Word stress in english presentation

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Word Stress in English

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Word Stress in English Word stress is your magic key to understanding spoken English. Native speakers of English use word stress naturally. Word stress is so natural for them that they don’t even know they use it. Non-native speakers who speak English to native speakers without using word stress, encounter two problems: They find it difficult to understand native speakers, especially those speaking fast. 2.The native speakers may find it difficult to understand them.

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Understanding Syllables
To understand word stress, it helps to understand syllables. Every word is made from syllables. Each word has one, two, three or more syllables. word number of syllables Dog 1 Green Quite Quiet Qui-et 2 Orange Or-ange Table Ta-ble Expensive Ex-pen-sive 3 Interesting In-ter-est-ing 4 realistic Re-al-is-tic unexceptional Un-ex-cep-tion-al 5 Notice that (with a few rare exceptions) every syllable contains at least one vowel (a, e, i, o or u) or vowel sound.

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What is Word Stress? In English, we do not say each syllable with the same force or strength. In one word, we accentuate ONE syllable. We say one syllable very loudly (big, strong, important) and all the other syllables very quietly. Let’s take 3 words: photograph, photographer and photographic. Do they sound the same when spoken? No. Because we accentuate (stress) ONE syllable in each word. And it is not always the same syllable. So the shape of each word is different. click word to hear shape total syllables stressed syllable PHO TO GRAPH 3 #1 PHO  TO GRAPH ER 4 #2 PHO TO  GRAPH IC #3

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This happens in ALL words with 2 or more syllables: TEACHer, JaPAN, CHINa, aBOVE, converSAtion, INteresting, imPORtant, deMAND, etCETera, etCETera, etCETera The syllables that are not stressed are ‘weak’ or ‘small’ or ‘quiet’. Native speakers of English listen for the STRESSED syllables, not the weak syllables. If you use word stress in your speech, you will instantly and automatically improve your pronunciation and your comprehension. Try to hear the stress in individual words each time you listen to English — on the radio, or in films for example. Your first step is to HEAR and recognise it. After that, you can USE it! There are two very important rules about word stress: One word, one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. So if you hear two stresses, you have heard two words, not one word.) The stress is always on a vowel.

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Why is Word Stress Important?
Word stress is not used in all languages. Some languages, Japanese or French for example, pronounce each syllable with eq-ual em-pha-sis. Other languages, English for example, use word stress. Word stress is not an optional extra that you can add to the English language if you want. It is part of the language! English speakers use word stress to communicate rapidly and accurately, even in difficult conditions. If, for example, you do not hear a word clearly, you can still understand the word because of the position of the stress. Think again about the two words photograph and photographer. Now imagine that you are speaking to somebody by telephone over a very bad line. You cannot hear clearly. In fact, you hear only the first two syllables of one of these words, photo… Which word is it, photograph or photographer? Of course, with word stress you will know immediately which word it is because in reality you will hear either PHOto… or phoTO… So without hearing the whole word, you probably know what the word is (PHOto…graph or phoTO…grapher). It’s magic! (Of course, you also have the ‘context’ of your conversation to help you.) This is a simple example of how word stress helps us understand English. There are many, many other examples, because we use word stress all the time, without thinking about it.

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Where do I Put Word Stress?
There are some rules about which syllable to stress. But…the rules are rather complicated! Probably the best way to learn is from experience. Listen carefully to spoken English and try to develop a feeling for the «music» of the language. When you learn a new word, you should also learn its stress pattern. If you keep a vocabulary book, make a note to show which syllable is stressed. If you do not know, you can look in a dictionary. All dictionaries give the phonetic spelling of a word. This is where they show which syllable is stressed, usually with an apostrophe (‘) just before or just after the stressed syllable. (The notes at the front of the dictionary will explain the system used.) Look at (and listen to) this example for the word plastic. There are 2 syllables. Syllable #1 is stressed. example phonetic spelling: dictionary A phonetic spelling: dictionary B PLAS TIC /plæs’tIk/ /’plæs tIk/

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Rules of Word Stress in English
There are two very simple rules about word stress: One word has only one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. If you hear two stresses, you hear two words. Two stresses cannot be one word. It is true that there can be a «secondary» stress in some words. But a secondary stress is much smaller than the main [primary] stress, and is only used in long words.) We can only stress vowels, not consonants. Here are some more, rather complicated, rules that can help you understand where to put the stress. But do not rely on them too much, because there are many exceptions. It is better to try to «feel» the music of the language and to add the stress naturally.

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Stress on first syllable
rule example Most 2-syllable nouns PRESent, EXport, CHIna, TAble Most 2-syllable adjectives PRESent, SLENder, CLEVer, HAPpy 2. Stress on last syllable rule example Most 2-syllable verbs to preSENT, to exPORT, to deCIDE, to beGIN There are many two-syllable words in English whose meaning and class change with a change in stress. The word present, for example is a two-syllable word. If we stress the first syllable, it is a noun (gift) or an adjective (opposite of absent). But if we stress the second syllable, it becomes a verb (to offer). More examples: the words export, import, contract and object can all be nouns or verbs depending on whether the stress is on the first or second syllable.

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Stress on penultimate syllable (penultimate = second from end)
rule example Words ending in -ic GRAPHic, geoGRAPHic, geoLOGic Words ending in -sion and -tion teleVIsion, reveLAtion For a few words, native English speakers don’t always «agree» on where to put the stress. For example, some people say teleVIsion and others say TELevision. Another example is: CONtroversy and conTROversy.

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Stress on ante-penultimate syllable
(ante-penultimate = third from end) rule example Words ending in -cy, -ty, -phy and -gy deMOcracy, dependaBIlity, phoTOgraphy, geOLogy Words ending in -al CRItical, geoLOGical 5. Compound words (words with two parts) rule example For compound nouns, the stress is on the first part BLACKbird, GREENhouse For compound adjectives, the stress is on the second part bad-TEMpered, old-FASHioned For compound verbs, the stress is on the second part to underSTAND, to overFLOW

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Word stress (WS) can be defined as the singling out of one or more syllables in a word, which is accompanied by the change of the force of utterance, pitch of the voice, qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the sound which is usually a vowel.

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the force of utterance is greater, which is connected with more energetic articulation; the pitch of the voice is higher, which is connected with stronger tenseness of the vocal cords and the walls of the resonance chamber the quantity of the vowel is greater, a vowel becomes longer; the quality of the vowel !& in the stressed syllable is different from the quality of this vowel in the unstressed position, in why it is more narrow than.

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dynamic or force stress if special prominence in a stressed syllable(syllables) is achieved mainly through the intensity of articulation; musical or tonic stress if special prominence is achieved mainly through the change of pitch, or musical tone. quantitative stress if special prominence is achieved through the changes in the quantity of the vowels, which are longer in the stressed syllables than in the unstressed ones. qualitative stress if special prominence is achieved through the changes in the quality of the vowel under stress. Vowel reduction is often used as a manipulation of quality in unstressed syllables.

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One of the ways of reinitiating the prominence of syllables is manipulating the degree of stress. There is controversy about degrees of WS in English and their terminology. Strictly speaking, polysyllabic word has as many degrees of stress as there are syllables in it. Designating strongest syllable by 1, the second strongest by 2, etc., we may represent the distribution Jesses in the following example: examination indivisibility igzemineSin indivizibiloti The majority of British phoneticians (D. Jones, Kingdon, A. C. Gimson among them) and Russian phoneticians (V. A. Vassilyev, Shakhbagova) consider that there are three degrees of word-stress in English: primary — the strongest secondary — the second strongest, partial, and weak — all the other degrees. The syllables bearing either primary or secondary stress are termed stressed, while syllables with weak stress are called, somewhat inaccurately, unstressed.

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Loud Reduced loud Medial Weak Primary Secondary Tertiary Weak

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In English and Russian word-stress is free, that is it may fall any syllable in a word; Stress in English and in Russian is not only free but also shifting. In both languages the place of stress may shift, which helps to differentiate different parts of speech, e.g. `insult—to in`sult, `import—to im`port.

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preSENT (verb) – PRESent (noun) reFER (verb) – REFerence (noun) exTRACT (verb) – EXtract (noun) inCREASE (verb) – INcrease (noun) OBject (noun) – obJECT (verb)

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1. Word stress constitutes a word, it organizes the syllables of a word Into a language unit having a definite accentual structure, that is a pattern of relationship among the syllables; a word does not exist without the word stress. Thus the word stress performs the constitutive function. Sound continuum becomes a phrase when it is divided into units organized by word stress into words.

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2. Word stress enables a person to identify a succession of syllables as a definite accentual pattern of a word. This function of word stress as known as identificatory(or recognitive). Correct accentuation helps the listener to make the process of communica tion easier, whereas the distortedaccentual pattern of words, misplaced word stresses prevent normal understanding.

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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, e.g. ‘import im’port, ‘billow below.

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Recessive. The accentual structure of English words is liable to instability due to the different origin of several layers in the Modern English word-stock. 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. It is seen in the native English words having no prefix, e.g. mother, daughter, brother, swallow; in assimilated French borrowings, e.g. reason, colour, restaurant etc. Rhythmical. The rhythm of alternating stressed and unstressed syllables gave birth to the rhythmical tendency in the present-day English which caused the appearance of the secondary stress in the multisyllabic French borrowings, e.g. revolution, organi’sation, assimilation, etc. Retentive. Was traced in the instability of the accentual structure of English word stress: a derivative often retains the stress of the original or parent word, e.g. ‘similar as’simitate, recom’mend recommen ‘dation.

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The numerous variations of English word stress are systematized in the typology of accentual structure of English words worked out by G.P. Torsuyev. He classifies them according to the number of stressed syllables, their degree or character (the main and the secondary stress). The distribution of stressed syllables within the word accentual types forms accentual structures of words. Accentual types and accentual structures are closely connected with the morphological type of words, with the number of syllables, the semantic value of the root and the prefix of the word.

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The accentual types are: 1. [‘___]. This accentual type marks both simple and compound words. The accentual structures of this type may include two and more syllables, e.g. ‘fafher, ‘possibly, ‘mother-in-law, ‘gas-pipe. 2. [ ‘_ ‘_ ]. The accentual type is commonly realized in compound words, most of them are with separable prefixes, e.g. ‘radio-‘active, ‘re’write, ‘diso’bey. 3. [ ‘_’ _ ‘_ ] and 4. [‘_’ _ ‘_ ‘_]. The accentual types are met in initial compound abbreviations e.g. ‘U’S’A, ‘U’S’S’R. 5. [‘_,___]. The type is realized both in simple and compound words, very common among compound words, e.g. ‘hair-,dresser, ‘substructure. 6. [, _’___]. The accentual type marks a great number of simple words and some compound words as well. In simple words the stresses fall onto: e.g.1. the prefix and the root: maga’zine; 2. the root and the suffix:,hospi’tality; 3. the prefix and the suffix: disorganization.

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The other five types are rare and found in small number of words. The most widely spread among the enumerated accentual types are supposed to be Type 1, Type 2, Type 5 and Type 6. The variability of the word accentual structure is multiplied in connected speech. The accentual structure of words may be altered under the influence of rhythm, e.g. An ‘unpolished ‘stone but: The ‘stone was un’polished. The tempo of speech may influence the accentual pattern of words. With the quickening of the speed the carefulness of articulation is diminished, the vowels are reduced or elided, the secondary stress may be dropped, e.g. The ‘whole organi’zation of the ‘meeting was ‘faulty.

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