Word and sentence stress
“Houston, we have a problem”
“I see dead people”
“Run Forest, run”
“What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”
“Nothing beats a first kiss”
“To infinity and beyond”
“May the force be with you”
“I’ll be back”
“My mamma always said: Life was like a box of chocolates you never
know what you’re gonna get”
Which of the following words has the stress on the first syllable
•Biologist
•Photographer
•Psychiatrist
• Secretary
Which 2-syllable word has a different stress pattern from the others?
•a) police
•b) mother
•c) student
•d) money
Which 2-syllable word has a different stress pattern from the others?
• a) career
• b) shampoo
• c) balloon
• d) problem
Which 3-syllable word has a different stress pattern from the others?
• a) cinema
• b) Saturday
• c) umbrella
• d) manager
Which 3-syllable word has a different stress pattern from the others?
• a) potato
•b) paragraph
• c) computer
•d) professor
Which of these adjectives beginning with ‘un’ or ‘in’ has the stress on the final syllable?
• a) informal
• b) unhappy
• c) unfriendly
• d) unemployed
Underline the stressed syllable • Economic
• Economy
• Democracy
• Volunteer
• Acquisition
• Acquire
• Verification
• Recognizable
• Necessary
• Exception
• Contagious
• Delicious
• Ecological
• Relevant
• Unfortunately
• Accuracy
• Category
• Comfortable
• Literature
• Subsequent
Can you pass me a plastic knife?
I want to take a photography class.
China is the place where I was born.
Please turn off the television before you go out.
I can't decide which book to borrow.
Do you understand this lesson?
Sparky is a very happy puppy.
It is critical that you finish your essay.
My Grandfather wears an old-fashioned coat.
There is a lot of traffic on the highway today.
Register-Record-Upset-Project-Control- protest- subject- present
• They are conducting a science project
• Before the meeting, you have to register first.
• The equipment is out of control
• A protest was held by the company against animal testing
• This offer is subjected to the approval of the board
What is stress?
How can you identify stressed syllables?
Which sound never appears within a stressed syllable?
Up to how many levels of stress have been identified?
• When a word or syllable is pronounced with greater force than other words in the same sentence or other syllables in the same word,.
STRESS FEATURES
Pitch change: prominence
Loudness: Level of speaker’s voice
Length: Longer syllable
Word Stress
Qualify banana understand
Ooo oOo ooO
Syllabus Substitute Technical
Engagement Banana phonetic
Usherette Kangaroo understand
Key Rules
• Schwa is by nature an unstressed sound, never appears within a stressed syllable
• We can only stress vowels not consonants
Oo Ooo oOo Oooo ooOo
Plumber- electrician- doctor- journalist- musician- shop- assistant- teacher- soldier-
novelist- architect- carpenter- actor- policeman- fireman- lecturer- florist-
businessman- artist- farmer- scientist- researcher- gardener-designer
• Artist friendly When a noun or adjective comes from a one-syllable word
• Remove become
• Understand overflow
When a verb comes from a one-syllable word, compound verbs
second syllable
• Record record Some two- syllable words are both nouns and verbs.
• Bookshop newspaper
• Check-in desk crossword Compound nouns are made from two
smaller words
• Forget
• Forgetful
• Quietly
Stress does not change when adding prefixes or suffixes
• bad-TEMpered, old-FASHioned For compound adjectives, the stress is on the second part
Sentence stress
• The beautiful Mountain appeared transfixed in the distance.
• He can come on Sundays as long as he doesn't have to do any homework in the evening.
Sentence stress
• He LIVES in the HOUSE on the CORner
Content words: conveying important information
Function words: hold language together
Tonic syllable: Corner: most important word
Longer, louder, main pitch
Function words
Determiners
• the, a, some, a few
Auxiliary verbs
• don't, am, can, were
Prepositions
• before, next to, opposite Pronouns
• they, she, us
Conjunctions
• but, while, as
Content words
Adjectives &
adverbs
Main verbs
Nouns
Sentence stress
• Isochrony is the idea that a language rhythmically divides time into equal portions. Three types of divisions are postulated:
• the temporal duration between two stressed syllables is equal (stress-timed);
• The duration of every syllable is equal (syllable-timed);
• the duration of every mora is equal (mora-timed).
Isochronicity
In which sentence does the speaker want to tell us that John’s car is not second hand?
• a) John’s bought a new car.
• b) John’s bought a new car.
• c) John’s bought a new car.
• d) John’s bought a new car.
• Where did you say John lives?
• He lives in the house on the corner
• John lives in the block of flats on the corner, doesn’t he?
• No, he lives in the house on the corner
Sentence meaning
I love you (…and I want you to know this) I love you (I don’t love her) I love you (He doesn’t)