What is the main stress in a word

For other uses, see Stress.

Primary stress
ˈ◌
IPA Number	501
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ˈ
Unicode (hex)	U+02C8

Secondary stress
ˌ◌
IPA Number	502
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	​ˌ
Unicode (hex)	U+02CC

In linguistics, and particularly phonology, stress or accent is the relative emphasis or prominence given to a certain syllable in a word or to a certain word in a phrase or sentence. That emphasis is typically caused by such properties as increased loudness and vowel length, full articulation of the vowel, and changes in tone.^[1][2] The terms stress and accent are often used synonymously in that context but are sometimes distinguished. For example, when emphasis is produced through pitch alone, it is called pitch accent, and when produced through length alone, it is called quantitative accent.^[3] When caused by a combination of various intensified properties, it is called stress accent or dynamic accent; English uses what is called variable stress accent.

Since stress can be realised through a wide range of phonetic properties, such as loudness, vowel length, and pitch (which are also used for other linguistic functions), it is difficult to define stress solely phonetically.

The stress placed on syllables within words is called word stress. Some languages have fixed stress, meaning that the stress on virtually any multisyllable word falls on a particular syllable, such as the penultimate (e.g. Polish) or the first (e.g. Finnish). Other languages, like English and Russian, have lexical stress, where the position of stress in a word is not predictable in that way but lexically encoded. Sometimes more than one level of stress, such as primary stress and secondary stress, may be identified.

Stress is not necessarily a feature of all languages: some, such as French and Mandarin, are sometimes analyzed as lacking lexical stress entirely.

The stress placed on words within sentences is called sentence stress or prosodic stress. That is one of the three components of prosody, along with rhythm and intonation. It includes phrasal stress (the default emphasis of certain words within phrases or clauses), and contrastive stress (used to highlight an item, a word or part of a word, that is given particular focus).

Phonetic realization[edit]

There are various ways in which stress manifests itself in the speech stream, and they depend to some extent on which language is being spoken. Stressed syllables are often louder than non-stressed syllables, and they may have a higher or lower pitch. They may also sometimes be pronounced longer. There are sometimes differences in place or manner of articulation. In particular, vowels in unstressed syllables may have a more central (or «neutral») articulation, and those in stressed syllables have a more peripheral articulation. Stress may be realized to varying degrees on different words in a sentence; sometimes, the difference is minimal between the acoustic signals of stressed and those of unstressed syllables.

Those particular distinguishing features of stress, or types of prominence in which particular features are dominant, are sometimes referred to as particular types of accent: dynamic accent in the case of loudness, pitch accent in the case of pitch (although that term usually has more specialized meanings), quantitative accent in the case of length,^[3] and qualitative accent in the case of differences in articulation. They can be compared to the various types of accent in music theory. In some contexts, the term stress or stress accent specifically means dynamic accent (or as an antonym to pitch accent in its various meanings).

A prominent syllable or word is said to be accented or tonic; the latter term does not imply that it carries phonemic tone. Other syllables or words are said to be unaccented or atonic. Syllables are frequently said to be in pretonic or post-tonic position, and certain phonological rules apply specifically to such positions. For instance, in American English, /t/ and /d/ are flapped in post-tonic position.

In Mandarin Chinese, which is a tonal language, stressed syllables have been found to have tones that are realized with a relatively large swing in fundamental frequency, and unstressed syllables typically have smaller swings.^[4] (See also Stress in Standard Chinese.)

Stressed syllables are often perceived as being more forceful than non-stressed syllables.

Word stress[edit]

Word stress, or sometimes lexical stress, is the stress placed on a given syllable in a word. The position of word stress in a word may depend on certain general rules applicable in the language or dialect in question, but in other languages, it must be learned for each word, as it is largely unpredictable. In some cases, classes of words in a language differ in their stress properties; for example, loanwords into a language with fixed stress may preserve stress placement from the source language, or the special pattern for Turkish placenames.

Non-phonemic stress[edit]

In some languages, the placement of stress can be determined by rules. It is thus not a phonemic property of the word, because it can always be predicted by applying the rules.

Languages in which the position of the stress can usually be predicted by a simple rule are said to have fixed stress. For example, in Czech, Finnish, Icelandic, Hungarian and Latvian, the stress almost always comes on the first syllable of a word. In Armenian the stress is on the last syllable of a word.^[5] In Quechua, Esperanto, and Polish, the stress is almost always on the penult (second-last syllable). In Macedonian, it is on the antepenult (third-last syllable).

Other languages have stress placed on different syllables but in a predictable way, as in Classical Arabic and Latin, where stress is conditioned by the structure of particular syllables. They are said to have a regular stress rule.

Statements about the position of stress are sometimes affected by the fact that when a word is spoken in isolation, prosodic factors (see below) come into play, which do not apply when the word is spoken normally within a sentence. French words are sometimes said to be stressed on the final syllable, but that can be attributed to the prosodic stress that is placed on the last syllable (unless it is a schwa, when stress is placed on the second-last syllable) of any string of words in that language. Thus, it is on the last syllable of a word analyzed in isolation. The situation is similar in Standard Chinese. French (some authors add Chinese^[6]) can be considered to have no real lexical stress.

Phonemic stress[edit]

With some exceptions above, languages such as Germanic languages, Romance languages, the East and South Slavic languages, Lithuanian, as well as others, in which the position of stress in a word is not fully predictable, are said to have phonemic stress. Stress in these languages is usually truly lexical and must be memorized as part of the pronunciation of an individual word. In some languages, such as Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, Lakota and, to some extent, Italian, stress is even represented in writing using diacritical marks, for example in the Spanish words célebre and celebré. Sometimes, stress is fixed for all forms of a particular word, or it can fall on different syllables in different inflections of the same word.

In such languages with phonemic stress, the position of stress can serve to distinguish otherwise identical words. For example, the English words insight () and incite () are distinguished in pronunciation only by the fact that the stress falls on the first syllable in the former and on the second syllable in the latter. Examples from other languages include German Tenor ([ˈteːnoːɐ̯] «gist of message» vs. [teˈnoːɐ̯] «tenor voice»); and Italian ancora ([ˈaŋkora] «anchor» vs. [aŋˈkoːra] «more, still, yet, again»).

In many languages with lexical stress, it is connected with alternations in vowels and/or consonants, which means that vowel quality differs by whether vowels are stressed or unstressed. There may also be limitations on certain phonemes in the language in which stress determines whether they are allowed to occur in a particular syllable or not. That is the case with most examples in English and occurs systematically in Russian, such as за́мок ([ˈzamək], «castle») vs. замо́к ([zɐˈmok], «lock»); and in Portuguese, such as the triplet sábia ([ˈsaβjɐ], «wise woman»), sabia ([sɐˈβiɐ], «knew»), sabiá ([sɐˈβja], «thrush»).

Dialects of the same language may have different stress placement. For instance, the English word laboratory is stressed on the second syllable in British English (labóratory often pronounced «labóratry», the second o being silent), but the first syllable in American English, with a secondary stress on the «tor» syllable (láboratory often pronounced «lábratory»). The Spanish word video is stressed on the first syllable in Spain (vídeo) but on the second syllable in the Americas (video). The Portuguese words for Madagascar and the continent Oceania are stressed on the third syllable in European Portuguese (Madagáscar and Oceânia), but on the fourth syllable in Brazilian Portuguese (Madagascar and Oceania).

Compounds[edit]

With very few exceptions, English compound words are stressed on their first component. Even the exceptions, such as mankínd,^[7] are instead often stressed on the first component by some people or in some kinds of English.^[8] The same components as those of a compound word are sometimes used in a descriptive phrase with a different meaning and with stress on both words, but that descriptive phrase is then not usually considered a compound: bláck bírd (any bird that is black) and bláckbird (a specific bird species) and páper bág (a bag made of paper) and páper bag (very rarely used for a bag for carrying newspapers but is often also used for a bag made of paper).^[9]

Levels of stress[edit]

Some languages are described as having both primary stress and secondary stress. A syllable with secondary stress is stressed relative to unstressed syllables but not as strongly as a syllable with primary stress : for example, saloon and cartoon both have the main stress on the last syllable, but whereas cartoon also has a secondary stress on the first syllable, saloon does not. As with primary stress, the position of secondary stress may be more or less predictable depending on language. In English, it is not fully predictable, but the different secondary stress of the words organization and accumulation (on the first and second syllable, respectively) is predictable due to the same stress of the verbs órganize and accúmulate. In some analyses, for example the one found in Chomsky and Halle’s The Sound Pattern of English, English has been described as having four levels of stress: primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary, but the treatments often disagree with one another.

Peter Ladefoged and other phoneticians have noted that it is possible to describe English with only one degree of stress, as long as prosody is recognized and unstressed syllables are phonemically distinguished for vowel reduction.^[10] They find that the multiple levels posited for English, whether primary–secondary or primary–secondary–tertiary, are not phonetic stress (let alone phonemic), and that the supposed secondary/tertiary stress is not characterized by the increase in respiratory activity associated with primary/secondary stress in English and other languages. (For further detail see Stress and vowel reduction in English.)

Prosodic stress[edit]

Extra stress
ˈˈ◌

Prosodic stress, or sentence stress, refers to stress patterns that apply at a higher level than the individual word – namely within a prosodic unit. It may involve a certain natural stress pattern characteristic of a given language, but may also involve the placing of emphasis on particular words because of their relative importance (contrastive stress).

An example of a natural prosodic stress pattern is that described for French above; stress is placed on the final syllable of a string of words (or if that is a schwa, the next-to-final syllable). A similar pattern is found in English (see § Levels of stress above): the traditional distinction between (lexical) primary and secondary stress is replaced partly by a prosodic rule stating that the final stressed syllable in a phrase is given additional stress. (A word spoken alone becomes such a phrase, hence such prosodic stress may appear to be lexical if the pronunciation of words is analyzed in a standalone context rather than within phrases.)

Another type of prosodic stress pattern is quantity sensitivity – in some languages additional stress tends to be placed on syllables that are longer (moraically heavy).

Prosodic stress is also often used pragmatically to emphasize (focus attention on) particular words or the ideas associated with them. Doing this can change or clarify the meaning of a sentence; for example:

As in the examples above, stress is normally transcribed as italics in printed text or underlining in handwriting.

In English, stress is most dramatically realized on focused or accented words. For instance, consider the dialogue

In it, the stress-related acoustic differences between the syllables of «tomorrow» would be small compared to the differences between the syllables of «dinner«, the emphasized word. In these emphasized words, stressed syllables such as «din» in «dinner» are louder and longer.^[11][12][13] They may also have a different fundamental frequency, or other properties.

The main stress within a sentence, often found on the last stressed word, is called the nuclear stress.^[14]

Stress and vowel reduction[edit]

In many languages, such as Russian and English, vowel reduction may occur when a vowel changes from a stressed to an unstressed position. In English, unstressed vowels may reduce to schwa-like vowels, though the details vary with dialect (see stress and vowel reduction in English). The effect may be dependent on lexical stress (for example, the unstressed first syllable of the word photographer contains a schwa , whereas the stressed first syllable of photograph does not /ˈfoʊtəˌgræf -grɑːf/), or on prosodic stress (for example, the word of is pronounced with a schwa when it is unstressed within a sentence, but not when it is stressed).

Many other languages, such as Finnish and the mainstream dialects of Spanish, do not have unstressed vowel reduction; in these languages vowels in unstressed syllables have nearly the same quality as those in stressed syllables.

Stress and rhythm[edit]

Some languages, such as English, are said to be stress-timed languages; that is, stressed syllables appear at a roughly constant rate and non-stressed syllables are shortened to accommodate that, which contrasts with languages that have syllable timing (e.g. Spanish) or mora timing (e.g. Japanese), whose syllables or moras are spoken at a roughly constant rate regardless of stress. For details, see isochrony.

Historical effects[edit]

It is common for stressed and unstressed syllables to behave differently as a language evolves. For example, in the Romance languages, the original Latin short vowels /e/ and /o/ have often become diphthongs when stressed. Since stress takes part in verb conjugation, that has produced verbs with vowel alternation in the Romance languages. For example, the Spanish verb volver (to return, come back) has the form volví in the past tense but vuelvo in the present tense (see Spanish irregular verbs). Italian shows the same phenomenon but with /o/ alternating with /uo/ instead. That behavior is not confined to verbs; note for example Spanish viento «wind» from Latin ventum, or Italian fuoco «fire» from Latin focum. There are also examples in French, though they are less systematic : viens from Latin venio where the first syllabe was stressed, vs venir from Latin venire where the main stress was on the penultimate syllable.

Stress «deafness»[edit]

An operational definition of word stress may be provided by the stress «deafness» paradigm.^[15][16] The idea is that if listeners perform poorly on reproducing the presentation order of series of stimuli that minimally differ in the position of phonetic prominence (e.g. [númi]/[numí]), the language does not have word stress. The task involves a reproduction of the order of stimuli as a sequence of key strokes, whereby key «1» is associated with one stress location (e.g. [númi]) and key «2» with the other (e.g. [numí]). A trial may be from 2 to 6 stimuli in length. Thus, the order [númi-númi-numí-númi] is to be reproduced as «1121». It was found that listeners whose native language was French performed significantly worse than Spanish listeners in reproducing the stress patterns by key strokes. The explanation is that Spanish has lexically contrastive stress, as evidenced by the minimal pairs like tópo («mole») and topó («[he/she/it] met»), while in French, stress does not convey lexical information and there is no equivalent of stress minimal pairs as in Spanish.

An important case of stress «deafness» relates to Persian.^[16] The language has generally been described as having contrastive word stress or accent as evidenced by numerous stem and stem-clitic minimal pairs such as /mɒhi/ [mɒ.hí] («fish») and /mɒh-i/ [mɒ́.hi] («some month»). The authors argue that the reason that Persian listeners are stress «deaf» is that their accent locations arise postlexically. Persian thus lacks stress in the strict sense.

Stress «deafness» has been studied for a number of languages, such as Polish^[17] or French learners of Spanish.^[18]

Spelling and notation for stress[edit]

The orthographies of some languages include devices for indicating the position of lexical stress. Some examples are listed below:

• In Modern Greek, all polysyllables are written with an acute accent (´) over the vowel of the stressed syllable. (The acute accent is also used on some monosyllables in order to distinguish homographs, as in η (‘the’) and ή (‘or’); here the stress of the two words is the same.)
• In Spanish orthography, stress may be written explicitly with a single acute accent on a vowel. Stressed antepenultimate syllables are always written with that accent mark, as in árabe. If the last syllable is stressed, the accent mark is used if the word ends in the letters n, s, or a vowel, as in está. If the penultimate syllable is stressed, the accent is used if the word ends in any other letter, as in cárcel. That is, if a word is written without an accent mark, the stress is on the penult if the last letter is a vowel, n, or s, but on the final syllable if the word ends in any other letter. However, as in Greek, the acute accent is also used for some words to distinguish various syntactical uses (e.g. té ‘tea’ vs. te a form of the pronoun tú ‘you’; dónde ‘where’ as a pronoun or wh-complement, donde ‘where’ as an adverb). For more information, see Stress in Spanish.
• In Portuguese, stress is sometimes indicated explicitly with an acute accent (for i, u, and open a, e, o), or circumflex (for close a, e, o). The orthography has an extensive set of rules that describe the placement of diacritics, based on the position of the stressed syllable and the surrounding letters.
• In Italian, the grave accent is needed in words ending with an accented vowel, e.g. città, ‘city’, and in some monosyllabic words that might otherwise be confused with other words, like là (‘there’) and la (‘the’). It is optional for it to be written on any vowel if there is a possibility of misunderstanding, such as condomìni (‘condominiums’) and condòmini (‘joint owners’). See Italian alphabet § Diacritics. (In this particular case, a frequent one in which diacritics present themselves, the difference of accents is caused by the fall of the second «i» from Latin in Italian, typical of the genitive, in the first noun (con/domìnìi/, meaning «of the owner»); while the second was derived from the nominative (con/dòmini/, meaning simply «owners»).

Though not part of normal orthography, a number of devices exist that are used by linguists and others to indicate the position of stress (and syllabification in some cases) when it is desirable to do so. Some of these are listed here.

• Most commonly, the stress mark is placed before the beginning of the stressed syllable, where a syllable is definable. However, it is occasionally placed immediately before the vowel.^[19] In the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), primary stress is indicated by a high vertical line (primary stress mark: ˈ) before the stressed element, secondary stress by a low vertical line (secondary stress mark: ˌ). For example, [sɪˌlæbəfɪˈkeɪʃən] or /sɪˌlæbəfɪˈkeɪʃən/. Extra stress can be indicated by doubling the symbol: ˈˈ◌.
• Linguists frequently mark primary stress with an acute accent over the vowel, and secondary stress by a grave accent. Example: [sɪlæ̀bəfɪkéɪʃən] or /sɪlæ̀bəfɪkéɪʃən/. That has the advantage of not requiring a decision about syllable boundaries.
• In English dictionaries that show pronunciation by respelling, stress is typically marked with a prime mark placed after the stressed syllable: /si-lab′-ə-fi-kay′-shən/.
• In ad hoc pronunciation guides, stress is often indicated using a combination of bold text and capital letters. For example, si-lab-if-i-KAY-shun or si-LAB-if-i-KAY-shun
• In Russian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian dictionaries, stress is indicated with marks called znaki udareniya (знаки ударения, ‘stress marks’). Primary stress is indicated with an acute accent (´) on a syllable’s vowel (example: вимовля́ння).^[20][21] Secondary stress may be unmarked or marked with a grave accent: о̀колозе́мный. If the acute accent sign is unavailable for technical reasons, stress can be marked by making the vowel capitalized or italic.^[22] In general texts, stress marks are rare, typically used either when required for disambiguation of homographs (compare в больши́х количествах ‘in great quantities’, and в бо́льших количествах ‘in greater quantities’), or in rare words and names that are likely to be mispronounced. Materials for foreign learners may have stress marks throughout the text.^[20]
• In Dutch, ad hoc indication of stress is usually marked by an acute accent on the vowel (or, in the case of a diphthong or double vowel, the first two vowels) of the stressed syllable. Compare achterúítgang (‘deterioration’) and áchteruitgang (‘rear exit’).
• In Biblical Hebrew, a complex system of cantillation marks is used to mark stress, as well as verse syntax and the melody according to which the verse is chanted in ceremonial Bible reading. In Modern Hebrew, there is no standardized way to mark the stress. Most often, the cantillation mark oleh (part of oleh ve-yored), which looks like a left-pointing arrow above the consonant of the stressed syllable, for example ב֫וקר bóqer (‘morning’) as opposed to בוק֫ר boqér (‘cowboy’). That mark is usually used in books by the Academy of the Hebrew Language and is available on the standard Hebrew keyboard at AltGr-6. In some books, other marks, such as meteg, are used.^[23]

See also[edit]

• Accent (poetry)
• Accent (music)
• Foot (prosody)
• Initial-stress-derived noun
• Pitch accent (intonation)
• Rhythm
• Syllable weight

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• «Feet and Metrical Stress», The Cambridge Handbook of Phonology
• «Word stress in English: Six Basic Rules», Linguapress
• Word Stress Rules: A Guide to Word and Sentence Stress Rules for English Learners and Teachers, based on affixation

1. Word stress, its acoustic
   nature.

2. The
   linguistic function of a word stress.

3. Degree
   and position of a word stress.

-1-

The
sequence of syllables in the word is not pronounced identically. The
syllable or syllables which are pronounced with more prominence than
the other syllables of the word are said to be stressed or accented.
The correlation of varying prominences of syllables in a word is
understood as the accentual structure of the word.

According
to A.C. Gimson, the effect of prominence is achieved by any or all of
four factors: force, tone, length and vowel colour. The dynamic
stress implies greater force with which the syllable is pronounced.
In other words in the articulation of the stressed syllable greater
muscular energy is produced by the speaker. The European languages
such as English, German, French, Russian are believed to possess
predominantly dynamic word stress. In Scandinavian languages the word
stress is considered to be both dynamic and musical (e.g. in Swedish,
the word komma
(comma) is distinguished from the word komma
(come) by a difference in tones). The musical (tonic) word stress is
observed in Chinese, Japanese. It is effected by the variations of
the voice pitch in relation to neighbouring syllables. In Chinese the
sound sequence “chu” pronounced with the level tone means “pig”,
with the rising tone “bamboo”, and with the falling tone “to
live”.

It is fair
to mention that there is a terminological confusion in discussing the
nature of stress. According to D. Crystal, the terms “heaviness,
intensity, amplitude, prominence, emphasis, accent, stress” tend to
be used synonymously by most writers. The discrepancy in terminology
is largely due to the fact that there are 2 major views depending on
whether the productive or receptive aspects of stress are discussed.

The main
drawback with any theory of stress based on production of speech is
that it only gives a partial explanation of the phenomenon but does
not analyze it on the perceptive level.

Instrumental
investigations study the physical nature of word stress. On the
acoustic level the counterpart of force is the intensity of the
vibrations of the vocal cords of the speaker which is perceived by
the listener as loudness. Thus the greater energy with which the
speaker articulates the stressed syllable in the word is associated
by the listener with greater loudness. The acoustic counterparts of
voice pitch and length are frequency and duration respectively. The
nature of word stress in Russian seems to differ from that in
English. The quantitative component plays a greater role in Russian
accentual structure than in English word accent. In the Russian
language of full formation and full length in unstressed positions,
they are always reduced. Therefore the vowels of full length are
unmistakably perceived as stressed. In English the quantitative
component of word stress is not of primary importance because of the
non-reduced vowels in the unstressed syllables which sometimes occur
in English words (e.g. “transport”, “architect”).

-2-

In discussing accentual
structure of English words we should turn now to the functional
aspect of word stress. In language the word stress performs 3
functions:

1. constitutive– word
   stress constitutes a word, it organizes the syllables of a word into
   a language unit. A word does not exist without the word stress. Thus
   the function is constitutive – sound continuum becomes a phrase
   when it is divided into units organized by word stress into words.

2. Word
   stress enables a person to identify a succession of syllables as a
   definite accentual pattern of a word. This function is known as
   identificatory (or
   recognitive).

3. Word
   stress alone is capable of differentiating the meaning of words or
   their forms, thus performing its distinctive
   function. The accentual patterns of
   words or the degrees of word stress and their positions form
   oppositions (“/import – im /port”, “/present – pre
   /sent”).

-3-

There are
actually as many degrees of word stress in a word as there are
syllables. The British linguists usually distinguish three degrees of
stress in the word. The primary stress is the strongest (e.g.
exami/nation), the secondary stress is the second strongest one (e.g.
ex,ami/nation). All the other degrees are termed “weak stress”.
Unstressed syllables are supposed to have weak stress. The American
scholars, B. Bloch and J. Trager, find 4 contrastive degrees
of word stress: locid, reduced locid, medial and weak.

In
Germanic languages the word stress originally fell on the initial
syllable or the second syllable, the root syllable in the English
words with prefixes. This tendency was called recessive. Most English
words of Anglo-Saxon origin as well as the French borrowings are
subjected to this recessive tendency.

Languages
are also differentiated according to the placement of word stress.
The traditional classification of languages concerning the place of
stress in a word is into those with a
fixed stress and a free stress. In
languages with a fixed stress the occurrence of the word stress is
limited to a particular syllable in a multisyllabic word. For
example, in French the stress falls on the last syllable of the word
(if pronounced in isolation), in Finnish and Czech it is fixed on the
first syllable.

Some
borrowed words retain their stress.

In languages with a free
stress its place is not confined to a specific position in the word.
The free placement of stress is exemplified in the English and
Russian languages

(e.g. E. appetite – begin –
examination

R.
озеро – погода
– молоко)

The word
stress in English as well as in Russian is not only free but it may
also be shifting performing semantic function of differentiating
lexical units, parts of speech, grammatical forms. It is worth noting
that in English word stress is used as a means of word-building (e.g.
/contrast – con/trast, /music – mu /sician).

Questions:

1. What
   features characterize word accent?

2. Identify
   the functions of word stress.

3. What
   are the types of word stress?

4. Do AmE and
   BE have any differences in the system of word stress? Give your
   examples.

Lecture 8. Intonation

1. Intonation.

2. The
   linguistic function of intonation.

3. The
   implications of a terminal tone.

4. Rhythm.

-1-

Intonation is a language
universal. There are no languages which are spoken as a monotone,
i.e. without any change of prosodic parametres. On perceptional level
intonation is a complex, a whole, formed by significant variations of
pitch, loudness and tempo closely related. Some linguists regard
speech timber as the fourth component of intonation. Though it
certainly conveys some shades of attitudinal or emotional meaning
there’s no reason to consider it alongside with the 3
prosodic components of intonation (pitch, loudness and tempo).
Nowadays the term “prosody” substitutes the term “intonation”.

On the acoustic level pitch
correlates with the fundamental frequency of the vibrations of the
vocal cords; loudness correlates with the amplitude of vibrations;
tempo is a correlate of time during which a speech unit lasts.

The auditory level is very
important for teachers of foreign languages. Each syllable of the
speech chain has a special pitch colouring. Some of the syllables
have significant moves of tone up and down. Each syllable bears a
definite amount of loudness. Pitch movements are inseparably
connected with loudness. Together with the tempo of speech they form
an intonation pattern which is the basic unit of intonation.

An intonation pattern contains
one nucleus and may contain other stressed or unstressed syllables
normally preceding or following the nucleus. The boundaries of an
intonation pattern may be marked by stops of phonation, that is
temporal pauses.

Intonation patterns serve to
actualize syntagms in oral speech. The syntagm
is a group of words which are semantically and syntactically
complete. In phonetics they are called intonation
groups. The
intonation group is a stretch of speech which may have the length of
the whole phrase. But the phrase often contains more than one
intonation group. The number of them depends on the length of phrase
and the degree of semantic impotence or emphasis given to various
parts of it. The position of intonation groups may affect the
meaning.

-2-

The communicative
function of
intonation is realized in various ways which can be grouped under
five – six general headings:

1. to
   structure the intonation content of a textual unit. So as to show
   which information is new or can not be taken for granted, as against
   information which the listener is assumed to possess or to be able
   to acquire from the context, that is given information;

2. to
   determine the speech function of a phrase, to indicate whether it is
   intended as a statement, question, etc;

3. to
   convey connotational meanings of attitude, such as surprise, etc. In
   the written form we are given only the lexics and the grammar;

4. to
   structure a text. Intonation is an organizing mechanism. It divides
   texts into smaller parts and on the other hand it integrates them
   forming a complete text;

5. to
   differentiate the meaning of textual units of the same phonetic
   structure and the same lexical composition (distinctive or
   phonological function);

6. to
   characterize a particular style or variety of oral speech which may
   be called a stylistic function.

-3-

Classification of intonation
patterns:

Different combinations of
pitch sections (pre-heads, heads and nuclei) may result in more than
one hundred pitch-and-stress patterns. But it is not necessary to
deal with all of them, because some patterns occur very rarely. So,
attention must be concentrated on the commonest ones:

1. The Low (Medium) Fall
   pitch-and-stress group

2. The
   High Fall group

3. Rise
   Fall group

4. The
   Low Rise group

5. The
   High Rise group

6. The
   Fall Rise group

7. The
   Rise-Fall-Rise group

8. The
   Mid-level group

No intonation pattern is used
exclusively with this or that sentence type. Some sentences are more
likely to be said with one intonation pattern than with any other. So
we can speak about “common intonation” for a particular type of
sentence.

1. Statements are most widely
   used with the Low Fall preceded by the Falling or the High level
   Head. They are final, complete and definite.

2. Commands,
   with the Low Fall are very powerful, intense, serious and strong.

3. Exclamations
   are very common with the High Fall.

-4-

We cannot fully describe
English intonation without reference to speech rhythm. Rhythm
seems to be a kind of framework of speech organization. Some
linguists consider it to be one of the components of intonation.

Rhythm is understood as
periodicity in time and space. We find it everywhere in life. Rhythm
as a linguistic notion is realized in lexical, syntactical and
prosodic means and mostly in their combinations.

In speech,
the type of rhythm depends on the language. Linguists divide
languages into two groups:

1. syllable-timed(French, Spanish);

2. stress-timed(English, German, Russian).

In a
syllable-timed language the speaker gives an approximately equal
amount of time to each syllable, whether the syllable is stressed or
unstressed.

In a
stress-timed language the rhythm is based on a larger unit, than
syllable. Though the amount of time given on each syllable varies
considerably, the total time of uttering each rhythmic unit is
practically unchanged. The stressed syllables of a rhythmic unit form
peaks of prominence. They tend to be pronounced at regular intervals
no matter how many unstressed syllables are located between every 2
stressed ones. Thus the distribution of time within the rhythmic unit
is unequal.

Speech
rhythm is traditionally defined as recurrence of stressed syllables
at more or less equal intervals of time in a speech continuum.

Questions:

1. Name
   the basic components of intonation.

2. What
   is the connection between pitch and tempo?

3. What
   for do we need different nuclear tones?

4. Which
   nuclei are the commonest?

Lecture
9. Territorial varieties of English pronunciation

1. Varieties
   of language.

2. English
   variants.

-1-

The
varieties of the language are conditioned by language communities
ranging from small groups to nations. National
language is the language of a nation,
the standard of its form, the language of a nation’s literature.
The literary spoken form has its national
pronunciation standard. A “standard”
may be defined as a socially accepted variety of a language
established by a codified norm of correctness. It is generally
accepted that for the “English English” it is “Received
Pronunciation” or RP; for the “American English” – “General
American pronunciation”; for the Australian English – “Educated
Australian”.

Though
every national variant of English has considerable differences in
pronunciation, lexics and grammar, they all have much in common which
gives us ground to speak of one and the same language – the English
language.

Every
national variety of the language falls into territorial
or regional dialects. Dialects are
distinguished from each other by differences in pronunciation,
grammar and vocabulary. When we refer to varieties in pronunciation
only, we use the word “accent”.

The social
differentiation of language is closely connected with the social
differentiation of society. Every language community, ranging from a
small group to a nation has its own social
dialect, and consequently, its own
social accent.

The
“language situation” may be spoken about in terms of the
horizontal and vertical differentiations of the language, the first
in accordance with the sphere of social activity, the second – with
its situational variability. Situational varieties of the language
are called functional dialects or functional styles and situational
pronunciation varieties – situational accents or phonostyles.

-2-

Nowadays
two main types of English are spoken in the English-speaking world:
English English and American English.

According to British
dialectologists (P. Trudgill, J. Hannah, A. Hughes and others) the
following variants of English are referred to the English-based
group: English English, Welsh English, Australian English, New
Zealand English; to the American-based group: United States English,
Canadian English.

Scottish English and Irish
English fall somewhere between the two being somewhat by themselves.

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TRANSCRIPT

If you didn’t understand what I was saying here it’s because I misplaced the primary stress in almost every word. “The engineer complained to the manager on the conclusions of the company survey.”

The primary stress is one of the most important elements when it comes to clear pronunciation. Yet it is one of the things that causes the most headache for non-native speakers when communicating in English, because it is inconsistent and elusive. This is why in this video, I’m going to help you understand everything related to primary stress. Because first, we’re going to learn what is primary stress and how to identify the primary stress in new words in English.

Then I’m going to share with you some patterns to help you predict how to use the primary stress in certain words, that will ground you and help you feel more confident when speaking English. Then I’m going to share with you my 3-step system to help you learn and practice the primary stress. And finally, I’m going to quiz you to see how you are doing with your primary stress.

So, what is the primary stress? The primary stress is the one syllable in the word that sticks out the most. It is longer, louder, and higher in pitch. A syllable is the smallest unit of a word that usually has one vowel in it, and one or more consonants. For example, if we take the word ‘example’, here if we break it down to the smallest units – ig-ZAM-p’l – we hear and feel that we have three syllables – ig-ZAM-p’l. In this example, the middle syllable, the ZAM is the primary stress, because it is longer, louder, and tire and pitch. ig-ZAM-p’l.

Every word must have a primary stress. Technically it’s every content word, but right now let’s just generalize it and talk about the fact that every word must have a primary stress. So for example, if we take the word ‘dog’, it has one syllable, and that syllable is the primary stress. But if we take the word ‘apple’, we here have two syllables. The first one, A, is the primary stress – longer, louder, higher in pitch: A-p’l. And the second syllable is a weak stress.

So, when we talk about the stress system of English, we have the primary stress, we have one and only one. Then the rest of the syllables are either getting the secondary stress, which is a pure vowel – we’ll just treat it as the default pronunciation, it’s not to stress not to reduce – and then it could also be reduced to a schwa. And that is the weak stress.

Now, if you know me for a little bit, you know that I’m obsessed with the schwa, and I have a lot to say about it. But right now we’re not talking about the schwa and we don’t have all day. So I’m going to link to all of the necessary content for you to understand the schwa in the description below. Check it out cause it’s really interesting.

Now. As we said, you have the primary stress, which is the one syllable that sticks out the most, and then you either have a secondary stress or a weak stress. Like in the example, ‘A-p’l’ – primary, weak. In the word ‘unite’ the ‘NAIT’ is the primary stress. Notice what I’m doing with my voice: u-NAIT, right? And the ‘u’ is a secondary stress, it is lower and it is shorter. Unite. Unite. Let’s stick the word ‘condition’. The middle syllable – DI –  is the primary stress: k’n-DI-sh’n, k’n-DI-sh’n. The middle syllable is longer, louder, and higher in pitch. k’n-DI-sh’n.

Now, how can you identify what syllable use stress when you say a word? Here’s the thing. When you break down a word into smaller units, when you reach the primary stress – and primary stress is something that we all use and we all have, you’re doing it in your native language as well. And you’re doing it in English. You might be doing it slightly differently than how I explained. Maybe you’re just saying it a little louder, maybe you’re just saying it higher in pitch, but you are doing something to distinguish one syllable from all the other syllables. Almost all languages have words with primary stress.

So, when you break down a word saying it really slowly, you’re breaking it down into syllables. And then there will be one syllable that is more dominant. So for example, if you’re saying the word ‘condition’ and you want to identify what part you’re stressing, you want to say it slowly. And then there is like this one part that is a little bit more dominant.

Let’s say, if I ask you to punch your palm when you say the word, when you say it slowly, you’re going to do it on a certain syllable, right? And if we use the word ‘condition’, where would you do it? So, first of all, let’s say it slowly: condition, condition, right. And if you had to punch once when you say the word, would it be on the first syllable – CONdition? Would it be on the second syllable – conDItion? Would it be on the last syllable – condiTION, right? What would feel more intuitive and natural, and not out of place?

I’m assuming that most of you said ‘conDItion’ because that is the primary stress, that is where the power of the word is. And this is how you should think about it. So if you want to practice understanding where the primary stress is, you can use the punching method. Condition, condition, condition.

– Son, what are you doing over there? I’m a little concerned about you.

– Oh, don’t worry, mom. I’m just practicing my primary stress.

So make sure you’re home alone when practicing the primary stress.

Another way to understand where the primary stress is to call the word out the window: condition, come home! Casual, come home! That part, where you go higher in pitch, is the primary stress. You might want to be home alone when practicing this too.

Okay. So now you know how do I identify the primary stress when you are saying the word, because it’s a huge part of the work that we’re doing. But what happens if you are misplacing the primary stress, like I did at the beginning of this video? Here’s the thing. When we speak a second language, oftentimes we apply things from our first language on to the second language. We do that with sounds.

So let’s say, I can use ‘rrr’ instead of ‘ur’, and say ‘rrrun’ instead of run. I can use international patterns, different international patterns from my native language, it happens intuitively. And I can use different stress patterns. In many languages the stress is easily predicted, meaning, when you have a word, it’s either always going to be at the end or always going to be on the one syllable before the end. Or it might change according to the word in the sentence, but it’s very, very consistent.

So you might be applying that onto English. And in English, the stress is really inconsistent. Sometimes it’s at the beginning, sometimes it’s in the middle, sometimes it’s at the end, sometimes it can be both – at the beginning or the end, depending on the word. And sometimes the stress is just, you know, going crazy and it’s inconsistent altogether. So this is why it’s so confusing.

So, what you’re likely to do is, you know, cause you want some certainty in life, you might bring the patterns that you know from your native language, but then you might say something like ENgineer instead of engiNEER, or CONtent when you want to say conTENT. And that causes lack of clarity.

Now, the reason why it’s so confusing is because when people hear a word, the first thing that they detect is the primary stress, because it’s so dominant. Even if you don’t think that right now, it is. And people search for the meaning or they search in their vocabulary, best based on where the stress is.

So if you’re saying something like conTENT, they will look for the word that has the stress on the second syllable. And even though you intended to say CONtent, this might create a confusion, and it’ll take the person listening a little longer to understand what it is that you’re trying to say.

And remember, it is always about getting heard and delivering your message, right? It’s not about sounding just more American or British or Australian. Ultimately, you want people to understand you, so you can communicate, so you get what you want, right? And this is why it is so incredibly important. And I’m so passionate about understanding it better and practicing it. Because intelligibility is everything. This is your tool to communicate with confidence.

So as you can see, this could be very, very confusing. So don’t feel bad, there’s nothing wrong with you. It’s just because this is how it is when communicating in a second language. So now, let’s move on to the second part where I give you actionable tools to know how to identify the primary stress, or at least to practice it when you don’t have something concrete to work with.

So, when it comes to stress patterns, here’s something interesting to look at. When you add a suffix to a word – a suffix is that small addition that changes the meaning of the word and the lexical function. So for example you can say ‘available’, but if you add ‘-ity’ it turns into ‘availability’, right?

When we add a suffix, in most suffixes it kind of like draws and pulls the stress closer to the suffix, no matter where the stress is at the beginning. So for example, with the word ‘available’, here the primary stress is on the VAI – a-VAI-la-ble, right? But once I add ‘-ity’, it draws the stress, and the stress moves from a-VAI-la-ble to a-vai-la-BI-li-ty. PO-ssi-ble – po-ssi-BI-li-ty.

So, when you add the suffix ‘-ity’ the stress moves to the one syllable before the suffix. Same thing with ‘-cal’. gra-MMA-ti-cal. TECH-ni-cal. po-LI-ti-cal. Right? PO-li-tics – po-LI-ti-cal. Now, I have an entire lesson about stress in words with suffixes, so I’m going to link to that in the description below so you can learn more about that.

Now, it happens not in all suffixes, but with some of the most common suffixes in English, which gives you a lot of words to work with and to predict where the primary stress is, so make sure you check it out.

The next pattern that I’m going to share with you is when there is a word with two syllables. If the word with two syllables is a verb, usually the stress is going to be on the second syllable: com-PLETE, a-PPROVE, cre-ATE. If the word is a noun, the stress is likely to be on the first syllable: A-pple, TA-ble, CAP-tion. Right?

Now, here’s another example that will help you understand it even better. Sometimes there are words that are exactly the same, and the only thing that changes is the stress. If it’s a verb, the stress is going to be on the second syllable: pre-SENT. If it’s a noun, the stress is going to be on the first syllable: PRE-sent. Con-VICT – CON-vict. re-CORD – RE-cord. So, understanding suffixes and understanding this pattern of verbs and nouns can help you quite a lot when trying to identify the primary stress.

But what happens if a word does not have that particular suffix that moves the stress closer to it, or it’s not a word with two syllables? Then you have to use my 3-step system for identifying, learning, and practicing the primary stress.

So, if you come across a word – let’s take the word ‘congratulate’ – and you’re trying to identify the primary stress. First, I want you to guess what the primary stress is, and then pronounce it and record it. When you record yourself and you listen back to it, you hear things more clearly. Because you’re not doing it while all these other things going on in your head. And you’re more focused on identifying what it is that you’re doing, you know, checking your performance.

So, I recommend recording the word and then trying to identify what was the primary stress that you used. You can also use the ‘punching method’ or ‘calling it out the window’, and then you want to mark that primary stress. Then you want to go to the dictionary. My favorite is either a simple Google search – ‘how to pronounce…’ and then put the word, or ‘define…’ and then write the word, or go to dictionary.com.

Then you’ll see the word written out. On Google it’ll be in bold, and on dictionary.com you’re likely to see the apostrophe to the left of the primary stressed syllable. So, when you see that apostrophe above a certain letter, that means that what comes after is the primary stress. So that’s how you know where the primary stress is for sure. And you want to compare it with what you detected. If it’s okay, good for you, pat yourself on the back, you’re doing an amazing job. If it’s not, you’re still doing an amazing job, but maybe we need to put in a little more work into practicing the word with the right pronunciation.

So, let’s say you took the word ‘congratulate’, and you said that the ‘late’ is the primary stress, and in the dictionary you saw that it’s ‘gra’. So, you want to practice it with the right pronunciation. That means saying the word, but exaggerating the syllable that is the primary stress. ConGRAAAAAtulate. You want to drag it and stretch it forever. ConGRAAAAAtulate. AAAAApple. FRUUUUUstrated. CAAAAAsual. Right? And you can use your arm, it really does help.

Or you want to go higher in pitch, but significantly.  Apple. conGRAtulate. opporTUnity. SoPHISticated. Right? So you either go a little longer or a little higher in pitch, or both, but you’re practicing the right pronunciation again and again and again, developing new speaking habits and building pronunciation confidence.

This is how you shift from old habits that might not be serving you anymore, because it’s not the accurate pronunciation, and step into speaking with new speaking habits using the right primary stress. But you have to do it again and again, and you have to exaggerate it because that’s the only way for you to know if you’re actually practicing it correctly or not.

Because a lot of times people will practice the right pronunciation, but in fact use the old pronunciation using the wrong primary stress without even noticing, because it is so incredibly elusive. And sometimes we think that we’re doing one thing, but our mouth and our brain are taking us to a totally different place.

So you always want to be in control. And what I’m telling you here to do will help you to be in control and really start changing those habits. Okay? And then you want to do it again and again and again, and of course use it in context, in a small phrase, and then a sentence, and then try to use it intentionally when speaking.

Now, here’s what you’re probably saying to yourself, “Wait, Hadar, there are so many words. Am I supposed to do it with every word that I mess up?” No, because the actual practice, the act of identifying and practicing is what creates awareness. And awareness works in a miraculous way. It doesn’t only help you identify what it is that you’re working on right now, it gives you a broader sense of how the language works. Because your brain starts becoming more attentive and starts paying more attention to that thing called primary stress. Because up until now, your brain was like, “I don’t need this information. I know what to do here.” When in fact what you did was applying patterns from your first language.

So now you become more aware. Practicing it makes you be more in control of how you use your sounds and speech and voice. And that alone will help you use the right stress, even in words that you haven’t practiced before. So, don’t be discouraged if you feel that this is just such a small part of the entire language. Because that is the work that will help you improve and understand and become more aware of the primary stress in English.

Okay. So now that you know what is the primary stress and how do I identify it, and you know a little bit more about how to predict the stress in certain situations. And you also know my 3-step system to help you learn and practice by identifying, searching for the right stress, and practicing it in a certain way.

Now, let’s put it into practice. I’m going to say the words you need to identify the primary stress – I also have them written down in the description – and then go to my website, and check if you got it right. Let’s begin.

Democracy. Economics. Responsibility. Graduation. Psychology. Vegetables. Employee. Sitcom. Abundance. Profitable. Comprehend. Content. Saturated. Elusive. Sexuality. Residential. Interpersonal. Hidden. Recreate. Natural.

Okay, that’s it. First of all, if you like this video, make sure to like and subscribe to my channel. I would really, really appreciate it and would love to have you here with us. And then let me know in the comments, how many words you got right in the quiz. So, share your wins or struggles with us. And if you have any other tips to share with the community on how to practice the primary stress, don’t be shy, share them in the comments below.

Thank you so much for watching. And remember, even if you don’t get it right, do not worry because mistakes is the only way to learn.

Have a beautiful day. And I will see you next week in the next video. Bye.

English words have certain patterns of stress which you should observe strictly if you want to be understood. The best way to learn English stress is to listen to audio materials and to repeat them after the speaker. The links on the entrance pages of the sections Phonetics, Phrases, and Vocabulary lead to the sites that offer useful listening materials, including sounds, syllables, words, sentences, and conversations. An overview of typical English patterns of word stress in this material will help you to recognize and understand word stress when you work with listening materials. It will also be helpful to listen to examples of word stress in Listening for Word Stress (AmE) in the section Phonetics.

Note: Main stressed syllable in the word is indicated by capital letters in this material, for example, LEMon. In words with two stresses, capital letters with a stress mark before them show the syllable with primary stress, and small letters with a stress mark before them show the syllable with secondary stress, for example, ‘eco’NOMics.

General guidelines on word stress

Generally, common English nouns, adjectives, and adverbs are more often stressed on the first syllable than on any other syllable. Verbs with prefixes are usually stressed on the second syllable, i.e., on the first syllable of the root after the prefix. English words can’t have two unstressed syllables at the beginning of the word; one of these syllables will be stressed. If a word has four or more syllables, there are usually two stresses in it: primary stress (strong stress) and secondary stress (weak stress). Also, secondary stress may be present (in addition to primary stress) in shorter words in the syllable in which the vowel sound remains long and strong.

Prefixes are often stressed in nouns and less often in verbs. Suffixes at the end of the word are rarely stressed, except for a few noun, adjective, and verb suffixes that are usually stressed: rooMETTE, ‘ciga’RETTE / ‘CIGa’rette, Chi’NESE, ‘SIGni’fy, ‘ORga’nize, ‘DECo’rate. In longer derivative words, stress may fall on a suffix or prefix according to typical patterns of word stress. Endings are not stressed.

Stress in derivatives

Stress in a derivative may remain the same as in the word from which it was derived, or it may change in a certain way. When nouns are formed from verbs, or verbs are formed from nouns, the following patterns of stress often occur.

The same stress:

deNY (verb) – deNIal (noun)

ofFEND (verb) – ofFENCE (noun)

reVIEW (noun) – reVIEW (verb)

PREview (noun) – PREview (verb)

HOSpital (noun) – HOSpitalize (verb)

Shift of stress:

preSENT (verb) – PRESent (noun)

reFER (verb) – REFerence (noun)

exTRACT (verb) – EXtract (noun)

inCREASE (verb) – INcrease (noun)

OBject (noun) – obJECT (verb)

Other parts of speech derived from nouns and verbs have the following typical patterns of stress.

Adjectives are usually stressed on the first syllable or repeat the stress of the nouns from which they were derived: fate (noun) – FATal (adj.); COLor (noun) – COLorful (adj.). But stress may change in longer derivative adjectives: METal (noun) – meTALlic (adj.); ATHlete (noun) – athLETic (adj.); geOLogy (noun) – ‘geo’LOGical (adj.); ARgument (noun) – ‘argu’MENtative (adj.).

Adverbs are usually stressed on the first syllable or repeat the stress of the adjectives from which they were derived: ANgry – ANgrily; WONderful – WONderfully; FOOLish – FOOLishly; athLETic – athLETically.

Gerunds and participles repeat the stress of the verbs from which they were formed: forGET – forGETting – forGOTten; CANcel – CANceling – CANceled; ‘ORga’nize – ‘ORga’nizing – ORganized.

Typical patterns of stress

Let’s look at typical examples of stress in English words. Main factors that influence stress are the number of syllables in the word, and whether the word is a noun, an adjective, or a verb.

ONE-SYLLABLE WORDS

One-syllable nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are stressed on the vowel sound in the word. Note that a diphthong is one complex vowel sound that forms only one syllable. A diphthong is stressed on its first main component.

book, cat, rain, boat, crow, chair

read, burn, touch, choose, laugh, hear

new, bright, large, short, clear, loud

late, fast, soon, now

TWO-SYLLABLE WORDS

Two-syllable nouns

Two-syllable nouns are usually stressed on the first syllable.

TEACHer, STUDent, CARpet, LESson

REgion, ILLness, STATEment, CITy

CONvict, INcrease, INstinct, OBject

PERmit, PRESent, PROject, SYMbol

Nouns may be stressed on the last syllable if there is a long vowel sound or a diphthong in it. Words of foreign origin (especially words of French origin) may be stressed on the last syllable.

trainEE, caREER, deLAY, conCERN

poLICE, hoTEL, beRET, rooMETTE

Two-syllable adjectives

Two-syllable adjectives are usually stressed on the first syllable.

FUNny, LOCal, USEful

FOOLish, NATive, CAREless

Some adjectives are stressed on the last syllable if there is a long vowel sound or a diphthong in it.

abSURD, comPLETE, exTREME, moROSE

If there is a prefix in an adjective, stress often falls on the first syllable of the root after the prefix.

inSANE, imMUNE, enGAged

unWELL, unKNOWN

Two-syllable verbs

Two-syllable verbs are usually stressed on the second syllable, especially if the first syllable is a prefix.

adMIT, apPLY, beGIN, beLIEVE

comBINE, conFIRM, deNY, deSERVE

disLIKE, misPLACE, exPLAIN

forBID, forGET, igNORE, inVITE

oBEY, ocCUR, perMIT, prePARE

proPOSE, purSUE, reCEIVE, rePLY

supPLY, surPRISE, unDO, unLOCK

But there are many verbs that are stressed on the first syllable.

HAPpen, CANcel, PRACtice

ANswer, OFfer, MENtion

FOLlow, BORrow, PUNish

THREE-SYLLABLE WORDS

Three-syllable nouns

Three-syllable nouns are usually stressed on the first syllable.

POLitics, GOVernment, GENeral

INterest, GRADuate, CONfidence

But many nouns, especially those derived from verbs with prefixes, have stress on the second syllable.

apPROVal, conFUSion, conSUMer

corRECTness, eLECtion, diRECtor

Some nouns have primary stress on the last syllable if there is a long vowel sound or a diphthong in it.

‘engi’NEER, ‘refu’GEE

Three-syllable adjectives

Three-syllable adjectives are usually stressed on the first syllable.

GENeral, DELicate, EXcellent

WONderful, FAVorite, CURious

Some adjectives have one more stress on the last syllable if there is a long vowel or a diphthong in it.

‘OBso’lete / ‘obso’LETE

‘Vietna’MESE, ‘Portu’GUESE

Some adjectives do not repeat the stress of the noun from which they were derived and are stressed on the second syllable.

geNERic, symBOLic, inSTINCtive

Three-syllable verbs

Three-syllable verbs often have primary stress on the first syllable (even if it is a prefix) and secondary stress on the last syllable (which is often a verb suffix).

‘ORga’nize, ‘MODer’nize

‘SIGni’fy, ‘SPECi’fy

‘COMpen’sate, ‘DECo’rate

‘COMpli’ment, ‘CONsti’tute

But many verbs, especially those with prefixes, have stress on the second syllable.

conTINue, conSIDer, reMEMber

If the prefix consists of two syllables, its first syllable usually gets secondary stress.

‘under’STAND, ‘decom’POSE

‘contra’DICT, ‘corre’SPOND

FOUR OR MORE SYLLABLES

Long nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs usually have two stresses: primary stress and secondary stress. But there are some long words with only one stress. There are four patterns of stress in long words.

Only one stress: on the first syllable

Nouns:

ACcuracy, DELicacy

Adjectives:

INteresting

Only one stress: on the second syllable

Nouns:

inTOLerance, geOMetry, aMERica

simPLICity, moBILity, teLEpathy

acCOMpaniment

Adjectives:

sigNIFicant, mysTErious, traDItional

inTOLerable, unREAsonable, noTOrious

Verbs:

acCOMpany

Two stresses: on the first and third syllable

This is a very common stress pattern in long words in English.

Nouns:

‘eco’NOMics, ‘infor’MAtion

‘consti’TUtion, ‘repe’TItion

‘coloni’ZAtion, ‘multipli’CAtion

Adjectives:

‘aca’DEMic, ‘geo’METrical

‘inter’NAtional, ‘cosmo’POLitan

‘capita’LIStic, ‘conver’SAtional

‘PAtro’nizing

Two stresses: on the second and fourth syllable

Nouns:

con’side’RAtion

in’vesti’GAtion

con’tinu’Ation

Adjectives:

ex’peri’MENtal

in’compre’HENsible

Verbs:

i’DENti’fy, in’TENsi’fy

in’TOXi’cate, ac’CUmu’late

com’MERcia’lize, a’POLo’gize.

Ударение в слове

Английские слова имеют определённые модели ударения, которые нужно строго соблюдать, если вы хотите, чтобы вас понимали. Лучший способ изучить английское ударение – слушать аудиоматериалы и повторять их за диктором. Ссылки на входных страницах разделов Phonetics, Phrases и Vocabulary ведут на сайты, которые предлагают полезные материалы для прослушивания, включая звуки, слоги, слова, предложения и разговоры. Краткий обзор типичных английских моделей ударения в данном материале поможет вам узнавать и понимать ударение в словах, когда вы работаете с материалами для прослушивания. Также будет полезно прослушать примеры ударения в материале для прослушивания Listening for Word Stress (AmE) в разделе Phonetics.

Примечание: Главный ударный слог в слове указан заглавными буквами в данном материале, например, LEMon. В словах с двумя ударениями, заглавные буквы со значком ударения перед ними показывают слог с главным ударением, а маленькие буквы со значком ударения перед ними показывают слог с второстепенным ударением, например, ‘eco’NOMics.

Общие рекомендации по ударению в словах

В целом, употребительные английские существительные, прилагательные и наречия чаще ударяются на первом слоге, чем на любом другом слоге. Глаголы с приставками обычно имеют ударение на втором слоге, т.е. на первом слоге корня после приставки. Английские слова не могут иметь два неударных слога в начале слова; один из этих слогов будет ударным. Если в слове четыре или более слогов, то в нём обычно два ударения: главное ударение (сильное ударение) и второстепенное ударение (слабое ударение). Также, второстепенное ударение может присутствовать (в дополнение к главному ударению) в более коротких словах в слоге, в котором гласный звук остается долгим и сильным.

Приставки часто ударные в существительных и реже в глаголах. Суффиксы в конце слова редко ударные, за исключением нескольких суффиксов существительных, прилагательных и глаголов, которые обычно ударные: rooMETTE, ‘ciga’RETTE / ‘CIGa’rette, Chi’NESE, ‘SIGni’fy, ‘ORga’nize, ‘DECo’rate. В более длинных производных словах ударение может падать на приставку или суффикс согласно типичным моделям ударения в слове. Окончания не ударные.

Ударение в производных словах

Ударение в производном слове может остаться таким же, как в слове, от которого оно образовано, или оно может измениться определённым образом. Когда существительные образуются от глаголов, или глаголы образуются от существительных, часто возникают следующие модели ударения.

Одинаковое ударение:

deNY (глагол) – deNIal (существительное)

ofFEND (глагол) – ofFENCE (существительное)

reVIEW (сущ.) – reVIEW (глагол)

PREview (сущ.) – PREview (глагол)

HOSpital (сущ.) – HOSpitalize (глагол)

Смещение ударения:

preSENT (глагол) – PRESent (существительное)

reFER (глагол) – REFerence (сущ.)

exTRACT (глагол) – EXtract (сущ.)

inCREASE (глагол) – INcrease (сущ.)

OBject (сущ.) – obJECT (глагол)

Другие части речи, образованные от существительных и глаголов, имеют следующие типичные модели ударения.

Прилагательные обычно ударные на первом слоге или повторяют ударение существительных, от которых они были образованы: fate (сущ.) – FATal (прилаг.); COLor (сущ.) – COLorful (прилаг.). Но ударение может меняться в более длинных производных прилагательных: METal (сущ.) – meTALlic (прилаг.); ATHlete (сущ.) – athLETic (прилаг.); geOLogy (сущ.) – ‘geo’LOGical (прилаг.); ARgument (сущ.) – ‘argu’MENtative (прилаг.).

Наречия обычно ударные на первом слоге или повторяют ударение прилагательных, от которых они были образованы: ANgry – ANgrily; WONderful – WONderfully; FOOLish – FOOLishly; athLETic – athLETically.

Герундий и причастия повторяют ударение глаголов, от которых они были образованы: forGET (забывать) – forGETting – forGOTten; CANcel (отменять) – CANceling – CANceled; ‘ORga’nize (организовать) – ‘ORga’nizing – ORganized.

Типичные модели ударения

Давайте посмотрим на типичные примеры ударения в английских словах. Главные факторы, которые влияют на ударение – количество слогов в слове и является ли это слово существительным, прилагательным или глаголом.

ОДНОСЛОЖНЫЕ СЛОВА

Односложные существительные, глаголы, прилагательные и наречия имеют ударение на гласном звуке в слове. Обратите внимание, что дифтонг – это один сложный гласный звук, который образует только один слог. Дифтонг имеет ударение на своём первом главном компоненте.

книга, кот, дождь, лодка, ворона, стул

читать, гореть, трогать, выбрать, смеяться, слышать

новый, яркий, большой, короткий, ясный, громкий

поздний / поздно, быстрый / быстро, скоро, сейчас

ДВУСЛОЖНЫЕ СЛОВА

Двусложные существительные

Существительные из двух слогов обычно ударные на первом слоге.

учитель, студент, ковер, урок

район, болезнь, утверждение, город

осужденный, увеличение, инстинкт, предмет

пропуск, подарок, проект, символ

Существительные могут иметь ударение на последнем слоге, если в нём долгий гласный звук или дифтонг. Слова иностранного происхождения (особенно слова французского происхождения) могут иметь ударение на последнем слоге.

стажер, карьера, задержка, забота

полиция, гостиница, берет, одноместное купе

Двусложные прилагательные

Прилагательные из двух слогов обычно ударные на первом слоге.

смешной, местный, полезный

глупый, родной, беззаботный

Некоторые двусложные прилагательные могут иметь ударение на последнем слоге, если в нём долгий гласный звук или дифтонг.

абсурдный, полный, крайний, угрюмый

Если в прилагательном есть приставка, то ударение часто падает на первый слог корня после приставки.

безумный, имеющий иммунитет, занятый

нездоровый, неизвестный

Двусложные глаголы

Глаголы из двух слогов обычно ударные на втором слоге, особенно если первый слог – приставка.

допускать, применять, начинать, верить

соединять, подтвердить, отрицать, заслуживать

не любить, положить не на место, объяснять

запрещать, забывать, игнорировать, приглашать

подчиняться, возникать, разрешать, подготовить

предлагать, преследовать, получать, ответить

снабжать, удивлять, аннулировать, отпереть

Но есть много глаголов, которые имеют ударение на первом слоге.

случаться, отменить, практиковать

отвечать, предлагать, упоминать

следовать, заимствовать, наказывать

ТРЕХСЛОЖНЫЕ СЛОВА

Трехсложные существительные

Существительные из трёх слогов обычно имеют ударение на первом слоге.

политика, правительство, генерал

интерес, выпускник, уверенность

Но многие существительные, особенно образованные от глаголов с приставками, имеют ударение на втором слоге.

одобрение, замешательство, потребитель

правильность, избрание, директор

Некоторые существительные могут иметь главное ударение на последнем слоге, если в нём долгий гласный звук или дифтонг.

инженер, беженец

Трехсложные прилагательные

Прилагательные из трёх слогов обычно имеют ударение на первом слоге.

общий, деликатный, превосходный

чудесный, любимый, любопытный

Некоторые трёхсложные прилагательные имеют ещё одно ударение на последнем слоге, если в нём долгий гласный звук или дифтонг.

вышедший из употребления

вьетнамский, португальский

Некоторые прилагательные не повторяют ударение существительного, от которого они были образованы, и ударяются на втором слоге.

видовой, символический, инстинктивный

Трехсложные глаголы

Глаголы из трёх слогов часто имеют главное ударение на первом слоге (даже если это приставка) и второстепенное ударение на последнем слоге (который часто глагольный суффикс).

организовать, модернизировать

означать, уточнять

компенсировать, украшать

делать комплимент, составлять

Но многие глаголы, особенно те, которые с приставками, имеют ударение на втором слоге.

продолжать, рассмотреть, помнить

Если приставка состоит из двух слогов, её первый слог обычно получает второстепенное ударение.

понимать, разлагаться

противоречить, соответствовать

ЧЕТЫРЕ ИЛИ БОЛЕЕ СЛОГОВ

Длинные существительные, прилагательные, глаголы и наречия обычно имеют два ударения: главное и второстепенное ударение. Но есть некоторые длинные слова только с одним ударением. В длинных словах четыре модели ударения.

Только одно ударение: на первом слоге

Существительные:

точность, утончённость

Прилагательные:

интересный

Только одно ударение: на втором слоге

Существительные:

нетерпимость, геометрия, Америка

простота, мобильность, телепатия

аккомпанемент

Прилагательные:

значительный, таинственный, традиционный

невыносимый, неразумный, печально известный

Глаголы:

сопровождать

Два ударения: на первом и третьем слоге

Это очень распространённая модель ударения в длинных словах в английском языке.

Существительные:

экономика, информация

конституция, повторение

колонизация, умножение

Прилагательные:

академический, геометрический

международный, космополитический

капиталистический, разговорный

покровительственный

Два ударения: на втором и четвертом слоге

Существительные:

рассмотрение

расследование

продолжение

Прилагательные:

экспериментальный

непонятный / непостижимый

Глаголы:

идентифицировать, усиливать

опьянять, накапливать

превращать в источник прибыли, извиняться.

Wondering how to teach English pronunciation more effectively? Here are definitions, examples, techniques and activity ideas for the classroom that may boost your lessons and help your learners be more successful!

Word stress is the emphasis we place in a specific syllable of a word when pronouncing it. In English words that have more than one syllable, we usually don’t pronounce every syllable with the same weight, so each syllable in a word can be stressed or unstressed.

Stressed syllables are louder than the others — i.e. air comes out of our lungs with more power; but they might also be longer, or pronounced with higher or lower in pitch. Syllables that are not pronounced with such emphasis are usually referred to as unstressed syllables, and they are usually not pronounced as clearly as the others.

Some longer words may have more than one ‘strong syllables’, but one of them tends to stand out more than the other. They are referred to as primary and secondary stress, the former being the strongest.

Stress is usually represented in the phonemic chart and transcription by the symbol /ˈ/ placed before the stresses syllable. In words that have secondary stress, we include the symbol /ˌ/ before the appropriate syllable (e.g. everybody: /ˈev.riˌbɒd.i/).

Unlike sentence stress, that frequently changes position according to the speakers’ intention, word stress tends to be fairly invariable. As a result, even when we want to emphasise a word over all others in an utterance, we tend to stick to the usual word stress pattern, making the stressed syllable even longer, louder or more high-pitched.

Because of this relative invariability, mistakes in word stress may lead to more problems with intelligibility than other errors related to pronunciation, so it is crucial that students are made aware of how the word is usually pronounced. Luckily, the same regularity makes stress patterns fairly easy to teach, and it helps students recognise words with less effort.

Next time you’re teaching, consider using the tips below to include work on word stress in your lessons.

1) Draw students’ attention to word stress whenever you teach them a new word

Even though the English language does show some identifiable patterns and ‘rules’ when it comes to word stress, they tend to be rather abstract and might confuse rather than enlighten students. You may increase chances of internalisation of accurate pronunciation, however, if you deal with word stress as an essential characteristic of the new word when teaching it, just like meaning and spelling, for example.

Some patterns may be easier for students to cope with.

2) Make word stress visible

Not only can visual reference can be quite helpful to clarify the pronunciation of words, but it can also provide students with a model they can use to systematise or organise new vocabulary they learn in a more autonomous way.

Here are some examples of how you to illustrate word stress.

3) Correct mistakes in word stress often.

Given its generally invariable character, misplacing word stress may affect intelligibility (arguably, more so than mispronunciation of individual sounds in a word). Therefore, it is of really important that learners be not only taught, but also corrected when they misplace word stress.

Some useful techniques to correct mistakes related to word stress are:

• Use one of the ways of recording stress above to draw students’ attention to the stress pattern and ask them to try it again.

• Use different fingers to mark each syllable and point at the one that corresponds to the stressed one.

• Say that the pronunciation of the word isn’t accurate and give the learner a second chance to get it right.

• Tap on a surface or clap your hands in a way that illustrates the stress pattern (alternating stronger and weaker sounds).

• Use drawings or different-sized objects to illustrate the appropriate stress patterns and ask the learner to try to produce it again.

4) Use playful activities to teach or practice pronunciation

Regardless of the age of the learner, activities that involve an element of fun can help lower learners’ affective filter, or anxiety levels, and increase opportunities for internatlisation.

The domino game below was designed for a vocabulary lesson in which pre-intermediate learners are being exposed to new lexis to describe professions and revisiting some occupations they already know.

Stage 1 — Lead-in

Students get in pairs and brainstorm jobs that are common now that weren’t common in the past.

Stage 2 — Language presentation and clarification

Meaning: Students analyse statements with the new lexis and match the highlighted words to definitions.

Example:

«I’m an intern now, but I want to keep working here after I graduate from Uni.

Definition: someone who is finishing their training for a job by getting practical experience.

Teacher than asks some CCQs to check students’ understanding.

Pronunciation: Teacher distributes dominoes and ask students to try to get rid of their pieces just as they would when playing regular dominoes. Instead of numbers, however, they are to match words with similar stress patterns.

Stages 3 and 4 — After this stage, students take part in controlled and less-controlled practice.

CLICK HERE to download a free PDF version of the domino.

CLICK HERE to donwload a blank PDF version of the domino, so you can use it in your lessons on any topic.

I hope this post has been useful to you! Let us know how you teach word stress and if you tried sny new things after reading this.

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See you next time!