THE IMPORTANCE OF WORD STRESS VARIATION

TO PRONOUNCE WORDS CORRECTLY

WORKSHOP – JUNE 2016

Presenter: Rodrigo Guerrero Segura

Email: rgs_2009@ymail.com

EXPERIENCE/ EXPERTISE

Rodrigo Guerrero Segura is an EFL Instructor who has been working

at Universidad de Guayaquil for the last 17 years. He has taught

Linguistics, Technical English applied to Dentistry and Computing

and recently English as a Foreign Language for young students at

Unidad Educativa Fiscal 28 de Mayo. He has been supervisor of

educational projects since 2007. He was the director of the

teaching-practice department in 2013. He studied his Masters in

Educación Universitaria at Universidad de Guayaquil. In 2014, he

went to Kansas State University to complete the Go Teacher

Program. He has the following international certifications: TKT, B2

and C1. He also has 5 linguistic works registered at Instituto

Ecuatoriano de Propiedad Intelectual.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

USING EXISTING RULES AND

AUDIO VISUAL EXAMPLES,

THIS WORKSHOP WILL

PROVIDE PARTICIPANTS

WITH THE OPPORTUNITY TO

UNDERSTAND HOW

VARIATIONS IN STRESS MAY

CHANGE THE MEANING OF

CERTAIN WORDS, AND

INFLUENCE ON THE

PRONUNCIATION OF OTHERS

METHODOLOGY

THE WORKSHOP WILL PROCEED IN THREE PHASES:

ACTIVATION: INTRODUCTION TO THE LEARNING OBJECTIVES,

AND METHODOLOGY.

CONNECTION: VISUALIZATION OF HOW STRESS VARIES ON

MULTIPLE WORDS.

AFFIRMATION: USE OF HANDOUTS, WORKSHEETS AND

FOLDABLES TO WRITE OWN EXAMPLES, AND IDENTIFICATION

OF WORD STRESS DURING THE LISTENING PRACTICE

POTENTIAL OUTCOMES

To spot the

differences in stress

variations

To identify words

according to stress

To mark the stress

correctly

PHONOLOGY

video 1 - 2

Phonology is that branch of linguistics that studies the sound system of

languages. The sound system involves:

The actual pronunciation of words, which can be broken up into the smallest

units of pronunciation, known as a segment or a phoneme.

Prosody – pitch, loudness, tempo and rhythm – the ‘music’ of speech.

HOW TO COUNT SYLLABLES

video 3 - 4 Every syllable must have a vowel, and every vowel makes a syllable.

The number of vowel sounds in a word is equal to the number of syllables.

It is the vowel that forms the syllable; syllables do not need to include

a consonant. Syllables may, of course, include one or more consonants at the

beginning or end, but a vowel can form a whole syllable on its own.

Being able to recognize and count the number of syllables in a word is a

foundational skill for success in reading and spelling

TYPES OF SYLLABLE

video 5

One-syllable words: MONOSYLLABLE

WORDS FOR PRACTICE: DOG – WALK – TRIP - RING

Two-syllable words: DISYLLABLE

WORDS FOR PRACTICE: WATER – PUMPKIN – SEVEN - MUSIC

Three- syllable words: TRISYLLABLE

WORDS FOR PRACTICE: UMBRELLA – BANANA – ELEVEN - ENERGY

Four or More syllable words: POLYSYLLABLE

WORDS FOR PRACTICE: RHINOCEROS – INFORMATION – IMAGINATION - PERSONALITY

WORD STRESS

video 6 - 7

In linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to

certain syllables in a word, or to certain words in a phrase or sentence.

Stress is typically signaled by such properties as increased loudness and vowel

length, full articulation of the vowel, and changes in pitch.

The stress placed on syllables within words is called word stress or lexical

stress.

The English language has variable stress, where the position of stress in a

word is not predictable in that way.

Sometimes more than one level of stress, such as primary

stress and secondary stress, may be identified.

RULES TO MARK STRESS

Compound Nouns

Compound nouns are two individual words that carry one meaning.

Usually a compound noun consists of two nouns. Ex:

credit + card = credit card

Drug + store = drugstore

In compound nouns, the first word is stressed

(Note that compound nouns can be written either as a single word or as two separate words.)

WORDS FOR PRACTICE

Track 44

1. parking lot 5. book shelf 9. credit card 13. football

2. parking ticket 6. book cover 10. post card 14. baseball

3. parking meter 7. book store 11. report card 15. ballpark

4. parking space 8. bookmark 12. green card 16. ballroom

RULES TO MARK STRESS

Compound Nouns within Compound Nouns

Stress the first word in these compound nouns within compound nouns.

Track 45

1. cell phone number 5. basketball coach

2. football game 6. blood pressure medicine

3. bedroom furniture 7. website address

4. high school girl 8. parking lot attendant

RULES TO MARK STRESS

Adjective + Nouns

When an adjective is followed by a noun, the noun is stressed.

Track 47a

nice day small room blue eyes old man

big house long time good job first grade

RULES TO MARK STRESS

Adjective + Adjective + Nouns

When two adjectives precede a noun, stress the first adjective and the noun.

The noun gets the most stress.

Track 47b

big blue bus nice old man

really nice day cute little girl

short black hair big brown eyes

WORDS FOR PRACTICE

Track 49

Compound Noun Adjective + Noun

1. swimming pool deep pool

2. drugstore large store

3. newspaper new paper

4. credit card plastic card

5. sunglasses nice glasses

6. postman tall man

7. bus driver fast driver

8. textbook good book

9. palm tree tall tree

10. fingernails long nails

11. girlfriend great friend

RULES TO MARK STRESS

Compound Nouns Containing Adjectives

Sometimes in a compound noun, the first word is an adjective that no longer

carries the original meaning. The meaning has been lost and has become a

part of a fixed phrase or common expression. For example the adjective

super in the compound noun supermarket does not make people think of the

true meaning of the word super.

Track 51

1. White House 6. green card

2. greenhouse 7. darkroom

3. hot dog 8. cold cut

4. blue jeans 9. Bluetooth

5. high school 10. high rise

RULES TO MARK STRESS

Phrasal Verbs - video 8 - 9 In phrasal verbs, the stress is on the last word; note the bold words in the

examples below:

Track 52

Phrasal verb Synonym

He picked up the box. He lifted the box.

He put out his cigarette. He extinguished his cigarette.

He looked over the material He reviewed the material

Sentences for practice

Track 53

1. a. We don’t need the heater. b. Turn it off. (stop, extinguish)

2. a. The music sounds good. b. Turn it up. (increase the volume)

3. a. Let’s watch TV. b. Turn it on. (to light, to start)

4. a. He’s impolite. b. That turns me off. (disgust)

5. a. The music is too loud. b. Turn it down. (decrease the volume)

6. a. Did he ask her out? b. She turned him down. (reject a person)

7. a. He told me he’d be at the party. b. He didn’t turn up. (appear, arrive)

8. a. Did you ask for help? b. They turned me away. (reject, refuse)

RULES TO MARK STRESS

Abbreviations and Numbers

Always stress the last letter or the last number when pronouncing abbreviations

Track 56

Abbreviations for Practice

1. MBA 4. CNN 7. FBI

2. UCLA 5. USA 8. PhD

3. JFK 6. IBM 9. AT&T

Numbers for Practice

1. 1997 3. 11:45 5. 911

2. 5:15 4. $37.99 6. (310) 555- 2389

RULES TO MARK STRESS

Names of Places and People

When pronouncing a name—whether of a person or place—always stress the last word

Track 58

Place Names for Practice

1. New York 5. Las Vegas

2. Central Park 6. Palm Springs

3. South Africa 7. North Dakota

4. Venice Beach 8. Mount Everest

Names of People for Practice

1. George Washington 4. John F. Kennedy

2. Bill Clinton 5. Martin Luther King

3. Tom Cruise 6. Julia Roberts

RULES TO MARK STRESS

Noun and Verb Pairs

The following pairs of words are spelled the same but pronounced differently because of changingsyllable stress. Make sure you reduce the vowel in the unstressed syllable. First you will hear thenoun, and then the verb.

Track 34

1. The singer wants to record a new record.

2. The drug addict is addicted to heroin.

3. He insulted me with a rude insult.

4. I would like to present all of the present members.

5. This permit permits you to park your car here.

6. They protested in the protest.

7. Do you object to this object?

8. The convict was convicted again.

9. I suspect that they caught the suspect.

10. They are going to contest the results of the contest.

RULES TO MARK STRESS

Syllable Stress Changes

When a word changesfrom a noun to a verbor to an adjective oradverb, frequently thestress placementchanges as well.

Track 40

1. politics political politician

2. photograph photographic photography

3. compete competitive competition

4. economy economical economize

5. democrat democracy democratic

6. family familiar familiarity

7. necessary necessarily necessity

8. hospital hospitality hospitable

9. origin originality original

10. mechanic mechanism mechanical

11. define definition definitely

12. vary variety variation

SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE

Track 41 1. He likes politics. He wants to be a politician.

2. I love photography. Do you take a lot of photographs?

3. He studied economy. He is an economical shopper.

4. Do you know that family? Yes, they’re familiar to me.

5. He is a very good mechanic. He is fixing the mechanism.

6. Their opinions vary. There is a variety of opinions in the room.

7. We celebrate Memorial Day. It’s in memory of the veterans.

8. Do you know the origin of your name? No, it’s pretty original.

9. He is a registered Democrat. He watched the democratic debate on TV.

10. It is not necessary to do that. I don’t necessarily agree.

11. He likes to compete. He’s always been very competitive.

SENTENCES STRESS

video 10 - 11 The stress placed on words within sentences is called sentence

stress or prosodic stress.

This is one of the three components of prosody, along

with rhythm and intonation.

It includes phrasal stress (the default emphasis of certain words

within phrases or clauses), and contrastive stress (used to highlight an item −

a word, or occasionally just part of a word − that is given particular focus).

SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE

video 12 I HAVE TO GO TO SCHOOL

I WANT MY BROTHER TO WIN

IT`S NOT TH BEST IDEA

SHE WANTS TO PLAY A GAME

I’D LIKE YOU TO JOIN US FOR DINNER

WE’LL CHOOSE THE WINNER ON SATURDAY OR SUNDAY

MANY OF THE STUDENTS ARE GOING ON VACATION TOMORROW

FOLDABLES

FEEDBACK

01- The branch of linguistics that studies the sound system of languages is called

02- The Number of vowel sounds determines the Number of

03- Two-syllable words are called

04- Stress is the that may be given to certain syllables in a word, or to certain words in a phrase or sentence

05- The stress placed on words within sentences is called

06- In compound nouns, the is stressed.

07- When an adjective is followed by a noun, the is stressed.

08- In phrasal verbs, the stress is on the

09- Always stress the or the when pronouncing abbreviations.

10- When pronouncing a name—whether of a person or place—always stress the

11- When a word changes from a noun to a verb or to an adjective or adverb, frequently the stress placement as well.

12- The three components of sentences stress are , along with and

CONCLUSIONS

English is a stressed language

Word stress plays a very important role in English speaking

It is not just optional for English Language but a very essential and

important part of the language.

Words stress helps English speakers to communicate accurately and

fluently.

Even if one do not hear a word clearly but one can still understand

the word because of where the stress is placed in the word

If one uses word stress in is/her speech one can really improve his/her

pronunciation and comprehension.

Word stress in sentences is important to the meaning

REFERENCES

Yule George (2014). The study of language. Fifth Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress

Roach, P. (2010). English Phonetics and Phonology (4th ed). Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress

Mojsin Lisa (2009). Mastering the American Accent. First Edition Barron’s Educational Series,Inc.

Clark, J., Yallop, C. and Fletcher, J. (2007). An Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology (3rded). Victoria: Blackwell

Ladefoged, P. (2006). A Course in Phonetics (5th ed). Boston: Thomson Wadsworth

https://www.logicofenglish.com/blog/66-teaching-methods/386-what-is-a-syllable

https://courses.nus.edu.sg/course/elltankw/history/phon/a.htm

bbclearningenglish.com

www.englishclub.com

www.wordstress.info