English, some words often make the confusion for the learners because of its complication For example, 2 words with the same spelling can be in two parts

of speech And, in dialogue, it can be distinguished by stress only The speaker who is good at stress can speak more attractively

I.5.5 Placement of stress

If we want to recognize the placement of stress word, we should consider these following aspects:

- Word forms: Two syllables or more, complex words, derived words or compound words…

- The parts of speech of the words: Nouns, verbs or adjectives…

- The numbers of syllables

- The phonology structure of the syllables in the words

And other rules that users should remember: A word can only have one stress, and only vowels are stressed, not consonants

Monosyllabic words do not have stress

I.5.5.1 Two-syllable words

Peter Roach (1983), in the book Phonetic and Phonology, worked out

some rules of stress placement for two-syllable words presented as below:

Either the first or the second syllable will be stress – not both The basic rule for verbs and adjectives:

The second syllable is stressed if it has a long vowel and a diphthong or it end with more than one consonant For examples:

Complete /kəmˈpliːt/ Sincere /sɪnˈsɪə/

The first syllable will be stressed if another one consist of a short vowel and end with one or no consonant For examples:

The last syllable will be unstressed if it has /əʊ/ For examples:

Nouns require different rules: if the second syllable contains a short vowel the stress will always come on the first syllable Otherwise, it will be on the second syllable

Balloon /bəˈluːn/ Delight /dɪˈlʌɪt/

Other two-syllable words such as adverbs and presuppositions seem to behave like verbs and adjectives In most two syllable words which are preposition, the stress is on the second syllable For examples:

However, there are little exceptions to these rules

I.5.5.2 Three-syllable words and more than three-syllable words

I.5.5.2.1 With verbs

Besides, Peter Roach (1983) also lists some stress rules for three-syllable words and more than three-syllable words such as:

If the last syllable has a short vowel and ends with more than one consonant, stress will be placed on the preceding syllable For examples:

Otherwise, the final syllable has a long vowel or diphthong, or ends with more than one consonant, it will be stressed For examples:

Recommend /rɛkəˈmɛnd/ Introduce /ɪntrəˈdjuːs/

If the last syllable and the middle syllable of a word have a long diphthong or vowel (which contains /i/ or /u/ or /ə/), the first syllable will be stressed

I.5.5.2.2 With nouns

The last syllable has a short vowel or /əʊ/, it will be unstressed And if middle one contains a long vowel or a diphthong, or it ends with more than one consonant, it will be stressed For examples:

Advantage /ədˈvɑːntɪdʒ/ Potato /pəˈteɪtəʊ/

If the third syllable has a short vowel and the middle syllable has short vowel too, and ends with mo more than one consonant, both of them are unstressed The stress is put on the first one For examples:

If a long vowel or a diphthong or it ends with more than one consonant are appeared in the final syllable of a word, the first syllable will be stressed For examples:

Paradise /ˈparədʌɪs/ Photograph /ˈfəʊtəɡrɑːf/

I.5.5.2.3 With adjective

Adjectives which have three or more than three syllables have the rules

of placing stress as three-syllable nouns and more than three-syllable nouns

I.5.5.3 Complex words

Complex words have two major types: words are made from a basic stem word with the addition of an affix, and compound words, which are made of two independent English words

I.5.5.3.1 Suffixes and prefixes

There are so many suffixes, so only a small of them which are common

and productive are mentioned here If we examine English words with suffixes,

a similar tendency is revealed: suffixes are never stressed Another tendency is for the stressed syllable to be somewhere in the middle of the word, rather than

on the first or last syllable in words of four, five, or six syllables

(Kenworthy, 1987)

The suffixes carrying primary stress themselves

“ain” (only for verbs) entertain

“ee” refugee /ˌrefjuˈdʒiː/

“eer” mountaineer /ˌmaʊntəˈnɪə(r)/

“ese” Vietnamese /ˌvjetnəˈmiːz/

“ette” cigarette /ˌsɪɡəˈret/

“esque” unique /juˈniːk/

(Roach, 1983)

Suffixes that do not affect stress placement

“-able” comfort /ˈkʌmfərt/ comfortable /ˈkʌmftəbl/

“-age” anchor /ˈæŋkər/ anchorage /ˈæŋkərɪdʒ/

“-al” refuse /rɪˈfjuːz/ refusal /rɪˈfjuːzl/

“-en’ wide /waɪd/ widen /ˈwaɪdn/

“-ful” wonder /ˈwʌndər/ wonderful /ˈwʌndərfl/

“-ing” amaze /əˈmeɪz/ amazing /əˈmeɪzɪŋ/

“-ish” devil /ˈdevl/ devilish /ˈdevəlɪʃ/

(For suffix “ish”, this is rule for adjectives; if verbs have more than one consonant in stem, stress will be put on the syllable preceding “ish”)

“-like” bird /bɜːrd/ birdlike

“-less” power /ˈpaʊər/ powerless /ˈpaʊərləs/

“-ly” hurried /ˈhɜːrid/ hurriedly /ˈhɜːridli/

“-ment” punish /ˈpʌnɪʃ/ punishment /ˈpʌnɪʃmənt/

“-ness” yellow /ˈjeloʊ/ yellowness /ˈjeloʊnəs/

“-ous” poison /ˈpɔɪzn/ poisonous /ˈpɔɪzənəs/

“-fy” glory /ˈɡlɔːri/ glorify /ˈɡlɔːrɪfaɪ/

“-wise” other /ˈʌðər/ otherwise /ˈʌðərwaɪz/

“-y” fun /fʌn/ funny /ˈfʌni/

(Roach, 1983)

Suffixes that influence stress in the stem

 Primary stress on the last syllable of the stem

“-eous” advantage /ədˈvæntɪdʒ/ advantageous /ˌædvənˈteɪdʒəs/

“-graphy” photo /ˈfoʊtoʊ/ photography /fəˈtɑːɡrəfi/

“-ial” proverb /ˈprɑːvɜːrb/ proverbial /prəˈvɜːrbiəl/

“-ic” climate /ˈklaɪmət/ climatic /klaɪˈmætɪk/

“-ion” perfect /ˈpɜːrfɪkt/ perfection /pərˈfekʃn/

“-ious” injure /ˈɪndʒər/ injurious /ɪnˈdʒʊrəriəs/

“-ty” tranquil /ˈtræŋkwɪl/ tranquility /træŋˈkwɪləti/

(Roach, 1983)

 The suffixes “-ance” and “-ary”

If single-syllable stems consist of these suffixes, the stress is always placed on the stem If the stem has two syllables and the final of stem contains a long vowel or diphthong or it ends with more than one consonant, that syllable

will be stressed In contrast, the syllable immediately before the last one is stressed

(Roach, 1983)

Prefixes do not regularly affect to the place where stress is on and are

unpredictable; they are different with suffixes Therefore, stress in words which have prefixes is the same rule as those words without prefixes

I.5.5.3.2 Compound words

A compound word is made up of at least two words, both of which can exist independently as English words The most common type of compound is the one which consists of two nouns, and the stress often put on the first noun For example:

Typewriter /ˈtʌɪprʌɪtə/

Suitcase /ˈsuːtkeɪs/

Car-ferry /kɑː/- /ˈfɛri/

(Roach, 1983)

I.5.5.4 Word-class pairs

Peter Roach (1983) presents that there are several dozen pairs of syllable words with identical spelling which differ from each other in stress placement, apparently according to word class (noun, verb or adjective) Stress often is placed on the second syllable of the verb but on the first syllable of the noun or adjective For example:

two-Abstract /ˈabstrakt/

Export /ɛkˈspɔːt/

Desert /dɪˈzəːt/

Conduct /ˈkɒndʌkt/

I.6 CONCEPTS OF SENTENCE TRESS

In spoken language, stress is placed on the words which carry important information; this is one of the ways that speakers deliver the main point to listeners Usually, whether a word is important or not is related to its status as newly introduced, or previously introduced, in a conversation The speaker will put stress on the word which is mentioned for the first time

The content words which are stressed include main verbs, nouns, adjective, adverbs and negative auxiliaries In contrast, structures words are unstressed including pronounce, prepositions, articles, conjunctions, auxiliary verbs Here is an example:

A: Could I borrow some white sugar?

B: Sorry, I only have brown sugar

(Kenworthy, 1987) However, there are some exceptions depend on the context For example:

- They’ve been to Mongolia, haven’t they?

- No, THEY haven’t, but WE have

I.7 HOW TO PRONOUNCE ENGLISH EFFECTIVELY

Effectiveness means producing or capable of producing an intended result or having a striking effect; it also is ability to accomplish a purpose or work well as a means or remedy

There are three criteria to assess pronunciation of English They include accuracy, correct intonation, and intelligibility

 Accuracy

Speakers must pronounce accurate 44 phonemes of English phonetic alphabet including vowels and consonants following International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) In addition, they need to pronounce correct word stress This

chart is based on General American English and Received Pronunciation - standard in the United Kingdom

 Correct intonation

Intonation is considered as essential criteria to assess speaking ability of speakers and English learners It is the raising and falling of speaker’s voice There are two types of intonation: the rising tune and the falling tune That pronouncing English effectively is that pronouncing with the correct intonation depending on each type of sentences In the following cases, the falling tune is supposed to be used:

(“/” means stressed syllable or words, “\” means unstressed)

 Statements

We live in \MOScow

She is ten years \OLD

 Special questions

Where do you \LIVE?

How much \IS it?

You \LIVE there, /DON’T you?

The rising tune is used in general questions, introductory phrases, in the first part of alternative questions, in the second part of tag questions, in direct address, in the enumerating items in a list, and in tag questions

Do you go there / OFTEN?