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.. encount[r]
(1)Lecture 5
Stress
• Definition
• Types of stress
• Nature of stress
• Placement of stress within words
• Simple words
• Derived words
• Compound words
(2)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:
(3)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 entertain
2. Sentence stress: is an extra force put on a particular word in a sentence Sentence stress is not fixed It
depends on the speaker’s feelings and attitudes and the message that he wants to get across to the
(4)The nature of stress
• We can study stress from the point of view of production and perception
1 From the production point of view, the production of
stress is generally believed to depend on the speaker’s using more muscular energy than for unstressed
syllables
2 From the perception point of view: all stressed syllables have one characteristic in common, and that is
(5)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
2. 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 economical anthropology nationality
(6)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
a Whether the word is morphologically simple or complex
(whether the word is a simple, derived or compound word)
a The grammatical category to which the word belongs b The number of syllables in the word
(7)Simple word stress
1. Two syllable words
a Verbs
b Adjectives c Nouns
d Adverbs and prepositions Three syllable words
a Verbs b Nouns
(8)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 protest
contain agree
(9)b If the second syllable contains a short vowel and ends with one or no consonant, the first syllable is stressed Examples:
enter worry
travel open
• More examples: menace, settle, marry, differ, equal, answer.
c The final syllable is also unstressed if it contains /@U/ Examples:
(10)Two-syllable Adjectives
• Two syllable adjectives are stressed according to the same rules as verbs Examples:
correct major
polite complete
heavy happy
(11)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 reason
office larynx
estate balloon
autumn affair
delight pocket
(12)Notes
• Other two-syllable words such as adverbs and prepositions seem to behave like verbs and
adjectives Examples:
beyond never
seldom behind
again very
before after
(13)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 determine
abandon remember
b If the final syllable contains a long vowel or a
diphthong, or ends with more than one consonant, the final syllable will be stressed
(14)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 disaster
cathedral 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
(15)quantity cinema
enemy alphabet
animal company
antonym character
c 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 exercise
architect marigold
(16)Three-syllable Adjectives
• Three-syllable adjectives seem to need the same rules as Nouns to produce stress pattern such as:
opportune insolent
possible derelict
important absolute
enormous similar
(17)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
(18)Stress in derived words
• The affixes will have one of three possible effects on the word stress
1 The affix itself receives primary stress
circle semi-circle
employ employee
person personality
Portugal Portugese
cigar cigarette
picture picturesque
(19)2 The word is stressed as if the affix were not there
comfort comfortable
marry marriage
refuse refusal
wide widen
wonder wonderful
amaze amazing
red reddish
power powerless
punish punishment
poison poisonous
(20)3 The stress remains on the stem, not the affix, but is shifted to a different syllable.
advantage advantageous
proverb proverbial
climate climatic
injure injurious
tranquil tranquility
photograph photographer
economy economical
(21)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
(22)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
(23)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 abstract
conduct conduct
contrast contrast
(24)24
escort escort
export export
import import
insult insult
object object
perfect perfect
permit permit
present present
produce produce
rebel rebel
record record
(25)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 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’
(26)• More importantly, speakers who are not familiar with the use of weak forms are likely to have difficulty
understanding speakers who 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
(27)• The strong form is used in the following cases: a 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
(28)• 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