Transcript Unit 8 Stressed Syllables & Unstressed Syllables

Unit 8 Stressed Syllables &
Unstressed Syllables
Word Stress and Sentence Stress
Word Stress
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1.Definition of stress :
Stress may be defined as the degree of force or loudness with which
a sound or syllable is articulated.
Stress can be classified as word stress and sentence stress.
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2.Classification of English words in phonetics :
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In phonetics , English words can be divided into three groups according to
the number of syllables contained , they are :
1) monosyllables, 2) disyllables, 3) polysyllables.
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3.Word stress:
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In every English word of two or more syllables at least one syllable should
be articulated with more force or loudness than the rest, we call this phenomenon
word stress.
4. Types of Word Stress :
It is possible to distinguish many levels of stress, but from the practical point of
view, it is sufficient to distinguish three principal kinds:
(1) Primary stress ----heavily stressed , usu. Marked with a vertical stroke
on the upper left hand corner of a syllable carrying the stress.
(2) Secondary stress ----stressed but subordinate to the primary stress , usu.
marked with a vertical stroke on the lower left hand corner of a syllable
concerned, as in |contri|bution.
(3) Double stress /even stress----Certain English words have double stress or
even stress. Double stress can be marked by a high vertical stroke before
each of the stressed syllables, as in |fif|teen, |Ber|lin.
5. Stress placement:
Every English word has a definite place for the stress and we are not allowed to
change it . If we stress the wrong syllable, it spoils the shape of the word for an
English hearer and he may have difficulty in recognizing the word . Although stress
placement in English words is very complicated , we still can find some rules to
observe:
A): General rules of stress placement for simple words :
1) For most English words of two syllables the stress usu. Falls on the first syllable.
Common, nation, open, study , sorry .
2). For words of three or more syllables the stress usually falls on the third syllable
from the end .
Universe, article, relative, democracy, economy
B): Compounds:
1) most compounds (esp. Nouns) bear primary stress on the first element.
sports-ground, bathroom; language teacher
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2) Some compounds have double stress:
paper tiger, leather shoes, cotton cloth,
boiling water;
3) A very few compounds bear primary stress on the second element:
With-out,
mankind, whatever, myself,
forever.
C): Rules for Derivatives:
1) For words of two or three syllables with one of the following prefixes,
the stress usu. falls on the second syllable .
arise ,
awake ,
complain,
detect,
compress,
destroy,
asleep,
complete;
beside,
before,
believe;
Consist, consult,
connect;
decide;
Embrace, embody, employ ;
display, discover, discuss;
Enlarge, enforce, enclose;
escape, establish , esteen;
Exclaim, excite, exclude;
imply, imprison, impress;
Incline, include, inform;
Observe, obstruct obtain;
mistake misfortune, miscarriage;
per-, pre-, pro- sub-trans-
2) For words with one of the following suffixes the stress usually falls on the
preceding syllable of the suffix.
–eous , -graphy,
-ial,
-,ian,
-ic
-ics, -ience,
-ient,
-ify,
-ion,
-ious,
-ity,
-ive:
Courteous, biography,
editorial,
historian
systematic
phonetics, experience,
sufficient, identity,
perfection, ambition ,
curiosity, protective.
3) Words with the following suffixes do not change their stress placement .
-able,
reasonable,
forgetful, machinery,
childish,
childhood,
bitterness, vigorous
marriage,
brotherhood,
doubtless,
glorify,
proposal,
deepen ,
confinement,
clockwise ,
jealousy.
4) Some suffixes attract the primary stress onto themselves . In such cases there
is usually a secondary stress on the first syllable if the stem word consists of
more than one syllable.
payee,
employee,
journalese,
cigarette,
picturesque.
5. Stress influence on meaning of words:
A:
There are some pairs of two-syllable words which are identical in
spelling but differ from each other in stress placement, apparently according to
word class . If it is an adjective,or noun, the stress falls on the first syllable;
if it is a verb,stress falls on the second syllable. Some pairs possess the same
or approximately the same meaning, but some pairs are semantically quite
different.
Absent,
conduct,
present,
contract,
import,
object,
increase,
progress,
decrease,
rebel,
record.
B: there are also several pairs of phrases, one of which is a single-stress compound,
the other is formed by an adjective and a noun with two normal stresses or one
falling on the second element.
The meaning of such a pair is quite different.
A few examples are:
`greenhouse,
green `house,
darkroom, leatherjacket,
old girls,
`blackbird,
bluebottle,
black`bird,
ginger bread.
How to pronounce word stress?
When a syllable is stressed, it is pronounced
longer in duration
higher in pitch
louder in volume
Sentence Stress in English
 Sentence stress is the music of spoken English.
Like word stress, sentence stress can help you to
understand spoken English, especially when
spoken fast.
 Sentence stress is what gives English its rhythm
or "beat". You remember that word stress is accent
on one syllable within a word. Sentence stress is
accent on certain words within a sentence.
Most sentences have two types of word:
content words
structure words
Content words are the key words of a sentence. They are the
important words that carry the meaning or sense.
Structure words are not very important words. They are small,
simple words that make the sentence correct grammatically.
If you remove the structure words from a sentence, you will
probably still understand the sentence.
Classification of sentence stress
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Sentence stress can be classified into three types : sense stress, logical stress
and emotional stress.
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1) Sense stress
Sense stress is very common phenomenon in connected speech .
The distribution of such stresses is subject to the meaning that the speaker wishes
to convey. In normal speech we put stress on words semantically important.
Such words are called content words; the unimportant ones are called form words, they
are unstressed.
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2) Logical stress
The distribution of logical stress is subject to the speaker’s will. The
speaker puts stress on any word he wishes to emphasize. So a word logically
stressed may stand at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of a sentence
and it usually implies some idea of contrast. E.g.
``We heard Mary singing upstairs. ( Not they heard .)
Sometimes the idea of contrast is clearly pointed out . E.g.
I bought it for `you , not for `him .
`They can’t do it, but `we can .
3) Emotional Stress
Emotional stress is a special kind of stress. In spoken English when the speaker
wants to show strong emotion , he can put strong stress on the word he wishes to
emphasize. But such kind of stress doesn’t imply any idea of contrast .
The high –falling tone should be used in speaking or reading aloud such
stressed word.
E.g.
It’s `` wonderful !
We suc``ceeded.
Rules for Sentence Stress in English
The basic rules of sentence stress are:
1. content words are stressed
2. structure words are unstressed
3. the time between stressed words is always
the same