ENGLISH PHONOLOGY: PRONUNCIATION

VIDEO LESSON 4

WORD STRESS

Techniques to teach word stress

Mgs. Nina Nesterenko

• Stress is one of the vocal features.• Major characteristic of the English language - the use of

strong and weak stress.

There are NO consistent rules in English.

The main reason for the complexity of stress in

English the language is a mixture of

Germanic and Romance languages. This is why

stress is unpredictable and not systematic.  

the relative prominence of syllablesstress

WORD STRESS

Improperly placed stress causes misunderstanding: invalid –invalid Stress placement may also have a grammatical function – changing the stress to another syllable can change the partof speech. Noun Verb

present and present

project and project

record and record

desert and dessert

convert –and convert

WORD STRESS

Stress and Vowel ReductionIn English, unstressed syllables and vowels tend

to sound alike.

Example:

action - / æk- ʃn / and NOT / æk- ʃon /

people - / pi: pl / and NOT / pi: - pɔl /

nation - / neɪ- ʃn / and NOT / neɪ- ʃon /

vision - / vɪ - ʒn / and NOT / vɪ - ʒon /

This indistinct pronunciation and shortening of the unstressed syllable in English is called VOWEL REDUCTION.

Example: curtain - / k ə rtn / certain - / s ə r t n / apple - / æ p l /

Example: reduction / r ɪ-d ʌ- k ʃn /

Vowel reduction in unstressed syllables also normally takes place in longer English words.

The phenomenon of vowel reduction in English affects only those syllables that are completely without stress.

RULES of WORD STRESS

Stress on TWO - SYLLABLE words

If the word does not have a suffix, and in the majority of two-syllable words stress usually goes on the first syllable.

No suffix two-syllables Nouns in generalcherry window jacketdevil Tuesday tablefather breakfast papervanish cupcake money morning

Stress on the first syllable

Compound words Numbers ( of ten )flashcard twenty thirty fortybookstore fifty sixty

seventystoplight eighty ninety

Stress on the first syllable

Combinations of words which are treated as single units

from the point of view that their meanings are called

compound

Example: crossword,baseball, strawberry, airport,

photocopy

In most compound words, the stress is on the first part, as in the example: bus stop

In longer compounds, the first element has the main stress, and the other part has weaker stress.

STRESS IN COMPOUND WORDS

TWO-SYLLABLES word stress

Example:report, prepare,outrun, invite

believe, support, complete

Most two-syllable verbs have stress on the second syllable, even if they do not come from an original one- syllable word.

There are some exceptions regarding the change of the part of speech as in examples below.(there is not a change of stress)

VERB NOUN picture picture promise promise reply reply

travel travel visit visit

Ex: re-do, re-name, re-tell, re-make, re-dress

Ex: remark, remind, reward, require, refuse

When the prefix re- means again, it receives the strong stress:

When the prefix re- begins a word, and it does not mean again, it is UNSTRESSED

Stress in VERBS

Remember

NOUNS VERBSconflict ( controversy) conflict ( to clash )

content ( subject matter ) content ( to satisfy)

desert ( barren region ) desert ( to abandon )

contest ( competition) contest ( to dispute)

increase ( enlargement) increase (to make larger)

Nouns – stress on the first syllable

Verbs – stress on the second syllable

Stress in NOUN / VERB Homographs

Example: un-der- line (original word is line)

re-co-llect (original word is collect)

We can build longer word by adding parts to the beginning or end of shorter word. Stress usually stays on the same syllable as in the original word.

Stress in THREE - SYLLABLE words

Ex: real - real +ly – real +ize

separate – separate+ly

In English, the suffixes – ic, - ical , as in words basic, medical ARE ALLWAYS UNSTRESSED

When suffixes are added to English words, the stress remains on the same syllable

Stress in PREFIXES and SUFFIXES

BUT ! when the suffixes - tion / -ity are added to English words, the stress goes automatically to the syllables immediately preceding the suffix:Ex: real – realization - reality nation- nationalization- nationality

RULES TO REMEMBER

Examples:

myself, yourself, himself, herself, ourselves. 

Examples: outrun, overlook, overfeed, undergo

Reflexive pronouns are usually stressed on the SECOND syllable

Compound verbs are usually stressed on the SECOND or LAST syllable.

Teaching ideas and techniques

Listen and pronounce the stress pattern differences--Please record the record.

- Please don’t desert me in a desert.

- We project that our project will be successful

- She will present you with a present.

Work with a dictionary to find examples with noun/ verb Homographs

Write your own senteces to contrast the meaning of the

Homographs. ( ex: project and project )

Make role plays or dialogues with Homographs.

Teaching ideas and techniques

Listen and circle/ underline the words with the stress on the FIRST syllable

Ex: eighty , accept, window, vowel, resighn, machine, mother

Listen and circle/ underline the words with the stress on the SECOND syllable:

Ex: around, husband, severe, summer, complete , himself, winter

Write the words in the corresponding column according to the stressed syllable

baseball, allow, invite, eighty, complete, myself, behind

FIRST SYLLABLE SECOND SYLLABLE

---------------------------- --------------------------------

---------------------------- --------------------------------

Teaching ideas and techniques

Read the sentences and fill in the blank with compound nouns formed from the two boldfaced words. Stress the words correctly.

Ex: A rack that holds coats is a ….(coatrack) A juice made from oranges is called…..

A store that sells books is called ….

When you have an ache in your head,

you have a …………

Listen and mark the stressed syllable in these words:

sunglasses, bedroom, lipstick, headache, goldfish

Teaching ideas and techniques

Listen and repeat the pairs of words and the

sentences. Remember to stess re- only when it means “ again”.

re-mark ( to mark smth again) re-mark ( to comment)

re-lay (to lay smth down again) re-lay ( to pass on a message)

Re-do this model, but re-duce the size.

Re-mind me to re-sort the index cards.Will he re-fuse to re-print this book?

They will re-quire you to re-write the letter.

Write / say your own sentences as in the exercise above.

Teaching ideas and techniques

Classify the words below according to their stressed syllable:

Winter, acceptance, breakfast, respect, eminent, absolute,

afternoon, examine, employer, policeman, herself,report

First stressed syllable

Second stressed syllable

Last stressed syllable

Thank you!

To be continued!.... nnesterenko@utpl.edu.ec