Word stress is always on a syllable

In our previous post, we shared 12 great tips to help you improve your English pronunciation.  For tip number nine, Understanding Word Stress & Sentence Stress, we explained the importance of word stress rules for communicating effectively in English. In this post, we delve a little deeper into the subject.

What is Word Stress?

The stress placed on syllables within words is called word stress. In one word, we place emphasis on one syllable, while the other syllables are given less emphasis.

English words only have one stressed syllable. Whilst longer words can have a secondary stress, it is always a much lighter stress. It is also worth noting that we stress vowel sounds and not consonants.

In English we have variable stress where the position of the stress is unpredictable. This contrasts with some other languages – like Polish or Finnish – that have fixed stress where the stress on virtually any multi-syllable word falls on a particular syllable. Learn more here.

Where you place stress or emphasis within a word can affect the way in which it is pronounced and therefore its meaning. As a result, knowing which syllable within a word should be emphasised or stressed is very important for correct pronunciation. The reason for this is that placing stress on the wrong syllable within a word can completely change the meaning of a word.

Understanding The Importance of Word Stress

So, understanding the importance of word stress is vital if you want to improve your English pronunciation and speak English like a native English.

But if word stress is so important, exactly what are the rules that we need to follow?

As with so many aspects of the English language, there are many rules to learn. Then, to make things even more tricky, there are also many contradictions or exceptions to those rules. This can make learning English more challenging for some students.

To help you out, we have compiled some simple guidelines for learning the rules of word stress.  We don’t cover all aspects of English word stress rules but the points  we have mentioned will certainly get you started.

English Word Stress Rules

1. Word Stress For Two-Syllable Words

Two-Syllable Nouns

If the word is a two-syllable noun, we usually place the stress on the FIRST syllable.

Example: MONkey, TEAcher, DIStance, INsect, TAble,

Two-Syllable Adjectives

If the word is a two-syllable adjective,  as with two-syllable nouns, we usually place the stress on the FIRST syllable.

Examples: SIlent, BORing, LIttle, PURple, STUpid, CLEver, FRIEndly

Two Syllable Verbs

Conversely, if the word is a two-syllable verb we generally stress the SECOND syllable.

Examples: beGIN, surVIVE, aTTEND, coLLECT, preVENT

See more examples of verbs where the second syllable is stressed.

Two Syllable Prepositions

The SECOND syllable is also stressed if the word is a preposition.

Examples: aROUND, beFORE, beLOW, inSIDE, toWARDS (See more examples of prepositions with stress on second syllable)

2. Word Stress For Words That Are Both Nouns & Verbs

When a word can be both a noun and a verb, we stress the FIRST syllable for the noun and the SECOND syllable for the verb.

Examples:

1) The violent CONflict between the couple conFLICTS with their pacifistic beliefs.

2) The PREsents he preSENTS his wife never fail to disappoint her.

3) They will no doubt disCOUNT my suggestion for DIScounts on Chinese courses for the elderly.

Click here for some good examples with audio included:

As mentioned, there are always exceptions to the rules. That said, it’s fairly accurate to say that only around 20% of two-syllable words have their stress on the second syllable.

3. Word Stress For Words Ending in ‘er’ & ‘ly’.

If a word ends in either ‘er’ or ‘ly’, whether it’s a noun, an adjective or an adverb, the general rules is that the stress is placed on the first syllable.

Example:

ANgrily, PERfectly, SUddenly, HAppily,

FOReigner, GARdener, BARtender, MANager

BIgger, BEtter, FAtter

4. Words That Use The Suffix ade, ee, ese, ique, ette & oon

Stress the actual suffix of words (including the first consonant before the suffix) ending in -ade, -ee, -ese, -ique and -ette and -oon

Examples:

deCADE, inVADE,

ampuTEE, guaranTEE, aGREE,

ChiNESE, oBESE, legaLESE,

vinaigRETTE, kitcheNETTE, laundeRETTE,

anTIQUE, obLIQUE,

carTOON, baBOON

5. Simple Word Stress Rules For Suffixes

The rule changes for words with a number of other suffixes such as -ery, -ian, -ible, -able, i-al, -cian, -ic, -ish, -ics, -ion, -ious, -ia, and -ient. Instead of placing the emphasis on the actual suffix as illustrated in the examples above, we stress the syllable just before the suffix.

Examples:

-ery: CELery, SURgery, reCOVery
-ian: boHEMian, coMEdian, ciVILian, beauTICian
-ible: AUDible, adMISSible, SENSible
-able: aDAPTable, SUITable, CHANGEable
-ial: fiNANcial, artiFICial, oFFICial
-cian: maGIcian, opTIcian, beauTIcian
-ic: BAsic, draMAtic, characteRIStic
-ish: GARish, ENglish, unSELfish
-ics: dyNAMics, aeRObics, hypNOtics
-ion: VERsion, classifiCAtion, CAUtion
-ious: harMONious, PREvious, VARious, FURious
-ia: TRIVia, maLARia, multiMEdia
-ient: ANcient, NUtrient, suFICient
-osis: thromBOsis, psyCHOsis, osMOsis

A good way to remember some of the suffixes above is to use the rule for nearly all suffixes that start with an ‘i’ or a ‘u’. For example, the suffixes -ion, -ual, -uous, -ial, -ient, -ious, -iuor, ior, -ic, -ity.

Notice again  how we stress the syllable immediately before the suffix in the following examples:

diVERsion,

unUSual,

conTINuous,

amBIGuous,

FATuous,

SPAtial,

TRANSient,

LUSCious,

suPERior,

behaviour,

JUNior,

STOic,

linGUIStic,

photoGRAPHic

Note, some exceptions to this rule include words ending in -ism, -ist and -ize.

English Word Stress Videos




How Dictionaries Help With Word Stress

If you are unsure about where to place the stress in a word, you can always refer to an English dictionary.  All good dictionaries give the phonetic spelling of a word.

You can learn which syllable of a word is stressed by looking at the phonetic spelling. The stressed syllable is commonly shown with an apostrophe (‘) just before or just after the stressed syllable.

Unfortunately, dictionary creators never agreed on one system so you should refer to your dictionary’s (how to use this dictionary) notes to see which system they use.

Here’s an example from my dictionary that shows which syllable to stress by placing the apostrophe immediately BEFORE the stressed syllable:

photograph | ‘fəʊtəɡrɑːf

photographic | ˌfəʊtə’ɡrafɪk 

Using the system of capitalising the stressed syllable as in all of my examples above, these two dictionary examples look like this:

PHOtograph

photGRAPHic

Learn Word Stress With Practise & Experience

As previously mentioned, the list of rules above is by no means complete. However, it does explain where to place the primary emphasis on numerous English words.

If the thoughts of learning all these rules is overwhelming, do not be too discouraged.  Many English learners naturally assimilate to word stress rules simply by listening and practicing the language.

Probably the best way to learn is from experience.  Try to get a feel for the music of the language by listening carefully to spoken English.

Of course, if you would like some extra assistance with your English speaking skills, contact us to find out more about our English courses in Hong Kong.

Here’s a brief overview of our English courses. Click the image for more details.

English Syllables and Stress Patterns

Syllables and stress are two of the main areas of spoken language. Pronouncing words with the stress on the correct syllables will help you improve your spoken English, make your sentences easier to understand and help you sound more like a native speaker.

English syllables are stress-timed. English is classed as a ‘stress-based’ language, which means the meanings of words can be altered significantly by a change in word stress and sentence stress. This is why it is important to learn how to use word stress in English and develop an understanding of sentence stress and English stress patterns.

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Syllables

The English language is heavily stressed with each word divided into syllables. Here are some examples of English words with different numbers of syllables. These sets of words are followed by a series of examples using the correct stress placement:

Words with one syllable 

The, cold, quite, bed, add, start, hope, clean, trade, green, chair, cat, sign, pea, wish, drive, plant, square, give, wait, law, off, hear, trough, eat, rough, trout, shine, watch, for, out, catch, flight, rain, speech, crab, lion, knot, fixed, slope, reach, trade, light, moon, wash, trend, balm, walk, sew, joke, tribe, brooch

Words with two syllables

Party, special, today, quiet, orange, partner, table, demand, power, retrieve, doctor, engine, diet, transcribe, contain, cabbage, mountain, humour, defend, spatial, special, greedy, exchange, manage, carpet, although, trophy, insist, tremble, balloon, healthy, shower, verbal, business, mortgage, fashion, hover, butcher, magic, broken

Words with three syllables

Fantastic, energy, expensive, wonderful, laughable, badminton, idiot, celery, beautiful, aggression, computer, journalist, horrify, gravity, temptation, dieting, trampoline, industry, financial, distinguished, however, tremendous, justify, inflation, creation, injustice, energise, glittering, tangible, mentalise, laughable, dialect, crustacean, origin

Words with four syllables

Understanding, indecisive, conversation, realistic, moisturising, American, psychology, gregarious, independence, affordable, memorandum, controversial, superior, gymnasium, entrepreneur, traditional, transformation, remembering, establishment, vegetation, affectionate, acupuncture, invertebrate

Words with five syllables

Organisation, uncontrollable, inspirational, misunderstanding, conversational, opinionated, biological, subordination, determination, sensationalist, refrigerator, haberdashery, hospitality, conservatory, procrastination, disobedience, electrifying, consideration, apologetic, particularly, compartmentalise, hypochondria

Words with six syllables

Responsibility, idiosyncratic, discriminatory, invisibility, capitalisation, extraterrestrial, reliability, autobiography, unimaginable, characteristically, superiority, antibacterial, disciplinarian, environmentalist, materialism, biodiversity, criminalisation, imaginatively, disobediently

Words with seven syllables

Industrialisation, multiculturalism, interdisciplinary, radioactivity, unidentifiable, environmentalism, individuality, vegetarianism, unsatisfactorily, electrocardiogram

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English Stress Patterns

When thinking about syllables and stress in English, usually we find that one syllable of a word is stressed more than the others. There are always one or more stressed syllables within a word and this special stress placement helps words and sentences develop their own rhythm.

Syllables and stress patterns in English help to create the sounds, pronunciations and rhythms that we hear all around us.

Word Stress in English

We come to recognise these English syllables and stress patterns in conversations in real life interactions and on the radio and television. Using the correct stressed syllables within a word is an important part of speech and understanding.

Pronouncing words with the right word stress will make your language sound more natural to native speakers. Here are some words from the previous lists with the stressed syllable in bold:

Two syllable words stress patterns:

Quiet, party, special, today, orange, partner, table, demand, power, retrieve, engine,  diet, greedy, exchange, manage, carpet, although, relax, comfort

Three syllable words stress patterns:

Fantastic, energy, expensive, aggresion, wonderful, laughable, badminton, celery, temptation, trampoline,  industry, dintinguished, financial, however, tremendous, library

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Four syllable words stress patterns:

Understanding, indecisive, conversation, realistic, moisturising, American, psychology, independence, entrepreneur, transformation, fascinating, comfortable

Five syllable words stress patterns:

Uncontrollable, inspirational, misunderstanding, conversational, opinionated, biological, alphabetical, subordination, refrigerator, haberdashery, hospitality

Six syllable words stress patterns:

Responsibility, idiosyncratic, invisibility, capitalisation, discriminatory or discriminatory, antibacterial, superiority, autobiography, materialism, biodiversity, criminalisation, imaginatively,

Seven syllable words stress patterns:

Industrialisation, multiculturalism, interdisciplinary, radioactivity, unidentifiable, environmentalism, individuality, vegetarianism, unsatisfactorily, electrocardiogram

Syllables and Stress Patterns in English Speech

Using clear syllables and stress patterns is an important part of speech. The correct word stress in English is crucial for understanding a word quickly and accurately.

Even if you cannot hear a word well and are not familiar with the context, you can often still work out what the word is, simply from listening to which syllable is stressed.

In the same way, if a learner pronounces a word differently from the accepted norm, it can be hard for a native speaker to understand the word. The word or sentence might be grammatically correct, but if they have used the wrong (or an unexpected) stress pattern or the wrong stressed syllables, it could make it unintelligible to a native.

Learning a language is all about communication and being able to make yourself understood. This is why syllables and stress patterns in spoken English are so important.
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English Word Stress Rules

Here are some general rules about word stress in English:

• Only vowel sounds are stressed (a,e,i,o,u).

• A general rule is that for two syllable words, nouns and adjectives have the stress on the first syllable, but verbs have the stress on the second syllable.

For example: table (noun), special (adjective), demand (verb).

• Words ending in ‘ic’, ‘tion’ or ‘sion’ always place their stress on the penultimate (second to last) syllable. (e.g. supersonic, Atlantic, dedication, attention, transformation, comprehension).

• Words ending in ‘cy’, ‘ty’, ‘gy’ and ‘al’ always place their stress on the third from last syllable. (e.g. accountancy, sincerity, chronology, inspirational, hypothetical).

• Words ending in ‘sm’ with 3 or fewer syllables have their stress on the first syllable (e.g. prism, schism, autism, botulism, sarcasm) unless they are extensions of a stem word. This is often the case with words ending ‘ism’.

• Words ending in ‘ism’ tend to follow the stress rule for the stem word with the ‘ism’ tagged onto the end (e.g. cannibal = cannibalism, expression = expressionism, feminist = feminism, opportunist = opportunism).

• Words ending in ‘sm’ with 4 or more syllables tend to have their stress on the second syllable (e.g. enthusiasm, metabolism).

Words ending in ‘ous’

• Words ending in ‘ous’ with 2 syllables have their stress on the first syllable (e.g. monstrous, pious, anxious, pompous, zealous, conscious, famous, gracious, gorgeous, jealous, joyous).

• English words ending in ‘ous’ with 4 syllables usually have their stress on the second syllable (e.g. gregarious, anonymous, superfluous, androgynous, carnivorous, tempestuous, luxurious, hilarious, continuous, conspicuous). There are some exceptions using different stressed syllables, such as sacrilegious, which stresses the 3rd syllable.

Words ending in ‘ous’ with 3 or more syllables do not always follow a set stress pattern. Here are some common English words with 3 syllables ending in ‘ous’ and their stress placement:

Words ending in ‘ous’ with stress on first syllable

fabulous, frivolous, glamorous, calculus, dubious, envious, scandalous, serious, tenuous, chivalrous, dangerous, furious

Words ending in ‘ous’ with stress on second syllable

enormous, audacious, facetious, disastrous, ficticious, horrendous, contagious, ambitious, courageous

Stress can changing the meaning of a word

Remember, where we place the stress in English can change the meaning of a word. This can lead to some funny misunderstandings – and some frustrating conversations!

Words that have the same spelling but a different pronunciation and meaning are called heteronyms. Here are a few examples of words where the stressed syllable changes the meaning of the word:

• Object

The word ‘object’ is an example of an English word that can change meaning depending on which syllable is stressed. When the word is pronounced ‘object’ (with a stress on the first syllable) the word is a noun meaning an ‘item’, ‘purpose’ or ‘person/thing that is the focus’ of a sentence.

For example:

• • She handed the lady a rectangular object made of metal
  • He was the object of the dog’s affection
  • The ring was an object of high value
  • The object of the interview was to find the best candidate for the job
  • The object was small and shiny – it could have been a diamond ring!

But if the same word is pronounced ‘object‘ (with the stress on the second syllable) the word is now a verb, meaning ‘to disagree with’ something or someone.

For example:

• • They object to his constant lateness
  • The man objected to the size of his neighbour’s new conservatory
  • She strongly objects to being called a liar
  • We object to the buildings being demolished
  • No one objected to the proposal for more traffic lights

• Present

When the word ‘present’ is pronounced ‘present’ (with the stress on the first syllable) the word is a noun meaning ‘a gift’ or an adjective meaning ‘here / not absent’.

For example:

• • She handed him a beautifully wrapped present
  • The book was a present from their grandparents
  • Everyone was present at the meeting

But when the word is pronounced ‘present’ (with the stress on the second syllable) the word is now a verb meaning ‘to introduce’ something or someone, ‘to show’ or ‘to bring to one’s attention’. It can also be used when talking about presenting a TV or radio show (i.e. to be a ‘presenter’).

For example:

• • May I present Charlotte Smith, our new store manager
  • Bruce Forsyth used to present ‘Strictly Come Dancing’
  • I’d like to present my research on the breeding habits of frogs
  • They presented the glittering trophy to the winner
  • She was presented with the Oscar
  • This new situation presents a problem

• Project

Another example of an English word changing meaning depending on where you place the stress is the word ‘project’. This can be the noun when the stressed syllable is at the start – ‘project’ (a task).

For example:

• • They started work on the research project immediately
  • She looked forward to her next project – repainting the house
  • He enjoyed writing restaurant reviews – it was his current passion project

However, this word becomes a verb when the stressed syllables moves to the end – ‘to project‘ (to throw/launch, to protrude, to cause an image to appear on a surface, or to come across/make an impression).

For example:

• • The object was projected into the air at high velocity
  • The film will be projected onto the screen
  • The chimney projects 3 metres from the roof
  • She always projects herself with confidence

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Stress patterns in compound words 

Compound words are single words made up of two distinct parts. They are sometimes hyphenated. Here are examples of stress patterns in compound words in English:

• Compound nouns have the stress on the first part: e.g. sugarcane, beetroot, henhouse, tripwire, lighthouse, newspaper, porthole, roundabout, willpower

• Compound adjectives and verbs have the stress on the second part:
  e.g. wholehearted, green-fingered, old-fashioned, to understand, to inform, to short-change, to overtake

English sentence stress 

Once you understand word stress in English, you need to think about sentence stress. This means deciding which words to stress as part of the sentence as a whole. Stressed syllables can create a distinctive, rhythmic pattern within a sentence. This is how English stress patterns are related to the rhythm of English and help create the ‘music’ of a language.

English speakers tend to put stress on the most important words in a sentence in order to draw the listener’s attention to them. The most important words are the words that are necessary for the meaning of the sentence. Sentence stress is just as important as word stress for clarity. For example:

‘The cat sat on the mat while eating its favourite food’

The most important words here are: ‘cat’, ‘mat’, ‘eating’ and ‘food’. Even if you only hear those words, you would still be able to understand what is happening in the sentence simply from hearing which words are stressed.

Clearly, it is the nouns and verbs that are the most important parts of the sentence, as these are the ‘content words’ that help with meaning. Content words are usually stressed.

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The adjectives, adverbs and conjunctions all add flavour to the sentence, but they are not absolutely necessary to understand the meaning. These ‘helper’ words are usually unstressed.

In our example sentence: ‘The cat sat on the mat while eating its favourite food’, we have already used the word ‘cat’ so we do not need to emphasise the word ‘its’ (or ‘he/she’ if you want to give the cat a gender), because we already know who is eating the food (i.e. the cat).

English word stress within a sentence

Stress patterns affect words and sentences in English.

The stress on a word (the word stress) is the emphasis placed on that word. In the sentence below, “I never said he ate your chocolate”, the stressed word will change the meaning or implication of the sentence:

Stressing the first word ‘I’ implies that I (the speaker) never said it. It might be true or it might not be true – the point is, I never said it – someone else did.

Stressing the second word ‘never’ emphasises that I never said it. There was never an occasion when I said it (whether it is true or not).

Stressing the third word ‘said’ means that I never said it. He might have eaten your chocolate, but I didn’t say it. I might have thought it, but I never said it out loud (I may only have implied it).

Stressing the fourth word ‘he’ means I didn’t say it was him that ate your chocolate, only that someone did.

Stressing the fifth word ‘ate’ means I didn’t say he had eaten it. Perhaps he took it and threw it away or did something else with it.

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Stressing the sixth word ‘your’ means it wasn’t your chocolate he ate –  it could have been someone else’s chocolate.

Stressing the seventh word ‘chocolate’ emphases that it was not your chocolate he ate – he ate something else belonging to you.

So the sentence stress in English makes all the difference to the meaning of the whole sentence. The stressed word in the sentence is the one we should pay the most attention to.

Stress placement affects the whole understanding of the English language. This issue is strongly related to the rhythm of English. Getting the right word stress, sentence stress and rhythm leads to the perfect communication of your intended message.

Stressed Vowel Sounds and Weak Vowels in English

The necessary words in an English sentence are stressed more by increasing the length and clarity of the vowel sound.

In contrast, the unnecessary words are stressed less by using a shorter and less clear vowel sound. This is called a ‘weak’ vowel sound.

In fact, sometimes the vowel sound is almost inaudible. For example, the letter ‘a’ in English is often reduced to a muffled ‘uh’ sound. Grammarians call this a ‘shwa’ or /ə/.

You can hear this ‘weak’ vowel sound at the start of the words ‘about’ and ‘attack’ and at the end of the word ‘banana’. They can sound like ‘ubout’, ‘uttack’ and ‘bananuh’ when spoken by a native English speaker. The article ‘a’ as a single word is also unstressed and reduced in this way to a weak ‘uh’ sound.

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For example: ‘Is there a shop nearby?’ sounds like ‘Is there-uh shop nearby?’ This shwa can also be heard in other instances, such as in the word ‘and’ when it is used in a sentence. For example: ‘This book is for me and you’ can sound sound like ‘This book is for me un(d) you’.

The reason for this weak stress pattern in English is to help the rhythm and speed of speech. Using this weak ‘uh’ sound for the vowel ‘a’ helps the speaker get ready for the next stressed syllable by keeping the mouth and lips in a neutral position.

To pronounce the ‘a’ more clearly would require a greater opening of the mouth, which would slow the speaker down.

As English is a stress-timed language, the regular stresses are vital for the rhythm of the language, so the vowel sounds of unstressed words in English often get ‘lost’.

In contrast, syllable-timed languages (such as Spanish) tend to work in the opposite way, stressing the vowel sounds strongly, while the consonants get ‘lost’.

Click on the highlighted text to learn more about how English word stress and sentence stress relates to the rhythm of English and intonation in English.

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What do you think about syllables and stress in English?

Do you find the syllables and stress patterns a difficult part of learning a new language?

Have you had any funny misunderstandings from stressing the wrong syllable in English? We’d love to hear your stories!

Are there any English words or sentences with odd stressed syllables or difficult stress patterns that you would like advice on?

Can you think of good way to remember or practise correct English word stress and sentence stress?

Do you have any ideas to help EFL students improve their understanding of syllables and stress?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments box.

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• #1

As we all know stress in Russian is put on different syllables in different words, so it differs from, for example, French (in which stress is always put on the last syllable, right?).

I assume then that when i learn a new russian word I have to remember not only it’s ortography and meaning but also it’s pronounciation including stress

which always stays on the same syllable

and it never changes no matter what sentence (a question, a statement etc.) a word is put in. Am I right?

I ask this question because i know that the same sentence might be read as a question or a statement depending on it’s pronounciation. Doesn’t the pronounciation of a sentence collide with the stress of a word?

• #2

A non-native attempt: Yes and no.
Yes: Type of sentences (questions, affirmative sentences etc.) — irrelevant for the position of stress.
No: Declensions and conjugations — stress often travels.

• #3

slowik

What about stresses in Polish? I used to think you have similar stressing rules. As far as I know, there are very few tongues in the world that use uniform stressing — French (on last sillable), Latvian (on first sillable), …know any more?

• #4

slowik

What about stresses in Polish? I used to think you have similar stressing rules. As far as I know, there are very few tongues in the world that use uniform stressing — French (on last sillable), Latvian (on first sillable), …know any more?

Polish — penultimate syllable
Czech — first syllable

• #5

Jana337
Hmm…very interesting. I had never notice that before.

Indeed, stress in Russain language can be placed on any syllable. This should be a problem for a learner. Even native speakers often put stress on a wrong syllable in difficult words. For some words two different variants of stressing might be equally correct. Russian language allows only one main stress per word. Some nouns have fixed stress, which is not affected by declensions; others have mobile stresses.
Fixed: Картин-а (a painting) — видел картин-у— нет картин-ы — на картин-е — нет картин (plural), etc.
Mobile: голова (a head) — без голов-ы — видел голов-у — на голов-е — нет голов (plural)
However, althought foreigners often stress words incorrectly, that doesn’t prevent then from being well understood. A wrong stress doesn’t make a word unclear.

• #6

In Russian language, the stress is most often found inside the root or suffix of the word. So learning to recognize the suffixes and roots of Russian words would help you tremendously in recognizing the pattern of where to place the stress. Also, as a rule of thumb, I’d look for the stress somewhere in the middle of the word.

• #7

In Russian language, the stress is most often found inside the root or suffix of the word. So learning to recognize the suffixes and roots of Russian words would help you tremendously in recognizing the pattern of where to place the stress. Also, as a rule of thumb, I’d look for the stress somewhere in the middle of the word.

Unfortunately, your advices don’t work. Just few examples:город (city, town), but город—ами … гор—а(mountain) — гор-к-а (small mountain) — гор-ный (adj. mountain) …. колбаса (sausage) … балoвcтвo …

• #8

…..I ask this question because i know that the same sentence might be read as a question or a statement depending on it’s pronounciation. Doesn’t the pronounciation of a sentence collide with the stress of a word?

Indeed, you can make the same sentence a question by means of intonations.

Ты знаешь правду. (You know the truth) — all neutral

Ты знаешь правду? (Do you know the truth?)

Stress of a word is never affected.

• #9

Unfortunately, your advices don’t work. Just few examples:город (city, town), but город—ами … гор—а(mountain) — гор-к-а (small mountain) — гор-ный (adj. mountain) …. колбаса (sausage) … балoвcтвo …

Well it does work in many cases. Even in your examples, a lot of stresses fall into the root (гор) of the word.

Many suffixes draw the stress when added to a word. Take the adjective suffixes -ив, -лив, -оват, for example. These suffixes, and many more, always draw the stress away from the root in adjectives:
милость — милостивый
счастье — счастливый
белый — беловатый

Other suffixes do not draw the stress. For example, -ий, -ый, -еньк. In these cases, the stress does not shift to the suffix, but stays with the root:

помещик — помещичий
дешёвый — дешёвенький

Some suffixes have several vowels (e.g. -оват, -еват),
but in such cases, the stress would always fall on a:

белый — беловатый
синий — cиневатый

That’s why I am saying it could be helpful to recognize the suffixes and roots to determine where to put the stress.

And the reason I said to look for the middle of the words to find a stress is because that’s where most often the suffixes and roots are located. The stress does not usually fall on the prefixes. The endings could draw the stress (like in your горами example), but I still think knowing suffixes and roots of the words is the key to identifying where the stress should be placed.

• #10

Well it does work in many cases. Even in your examples, a lot of stresses fall into the root (гор) of the word.

Many suffixes draw the stress when added to a word. Take the adjective suffixes -ив, -лив, -оват, for example. These suffixes, and many more, always draw the stress away from the root in adjectives:
милость — милост

и

вый
счастье — счастливый
белый — беловатый
.

This rule is quite not universal (even one of your examples — милостивый — doesn’t work, and another one — счастливый — allows 2 stresses).
Besides:
кор

ы

стливый
кор

о

бчатый
бахр

о

мчатый
заб

о

тливый
надо

е

дливый
вд

у

мчивый
etc, etc…

• #11

Well it does work in many cases. Even in your examples, a lot of stresses fall into the root (гор) of the word.

Sure, the root might be stressed… or might be not. Stresses either might be fixed or might migrate. We can’t say «a stress always fall into the root, but there are some exceptions», right? In fact, a stress in Russian is somewhat unpredictable.

By the way,

as I mentioned above, Russian words always have one main stress. At the same time, complex words have several roots, agree? So which one a learner should look for?
Examples: сок (juice) + выжимать (press) = соковыжималка
(juicer)

• #12

Indeed, stress in Russain language can be placed on any syllable. This should be a problem for a learner. Even native speakers often put stress on a wrong syllable in difficult words. For some words two different variants of stressing might be equally correct. Russian language allows only one main stress per word. Some nouns have fixed stress, which is not affected by declensions; others have mobile stresses.
Fixed: Картин-а (a painting) — видел картин-у— нет картин-ы — на картин-е — нет картин (plural), etc.
Mobile: голова (a head) — без голов-ы — видел голов-у — на голов-е — нет голов (plural)

On another forum that I occasionally read, someone once wrote that Repin’s famous painting could be titled «Cossacks devising the stress rules of Russian and Ukrainian.»

However, althought foreigners often stress words incorrectly, that doesn’t prevent then from being well understood. A wrong stress doesn’t make a word unclear.

In Croatian, whose stress rules are also described by learners as nightmarish, wrong stress usually won’t make your words unclear, but it would still make you sound very bad. As a native speaker, I would say that wrong stress can actually sound worse than grammatical mistakes such as getting the cases or conjugations wrong. I wonder if that’s also the case in Russian?

Also, is there any great difference between stress in different dialects of Russian? In Croatia, there are large differences between dialects in this regard, although most native speakers have an ear for the difference between a dialectal stress different from the standard and a just plain wrong stress.

• #13

I would say that wrong stress can actually sound worse than grammatical mistakes such as getting the cases or conjugations wrong. I wonder if that’s also the case in Russian?

I guess each native would answer differently. As for me, wrong case is worse than wrong strees.

Also, is there any great difference between stress in different dialects of Russian?

Actually modern Russian is not divided in dialects, however there are 2 patoises (говоры): North and South (this is besides the literary language, based on the Moscow patois). They differ in phonetics and even a bit in grammar, but the stress place is one the same in both of them. However, its power is different.
For example, in the North patois there is such a phenomenon as оканье, i.e. pronouncing unstressed sounds «o» (in the standard Russian pronounced as «a»).
This leads to weaking of the main stress, and pronouncing other syllables with higher tension. This results in apparently different stress.

• #14

Thank you all guys, as always you’re all very helpful.

And Russian is so, so difficult! It’s a great thing that I can ask questions about this language here.

• #15

The discussion about Georgian is now here.

• #16

Upon my browsing through the above mentioned textbook, I shoud correct myself. Sometimes, a stressing does change the sense of a word (fortunately, not that often).

Here are some samples:
атлас — a collection of geographical maps /атлас — a satin fabric
замок — a castle / замок — a lock
мука — a flour/ мука — a torment
орган — an organ / орган — key wind musical instrument (usually located in a church)

• #17

As a native speaker, I would say that wrong stress can actually sound worse than grammatical mistakes such as getting the cases or conjugations wrong. I wonder if that’s also the case in Russian?

For me, wrong stresses are as bad as grammatical mistakes.

Also, is there any great difference between stress in different dialects of Russian? In Croatia, there are large differences between dialects in this regard, although most native speakers have an ear for the difference between a dialectal stress different from the standard and a just plain wrong stress.

I remember reading a story (it was called an «anecdote», but I failed to find anything amusing in it) about a girl from Northern Russia who came to Moscow on holiday and decided to buy an ice-cream. What betrayed her as a person from the North was that she said, for example, пломбир and одну. But I’m not sure the story wasn’t invented by the author.

• #18

Upon my browsing through the above mentioned textbook, I shoud correct myself. Sometimes, a stressing does change the sense of a word (fortunately, not that often).

Here are some samples:
атлас — a collection of geographical maps /атлас — a satin fabric
замок — a castle / замок — a lock
мука — a flour/ мука — a torment
орган — an organ / орган — key wind musical instrument (usually located in a church)

And to make things even more difficult, for some nouns, the only difference between certain cases is in the stress, e.g. места vs. места. (Croatian is even worse in this regard — for some nouns, there exist three different stress patterns that correspond to three different cases!)

Personally, I find it extremely difficult to memorize such declensions by shifting stress, let alone develop any intuition for using them. They’re certainly far harder than the «ordinary» declensions based on suffixes.

• #19

Are the stresses the same in Ukrainian and Belarusian?

Are there many exceptions to the rule in Polish about stressing penultimate syllables?

Because I know that Spanish also stresses the penultimate syllable but there are many exceptions, luckily a stress mark is added for those that break the rule

• #20

And to make things even more difficult, for some nouns, the only difference between certain cases is in the stress, e.g. места vs. места. (Croatian is even worse in this regard — for some nouns, there exist three different stress patterns that correspond to three different cases!)

Uh-oh, I’ve forgotten about these. Really and truly, It’s better not to dig into details. Otherwise, at one day I might find it too difficult to speak Russian for myself.

Some verbs are also stress-managable. For example: Я познаю — I’ll learn…. Я познаю — I am learning…

• #21

Many suffixes draw the stress when added to a word. Take the adjective suffixes -ив, -лив, -оват, for example. These suffixes, and many more, always draw the stress away from the root in adjectives:
милость — милостивый

Just noticed: милостивый isn’t correct. It should be stressed as МИЛОСТИВЫЙ!

• #22

Are the stresses the same in Ukrainian and Belarusian?

Are there many exceptions to the rule in Polish about stressing penultimate syllables?

Because I know that Spanish also stresses the penultimate syllable but there are many exceptions, luckily a stress mark is added for those that break the rule

There are exceptions to the Polish rule of stress on the second-last syllable. Even so, many exceptions are «regular» if you understand my drift.

The «regular» exceptions occurs when dealing with certain verbal conjugations in the past tense and conditional.

czytam = «I read» (stress on penultimate)
czytamy = «we read» (stress on penultimate)
czytałem «I read», «I was reading» (stress on penultimate)

BUT:

czytali

śmy

= «we read», «we were reading» (stress on prepentultimate)
czytał

bym

= «I would read» (stress on prepenultimate)
czytali

byśmy

= «we would read» (stress on fourth-last syllable)

These exceptions in the verbs happen because some of the personal endings used in the Polish past tense and all of them used in the conditional were originally particles that were never stressed. In contrast, the endings used in the present tense and and remaining conjugations of the past tense were endings that have been counted as syllables when placing stress. (See the first three examples.).

In colloquial speech, it is now common for the stress to always fall on the penultimate. Thus you will often hear czytaliśmy, czytałbym or czytalibyśmy. Prescriptivists frown on this tendency, but it is understandable in a way since it seems to be happening by analogy to «regular» Polish words and caused by unconsciously overlooking the unstressed characteristic of the old particles. Thus penultimate stress is being reinforced nowadays, while the exceptions are happening less frequently than before. Perhaps the language will reach a point where stress will always be on the penultimate syllable.

The «irregular» exceptions happen in a few loanwords which you need to memorize.

e.g. matematyka, muzyka.

• #23

Are the stresses the same in Ukrainian and Belarusian?

Are there many exceptions to the rule in Polish about stressing penultimate syllables?

Because I know that Spanish also stresses the penultimate syllable but there are many exceptions, luckily a stress mark is added for those that break the rule

Ukrainian and Belorussian stresses are the same like in Russian with only one exception: Belorussian prepostions are never stressed.

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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