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    Word Stress in English

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    Hafid Tlemcen Rossignol Poète
    This document discusses word stress in English. It begins by explaining that English uses free stress, meaning stress can fall on different syllables of words, unlike some other languages with fixed stress. It then notes that word stress is important for both understanding spoken English and being understood by native English speakers. The document provides examples of words with different numbers of syllables and discusses features of stressed versus unstressed syllables. It outlines some general rules for determining stress placement based on word endings, grammatical category, and syllable type. The document also discusses compound words and stress in multi-syllabic words.

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    Word Stress in English

    Uploaded by

    Hafid Tlemcen Rossignol Poète
    248 views6 pages
    This document discusses word stress in English. It begins by explaining that English uses free stress, meaning stress can fall on different syllables of words, unlike some other languages with fixed stress. It then notes that word stress is important for both understanding spoken English and being understood by native English speakers. The document provides examples of words with different numbers of syllables and discusses features of stressed versus unstressed syllables. It outlines some general rules for determining stress placement based on word endings, grammatical category, and syllable type. The document also discusses compound words and stress in multi-syllabic words.

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    This document discusses word stress in English. It begins by explaining that English uses free stress, meaning stress can fall on different syllables of words, unlike some other languages with fixed stress. It then notes that word stress is important for both understanding spoken English and being understood by native English speakers. The document provides examples of words with different numbers of syllables and discusses features of stressed versus unstressed syllables. It outlines some general rules for determining stress placement based on word endings, grammatical category, and syllable type. The document also discusses compound words and stress in multi-syllabic words.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    248 views6 pages

    Word Stress in English

    Uploaded by

    Hafid Tlemcen Rossignol Poète
    This document discusses word stress in English. It begins by explaining that English uses free stress, meaning stress can fall on different syllables of words, unlike some other languages with fixed stress. It then notes that word stress is important for both understanding spoken English and being understood by native English speakers. The document provides examples of words with different numbers of syllables and discusses features of stressed versus unstressed syllables. It outlines some general rules for determining stress placement based on word endings, grammatical category, and syllable type. The document also discusses compound words and stress in multi-syllabic words.

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    of 6

    WORD STRESS IN ENGLISH

    I Word stress
    II Sentence stress (phrases)

    WORD STRESS

    General deference’s in 2 types of languages:


    (a) In some languages, each syllable in each word is pronounced with the exact
    same stress. In that languages pronounce each syllable with eq-ual em-
    pha-sis and have fixed stress – stress falls on the same syllable (e.g. Polish,
    Czech, Japanese or French)

    (b) English is not one of those languages. English has its own rhythm, complete with its
    own vocal music. This means that one part of a certain word is said louder and
    longer than other parts of the same word. With free stress – stress may fall on
    different syllables (e.g. English, Spanish, Russian)

    Word stress is your magic key to understanding spoken English. Native speakers of
    English use word stress naturally. Word stress is so natural for them that they don't even
    know they use it. Non-native speakers, who speak English to native speakers without using
    word stress, encounter two problems:

    1 They find it difficult to understand native speakers, especially those speaking fast.

    2 The native speakers may find it difficult to understand them.

    To understand word stress, it helps to understand syllables. Every word is made from
    syllables. Each word has one, two, three or more syllables.
    number of
    word syllables
    dog dog 1
    green green 1
    quite quite 1
    quiet qui-et 2
    orange or-ange 2
    table ta-ble 2
    expensive ex-pen-sive 3
    interesting in-ter-est-ing 4
    realistic re-al-is-tic 4
    unexceptional un-ex-cep-tion-al 5

    Notice that (with a few rare exceptions) every syllable contains at least one vowel (a, e, i, o
    or u) or vowel sound.

    A STRESSED SYLLABLE COMBINES FIVE FEATURES:


    o It is l-o-n-g-e-r – com p-u-ter
    o It is LOUDER – computer
    o It has a change in pitch from the syllables coming before and afterwards. The pitch
    of a stressed syllable is usually higher.
    o It is said more clearly – The vowel sound is purer. Compare the first and last vowel
    sounds with the stressed sound.
    o It uses larger facial movements – Look in the mirror when you say the word. Look
    at your jaw and lips in particular.
    A few things to remember:
     In English, do not say each syllable with the same force or strength. In one
    word, accentuate ONE syllable. We say ONE syllable very LOUDLY (big, strong,
    important) and ALL the OTHER syllables very QUIETLY.

     It is equally important to remember that the unstressed syllables of a word have the
    opposite features of a stressed syllable!

    RULES OF WORD STRESS IN ENGLISH


    Where do I Put Word Stress?
    There are some rules about which syllable to stress. But...the rules are rather complicated!
    Probably the best way to learn is from experience. Listen carefully to spoken English and try
    to develop a feeling for the "music" of the language.

    There are two very simple rules about word stress:


     A word can only have ONE stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. If you hear
    two stresses, you hear two words. TWO stresses CANNOT BE one word. It is true
    that there can be a "secondary" stress in some word, but a secondary stress is always a
    much smaller than the MAIN [primary] stress, and is only used in long words.)

     We can ONLY stress VOWELS, not consonants. The vowels in English are a, e, i,
    o, and u. The consonants are all the other letters.

    Names of syllables:
    (a) Ultimate (final) – potato, umbrella, university
    (b) Penultimate (the last but one) – potato, umbrella, university
    (c) Antepenultimate (the third from the end) – potato, umbrella, university

     Ultimate stress, e.g. balloon, reply, police

     Penultimate stress, e.g. potato, umbrella


    Stress on penultimate syllable (penultimate = second from end)
    Rule Example

    Words ending in –ic GRAPHic, geoGRAPHic, geoLOGic

    Words ending in -sion and –tion teleVIsion, reveLAtion

     Ante-penultimate stress, e.g. university, organize


    Stress on ante-penultimate syllable (ante-penultimate = third from end)
    Rule Example

    Words ending in -cy, -ty, -phy and -gy deMOcracy, dependaBIlity, phoTOgraphy, geOLogy

    Words ending in -al CRItical, geoLOGical

    ENGLISH WORD STERSS

    English word stress depends on:


     the grammatical category of a word (VERBS, NOUNS & ADJECTIVES)
    There are many two-syllable words in English whose meaning and class change with a
    change in stress. The word present, for example is a two-syllable word. If we stress the
    first syllable, it is a NOUN (gift) or an ADJECTIVE (opposite of absent). But if we
    stress the second syllable, it becomes a VERB (to offer).
    e.g. the words ´export, ´import, ´contract and ´object can all be NOUNS or VERBS
    depending on whether the stress is on the first or second syllable.
    1 Stress on first syllable

    Rule Example

    Most 2-syllable nouns PRESent, EXport, CHIna, TAble


    Most 2-syllable adjectives PRESent, SLENder, CLEVer, HAPpy

    2 Stress on last syllable

    Rule Example

    Most 2-syllable verbs to preSENT, to exPORT, to deCIDE, to beGIN

     the MORPHOLOGICAL STRUCTURE of words;


    − Morphologically simple words (without any affixes), e.g. ´house,
    ´clever, ´discuss;
    − Words with affixes, e.g. beauty+ful, govern+ment, dis+organ+ize
    − Compounds, e.g. black+board, girl+friend, rain+bow
    Compound words (words with two parts)
    Rule Example

    For compound nouns, BLACKbird, BLUEbird,


    the stress is on the first part GREENhouse

    For compound adjectives, bad-TEMpered,


    the stress is on the second part old-FASHioned

    For compound verbs, to underSTAND,


    the stress is on the second part to overFLOW

    In compound words or words made up of two elements, there are


    again some general patterns.

     If the first part of the word is broadly speaking a NOUN, then the first
    element will normally carry more stress: ´typewriter, ´car ferry, ´suitcase,
    ´tea cup

     If the first part is broadly speaking an ADJECTIVE, then the second element
    will carry more stress: louds´peaker, bad-´tempered, black ´market,
    young ´learner

     types of SYLLABLES (LIGHT vs. HEAVY)


    (a) HIGH syllables – they end in as vowel, or a short vowel and a
    consonant (teacher, finish)
    (b) HEAVY syllables – they end in a long vowel, or a short vowel and 2
    consonant (machine, consist)
    Let's take 3 words: photograph, photographer and photographic. Do they sound the
    same when spoken? No. Because we accentuate (stress) ONE syllable in each word. And
    it is not always the same syllable. So the shape of each word is different.
    total stressed
    shape
    syllables syllable

    PHO TO GRAPH 3 #1

    PHO TO GRAPH ER 4 #2

    PHO TO GRAPH IC 4 #3

    This happens in ALL words with 2 or more syllables: TEACHer, JaPAN, CHINa,
    aBOVE, converSAtion, INteresting, imPORtant, deMAND, etCETera, etCETera,
    etCETera
    The syllables that are not stressed are WEAK or SMALL or QUIET. Native
    speakers of English listen for the STRESSED syllables, not the weak syllables. If you use
    word stress in your speech, you will instantly and automatically improve your pronunciation
    and your comprehension.

    Types of word stress:


    (a) primary
    − The MAIN or PRIMARY stress usually falls on the syllable before
    these endings:
    -ion decision, application
    -ious / -eous contentious, courageous
    -ity simplicity
    -ive extensive
    -graphy photography, biography
    -meter biology
    -logy thermometer

    (b) secondary
    e.g. uni´versity en͵cyclo´pedia
    − With verbs of two syllables, if the second syllable of the VERB
    contains a l-o-n-g Vowel or a Diphthong, or if it ends with more
    than one consonant, THE SECOND SYLLABLE IS STRESSED.
    e.g. ap´ply, at´tract, com´plete, ar´rive, re´sist

    When we stress syllables in words, we use a combination of different features. Experiment now with
    the word 'com´puter'. Say it out LOUD. Listen to yourself. The SECOND syllable of the three is
    stressed.

     With VERBS of two syllables, if the final syllable contains a short


    Vowel and one (or no) final consonant, THE FIRST SYLLABLE IS
    STRESSED.
    e.g. ´enter, ´open, ´equal, ´borrow, ´profit
    Exceptions to this rule include ad´mit and per´mit (verb).
    STRESS IN MONOMORPHEMIC WORDS

    Verbs
    I II III
    be´lieve re´ject con´sider
    de´cide con´vince i´magine
    a´chieve a´dapt ´promise
    de´vote con´sist ´punish
    de´ny ex´haust de´velop
    Exceptions: be´gin per´mit re´fer

    Adjectives
    I II III
    su´preme ab´rupt ´solid
    re´mote im´mense ´handsome
    se´cure di´rect ´shallow
    dis´creet ab´surd ´pretty
    su´blime ro´bust ´frantic
    Exceptions: ´honest ´perfect ´absent

    Nouns
    I II III IV
    ba´loon a´roma ve´randa A´merica
    ma´chine ho´rizon a´genda ´cinema
    po´lice a´rena u´tensil rhi´noceros
    ca´reer ´moment ap´pendix a´nalysis
    Exceptions: um´brella ´area ´barrier

    BISYLLABIC NOUN/ADJECTIVE – VERB PAIRS DIFFERING IN STRESS


    PLACEMENT:
    abstract import insult escort
    combine compress concert conduct
    consort contract contract convict
    desert export object perfect
    permit present produce progress
    project protest rebel record
    refuse segment subject survey

    STRESS IN LONGER VERBS, ADJECTIVES AND NOUNS WITH THE FINAL


    HEAVY SYLLABLE
    Verbs:
    ´organize ´compromise ´demonstrate
    ´tolerance ´specify ´analyse

    Adjectives:
    ´difficult ´resolute ´comatose
    ´manifest ´erudite ´derelict

    Nouns:
    ´anecdote ´candidate ´pedigree
    ´nightingale ´parachute ´suicide
    STRESS IN AFFIXED FORMS
    Self-stressed affixes:
     There are some suffixes (or word endings) that usually carry stress. Words
    with these endings usually carry stress on the last syllable:
    -ain enterTAIN
    -ee refuGEE
    -eer mountaiNEER
    -ese PortuGUESE
    -ette cigaRETTE (NB American English would stress the first syllable)
    -esque pictuRESQUE

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