Sentence stress
Sentence stress is the governing stress in connected speech. All words have their individual stress in isolation. When words are connected into sense groups (also called thought groups, i.e., logically connected groups of words), and sense groups are connected into sentences, content words keep their stress, and function words lose their stress. The most important words in the sentence receive stronger stress. The last stressed word in the sentence receives the strongest stress with the help of a fall or a rise.
ANN is READing a NEW BOOK.
WHAT BOOK is she READing?
Does she LIKE the /BOOK?
Note: In this material, capital letters indicate stressed syllables and stressed one-syllable words; the backslash indicates the falling tone; the forward slash indicates the rising tone. Sentence stress is indicated according to the American variant of pronunciation.
Stress in some words or word combinations may be shifted or weakened in a certain way to keep the rhythm of speech. For example: New YORK – NEW York CITy; in the afterNOON – AFternoon SLEEP.
Emphatic stress may be used in the sentence, usually to compare, correct, or clarify things. Emphatic stress singles out the word that the speaker considers the most important, and in this case even a function word may become stressed.
Tina gave the book to ANN.
I said that MAX gave the book to Ann.
HE gave her the book.
Sentence stress is not just a phonetic peculiarity of English. Sentence stress has a very important function of marking the words that are necessary for understanding an utterance. When native speakers of English listen to their conversation partners, they listen for stressed words, because stressed words provide important information. It is often difficult to understand the meaning of the sentence in which even one content word is missing. It is also difficult to understand the sentence in which an important word is not stressed or a function word is stressed.
Unstressed function words make sentences grammatically correct. They are not very important in terms of the information that they provide, and their meaning is usually understandable from their immediate surrounding in a sentence. Even if you don’t get some quickly pronounced function words, the meaning of the whole sentence will be clear to you.
For example, a message from your friend says, «Missed train back Sunday.» You will understand that it means «I missed my train. I will be back on Sunday», right? Only content words are written in the message, but the meaning is clear. In the same way you should listen for stressed content words in speech to understand the meaning of the whole utterance. And you should stress content words in your speech so that other people could understand you.
Sentence stress and rhythm
Sentence stress is the main means of providing rhythm in speech. Rhythm is the key to fluent English speech. Imagine a metronome beating the rhythm. The stressed syllables are like the beats of the metronome: regular, loud, and clear. The unstressed syllables between the beats are shortened, obscured, and joined together.
Look at this sentence:
Kevin sent a letter.
Let’s mark the stressed syllables:
KEVin SENT a LETter.
The pattern of stress in this sentence is stressed – unstressed – stressed – unstressed – stressed – unstressed, with equal number of alternating stressed and unstressed syllables. Try to pronounce this sentence rhythmically. It should be easy to do because the alternation of one stressed and one unstressed syllable is easy to reproduce. Be sure to make the stress in the stressed syllables strong – much stronger than normal Russian stress.
KEVin SENT a LETter.
Let’s make this sentence a little longer:
Kevin decided to send a letter to his relatives in the village.
Mark the stressed syllables and the fall:
KEVin deCIDed to SEND a LETter to his RELatives in the VILlage.
Now we have one, two, or several unstressed syllables in the intervals between the stressed syllables, but we have the same amount of time for each interval because the stressed syllables, like the beats of the metronome, have to occur regularly. And the sentence is not very long, so we won’t need noticeable pauses between the sense groups.
How do we fit all the unstressed syllables in the intervals between the stressed syllables without breaking the rhythm that we had in «Kevin sent a letter»? The rules of linking and reduction will help us to do it.
Linking and reduction
To preserve speech rhythm, the unstressed vowels in the sentence become shorter and less distinct. Completely unstressed vowels in the unstressed syllables become very short and are often pronounced as the neutral sound. In some cases, the neutral sound may be dropped, for example, can [kən], [kn], BAKery [‘beikəri], [‘beikri]. By the way, the neutral sound [ə] is the most common vowel sound of English, and it deserves your special attention.
The final consonant sound of a word is usually linked to the initial consonant sound of the next word without any pause between them. For easier linking, pronunciation of adjoining consonants may be changed in a certain way. For example, the sounds [s], [z], [θ], [ð], [t], [d] may lose part of their articulation at the juncture (e.g., what’s this; need three); the sounds [t], [d] usually blend into one sound at the juncture (e.g., hot day; need time), or the first [t] or [d] in the pair may be dropped (e.g., just drive; must do it).
The sound [h] in the unstressed words «his, him, her» may disappear to provide smooth linking of adjoining words.
The unstressed syllables become a stream of sounds jammed together. They are lower in pitch and much less distinct than the stressed syllables.
Sentence stress and intonation
Sentence stress is the key component of English intonation. Intonation organizes words into sentences, distinguishes different types of sentences, and adds emotional coloring to utterances. English intonation is quite difficult for Russian students. Developing the ability to hear, understand, and reproduce sentence stress in speech is the main prerequisite to mastering English intonation.
Let’s sum up the functions of sentence stress:
Sentence stress organizes separate words into sentences by making content words stressed and function words unstressed.
Sentence stress makes the utterance understandable to the listener by making the important words in the sentence stressed, clear, and higher in pitch and by shortening and obscuring the unstressed words.
Sentence stress organizes the words in the sentence rhythmically, making the stressed syllables occur at regular intervals and jamming together the unstressed syllables between the stressed syllables.
Sentence stress organizes the words in the sentence into sense groups by joining the unstressed syllables to the main stressed syllable in the group and marking the end of the sense group with a slight pause if necessary.
If necessary, sentence stress singles out the most important word in the sentence by giving it emphatic stress.
Sentence stress marks the end of the sentence by giving the strongest stress to the last stressed syllable with the help of a fall or a rise.
How to study stress and rhythm
It’s not possible, of course, to learn sentence stress and rhythm just by talking about them. Listening and repeating should become an important part of your work on pronunciation. Always try to choose textbooks that have corresponding listening materials – conversations, dialogues, monologues, poems, short stories, etc.
It is necessary to use a lot of additional listening materials to make your pronunciation stable. When you practice repeating sentences after the recorded speaker, mark falling and rising tones, sense groups, pauses, stressed and unstressed words, full and reduced vowels. (See examples in listening materials in the subsection Listening for Intonation in the section Phonetics.)
Beginning students usually find it useful to practice stress and rhythm with the help of those audio materials in which speech is not too fast and sentence stress is very clear, for example, short rhythmical poems, nursery rhymes, children’s songs, folk songs. (Information about poems and songs for children is provided in Nursery Rhymes Foreword and Songs for Children Foreword in the section Kids.)
Modern English songs are also a useful means for learning English stress and rhythm. At the beginning, it is better to practice singing (or saying loudly) the lyrics of those songs in which pronunciation, stress, and rhythm are very clear. (Some advice on how to study English songs can be found in Hobby in the section Hobby.)
You will be surprised how quickly your pronunciation will improve with the help of various audio materials if you practice repeating them regularly, loudly, with the stress, rhythm and intonation that you hear in the audio recordings.
Ударение в предложении и ритм
Ударение в предложении
Ударение в предложении – главное ударение в связной речи. Все слова по отдельности имеют свое индивидуальное ударение. Когда слова соединяются в смысловые группы (называемые sense groups или thought groups, т.е. логически связанные группы слов), а смысловые группы соединяются в предложения, значимые слова сохраняют свое ударение, а служебные слова теряют ударение. Самые важные слова в предложении получают более сильное ударение. Последний ударный слог в предложении получает самое сильное ударение с помощью понижения или повышения.
Анна читает новую книгу.
Какую книгу она читает?
Нравится ли ей эта книга?
Примечание: В этом материале, заглавные буквы указывают ударные слоги и ударные односложные слова; обратный слеш указывает тон понижения; прямой слеш указывает тон повышения. Ударение в предложении указано согласно американскому варианту произношения.
Ударение в некоторых словах или словосочетаниях может смещаться или ослабляться определённым образом, чтобы сохранить ритм речи. Например: New YORK – NEW York CITy; in the afterNOON – AFternoon SLEEP.
Эмфатическое ударение может применяться в предложении, обычно чтобы сравнить, исправить или прояснить что-то. Эмфатическое ударение выделяет слово, которое говорящий считает самым важным, и в этом случае даже служебное слово может стать ударным.
Тина дала книгу Анне.
Я сказал, что МАКС дал книгу Анне.
ОН дал ей книгу.
Ударение в предложении – это не просто фонетическая особенность английского языка. Оно имеет очень важную функцию выделения слов, которые нужны для понимания высказывания. Когда носители английского языка слушают своих собеседников, они ожидают услышать ударные слова, потому что ударные слова дают важную информацию. Часто бывает трудно понять значение предложения, в котором хотя бы одно значимое слово отсутствует. Также трудно понять предложение, в котором важное слово не ударное или служебное слово ударное.
Неударные служебные слова делают предложения грамматически правильными. Они не очень важны в смысле информации, которую они обеспечивают, и их значение обычно понятно по их ближайшему окружению в предложении. Даже если вы не уловите некоторые быстро проговариваемые служебных слов, значение всего предложения будет вам понятно.
Например, в сообщении от вашего друга говорится: «Пропустил поезд назад воскресенье». Вы поймете, что это значит «Я пропустил мой поезд. Я вернусь назад в воскресенье», правильно? Только значимые слова написаны в этом сообщении, но смысл понятен. Таким же образом вы должны вслушиваться в ударные значимые слова в речи, чтобы понять значение всего высказывания. И вы должны делать ударными значимые слова в своей речи, чтобы другие люди могли понять вас.
Ударение в предложении и ритм
Ударение в предложении – это главное средство обеспечения ритма в речи. Ритм это ключ к свободной английской речи. Представьте себе метроном, отбивающий ритм. Ударные слоги как удары метронома: регулярные, громкие и ясные. Неударные слоги между ударами укорачиваются, делаются неотчётливыми и соединяются вместе.
Посмотрите на это предложение:
Кевин послал письмо.
Давайте разметим ударные слоги:
KEVin SENT a LETtеr.
Модель ударения в этом предложении: ударный – неударный – ударный – неударный – ударный – неударный, с равным числом чередующихся ударных и неударных слогов. Постарайтесь сказать это предложение ритмично. Это должно быть легко сделать, т.к. чередование одного ударного и одного безударного слога легко воспроизвести. Обязательно сделайте ударение в ударных слогах сильным – гораздо сильнее, чем нормальное русское ударение.
KEVin SENT a LETtеr.
Сделаем это предложение немного длиннее:
Кевин решил послать письмо своим родственникам в деревне.
Разметьте ударные слоги и понижение:
KEVin deCIDed to SEND a LETtеr to his RELatives in the VILlage.
Теперь у нас один, два или несколько неударных слогов в интервалах между ударными слогами, но мы имеем то же самое количество времени для каждого интервала, потому что ударные слоги, как удары метронома, должны возникать регулярно. А предложение не слишком длинное, поэтому нам не понадобятся заметные паузы между смысловыми группами.
Как нам разместить все неударные слоги в интервалах между ударными слогами без нарушения ритма, который у нас был в «Kevin sent a letter»? Правила соединения и редукции помогут нам сделать это.
Соединение и редукция
Чтобы сохранить речевой ритм, неударные гласные в предложении становятся короче и менее отчётливыми. Полностью безударные гласные в неударных слогах становятся очень короткими и часто произносятся как нейтральный звук. В некоторых случаях нейтральный звук может выпадать, например, can [kən], [kn], BAKery [‘beikəri], [‘beikri]. Кстати, нейтральный звук [ə] – самый распространённый гласный звук английского языка, и он заслуживает вашего особого внимания.
Конечный согласный звук слова обычно соединяется с начальным согласным звуком следующего слова без какой-либо паузы между ними. Для более лёгкого соединения, произношение соседних согласных может изменяться определённым образом. Например, звуки [s], [z], [θ], [ð], [t], [d] могут потерять часть своей артикуляции на стыке (например, what’s this; need three); звуки [t], [d] обычно сливаются в один звук на стыке (например, hot day; need time), или первый [t] или [d] в паре может выпасть (например, just drive; must do it).
Звук [h] в неударных словах «his, him, her» может исчезнуть, чтобы обеспечить гладкое соединение соседних слов.
Неударные слоги становятся потоком звуков, сжатых вместе. Они ниже по тону и гораздо менее отчётливые, чем ударные слоги.
Ударение в предложении и интонация
Ударение в предложении – это ключевой компонент английской интонации. Интонация организует слова в предложения, различает разные типы предложений и добавляет эмоциональную окраску в высказывания. Английская интонация весьма трудна для русских студентов. Развитие способности слышать, понимать и воспроизводить ударение в предложении – главное необходимое условие для освоения английской интонации.
Давайте суммируем функции ударения в предложении:
Ударение в предложении организует отдельные слова в предложения, делая значимые слова ударными, в служебные слова неударными.
Ударение в предложении делает высказывание понятным слушателю, делая важные слова ударными, отчётливыми и выше по тону и укорачивая и делая неотчётливыми неударные слоги.
Ударение в предложении организует слова в предложении ритмически, заставляя ударные слоги возникать через регулярные интервалы и сжимая вместе неударные слоги между ударными слогами.
Ударение в предложении организует слова в смысловые группы путем присоединения неударных слогов к основному ударному слогу в группе и обозначая конец смысловой группы небольшой паузой, если требуется.
Если необходимо, ударение в предложении выделяет наиболее важное слово, давая ему эмфатическое ударение.
Ударение в предложении отмечает конец предложения, делая самое сильное ударение на последнем ударном слоге с помощью понижения или повышения.
Как изучать ударение и ритм
Конечно, невозможно изучить ударение и ритм одними разговорами о них. Прослушивание и повторение должны стать важной частью вашей работы над произношением. Старайтесь всегда выбирать учебники, имеющие сопроводительные материалы для прослушивания – разговоры, диалоги, монологи, стихотворения, короткие рассказы и т.д.
Необходимо использовать много материалов для прослушивания, чтобы сделать ваше произношение стабильным. Когда вы повторяете предложения за диктором на записи, отмечайте тоны понижения и повышения, смысловые группы, паузы, ударные и неударные слова, полные и редуцированные гласные. (См. примеры в материалах для прослушивания в подразделе Listening for Intonation в разделе Phonetics.)
Начинающие студенты обычно находят полезными упражнения по ударению и ритму с помощью тех аудиоматериалов, в которых речь не очень быстрая, а ударения очень отчётливые, например, короткие ритмичные стихотворения, детские стихи, детские песни, народные песни. (Информация о стихах и песнях для детей дана в статьях Nursery Rhymes Foreword и Songs for Children Foreword в разделе Kids.)
Современные английские песни – тоже полезное средство для изучения английского ударения и ритма. Сначала лучше тренироваться петь (или громко проговаривать) слова тех песен, в которых произношение, ударение и ритм очень отчётливые. (Некоторые советы, как изучать английские песни, можно найти в статье Hobby в разделе Hobby.)
Вас удивит, как быстро ваше произношение улучшится с помощью различных аудиоматериалов, если вы будете тренироваться повторять их регулярно, громко, с ударением, ритмом и интонацией, которые вы слышите в аудиозаписях.
Sentence
stress
Sentence
stress is the governing stress in connected speech. All words have
their individual stress in isolation. When words are connected into
sense groups (also called thought groups, i.e., logically connected
groups of words), and sense groups are connected into sentences,
content words keep their stress, and function words lose their
stress. The most important words in the sentence receive stronger
stress. The last stressed word in the sentence receives the strongest
stress with the help of a fall or a rise.
ANN
is READing a NEW BOOK.
WHAT
BOOK is she READing?
Does
she LIKE the /BOOK?
Note:
In this material, capital letters show stressed syllables and
stressed one-syllable words; the backslash shows the falling tone;
the forward slash shows the rising tone. Sentence stress is indicated
according to the American variant of pronunciation.
Stress
in some words or word combinations may be shifted or weakened in a
certain way to keep the rhythm of speech. For example: New YORK –
NEW York CITy; in the afterNOON – AFternoon SLEEP.
Emphatic
stress may be used in the sentence, usually to compare, correct, or
clarify things. Emphatic stress singles out the word that the speaker
considers the most important, and in this case even a function word
may become stressed.
Tina
gave the book to ANN.
I
said that MAX gave the book to Ann.
HE
gave her the book.
Sentence
stress is not just a phonetic peculiarity of English. Sentence stress
has a very important function of marking the words that are necessary
for understanding an utterance. When native speakers of English
listen to their conversation partners, they listen for stressed
words, because stressed words provide important information. It is
often difficult to understand the meaning of the sentence in which
even one content word is missing. It is also difficult to understand
the sentence in which an important word is not stressed or a function
word is stressed.
Unstressed
function words make sentences grammatically correct. They are not
very important in terms of the information that they provide, and
their meaning is usually understandable from their immediate
surrounding in a sentence. Even if you don’t get some quickly
pronounced function words, the meaning of the whole sentence will be
clear to you.
For
example, a message from your friend says, «Missed train back
Sunday.» You will understand that it means «I missed my
train. I will be back on Sunday», right? Only content words are
written in the message, but the meaning is clear. In the same way you
should listen for stressed content words in speech to understand the
meaning of the whole utterance. And you should stress content words
in your speech so that other people could understand you.
Sentence
stress and rhythm
Sentence
stress is the main means of providing rhythm in speech. Rhythm is the
key to fluent English speech. Imagine a metronome beating the rhythm.
The stressed syllables are like the beats of the metronome: regular,
loud, and clear. The unstressed syllables between the beats are
shortened, obscured, and joined together.
Look
at this sentence:
Kevin
sent a letter.
Let’s
mark the stressed syllables:
KEVin
SENT a LETter.
The
pattern of stress in this sentence is stressed – unstressed –
stressed – unstressed – stressed – unstressed, with equal
number of alternating stressed and unstressed syllables. Try to
pronounce this sentence rhythmically. It should be easy to do because
the alternation of one stressed and one unstressed syllable is easy
to reproduce. Be sure to make the stress in the stressed syllables
strong – much stronger than normal Russian stress.
KEVin
SENT a LETter.
Let’s
make this sentence a little longer:
Kevin
decided to send a letter to his relatives in the village.
Mark
the stressed syllables and the fall:
KEVin
deCIDed to SEND a LETter to his RELatives in the VILlage.
Now
we have one, two, or several unstressed syllables in the intervals
between the stressed syllables, but we have the same amount of time
for each interval because the stressed syllables, like the beats of
the metronome, have to occur regularly. And the sentence is not very
long, so we won’t need noticeable pauses between the sense groups.
How
do we fit all the unstressed syllables in the intervals between the
stressed syllables without breaking the rhythm that we had in «Kevin
sent a letter»? The rules of linking and reduction will help us
to do it.
Linking
and reduction
To
preserve speech rhythm, all unstressed vowels in the sentence become
shorter and less distinct. Completely unstressed vowels in unstressed
syllables become very short and are often pronounced as the neutral
sound. In some cases, the neutral sound may be dropped, for example,
can [kən], [kn], BAKery [‘beikəri], [‘beikri]. By the way, the
neutral sound [ə] is the most common vowel sound of English, and it
deserves your special attention.
The
final consonant sound of one word is usually linked to the initial
consonant sound of the next word without any pause between them. For
easier linking, pronunciation of adjoining consonants may be changed
in a certain way. For example, the sounds [s], [z], [θ],
[ð], [t], [d] may lose part of their articulation at the juncture
(e.g., what’s this; need three); the sounds [t], [d] usually blend
into one sound at the juncture (e.g., hot day; need time), or the
first [t] or [d] in the pair may be dropped (e.g., just drive; must
do it).
The
sound [h] in the unstressed words «his, him, her» may
disappear to provide smooth linking of adjoining words.
The
unstressed syllables become a stream of sounds jammed together. They
are lower in pitch and much less distinct than the stressed
syllables.
Sentence
stress and intonation
Sentence
stress is the key component of English intonation. Intonation
organizes words into sentences, distinguishes different types of
sentences, and adds emotional coloring to utterances. English
intonation is quite difficult for Russian students. Developing the
ability to hear, understand, and reproduce sentence stress in speech
is the main prerequisite to mastering English intonation. Let’s sum
up the functions of sentence stress.
Sentence
stress organizes separate words into sentences by making content
words stressed and function words unstressed.
Sentence
stress makes the utterance understandable to the listener by making
the important words in the sentence stressed, clear, and higher in
pitch and by shortening and obscuring the unstressed words.
Sentence
stress organizes the words in the sentence rhythmically, making the
stressed syllables occur at regular intervals and jamming together
the unstressed syllables between the stressed syllables.
Sentence
stress organizes the words in the sentence into sense groups by
joining the unstressed syllables to the main stressed syllable in the
group and marking the end of the sense group with a slight pause if
necessary.
If
necessary, sentence stress singles out the most important word in the
sentence by giving it emphatic stress.
Sentence
stress marks the end of the sentence by giving the strongest stress
to the last stressed syllable with the help of a fall or a rise.
It’s
not possible, of course, to learn sentence stress and rhythm just by
talking about them. Listening and repeating should become an
important part of your work on pronunciation. Always try to choose
textbooks that have corresponding listening materials. When you
practice repeating sentences after the recorded speaker, always mark
sentence stress, sense groups, stressed and unstressed words, full
and reduced vowels.
Beginning
students usually find it useful to practice stress and rhythm working
with those audio materials in which speech is not too fast and
sentence stress is very clear, for example, children’s songs and
nursery rhymes, short rhythmical poems, folk songs.
The
songs for listening in the section Hobby are also a useful means for
learning English stress and rhythm. First listen to the songs in
which pronunciation, stress, and rhythm are very clear, for example,
Queen — The Show Must Go On or David Coverdale and Whitesnake — Don’t
Fade Away. Then repeat the lyrics of these songs with the stress and
rhythm that you hear in the song. You’ll be surprised how quickly
your pronunciation will improve with the help of the songs if you
practice singing or saying the words loudly together with the singer.
Соседние файлы в предмете [НЕСОРТИРОВАННОЕ]
- #
- #
- #
- #
- #
- #
- #
- #
- #
- #
- #
Rhythm, intonation, and stress in English are the three factors in acquiring or in becoming a good English speaker. If you are able to master the speed of how you speak, the intensity of how you speak, and the flow of how you speak, then you are ready to conquer the English word.
So, let’s dive into the worlds of rhythm, intonation, and stress in English and thank us later because it helped you in your speaking skill of the English language. Shall we begin? Alright.
Intonation
Intonation is the ‘music’ of the language. It speaks about the pitch, pattern, or melody of the words in a given sentence. Intonation enables us to know the underlying meaning of the sentence because of its varying pitch. It also shows different emotions like surprise, confusion, and etc.
To fully understood what we meant, here are the different types of intonation.
Types of Intonation
Falling intonation
A falling intonation describes how the voice falls on the last syllable of the last word. This intonation is usually used in –wh questions- what, where, when, why, and how.
Examples:
Why are you not busy today?
How are you going to pass all of those papers on time?
In addition, we also use falling intonation if we want to emphasize things or we want to be definite or clear with our words or intentions.
Examples:
I think we locked the door properly.
We are certain about this project proposal of ours.
Rising Intonation
The rising intonations can be placed at the end or at the last syllable of the word in a sentence. Yes- no questions use rising intonation.
Examples:
Are you sure about that?
Is this dress looks pretty on me?
Fall-rise Intonation
Fall-rise intonation is the combination of the two prior intonations- falling and rising intonations. The fall-rise intonation how the speaker’s voice falls and then rises at the same time in the same sentence. We use fall-rise if we are indefinite or not sure with our words or ideas presented.
Examples:
I don’t like the idea of marriage right now.
He thinks it would be okay to start planning next week.
We also utilize fall-rise intonation if we are doing questions that intend to ask permission, request, or an invitation to someone. Fall-rise intonation sounds politer than using falling intonation or rising intonation.
Examples:
Would like another glass of wine?
Do you want to join me for dinner? It will be fun.
Stress
In phonology, stress means you give emphasis on the specific syllable of the word.
Stress in English is an important variable in sentence making or speaking. At the sentence level, wrong stress placement can change the whole meaning of the sentence and that’s something we should be very careful with. Thus, we will grasp the idea of how stress is being placed in a certain word.
Stress in English placement rules
One word, one syllable
No matter how long or short the word is, there will always be only one stress. Some words have secondary stress. However, the emphasis in the secondary stress is way milder compared to the primary stress. Thus, the secondary stress seems it does not exist.
No stress on consonant sounds
It is important that you know how to place your stress in a word. So, this rule is a vital rule to follow to jive with the tune of the English language. These are stress placements for consonant sounds:
Disyllabic noun or adjective placement
This where you put the stress at the first syllable of the word.
Example:
Noun- PREsent, ABsent, JEAlous
Adjective- PREtty, Adorable, CLEver
Disyllabic verb
Disyllabic stress is a stress that can be found in the last syllable of the word. Usually, this stress implies to words that connote action.
Example:
preSENT, abSENT, aMAZEd
Penultimate syllable
The stress can be located at the second syllable from the end of the word.
Example:
GRAPHic, beauTIful, charisMAtic,
Ante-penultimate syllable
The ante-penultimate syllable focuses its stress on the third syllable word from the end.
Example:
deMOcracy, dependaBIlity, phoTOgraphy
Compound word syllable
A compound word syllable stress varies depending on what type of word it is. For compound nouns and adjective, the stress is on the first syllable. While for verbs, it is on the second or last syllable of the word.
Examples:
BIRDbox, overFLOW, high-FAshioned
Rhythm
Rhythm is one of the elements of speech that talks about motions. It describes the movements- speech and cadence of the words used in a sentence. Just like intonation and stress, rhythm is an important factor in expressing effective sentence making or speech delivering. However, we need to know the underlying factors that affect rhythm.
We should be aware that rhythm has two elements that are vital in mastering it. Syllables and stress in English are the two elements of rhythm. These two elements are the factors of rhythm that affect in delivering the speech.
Elements of Rhythm
Stress
Stress in English affects the rhythm of the words in a sentence. If you will place the wrong stress in one of the words in the sentence, the whole meaning of the sentence will be changed and the rhythm as well will be changed.
Example:
Incorrect: She is preSENT in the program. (The way you read the sentence is fast.)
Correct: She is PREsent in the program. (The way you read the sentence is slow.)
Take note, the moment we change the stress of the word “present” the definition changes and the rhythm changes as well.
Syllables
The number of syllables in a sentence affects the rhythm of the sentence. Each syllable has an equivalent meter per sentence. If the sentence has 10 syllables then the rhythm is slow and if it has 4 syllables then it is slower.
Examples:
An amazing teacher has a lot of patience to teach. – The sentence has 14 syllables and the rhythm is slow but longer.
The dog runs at the back.- The sentence has 6 syllables and the rhythm is fast.
We hope you have learned what are rhythm, intonation, and speech in English and what are their individual roles in the English language.
For more interesting topics: you may read: Asking questions: Types and Tips on How to Ask
Vowels and Consonants of the Alphabet
Presentation on theme: «Rhythm Word Stress Sentence Stress Rhythm and Its Features»— Presentation transcript:
1
Rhythm Word Stress Sentence Stress Rhythm and Its Features
I. Kinds of stress II.Stress Placement III.Stress Influence Meaning of words Word Stress Sense stress Logical stress Emotional Stress Sentence Stress I. Rhythm Rhythm Group and its Division Features of English Rhythm Rhythm and Its Features Sense-groups and Pausing Sense-groups and Their Divisions Pausing
2
Stress may be defined as the degree of force or loudness with which
I. Word Stress Definition of stress : Stress may be defined as the degree of force or loudness with which a sound or syllable is articulated. Stress can be classified as word stress and sentence stress. 2.Classification of English words in phonetics : In phonetics , English words can be divided into three groups according to the number of syllables contained , they are : 1) monosyllables, 2) disyllables, 3) polysyllables. 3.Word stress: In every English word of two or more syllables at least one syllable should be articulated with more force or loudness than the rest, we call this phenomenon word stress.
3
4. Types of Word Stress : It is possible to distinguish many levels of stress, but from the practical point of view, it is sufficient to distinguish three principal kinds: (1) Primary stress —-heavily stressed , usu. Marked with a vertical stroke on the upper left hand corner of a syllable carrying the stress. (2) Secondary stress —-stressed but subordinate to the primary stress , usu. marked with a vertical stroke on the lower left hand corner of a syllable concerned, as in |contri|bution. (3) Double stress /even stress—-Certain English words have double stress or even stress. Double stress can be marked by a high vertical stroke before each of the stressed syllables, as in |fif|teen, |Ber|lin.
4
Some rules to observe in stress placement：
A): General rules of stress placement for simple words : 1) For most English words of two syllables the stress usu. Falls on the first syllable. common, nation, open, study , sorry 2) For words of three or more syllables the stress usually falls on the third syllable from the end . universe, article, relative, democracy, economy B): Compounds: 1) most compounds (esp. Nouns) bear primary stress on the first element. sports-ground, bathroom; language teacher 2) Some compounds have double stress: paper tiger, leather shoes, cotton cloth, boiling water; 3) A very few compounds bear primary stress on the second element: With-out, mankind, whatever, myself, forever. .
5
C):Rules for Derivatives:
1) For words of two or three syllables with one of the following prefixes, the stress usu. falls on the second syllable . arise , awake , asleep, beside, before, believe; complain, compress, complete; Consist, consult, connect; detect, destroy, decide; Embrace, embody, employ ; display, discover, discuss; Enlarge, enforce, enclose; escape, establish , esteen; Exclaim, excite, exclude; imply, imprison, impress; Incline, include, inform; mistake misfortune, miscarriage; Observe, obstruct obtain; per-, pre-, pro- sub-trans-
6
2) For words with one of the following suffixes the stress usually falls on the
preceding syllable of the suffix. –eous , -graphy, ial, ,ian, ic ics, -ience, -ient, ify, ion, ious, ity, ive: Courteous, biography, editorial, historian systematic phonetics, experience, sufficient, identity, perfection, ambition , curiosity, protective. Words with the following suffixes do not change their stress placement . -able, reasonable, marriage, proposal, forgetful, machinery, brotherhood, deepen , childish, childhood, doubtless, confinement, bitterness, vigorous glorify, clockwise , jealousy. 4) Some suffixes attract the primary stress onto themselves . In such cases there is usually a secondary stress on the first syllable if the stem word consists of more than one syllable. payee, employee, journalese, cigarette, picturesque.
7
5. Stress influence on meaning of words:
A: There are some pairs of two-syllable words which are identical in spelling but differ from each other in stress placement, apparently according to word class . If it is an adjective,or noun, the stress falls on the first syllable; if it is a verb,stress falls on the second syllable. Some pairs possess the same or approximately the same meaning, but some pairs are semantically quite different. absent, present, import, increase, decrease, conduct, contract, object, progress, rebel, record. B: there are also several pairs of phrases, one of which is a single-stress compound, the other is formed by an adjective and a noun with two normal stresses or one falling on the second element. The meaning of such a pair is quite different. |greenhouse, green ︱house, |blackbird, black|bird, darkroom, leatherjacket, old girls, bluebottle, ginger bread.
8
The stress in a sentence is called sentence stress.
II.Sentence stress Sentence stress The stress in a sentence is called sentence stress. 2. The types of sentence stress: Sentence stress can be classified into three types : sense stress, logical stress and emotional stress. 1) Sense stress It is very common phenomenon in connected speech . In normal speech we put stress on content words not form words. 2) Logical stress Its distribution is subject to the speaker’s will. The speaker puts stress on any word he wishes to emphasize. So a word logically stressed may stand at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of a sentence and it usually implies some idea of contrast. E.g.
9
«We heard Mary singing upstairs. ( Not they heard .)
Sometimes the idea of contrast is clearly pointed out . E.g. I bought it for `you , not for `him . `They can’t do it, but `we can . 3) Emotional Stress It is a special kind of stress. In spoken English when the speaker wants to show strong emotion , he can put strong stress on the word he wishes to emphasize. But it doesn’t imply any idea of contrast . The high –falling tone should be used in speaking or reading aloud such stressed word. E.g. It’s « wonderful ! We suc«ceeded.
10
2. Rhythm group and its division 1) Rhythm group
III. Rhythm and its Features Rhythm 1) It is the internal law of English language. It is the regular occurrence of phonetics in a given time. 2) Rhythm in English speech is based on stress. It is, in brief, the pattern of regular arrangement and alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables. 2. Rhythm group and its division 1) Rhythm group The smallest unit of English rhythm is the rhythm group,which is called a foot in English poetry. The rhythm group is made up of only one stressed syllable plus what unstressed syllable(s) that may follow. 2) Silent beat Any unstressed syllables that precede the first rhythm group may be regarded as silent beat. |John and his / |brother / | went into the / `room/. |Would you / |mind / |calling back /`later/? It’s /|not /|quite what I / `wanted /.
11
3. Features of English Rhythm
English rhythm has two prominent features: 1) The basic tendency of English rhythm is that the stressed syllable follow each other at roughly equal interval of time. The correct English rhythm is natural and wave –like . English is a stress –timed language,which implies that stressed syllables tend to occur at a fairly regular intervals of time, i.e., the period of time from each stressed syllable to the next is approximately the same, irrespective of the number of intervening unstressed syllables. | Pat is / |staying at the / |cheap ho/ `tel /. | Have you any / |silk of this / |colour and / «pattern/ This feature of English rhythm has great influence upon the speed of utterance and the length of sounds, especially the vowels.
12
I/ |think he / |wants to /`go/ .
The |Daniel |Jones Pro |nouncing |Dictionary | lists |most |versions of |modern |English pronunci `ation. It would have been/ |better not to have / |paid for it be / |fore you had re/ `ceived it. 2) The other characteristic of English rhythm is the alternation of the stressed and unstressed syllables. In actual speech , stressed syllables are not always evenly separated by unstressed ones. In order to maintain an evenness of the beat throughout the utterance,it is necessary for us to regulate the distribution of stresses, thus we can attain smooth rhythm in speaking or reading aloud.
13
We generally regulate the distribution of stresses by the following two ways:
By dropping some stresses alternately. If stressed syllables succeed one another in connected speech, we usually drop some stresses. e.g. The |big brown |bear ate |ten white `mice. 2.By shifting the placement of word stress Words with two stresses ( including compound words ) may lose the first when Closely preceded by another stressed syllable or they may lose the second when closely followed by another stressed syllable. e.g. |John can |speak Chi`nese. The |Chinese |people are |hard |working `people . tonetic-stress mark
14
The professor in the office| is a linguist.
VI. Sense –group and pausing Sense-groups Sense-groups are groups of words which are closely connected in meaning and grammar. e.g He is a professor . The professor in the office| is a linguist. The professor in the office |is a linguist |from America. Sense-groups’ implications Sense-groups are the minimum grammatical-semantic units which bear the following implications: 1) A sense-group is an information unit.,which can show a relatively complete sense. e.g. The Japanese |for some reason or other| drive on the left| like the Westerners. 2) A sense-group is a grammatical unit. It may be a complete sentence or a clause or a phrase or even a single word. e.g We study English. When he 7comes, I’ll tell him about it. As a rule,I get up at six every day.
15
7Finally, I wish to thank all who cooperated in this important object.
3) A sense –group is a prosodic unit: a. Each sense-group is a tone-group in intonation, and it indicates a particular tone pattern. b. Each sense-group at least consists of one rhythm group, and it shows a particular rhythm pattern. 4) A sense-group is a breath-group or part of a breath-group—- a group of words uttered conveniently in a single breath.
16
The division of sense group :
The divisions of sense –groups are affected by lots of factors , so different people may divide the same sentence into different sense-groups. But some divisions are indispensable to clarity. The following sentence can be divided into two or three sense-groups according to the speaker’s needs: I’ll come and sit by the fire and get warm |,and then I shall feel comfortable. I’ll come and sit by the fire |and get warm|,and then I shall feel comfortable. 4.The factors that influence the division of sense-group: When we divide sense-groups ,grammatical structure is usually take into consideration. Punctuation marks are often the important basis for us to divide such groups. In speaking or reading aloud, the limit of such a group is shown by a pause. But sometimes stress and rhythm can be decisive factors in dividing such groups. E.g.
17
What are you doing, John? (vocative )
It’s going to rain, I’m afraid. ( Parenthesis ) ( For lack of sentence stress, they can not form a rhythm-group either. Naturally, it is impossible to have a pause before them.) 4. Pausing 1)Pause: A pause may be defined as a break, a stop, or a rest. In spoken English, this is precisely what a speaker does when he or she divides a sentence into two or more parts depending on the length of the sentence. 2)Purpose: Pauses are frequently made mainly for the purpose of clarity, emphasis or just taking breath.
18
3) Types of pauses: The pause in speech is by no means of random occurrence: together with the tone-group, it tends to divide up the stream of speech into grammatically and lexically relevant sections. Pauses may be made between sense-groups. When one group is closely connected grammatically to the next, there is a slight pause; and when two groups are not so closely connected, there is a longer pause. A slight pause is usually marked by a single vertical line ( | ); a longer pause is marked by double vertical lines (||).
19
4) The factors that influence the pauses:
Pauses vary in frequency and length in response to the variations of the following factors; style of writing, rate of speech, emotion and personal habits, etc. Speech is more flexible than writing in allowing us to introduce a “space “ to suit speaker’s or hearer’s needs, but the speaker must handle pauses with skill. The following are some suggestions to help you have some idea about when and how to pause: (1)Do not take a pause between the following elements: 1) adj. and the n. 2) art. and n. 3). Aux.verb and main verb 4) prep. and its object 5) adv. and verb, or adj. or adv. ( definitely going, really good, very quickly ) 6) subject,verb, and object
20
(2) Location and length of pauses
Location of pauses Length of pauses Between two sense-groups (without any punctuation marks ) Half a beat Between two sense-groups( with a comma or a dash ) One beat Between two sense-groups (with a colon or a semi-colon ) Two beats Between two sentences( with a full stop ) Three beats Between two paragraphs Four beats
Stress and RhythmEnglish Grammar IndexStress and Rhythm : Rhythm is the word for the way stressed and unstressed syllables make patterns in speech. In sentences, we usually give more stress to nouns, ordinary verbs, adjectives and adverbs, and less stress-to pronouns, determiners, prepositions, conjunctions and auxiliary verbs. She was SURE that the BACK of the CAR had been DAMAged. Many linguists feel that the rhythm of spoken English is based on a regular pattern of stressed syllables. These follow each other at roughly regular intervals, and are pronounced more quickly and less clearly, and are fitted in between the regular stressed syllables. If several unstressed syllables come together, these are pronounced even more quickly so as not to disturb the rhythm. Compare the following two sentences. The second does not take much longer to say first although it has three more unstressed syllables, it has the same number of stressed syllables. She KNEW the DOCTor. She KNEW that there was a DOCTor. Note, however, that this is a very complicated question, and not all experts agree about the way English rhythm works.
English Grammar TestsEnglish Grammar Index From Stress and Rhythm to HOME PAGE |