The Groundwork of English Stress 1

8/14/2019 The Groundwork of English Stress 1

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Stress is the relative degree of force used by a speaker on the various

syllables he is uttering.It gives a certain basic prominence to the

syllables,and hence to the words,on which it is used,and incidentally

assists in avoid monotony.

WORD (or LEXICAL) STRESS is the relative degree of force used in

pronouncing the different syllables of a word of more than one

syllable.Examples: About Generation

SENTENCE (or SYNTACTICAL) STRESS is the relative degree of force

given to the different words in the sentence.Examples: I could hardly believe my eyes.

Whats he talking about?


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Types of stress

Stress definitions

PRIMARY is the strongest stress in a

phrase.Every word spoken in isolation has

primary stress on one syllable,the othersyllables having one of the weaker stresses.

SECONDARY is a kind of reduced primary,is

not recognized by all analysists.It occursonly on major-stressed items that have

entered into syntactic combinations.


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TERTIARY is the intermediate stress

recognized by all analysts of English insingle words like football,and two-

word phrases like fountain pen.WEAK is the level of least

intensity.Most syllables spoken with

weak stress are limited to certain

vowels only, schwa and /I/ .


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Stress shift

`__ _ _ __`__ _ __ __ __`__ __

diplomat di plomacy diplo maticphotograph photography photographic

monotone monotony monotonic

The chart above exemplifies the kind of

alternations that can occur.All the words inthe first column have the primary stress on

the first syllable.When the noun-forming

suffix -y occurs,the stress on these words


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shifts to the second syllable.But as youcan see on the third column,the

adjectival suffix -ic moves the stressto the syllable immediately preceding

it,which in these words is the third

syllable.


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Double stress in simple words

(primary and secondary).

Secondary stress is chiefly needed in words

having three or more syllables precedingthe primary stress.

Examples: vulnera`bility

exami`nationresponsa`bility


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Difference in noun and verb through

stress.The following pair of words are spelled

the same but the stress on the nouns

differs from that on the verbs.

The nouns are stressed on the first

syllable,lenghten the first syllable.Theverbs are stressed on the second

syllable,lenghten the second syllable.


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Nouns Verbs

`Concert Con`cert`Conduct Con`duct

`Conflict Con`flict

`Contest Con`test

`Contract Con`tract

`Contrast Con`trast`Decrease De`crease

`Desert Desert

`Digest Di`gest


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Vowel quality in stress shift.

The change in accentual pattern ismanifested mainmly by a shift in pitch

prominence together with a related

variation of quality.Often the

qualitative change takes the form of a

reduction of the unaccented vowel ofthe first element of the verbal form to

schwa or /I/;less frequently,by a


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reduction of the vowel in the second

element of the noun/adjective

form,e.g.:

Noun/adjective Verb`Absent Ab`sent

`Concert Con`cert

`Present Pre`sent

`Subject Sub`ject


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Stress vs. Full vowel

There is a tendency in English to

reduce syllables adjacent to thestressed one,and to subsidiary stress

on these at one remove from it. Thesemi- stressed syllable preserves its

vowel quality.All we can say for certain

is that the two phenomena are

interdependent. A subsidiary stress

favours the pronunciation of the


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full vowel; a full vowel produces theimpression of a subsidiary stress.

(from Maria Schubiger Vowel Quality

in Unstressed Syllables in English

Language Teaching. Volume XXI.Number 2. January,1967. OUP. p170).


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EX pronunciation principles

1. Where EX has primary or

secondary stress,it is pronounced/eks/.

Examples:`exercise , `exodus, expo`s.

2. Where the stress falls on the second

syllable,which begins with a

consonant,EX is usually pronounced

/Iks/


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RE pronunciation rules

1. If the prefix means again, it hassecondary stress and is pronounced /ri:/,

eg: re`write , re-`sign.

2. If the prefix does not mean again,we

must distinguish two different cases:

a) WhereRE

has primary or secondarystress,it is pronounced /re/ , eg.:

`recognize , re`collect.

b) Where REis unstressed,it is pronounced


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/rI/ ,eg.: re`member

re`flection

re`flexion


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3. If the word ending inate has more

than two syllables,the main stress willpractically always fall on the third

syllable from the end,eg.:`fortunate , `delicate.

NOTE: when the ending is stressed,it is

pronounced /eIt/: ; when unstressed

it is nearly always /It/


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A few adjectives are stressed on the

second syllable:in`nate , or`nate,se`date.

The noun debate is pronoun ced like

the verb de`bate.

h d d d


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Phrases and compoundsing words

1. Smoking `room ( a room on fire that is

smoking)`Smoking room ( a room where on may

smoke)

2. Dancing `girl (a girl who is dancing)`Dancing girl ( a girl who dances

professionally)Note: Primary stress on 2nd element= action is in progressPrimary stress on 1st element= attributive value to the

second element


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Noun- Past participle adjective (or

adverb)Past participle

Absent-`mindedWell -`made

Under-de`veloped

Old-`fashionedNote: The past participle usually reveives the primary stress


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Noun Compounds

a `darkroom(special room used in photography)

Adjectival Phrases

a dark `room

(a room that is dark)Note: Compound has a primary stress on the first element

Adjectival has a primary stress on the second element


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Another major function of stress in

English is in cases where two wordphrases form compounds such as:

Nouns Phrasal verbsa `walkout to `walk out

a `put-on to `put onIn these cases,there is a stress only on the first

element of the compound for the nouns but on both

elements of the phrasal verbs.


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Content words are usually stressed.

1. Nouns : boy, book,etc.

2. Verbs: (not auxiliary/modal verbs)

3. Adjectives: old,beautiful,etc.4. Adverbs : now,yesterday,etc.

5. Demonstratives: this,that,these,those

6. Interrogatives: who,when,why,etc.

Function words are usually unstressed.

1. Articles: a, an , the.

2. Prepositions: to , of, in, etc.

3. Personal Pronouns : I, me , he , him,etc.

4. Possessive adjectives : my , his , your ,etc.

5. Relative pronouns : who , that , which ,etc.

6. Common conjuctions : and , but , as if ,etc.


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The Groundwork of English Stress 1

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