OE1.5 Word Stress

SPOKENENGLISH1PRONUNCIATION5:WORDSTRESS5.1.1:INTRODUCTIONIneverymulti-syllablewordinEnglish,thereisonemainemphasisedsyllablewherethevowelsoundslongerandlouderthanotheradjacentsyllables,thisiscalledstress.Inthepreviouslessonwediscussedhownormalspeechisastreamofsoundswithoutanygapsasinourexample;ITHOUGHTTHATTHEWATERFALLISAWYESTERDAYWASVERYBEAUTIFULandthatourbrainisabletorecognisecertainsoundcombinationswithintheutterancebygroupingthesesoundsintosyllables.25:WordStress5.1.2:INTRODUCTIONI-THOUGHT-THAT-THE-WA-TER-FULL-I-SAW-YES-TER-DAY-WAS-VE-RY-BEAU-TI-FULWordstressaddsanextradimensiontothisprocess.Onesyllableineverymultisyllableispronounceddifferentlyorisstressed.I-THOUGHT-THAT-THE-WA-TER-FULL-I-SAW-YES-TER-DAY-WAS-VE-RY-BEAU-TI-FULThishelpsthelistenerrecognisecertainwordsandwordmeanings..35:WordStress5.1.3:INTRODUCTIONKnowinghowtorecogniseandhowusewordstressinnormalspeechhelpsspeakersandlistenersunderstandoneanother.Itisnotanoptionalextraaddedjustforeffect;itisanessentialpartoftheEnglishlanguage.Englishspeakersusewordstresstohelpthemcommunicatespeedilyandaccurately,evenindifficultconditions.Eventhoughyoumayawordclearly,youmaystillunderstandthewordbecauseofthepositionofthestress.45:WordStress5.2.1:PHONICREALISATIONThewaythatstressdisplaysitselfinthestreamofspeechishighlylanguagedependent.Stressedsyllablescanbeseenasbeingmoreforcefulthannon-stressedsyllables.Thisisbecausetheyuseacombinationofseveraldifferentfeaturesthatarenotusedinnon-stressedsyllables55:WordStress5.2.1:PHONICREALISATIONThewaythatstressdisplaysitselfinthestreamofspeechishighlylanguagedependent.Stressedsyllablescanbeseenasbeingmoreforcefulthannon-stressedsyllables.Thisisbecausetheyuseacombinationofseveraldifferentfeaturesthatarenotusedinnon-stressedsyllables65:WordStress5.2.2:PHONICREALISATIONOnesyllableinwordslongerthanasinglesyllableisstressedandthatsyllableissaidtohavetheprimarystress.Wordswrittenusingthephoneticscriptusean“'infrontofthesyllabletoindicatetheprimarystress.Forexampledic-tion⋅ar⋅y/'dɪk.ʃən.ɛr.i/pho⋅ne⋅tic/fə.'nɛ.tɪk/syll⋅a⋅ble/'sɪl.ə.bəl/75:WordStress5.2.3:PHONICREALISATIONTakethreesimilarwords:photographphotographerphotographicWhenweaccentuateorstressjustONEsyllablethecharacterofthewordischanged..85:WordStress5.2.4:PHONICREALISATIONinPHO-TO-GRAPHthe1stsyllableisstressed/'fəʊ.tə.gra:f/95:WordStress5.2.5:PHONICREALISATIONinPHO-TO-GRAPHthe1stsyllableisstressed/'fəʊ.tə.gra:f/inPHO-TO-GRAPH-ERthe2ndsyllableisstressed/fə.'tɒ.grəf.ə/105:WordStress5.2.6:PHONICREALISATIONinPHO-TO-GRAPHthe1stsyllableisstressed/'fəʊ.tə.gra:f/inPHO-TO-GRAPH-ERthe2ndsyllableisstressed/fə.'tɒ.grəf.ə/andinPHO-TO-GRAPH-ICthe3rdsyllableisstressed/fəʊ.tə.'græf.ɪk/115:WordStress5.3.1:STRESSPLACEMENTStressisnotfixedtoasinglepositionitcanfallonalmostanysyllableofaword.Forexample;onthe1stsyllable:PHO-TO-GRAPH.AL-WAYS,RE-AS-ON-A-BLE,STEA-DI-LYandUN-DER.125:WordStress5.3.2:STRESSPLACEMENTStressisnotfixedtoasinglepositionitcanfallonalmostanysyllableofaword.Forexample;onthe1stsyllable:PHO-TO-GRAPH.AL-WAYS,RE-AS-ON-A-BLE,STEA-DI-LYandUN-DER.onthe2ndsyllable:PHO-TO-GRAPH-ER,UN-TIL,BE-HIND,RE-SULTandDE-NY.135:WordStress5.3.4:STRESSPLACEMENTStressisnotfixedtoasinglepositionitcanfallonalmostanysyllableofaword.Forexample;onthe1stsyllable:PHO-TO-GRAPH.AL-WAYS,RE-AS-ON-A-BLE,STEA-DI-LYandUN-DER.onthe2ndsyllable:PHO-TO-GRAPH-ER,UN-TIL,BE-HIND,RE-SULTandDE-NY.onthe3ndsyllable:PHO-TO-GRAPH-IC,DEM-O-CRA-TIC,ED-U-CA-TION,CU-RI-OS-I-TYandUN-DER-STAND-ING.145:WordStress5.3.5:STRESSPLACEMENTStressisnotfixedtoasinglepositionitcanfallonalmostanysyllableofaword.InBritishEnglish,forexample;onthe1stsyllable:PHO-TO-GRAPH.AL-WAYS,RE-AS-ON-A-BLE,STEA-DI-LYandUN-DER.onthe2ndsyllable:PHO-TO-GRAPH-ER,UN-TIL,BE-HIND,RE-SULTandDE-NY.onthe3rdsyllable:PHO-TO-GRAPH-IC,DEM-O-CRA-TIC,ED-U-CA-TION,CU-RI-OS-I-TYandUN-DER-STAND-ING.onthe4thsyllable:AR-TIC-U-LA-TION,IN-TER-DE-PEND-ENCEandIN-TER-CON-TI-NEN-TAL.155:WordStress5.3.6:STRESSPLACEMENTTherearecertainpatternsinwordstressinEnglishbutitwouldbeunwisetosaythattherearefixedrules.Exceptionscanusuallybefound.TherearethreegeneraltendenciesforwordstressinEnglish:165:WordStress5.3.7:STRESSPLACEMENTRULE1:Two-syllablenounsandadjectivesareusuallystressedonthefirstsyllable.i.e.A-PPLE,TA-BLEANDHA-PPYwiththeexceptionslikeHO-TELandLA-GOON175:WordStress5.3.8:STRESSPLACEMENTRULE2:Wordswhichcanbeusedasbothnounsandverbsthenounhavethestressonthefirstsyllable,thenounisstressedonthe1stsyllableandtheverbonthe2ndsyllable.i.e.SUS-PECT(n)andSUS-PECT(v)IM-PORT(n)andIM-PORT(v)IN-SULT(n)andIN-SULT(v)theexceptionsarewordssuchasRESPECTandWITNESSwhichhavethesamestressforboththenounandverbforms.185:WordStress5.3.9:STRESSPLACEMENTRULE3:compoundnounsareusuallystressedonthefirstsyllable.i.e.BOY-FRIENDCHAIR-MANNEWS-PAPERARM-CHAIRtheexceptionsarewordssuchas,HAIRBRUSHandFOOTBALLthatcanbeusedeitherwayalthoughtheytendtobeusedmoreonthefirstsyllable.195:WordStress5.3.10:STRESSPLACEMENTSomewordshaveoptionalstress.Althoughwhenthisoccurs,thepreferredinoptionBrEistostressthesecondsyllableexceptwit