Word Stress
& Sentence Stress
Huang Wanmei
Review of Vowels
Three factors for the description of English vowels
I. The height of the body of the tongue –
highest point of tongue (vertical axis);
II. The front-back position of the tongue –
highest point of tongue (horizontal axis);
III. The degree of lip rounding - lip posture
The height of the body of the tongue
The front-back position of the tongue
Description of the vowels
• Front & Central Vowels
•
•
•
•
•
•
/:/
//
/e/
/æ/
/:/
/ə/
high, front, unrounded vowel
lower high, front, unrounded vowel
mid, front, unrounded vowel
low, front, unrounded vowel
mid, central, unrounded vowel
mid, central, unrounded vowel
• Back Vowels
•
•
•
•
•
•
/:/
//
/:/
/u/
/u:/
//
low, back, unrounded vowel
low, back, rounded vowel
mid-low, back, rounded vowel
lower high, back, rounded vowel
high, back, rounded vowel
lower mid, back, unrounded vowel
Unit 8: Word Stress
• English is a stress timed language
The English language is often referred to as
stress-timed. Stress in a spoken sentence occurs
at regular intervals and the time to say
something depends on the number of stressed
syllables rather than the number of syllables itself.
• 1234
• 1 and 2 and 3 and 4
• 1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4
• 1 and then a 2 and then a 3 and then a 4
Word Stress
• A word stress means a prominent syllable
word
pattern
tea.cher
•.
beau.ti.ful
•..
un.der.stand
..•
con.ti.nue
.•.
How to pronounce word stress?
When a syllable is stressed, it is pronounced
• longer in duration
• higher in pitch
• louder in volume
How do you say teacher?
Longer
Higher
teeeeeeeeeeee cher
tea
cher
Louder
TEA cher
All three
combined
TEEEEEEEEEEE
cher
Word Stress Rule
Where is the
stress?
Examples
Nouns
on the first
syllable
center
object
flower
Verbs
on the last
syllable
release
admit
arrange
on the first part
desktop
pencil case
bookshelf
greenhouse
Word type
Two syllables
Nouns
(N + N)
(Adj. + N)
Compound
Adjectives
(Adj. + P.P.)
Verbs
(prep. + verb)
on the last part
(the verb part)
well-meant
hard-headed
old-fashioned
understand
overlook
outperform
Word type
Phrasal Verbs
Where is the stress?
Examples
on the particle
turn off
buckle up
hand out
-ic
the syllable before the
ending
Word with
added
ending
economic
Geometric
electrical
-tion, -cian, -sion
Technician
graduation
cohesion
-phy, -gy, -try, -cy, -fy,
-al
Photography
biology
geometry
-meter
the third from the last
syllable
Parameter
Thermometer
barometer
Sentence Stress in English
• Sentence stress is the music of spoken English.
Like word stress, sentence stress can help you to
understand spoken English, especially when
spoken fast.
• Sentence stress is what gives English its rhythm
or "beat". You remember that word stress is
accent on one syllable within a word. Sentence
stress is accent on certain words within a
sentence.
Most sentences have two types of word:
content words
structure words
Content words are the key words of a sentence.
They are the important words that carry the
meaning or sense.
Structure words are not very important words.
They are small, simple words that make the
sentence correct grammatically.
If you remove the structure words from a sentence,
you will probably still understand the sentence.
Imagine that you receive this telegram message:
SELL
Will you
CAR
SELL
my
SELL
my
CAR
CAR
GONE
I’ve
because
GONE
I’ve
FRANCE
to
GONE
FRANCE
to
FRANCE
2
Will
1
you
SELL
my
3
CAR
because
1
I’ve
GONE
to
FRANCE
Rules for Sentence Stress in English
The basic rules of sentence stress are:
1. content words are stressed
2. structure words are unstressed
3. the time between stressed words is
always the same
Content words - stressed
Words carrying the meaning Example
main verbs
SELL, GIVE, EMPLOY
nouns
CAR, MUSIC, MARY
adjectives
RED, BIG, INTERESTING
adverbs
QUICKLY, LOUDLY, NEVER
negative auxiliaries
DON'T, AREN'T, CAN'T
Structure words - unstressed
Words for correct grammar
Example
pronouns
he, we, they
prepositions
on, at, into
articles
a, an, the
conjunctions
and, but, because
auxiliary verbs
do, be, have, can, must