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Stress is the relative degree of force used by a speaker on the various
syllables he is uttering.It gives a certain basic prominence to the
syllables,and hence to the words,on which it is used,and incidentally
assists in avoid monotony.
WORD (or LEXICAL) STRESS is the relative degree of force used in
pronouncing the different syllables of a word of more than one
syllable.Examples: About Generation
SENTENCE (or SYNTACTICAL) STRESS is the relative degree of force
given to the different words in the sentence.Examples: I could hardly believe my eyes.
Whats he talking about?
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Types of stress
Stress definitions
PRIMARY is the strongest stress in a
phrase.Every word spoken in isolation has
primary stress on one syllable,the othersyllables having one of the weaker stresses.
SECONDARY is a kind of reduced primary,is
not recognized by all analysists.It occursonly on major-stressed items that have
entered into syntactic combinations.
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TERTIARY is the intermediate stress
recognized by all analysts of English insingle words like football,and two-
word phrases like fountain pen.WEAK is the level of least
intensity.Most syllables spoken with
weak stress are limited to certain
vowels only, schwa and /I/ .
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Stress shift
`__ _ _ __`__ _ __ __ __`__ __
diplomat di plomacy diplo maticphotograph photography photographic
monotone monotony monotonic
The chart above exemplifies the kind of
alternations that can occur.All the words inthe first column have the primary stress on
the first syllable.When the noun-forming
suffix -y occurs,the stress on these words
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shifts to the second syllable.But as youcan see on the third column,the
adjectival suffix -ic moves the stressto the syllable immediately preceding
it,which in these words is the third
syllable.
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Double stress in simple words
(primary and secondary).
Secondary stress is chiefly needed in words
having three or more syllables precedingthe primary stress.
Examples: vulnera`bility
exami`nationresponsa`bility
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Difference in noun and verb through
stress.The following pair of words are spelled
the same but the stress on the nouns
differs from that on the verbs.
The nouns are stressed on the first
syllable,lenghten the first syllable.Theverbs are stressed on the second
syllable,lenghten the second syllable.
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Nouns Verbs
`Concert Con`cert`Conduct Con`duct
`Conflict Con`flict
`Contest Con`test
`Contract Con`tract
`Contrast Con`trast`Decrease De`crease
`Desert Desert
`Digest Di`gest
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Vowel quality in stress shift.
The change in accentual pattern ismanifested mainmly by a shift in pitch
prominence together with a related
variation of quality.Often the
qualitative change takes the form of a
reduction of the unaccented vowel ofthe first element of the verbal form to
schwa or /I/;less frequently,by a
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reduction of the vowel in the second
element of the noun/adjective
form,e.g.:
Noun/adjective Verb`Absent Ab`sent
`Concert Con`cert
`Present Pre`sent
`Subject Sub`ject
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Stress vs. Full vowel
There is a tendency in English to
reduce syllables adjacent to thestressed one,and to subsidiary stress
on these at one remove from it. Thesemi- stressed syllable preserves its
vowel quality.All we can say for certain
is that the two phenomena are
interdependent. A subsidiary stress
favours the pronunciation of the
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full vowel; a full vowel produces theimpression of a subsidiary stress.
(from Maria Schubiger Vowel Quality
in Unstressed Syllables in English
Language Teaching. Volume XXI.Number 2. January,1967. OUP. p170).
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EX pronunciation principles
1. Where EX has primary or
secondary stress,it is pronounced/eks/.
Examples:`exercise , `exodus, expo`s.
2. Where the stress falls on the second
syllable,which begins with a
consonant,EX is usually pronounced
/Iks/
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RE pronunciation rules
1. If the prefix means again, it hassecondary stress and is pronounced /ri:/,
eg: re`write , re-`sign.
2. If the prefix does not mean again,we
must distinguish two different cases:
a) WhereRE
has primary or secondarystress,it is pronounced /re/ , eg.:
`recognize , re`collect.
b) Where REis unstressed,it is pronounced
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/rI/ ,eg.: re`member
re`flection
re`flexion
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3. If the word ending inate has more
than two syllables,the main stress willpractically always fall on the third
syllable from the end,eg.:`fortunate , `delicate.
NOTE: when the ending is stressed,it is
pronounced /eIt/: ; when unstressed
it is nearly always /It/
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A few adjectives are stressed on the
second syllable:in`nate , or`nate,se`date.
The noun debate is pronoun ced like
the verb de`bate.
h d d d
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Phrases and compoundsing words
1. Smoking `room ( a room on fire that is
smoking)`Smoking room ( a room where on may
smoke)
2. Dancing `girl (a girl who is dancing)`Dancing girl ( a girl who dances
professionally)Note: Primary stress on 2nd element= action is in progressPrimary stress on 1st element= attributive value to the
second element
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Noun- Past participle adjective (or
adverb)Past participle
Absent-`mindedWell -`made
Under-de`veloped
Old-`fashionedNote: The past participle usually reveives the primary stress
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Noun Compounds
a `darkroom(special room used in photography)
Adjectival Phrases
a dark `room
(a room that is dark)Note: Compound has a primary stress on the first element
Adjectival has a primary stress on the second element
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Another major function of stress in
English is in cases where two wordphrases form compounds such as:
Nouns Phrasal verbsa `walkout to `walk out
a `put-on to `put onIn these cases,there is a stress only on the first
element of the compound for the nouns but on both
elements of the phrasal verbs.
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Content words are usually stressed.
1. Nouns : boy, book,etc.
2. Verbs: (not auxiliary/modal verbs)
3. Adjectives: old,beautiful,etc.4. Adverbs : now,yesterday,etc.
5. Demonstratives: this,that,these,those
6. Interrogatives: who,when,why,etc.
Function words are usually unstressed.
1. Articles: a, an , the.
2. Prepositions: to , of, in, etc.
3. Personal Pronouns : I, me , he , him,etc.
4. Possessive adjectives : my , his , your ,etc.
5. Relative pronouns : who , that , which ,etc.
6. Common conjuctions : and , but , as if ,etc.
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