Word Stress

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Word Stress

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Word Stress

Contents

Context ........................................................................................................................................................ 3
Word Stress ................................................................................................................................................. 3
1.1

Types of Word Stress ................................................................................................................. 4

1.1.1

Tonic Stress ......................................................................................................................... 4

1.1.2

Emphatic Stress .................................................................................................................. 4

1.1.3

Contractive Stress .............................................................................................................. 5

1.1.4

New Information Stress ..................................................................................................... 5

1.2

Syllable Stress ............................................................................................................................. 6

Exercises ...................................................................................................................................................... 6

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Context
This document contains exercises to be completed as a part of the module- Word Stress

Word Stress
English language is considered a stressed language whereas many other languages are reflected as
syllabic language. In English, we stress upon certain words while other words are spoken quickly. When
languages such as French or Italian are spoken, each syllable spoken obtains equal importance (there is
stress, but each syllable has its own length).
This creates some confusion for non-native speakers. Speakers of syllabic languages are not able to
understand why native speakers speak some words quickly or swallow certain word/s in a sentence.
Articulation in syllabic languages uses a technique wherein each syllable is given equal importance, and
therefore equal time is required. The English language though, applies more time and stress on specific
words while swiftly skating over the other maybe less essential words.
Check out this example. The modal verb "should, when used in the positive form will have the speaker
quickly glide over it and not put too much emphasis on its pronunciation.
You should adhere to the Infosys dress policy.
On the other hand, in its negative form "shouldnt" we tend to stress on its negative form by also
stressing on should not.
You should not violate the Infosys dress policy.
As you can see in the second sentence which is longer than the first, both should and not are stressed.
Thus we need to understand that we generally stress on some words which are referred to as CONTENT
WORDS such as

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Nouns e.g. Town, India

(most) principal verbs e.g. visit, construct
Adjectives e.g. exciting, boring
Adverbs e.g. daily, quietly

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Word Stress

Non-stressed words are referred to as FUNCTION WORDS such as:

Determiners e.g. the, many, some

Auxiliary verbs e.g. don't, am, can, were
Prepositions e.g. below, next to, adjacent
Conjunctions e.g. for, while, and
Pronouns e.g. them, he, you

1.1 Types of Word Stress

There are four basic types of word stress.
1.
2.
3.
4.

Tonic Stress
Emphatic Stress
Contrastive Stress
New Information Stress

1.1.1 Tonic Stress

Tonic Stress refers to the stress which is given to the syllable in a word in an intonation unit. An
intonation unit has one tonic stress and a sentence may have more than one intonation unit, and so
theyll have more than one tonic stress. Examples of intonation units with the tonic stress are bolded
below:

He's waiting
He's waiting / for his friend
He's waiting / for his friend / at the station.

Generally, in a sentence, the final tonic stress receives major stress. In the above sentences, the word
'station' receives the heaviest stress. There are a number of occurrences where the stress changes from
this norm. A short explanation for each of the stress changes with example sentences to illustrate it in
detail is given below.

1.1.2 Emphatic Stress

When you want to emphasize on something, you may have to change the stress from the principal noun
to another content word such as an adjective (big, difficult, etc.), or an intensifier (very, extremely, etc.)
This will throw light on the special nature of the use of the word that you want to emphasize.
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Word Stress

For example:

That was a difficult test. - Standard statement

That was a difficult test. - Emphasizes how difficult the test was.

We use many such adverbs or modifiers which aid in putting emphasis in sentences on words that
receive emphatic stress. For example extremely, terribly, completely, utterly, especially etc.

1.1.3 Contractive Stress

Contrastive Stress is used to show the difference between one entity and the other. Contrastive stress is
mostly used with determiners like 'this, that, these and those'.
For example:

I think I prefer this color.

Do you want these or those curtains?

Contrastive stress is also used to highlight a given word in a sentence which will also slightly change the
meaning.

He came to Infosys yesterday. (It was he, not someone else.)

He walked to Infosys yesterday. (He walked rather than drove.)
He came to Infosys FC yesterday. (It was to the Infosys FC and not somewhere else.)
He came to Infosys yesterday. (It was yesterday not two weeks ago or some other time.)

1.1.4 New Information Stress

When someone is asked a question, the requested information answered back as a response is
obviously stressed more powerfully.
For example:

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Where do you work? I work at Infosys Limited.

What do you want to do? - I want to go shopping.
When does class begin? - The class begins at nine o'clock.

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Word Stress

1.2 Syllable Stress

A syllable is a unit of sound made from a single vowel, or single vowel + consonant combination.
Note: Syllables never have more than 1 vowel sound in them.
Eg: bit; a; un; as; dog; re; ist; bi

Monosyllable- words with one syllable

Disyllable- words with two syllables
Trisyllable- words with three syllables
Polysyllable- words with four or more syllables (words with three or more syllable are
referred to as polysyllabic)

Syllables break our words into sections which can be stressed, or unstressed. The syllable that is stressed
will alter the pronunciation of the word.

Exercises
Objective: To understand the importance of stressing on the right word while speaking English.
Problem Description:
a) The easiest way to decide how many syllables are in a particular word is to clap it out. Clap your
hands along while you say the following words aloud:
Monosyllabic: dog there bike he walk bounce
Disyllabic: doc/tor Fri/day o/ver yel/low chick/en
Trisyllabic: hos/pit/al yes/ter/day de/tec/tive am/bi/ence
Polysyllabic: un/wa/ver/ing no/tif/ica/tion re/an/i/ma/tion pri/va/ti/zation

b) Try saying the following words aloud while stressing on the first syllable:
doc/tor Fri/day o/ver mis/take pur/ple
Now try saying this again but with stress given to the second syllable.
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doc/tor Fri/day o/ver mis/take pur/ple

Note- The above words will always have their first syllable stressed.

c) Here are some more examples. The bold O given on the side will indicate to you on which
syllable should be stressed in each word:

Monosyllabic O: bike cat black

Disyllabic O/o: prob/lem en/gine yel/low

Disyllabic o/O: be/side di/vide un/do

Trisyllablic O/o/o: dif/fi/cult hos/pit/al of/fi/cer

Triyllablic o/O/o: de/tec/tive pro/fess/or re/dun/dant

Summary of this assignment:

By the end of this assignment, the learner will be able to:

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Ensure they use the right sounds to enhance clarity in their communication.
Understand the importance of stressing on the right word in speaking English.
Identify content words and function words.
Apply stress on the right word to ensure clarity of message.

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