WORD STRESS PATTERNS IN PROSODIC PHONOLOGY

Charlotte Stice

What is prosody?

• Prosody consists of distinctive variations of stress, tone, and timing in spoken language

• In linguistics, prosody refers to intonation and vocal stress in speech

What is stress? Stress is a term that we apply to

words in isolation which have more than one syllable. It refers to the property that certain syllables carry which make them stand out from the rest of the word. Stressed syllables are made with more effort than unstressed ones; the muscles in the lungs expel air more aggressively than for unstressed syllables.

THERE ARE SEVERAL WAYS TO MARK STRESS IN A WORD

• Stress can be marked by an acute accent ( ! )

• Stress can also be noted by a high mark in front of the stressed syllable

• In certain textbooks, stress is marked with large and small circles° º °amazing

More ways to mark stress

Use a 1 for primary stress and a 2 for secondary stress

2 1 2 1

Fundamental introductory

HOW STRESS CAN POSE PROBLEMS FOR THE ELL

• In many languages, word stress follows a set pattern (ie: in French the stress is almost always on the final syllable—aller, avertir, absolument.

• How do you explain to an ELL the difference between the pronunciation of the word “record” in the following examples:

Please keep a récord of all of your work.

Please recórd your voice on the tape.

Consider the following English verbs. Those in column A have stress on the next-to-last syllable, whereas the

verbs in column B and C have their last syllable stressed.

A B C

astónish collápse amáze

exit exíst impróve

imágine resíst surpríse

cáncel revólt combíne

elícit adópt recáll

práctice insíst atóne

Transcribe the words under A, B and C phonetically

A B Cəstαnıš kəlæps əmez

εksət εgzıst impruvımæĵən rəzεnt sərprajzkænsəl rəvolt kəmbajnəlısət ədαpt rəkαlpræctəs ınsıst əton

What is the difference between the final syllables in columns A and B?

What kind of rule would predict where stess occurs in the verbs in columns A and B?

RULE: In words that end with more than one consonant, the stress falls on the second syllable.

In the verbs in column C, stress also occurs on the final syllable. What must you add to

the rule to account for this fact?Hint: look at the vowels

Rule: If the second syllable of a verb contains a long vowel or dipthong, the second syllable is stressed.

HOW TO DETERMINE WHERE STRESS LIES

Unfortunately, English has a very complex set of procedures that determine stress. However, since nearly all English speakers agree on where stress should be placed in individual words, there is some method to our madness.

Check out the following websites:

http://www.celt.stir.ac.uk/staff/HIGDOX/STEPHEN/PHONO/PHONOLG.HTM

http://www.onestopenglish.com/ProfessionalSupport/ask/methodology_bowen_pronun.htm