Stress and Rhythm

Asignatura: Pronunciacin de la lengua inglesa
Grado en Estudios Ingleses: Lengua, Literatura y Cultura (UNED)

Unit 5: Stress and rhythm
Eva Estebas Vilaplana

UNIT 5. STRESS AND RHYTHM: A THEORETICAL
APPROACH

1. Introduction

This document includes a brief introduction to some basic theoretical concepts for the
study of suprasegmentals. In particular, it deals with the phenomenon of stress and it
also examines the effects of stress on rhythmical patterns in English. This unit covers
the following topics.

Suprasegmentals
Lexical stress
o Levels of stress
o Predicting the location of stress
Stress in simple words
Stress in complex words
Stem + affix
Compounds
o Stress reorganizations
Stress shift
Consecutive stresses
Rhythm
o Syllable-timed languages
o Stress-timed languages

2. Suprasegmentals
As briefly presented in Unit 1, suprasegmentals are those features that occur at a higher
(supra) level than the segmental level which is where vowel and consonants operate.
The domain for the realization of suprasegmental features is the syllable (see Unit 4 for
more details). Suprasegmentals include phenomena such as stress, accent, length (or
duration) and intensity (or loudness). According to these four parameters, syllables can
be stressed and unstressed, accented and unaccented, long and short, and loud and soft.

Stress has to do with the degree of prominence with which a syllable is produced. A
stressed syllable is more prominent than an unstressed syllable. This means that stressed
syllables are produced with more energy and muscular effort than unstressed syllables.
Stressed syllables are usually longer and are perceived as being louder than the
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equivalent unstressed syllable. For instance, the nonsense sequence *bee-bee is
produced with two syllables which are equal in terms of their segmental structure but
differ in terms of stress since the first syllable is stressed (marked with an asterisk) and
the second one is unstressed. If we could measure the duration (length) and the intensity
(loudness) of the two syllables, we would see that the stressed syllable is longer and is
produced with a higher intensity making it louder. Stressed syllables may also be
produced with a relevant pitch movement. In this case, the stressed syllable becomes
accented. Thus, we can have:

1. An accented syllable which has pitch prominence and is always stressed.
2. An unaccented syllable which has no pitch prominence and which can be
stressed or unstressed.

For example, the sentence *Marys *singing alternates stressed (S) and unstressed (U)
syllables. In the first production, the two stressed syllables (*Ma- and *sing-) become
accented, that is, they are produced with a relevant pitch movement (a peak in the
intonation contour represented with the line in bold). In the second sentence, only the
first stressed syllable (*Ma-) is accented. The other syllables are unaccented (produced
with no relevant pitch movement). In the second production, the syllable *sing- is still
stressed but it is not accented.

*Ma rys *sing ing *Ma rys *sing ing
S U S U S U S U

Stressed but unaccented
(with no relevant pitch
movement)

Stressed and
accented (with a
pitch movement)

In this unit, we will study the main characteristics of English stress and we will also
present how the distribution of stresses in a sentence is responsible for rhythm in
English. In the next unit, we will examine the most common accentuation (pitch or
intonation) patterns in English.

3. Lexical stress
Stress is a feature which is specified at the lexical level. That is, each native speaker of a
language has a mental lexicon which includes all the words of that particular language.
For each word, speakers know its meaning, its grammatical category and distribution,
and its pronunciation both in terms of segments (vowels and consonants) and in terms
of stress patterns. Thus, for example, an English native speaker knows that the word
orange means a fruit, is a noun and therefore cannot be used, for instance, as a verb,
and its pronunciation is ['brind] with a stress on the first syllable.

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3.1. Levels of stress
As briefly presented in tip 39 in the book, one of the main differences between English
stress and Spanish stress has to do with the degrees or levels of stress attested in the two
languages. Whereas in Spanish, as in many other languages, stress operates on a two-
level analysis (i.e. stressed syllables vs. unstressed syllables) in English there are four
levels of stress, known as, primary stress, secondary stress, tertiary stress and
unstressed. These levels of stress only occur in long words (with at least three or more
syllables). Thus, a word such as orange, with only two syllables, only has a stressed
syllable and an unstressed syllable.

The main characteristics of the four levels of stress in English are summarized in the
following table. The lack of a tick (3) indicates that this characteristic is not present.

Stress levels Nuclear Pitch prominence Rhythmic beat Strong vowel
Primary 3 3 3 3
Secondary 3 3 3
Tertiary 3 3
Unstressed

Primary stress (PS) is the strongest type of stress and it is always accompanied by a
pitch movement and a rhythmic beat. It is the main (or nuclear) stress of a word and the
syllable always contains a strong vowel. Secondary stress (SS) has similar
characteristics to primary stress but is non-nuclear, that is, it is not perceived as the
main stress of the word. As presented in tip 39, a secondary stress always precedes the
primary one. The tertiary stress (TS) is weaker than the secondary one. It is produced
with a rhythmic beat and a strong vowel but with no pitch movement. Usually a tertiary
stress is located between the primary and the secondary stresses of a word. Finally, an
unstressed syllable (U) has no pitch or rhythmic prominence and it tends to be produced
with a weak vowel, such as [o], [i], [i ], [u] and [o] (sometimes strong vowels can also
occur in unstressed syllables but these cases are in the minority). The following
examples, reproduced from the book, illustrate a word with three stress levels (PS, SS
and U) and a word with four stress levels (PS, SS, TS and U). Remember that, in
transcription, primary stress is signalled by the diacritic ['] and secondary and tertiary
stresses by the diacritic []. Sometimes a tertiary stress is signalled by a small circle
under the syllable. However, in this course we will use the symbol [] for both
secondary and tertiary stresses.

*in tro *duce *dis con *ti nu *a tion
[in Iro 'd]u:s] [dis kon Ii n]u 'ei ]on]
SS U PS SS U TS U PS U

Thus, in words with two stresses, the last one is PS and the first one is SS. In words
with threes stresses, the last one is PS, the first one is SS and the one in the middle is
TS. Note that in the book we have referred to secondary and tertiary stresses as pre-
primary stresses, that is, stresses that occur before the main (or primary) stress and that
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have a weaker prominence that the primary one. Even though from a theoretical
perspective it is interesting to be acquainted with the four levels of stress in English,
from a practical point of view it is easy for students to operate with only three levels:
primary or main stress, pre-primary and unstressed.

3.2. Predicting the location of stress

As presented at the beginning of section 3, stress is a feature which is specified at the
lexicon and thus native speakers of a language know which syllables of a word are
stressed and which syllables are unstressed. It has been observed, though, that the stress
patterns of words can actually be predicted by looking at certain parameters such as the
word category, the number of syllables and their structure. In the following sections we
will briefly describe how stress placement can be predicted in simple words and in
complex words. Simple words are made up of one grammatical unit. Complex words are
composed with more than one grammatical unit. They can be of two kinds: 1) word +
affix and 2) word + word (compound).

3.2.1. Stress in simple words
The prediction of stress placement in simple words only refers to words containing two
or three syllables and produced with a primary stress. Words with pre-primary stresses
are excluded. In order to predict the location of stress in simple words, we have to take
into account three parameters:

1. The word category: noun, verb or adjective
2. The number of syllables: two or three
3. The phonological structure of those syllables

The phonological structure of syllables has to do with the segments (vowels and
consonants) that make up a syllable. Syllables can be categorized as strong or weak.
A strong syllable contains a long vowel or a diphthong (except for [oo]) or
ends with more than one consonant. Examples of strong syllables are provided
below.
[si:] it contains a long vowel
[nao] it contains a diphthong rather than [oo]
[ko:l] it contains a long vowel
[nisI] it ends up with more than one consonant

A weak syllable contains a short vowel (or [oo]) and one (or no) final
consonants. Examples of weak syllables are provided below.

[bi] it contains a short vowel and no final consonant
[beI] it contains a short vowel and only one final consonant
[in] it contains a short vowel and only one final consonant
[noo] it contains [oo] and no final consonant

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Once we know the word category of the word, the number of syllables and the
phonological structure of those syllables, the following rules can be stated. Note that
these rules have loads of exceptions and they should be regarded as tendencies.

1. Two-syllable words
a) Verbs and adjectives

1. If the last (ultimate) syllable of the verb/adjective is strong, then it will be
stressed.

Examples: verbs ap*ply as*sist o*bey
[o'plai] [o'sisI] [o'bei]

adjectives di*vine a*live content
[di'vain] [o'laiv] [kon'IenI]

2. If the last (ultimate) syllable of the verb/adjective is weak, the penultimate
syllable will be stressed.

Examples: verbs *enter *open *follow
['enIo] ['oopon] ['lbloo]

adjectives *happy *little *hollow
['hpi] ['liIol] ['hbloo]

b) Nouns

1. If the last (ultimate) syllable of the noun contains a short vowel, the penultimate
syllable will be stressed. Otherwise, the last syllable will be stressed.

Examples: *letter *product *cottage
['leIo] ['prbdtkI] ['kbIid]

de*sign ac*cord i*dea
[di'zain] [o'ko:d] [ai'dio]

2. Three-syllable words
a) Verbs

Three-syllable verbs behave in the same way as two-syllable verbs.

1. If the last (ultimate) syllable of the verb is strong, then it will be stressed.

Examples: enter*tain resur*rect
[enIo'Iein] [rezo'rekI]

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2. If the last (ultimate) syllable of the verb is weak, the penultimate syllable will be
stressed.

Examples: en*counter de*termine
[iq'kaonIo] [di'Is:nin]

b) Nouns and adjectives

1. If the final syllable of the noun/adjective is strong, the first (antepenultimate)
syllable will be stressed.

Examples: nouns *intellect *stalactite
['inIolekI] ['sIlokIaiI]

adjectives *insolent *opportune
['insolonI] ['bpoI]u:n]

2. If the final syllable of the noun/adjective is weak and the middle syllable is
strong, the middle syllable is stressed.

Examples: nouns po*tato di*saster
[po'IeiIoo] [di'zo:sIo]

adjectives e*normous a*mazing
[i'no:nos] [o'neiziq]

3. If the final and the middle syllables of the noun/adjective are weak, the first
(antepenultimate) syllable will be stressed.

Examples: nouns *quantity *emperor
['kwbnIiIi] ['enporo]

adjectives *similar *probable
['sinilo] ['prbbobol]

Self-evaluation activities

Exercise 1

Look at the following simple words produced with one stress (as indicated by the
asterisk). First, transcribe the words. Then, decide whether the stress distribution of
these words agrees with the previous rules or on the contrary they are exceptions to the
rules. Give reasons.

Example: *difficult ['dilikolI]
6

The stress pattern of this word agrees with rule (2-b-1). It is a three-syllable adjective with a strong final
syllable and thus the first (antepenultimate) syllable is stressed.

1. *father 5. ca*thedral

2. *yellow 6. *honest

3. at*tract 7. *furniture

4. *improvise 8. *accident

3.2.2. Stress in complex words

Complex words are composed with more than one grammatical unit. There are two
major types of complex words: 1) words made up of a stem + an affix (prefix or suffix)
and 2) compounds (made up of two separate words). Complex words containing an
affix may consist of a prefix + a stem or a stem + a suffix. Examples of complex words
with some kind of affixation are provided below.

un-kind speech-less care-ful-ly dis-grace-ful
prefix + stem stem + suffix stem + suffix + suffix prefix + stem + suffix

Compounds consist of two independent words which are strung together and constitute
a new semantic entity. They can be written as one word, such as such blackboard, as
two separate words with an intermediate hyphen as ice-cream or as two separate words
with no hyphen as desk lamp.

In the following sections, we will examine the stress patterns of complex words.

3.2.2.1. Stem + affix
The addition of a prefix to a word does not change the location of the main stress in the
stem. In most cases, the prefix will get a secondary stress but the primary or main stress
will remain in the original syllable. Look at the following examples reproduced from
the book. The words in the second column contain a prefix which is produced with a
secondary stress. The main stress is located on the same syllable as in the words with no
prefix.

a*gree [o'gri:] *dis-a*gree [diso'gri:]
ef*fective [i'lekIiv] *in-ef*fective [ini'lekIiv]
de*cided [di'saidid] *un-de*cided [tndi'saidid]
ca*pacity [ko'psoIi] *dis-ca*pacity [disko'psoIi]

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The addition of a suffix, on the other hand, may cause differences in the stress
distribution of a word. Suffixes have been grouped into three categories according to
their effects on the stress placement in the word:

1. Stress-attracting suffixes (suffixes that attract the primary stress)
2. Stress-neutral suffixes (suffixes that do not affect stress placement, that is, the
primary stress remains in its original position)
3. Stress-fixing suffixes (suffixes that change the location of the main stress into
another syllable which is neither the originally stressed syllable nor the suffix
itself)

Some examples of the three types of suffixes and their effects on stress placement are
provided below.

Stress attracting: -ette, -eer, -ese, -ee

ci*gar *cigar*ette Ja*pan *Japan*ese
[si'go:] [sigo'reI] [do'pn] [dpo'ni:z]

Stress-neutral: -able, -ish, -ful, -less, -ous

*comfort *comfortable *wonder *wonderful
['ktnloI] ['ktnlIobol] ['wtndo] ['wtndolol]

Stress-fixing: -ic, -ion, -ive

*climate cli*matic *perfect per*fection
['klainoI] [klai'nIik] ['ps:likI] [po'lek]on]

Note that in words with a stress attracting suffix not only the main stress is displaced
towards the suffix but also a secondary stress is produced on the first syllable of the
word. This causes changes in the quality of vowels, as in the example of Ja*pan-
*Japan*ese. For further details on the effect of stress on vowel quality, see tip 38 in the
book.
[do'pn] [dpo'ni:z]

weak vowel strong vowel strong vowel

weak vowel

3.2.2.2. Compounds
Compounds are words made up of two separate elements. The main tendency in
compounds is to have a primary stress on the first element of the compound. This is
illustrated in the following examples.

*typewriter *baby-sitter *suitcase
['IaipraiIo] ['beibisiIo] ['su:Ikeis]
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As presented in tip 41, differences in the location of the main stress can help to
distinguish a compound from a noun phrase when they contain the same words.
Compounds have the primary stress on the first element and noun phrases on the
second. An example from the book is reproduced below.

Noun Phrase Compound

*yellow *hammer *yellowhammer
[]eloo 'hno] [']eloohno]

(martillo amarillo) (verdern, pjaro)

Despite the tendency of stressing the first element of a compound, there are many
exceptions to this rule and we can find several compounds with a primary stress on the
second element. See tip 41 in the book for a list of the most typical compounds with
stress on the second unit.

Finally, it is also interesting to note that there are compounds in English whose stress
distribution may vary from speaker to speaker. This is the case of ice-cream which is
sometimes produced with early stress (['aiskri:n]) and other times with late stress
([ais'kri:n]).

3.3. Stress reorganizations
As discussed in more detail in tips 43 and 44, it is possible in English to relocate the
position of certain stresses when two or three stressed syllables happen to come one
after the other. In the next two sections, we will briefly review the two most common
cases of stress reorganization in English: 1) stress shift and 2) consecutive stresses.

3.3.1. Stress clash and stress shift
A stress shift involves the relocation of a primary stress into a secondary stress position
as a result of a stress clash. A stress clash involves the consecutive (or almost
consecutive) production of two stressed syllables in different words. An example of a
stress clash and the subsequent stress shift is reproduced below from the book. The
word *Portu*guese has a primary stress on the last syllable and a secondary (pre-
primary) stress on the first syllable. When this word is in contact with another word
which is stressed on the first syllable, such as *history, the primary stress of
*Portu*guese is displaced into the syllable with an initial secondary stress. See tip 44
for more examples.

*Portu*guese *Portu*guese *history *Portuguese *history
[po:I]o'gi:z] ['po:I]ogi:z 'hisIri]

primary
stress
stress clash stress shift
Relocation of the
primary stress
secondary
stress
9

Note that stress shifts only occur if the first word is double or multiple-stressed. If the
first word has only one (primary stress), there is no possibility to displace this stress into
another position and thus the stress clash is unavoidable. In this case the two
consecutive stresses have to be produced, as in the following example.

*old *history

3.3.2. Consecutive stresses
As described in tip 43 in the book, in English when three stressed lexical words with
one or two syllables come together in connected speech, the word in the middle tends to
lose the stress. This is illustrated in the following example, where the words *nice,
*little and *baby are originally stressed but when they are produced consecutively the
word in the middle loses its stress. Refer to page 164 in the book for further examples.

*nice *little *baby *nice little *baby
['nais liIol 'beibi]

4. Rhythm
As presented in more detail in tip 42 in the book, the rhythmic pattern of a language has
to do with the repetition of a linguistic event which tends to occur at approximately the
same interval of time. Languages are classified according to the event that is repeated,
namely, the syllable or the stress.

4.1. Syllable-timed languages
A syllable-timed language is a language in which syllables (no matter whether they are
stressed or unstressed) tend to be produced at equal time intervals. Thus, all syllables
take approximately the same amount of time. Examples of syllable-timed languages are
Spanish or French. See page 158 for more details.

4.2. Stress-timed languages

A stress-timed language is a language in which stressed syllables tend to be produced at
equal time intervals. Thus, there is more or less the same amount of time between
stresses. An example of a stress-timed language is English. In stress-timed languages,
the unit of rhythm is the foot. The foot begins with a stressed syllable and includes all
the following unstressed syllables (if any) up to (but not including) the following
stressed syllable. The sentence below, for example, has four feet containing a different
number of syllables.

*Jonathan had *seen *elephants in the *jungle.
['dbnoOon hod 'si:n 'elolonIs in o 'dtqgol]

4-syll. foot 1-syll. foot 5-syll. foot 2-syll. foot

Sometimes sentences begin with an anacrusis, that is, one (or more) unstressed
syllable(s) that do not belong to any foot. For example, the following sentence contains
two initial unstressed syllables that are not part of any foot.
10

The re*sults were *very *bad.
[o ri'ztlIs wo 'veri 'bd]

anacrusis 2-syll.f. 2-syll.f. 1-syll.f.

The tendency in stress-timed languages to keep the same amount of time between feet
(from one stressed syllable to the next stressed syllable) is called isochrony. Remember
that a stress-timed rhythmic pattern has an effect on syllable duration (Tip 45). The
higher the number of unstressed syllables between stresses the quicker they will have to
be uttered so as to maintain a similar amount of time between feet.

Finally, it is important to note that the distinction between syllable-timed languages and
stress-timed languages is sometimes not that clear-cut. Studies have shown that it is
virtually impossible to keep the same amount of time between feet and that the
production of feet with an exactly equal duration would sound rather unnatural. Thus,
the two types of rhythmic patterns have to be regarded as tendencies rather than norms.
Even though the production of a stress-timed rhythm is not as precise as the theoretical
tenets would suggest, it is crucial for foreign students of English to become acquainted
with this tendency since it is essential to understand other related issues, such as stress
reorganizations or the presence of weak forms, among many others.

Self-evaluation activities

Exercise 2

Transcribe the following sentences with stress marks. For each sentence show the
number of feet and indicate how many syllables are included in each foot. State if the
sentence starts with anacrusis.

Example: My sister`s shorter than your brother.

[nai 'sisIoz ']o:Io on ]o: 'brto] three feet (+anacrusis)

anacrusis 2-syll. 4-syll. 2-syll.
foot foot foot

1. Amanda deserves a better luck.

2. The plane was delayed for more than seven hours.

3. What a beautiful day!

4. Theyre going to organize the conference in February.

5. Dont take the bus to go to school.

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Solutions to the self-evaluation activities
Exercise 1

1. *father ['lo:o]
The stress pattern of this word agrees with rule (1-b). It is a two-syllable noun with a short vowel in the
last syllable and thus the first (penultimate) syllable is stressed.

2. *yellow [']eloo]
The stress pattern of this word agrees with rule (1-a-2). It is a two-syllable adjective with a weak final
syllable (containing the diphthong [oo]) and thus the first (penultimate) syllable is stressed.

3. at*tract [o'IrkI]
The stress pattern of this word agrees with rule (1-a-1). It is a two-syllable verb with a strong final
syllable and thus the final (ultimate) syllable is stressed.

4. *improvise ['inprovaiz]
The stress pattern of this word is an exception to rule (2-a-1). According to this rule, we would expect to
stress the last (ultimate) syllable of the verb since it is strong. However, the stress falls on the first
syllable.

5. ca*thedral [ko'Oi:drol]
The stress pattern of this word agrees with rule (2-b-2). It is a three-syllable noun with a weak final
syllable and a strong middle syllable which attracts the stress.

6. *honest ['bnisI]
The stress pattern of this word is an exception to rule (1-a-1). According to this rule, we would expect to
stress the last (ultimate) syllable of the adjective since it is strong. However, the stress falls on the first
syllable.

7. *furniture ['ls:niI]o]
The stress pattern of this word agrees with rule (2-b-3). It is a three-syllable noun with weak final and
middle syllables and thus the first syllable is stressed.

8. *accident ['ksidonI]
The stress pattern of this word agrees with rule (2-b-1). It is a three-syllable noun with a strong final
syllable and thus the first (antepenultimate) syllable is stressed.

Exercise 2

1. Amanda deserves a better luck.
[o'nndo di'zs:vz o 'beIo 'ltk] four feet (+anacrusis)
ana. 3-syll.f. 2-syll.f. 2-syll.f 1-syll.f.

2. The plane was delayed for more than seven hours.
[o 'plein woz di'leid lo 'no: on 'sevon 'aooz] five feet (+anacrusis)
ana. 3-syll.f. 2-syll.f 2-syll.f. 2-syll.f. 1-syll.f

3. What a beautiful day!
['wbI o'b]u:Iilol 'dei] three feet (no anacrusis)
2-syll.f. 3-syll.f. 1-syll.f

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4. Theyre going to organize the conference in February.
[eo 'gooiq Io 'o:gonaiz o 'kbnlorons in 'lebroori] four feet (+ anacrusis)
ana. 2-syll.f. 4-syll.f. 4-syll.f. 3-syll.f.

5. Dont take the bus to go to school.
['doonI 'Ieik o 'bts Io 'goo Io 'sku:l] five feet (no anacrusis)
1-syll.f 2-syll.f. 2-syll.f. 2-syll.f. 1-syll.f.

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Stress and Rhythm

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Asignatura: Pronunciacin de la lengua inglesa

Grado en Estudios Ingleses: Lengua, Literatura y Cultura (UNED)

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