MA Evening Programme in English Language Department of English Islamic University, Kushtia

Lecture Outline on Stress

20 th class

Date : 9.7.2013
KLP : Definition of stress; Stress Variation: Word stress, Sentence stress, Stress shifting.

Stress a. Physiologically, stress means greater articulatory effort. By putting stress on particular segments we give it greater prominence. Various types of meaning are conveyed by distributing stress pattern over speech segment in a controlled manner. (Dr. Sharad Rajimwale : 1997). b. Extreme force used when speaking a particular word or syllable. (OXD: 2000). c. Stress is the degree of force with which a sound or a syllable is uttered (RN Roy: 1992). The word stress in language can be defined as the muscular force or pressure given upon a particular segment of a sound, a syllable, a word or a sentence while speaking to make it prominent and thus convey different types of meaning. Why Stress a. To convey meaning b. To make successful communication c. To maintain the rhythm of the particular speech sound or language etc.
Major Aspects of Stress a. Four Factors of Prominence : i) Loudness ; ii) Length ; iii) Pitch ; iv) Quality. b. Marking the Stressed segment : i) Underlining [ ___ ] ; ii) Upward [ ' ] and Down ward straight line [ ] ; iii) Curve / Half moon [ ] ; iv) Capitalization ; v) Circling [ ] etc.

c. Stressed or Not : i) Stressed segment/ part ; iii) Unstressed segment / part. d. Level of Stress : i) Primary Stress (High Pitch Production of utterance) ; ii) Secondary Stress (Low pitch utterance). e. Stress Variation : i)Word Stress ; ii) Phrasal or Sentence Stress. f. Stress Shifting.

Word Stress

Word stress generally refers to that particular segment or syllable of a word that is accentuated or made prominent. [While uttering a monosyllable word we normally accentuate it or make it louder; but in our normal speaking or oral communication we do not utter any word in isolation except some expressions namely yes, no; some adverbs namely perhaps, probably, possibly; some wh namely what, where, when, how etc. In most cases, therefore, communication is an attempt of uttering a collection of word or chunk of sound in combination. This collection of words may be monosyllabic or multi-syllabic. In the case of multi-syllabic words all syllables are not stressed or accentuated, if one is stressed the other will be not. Therefore, this practice of utterance or production of sound for a particular word may be defined as word stress]. Look at the following grid: total stressed syllables syllable 3 4 4 #1 #2 #3

Word/s PHO TO GRAPH PHO TO GRAPH ER PHO TO GRAPH IC

shape

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.
Importance of Word Stress in English

Word stress in English is very important since native speakers of English listen for the stressed syllables, not the weak ones. Word stress is not an optional extra that you can add to the English language if you want. It is a part of the language! English speakers use word stress to communicate rapidly and accurately, even in difficult conditions. If, for example, you do not hear a word clearly, you can still understand the word because of the position of the stress. Challenges of English Word Stress Word stress in English is not easily predictable as it varies in terms of language use. In some languages namely Japanese, French, Polish, Czech etc., stress may be assumed. In French, the last syllable is stressed; in Polish, the syllable before the last the penultimate syllable is usually stressed; in Czech, the first syllable is stressed. However, to cope with the challenges of Word stress in English we had better make use of some or all of the following information: i) Whether the word is morphologically simple, or whether it is complex as a result either of containing one or more affixes (prefixes or suffixes) or of being a compound word. ii) What the grammatical category of the word is (noun, verb, adjective, etc). iii) How many syllables the word has.

iv) What the phonological structure of those syllables is. Rules of Word Stress in English There are two very simple rules about word stress: 1. One word one stress: One word cannot have two stresses. If we hear two stresses, we hear two words. Two stresses cannot be one word. It is true that there can be a "secondary" stress in some words. But a secondary stress is much smaller than the main [primary] stress, and is only used in long words. 2. Stress on vowels, not on consonants: Here are some more, rather complicated, rules that can help us understand where to put the stress. But we must not rely on them too much, because there are many exceptions. It is better to try to "feel" the music of the language and to add the stress naturally. 1) Stress on first syllable Rule/s Most 2-syllable nouns Most 2-syllable adjectives 2) Stress on last syllable Rule/s Most 2-syllable verbs Example/s preSENT, exPORT, deCIDE, beGIN Example/s PRESent, EXport, CHIna, TAble PRESent, SLENder, CLEVer, HAPpy

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). More examples: 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.

3) Stress on penultimate syllable (penultimate = second from end) Rule/s Examples

Words ending in -ic Words ending in -sion and -tion

GRAPHic, geoGRAPHic, geoLOGic teleVIsion, reveLAtion

For a few words, native English speakers do not always "agree" on where to put the stress. For example, some people say teleVIsion and others say TELevision. Another example is: CONtroversy and conTROversy. 4) Stress on ante-penultimate syllable (ante-penultimate = third from end) Rule/s Words ending in -cy, -ty, -phy and -gy Words ending in -al Examples deMOcracy, dependaBIlity, phoTOgraphy, geOLogy CRItical, geoLOGical

5) Compound words (words with two parts) Rule/s For compound nouns, the stress is on the first part For compound adjectives, the stress is on the second part For compound verbs, the stress is on the second part Examples BLACKbird, GREENhouse bad-TEMpered, oldFASHioned underSTAND, overFLOW

Sentence Stress
Sentence Stress in English Sentence stress signifies giving emphasis, while speaking, on those particular segments of a sentence those carry or convey meaning. It is what gives English its rhythm or "beat". We note that when a speaker speaks he does not put emphasis equally on every word he utters. Somewhere the prominence over some words is perceived overtly sometimes not. This prominence over the particular word of a sentence therefore may be defined as sentence stress. Here we can remember that word stress is accent on one syllable within a word whereas sentence stress is accent on certain words within a sentence. Sentence stress may be told the music of spoken English too. Importance of Sentence Stress It gives English spoken language its rhythm. Like word stress, sentence stress can help us understand spoken English, especially when spoken fast. It helps successful communication.

Where sentence stress occurs It occurs on the words that carry meaning. It occurs on the content words namely Noun, Principal Verbs, Adjectives, and Adverbs etc. It occurs on some functional words or structure words.

Content Words and Functional Words Most sentences have two types of word namely content words and functional words or structure words. Content words : These are the key words of a sentence. They carry the meaning of the sentence. Normally Noun, Adjective, Main Verb, Adverb, Some Negative Auxiliary etc., constitute the content word groups. If we remove content words from a sentence we shall not understand the sentence. Functional Words or Structure Words: These are grammatical words of a sentence. These words do not have a dictionary meaning in the way that we normally expect nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs to have. Generally auxiliary verbs, articles, conjunction, prepositions, contractions etc., constitute functional words. Structure words are not very important words. They are small, simple words that make the sentence correct grammatically. They give the sentence its correct form or "structure". If we remove the structure words from a sentence, we will probably still understand the sentence. Imagine the following telegram:
Will you SELL my CAR because I've GONE to FRANCE

This sentence is not complete. It is not a "grammatically correct" sentence. But you probably understand it. These 4 words communicate very well. Somebody wants you to sell their car for them because they have gone to France.

Rules for Sentence Stress in English The basic rules of sentence stress are: 1. 2. 3. 4. content words are stressed structure words are unstressed the time between stressed words is always the same give stress on the final word of a list

The following tables can help us decide which words are content words and which words are structure words: Content words - stressed Words carrying the meaning Example

main verbs nouns adjectives adverbs negative auxiliaries

SELL, GIVE, EMPLOY CAR, MUSIC, MARY RED, BIG, INTERESTING QUICKLY, LOUDLY, NEVER DON'T, AREN'T, CAN'T

Structure words - unstressed Words for correct grammar pronouns prepositions articles conjunctions auxiliary verbs Exceptions The above rules are for what is called "neutral" or normal stress. But sometimes we can stress a word that would normally be only a structure word, for example to correct information. Look at the following dialogue: "They've been to Mongolia, haven't they?" "No, THEY haven't, but WE have. Note also that when "be" is used as a main verb, it is usually unstressed (even though in this case it is a content word). More about Functional Words Almost all the words which have both a strong and weak form belong to a category that may be called functional words. There are some fairly simple rules. They are as follows: Functional words signifying strong forms i) Weak forms turning to strong forms if used at the end: Example he, we, they on, at, into a, an, the and, but, because do, be, have, can, must

Weak : Im fond of chips. (aim 'fnd v 'ips.) Strong : Chips are what Im fond of . (ips 'wt aim 'fnd v. )

Stress Shifting
Stress shifting refers to the trend of accentuating on the particular segment of some words that go under changes in terms of their word class in a sentence. We have some English content words those can be used either as a noun or verb; noun or adjective etc. When a content word is used as a noun, normally the stress goes on the first syllable and on the final segment when it is a verb. The following two sentences may well exemplify this trend: Word Extract Examples Word Class a. This is an extract from the Ode Noun on a Grecian urn. b. This line has been extracted from Verb the Ode on a Grecian urn. Stress on The first syllable The last syllable

The following words however carry the trend of shifting their stress when used in a sentence: Award, Connect, Conduct, Exercise, Gift, Import, Present, Export, Product, Perfect, Subject,