Word and sentence stress

“Houston, we have a problem”

“I see dead people”

“Run Forest, run”

“What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”

“Nothing beats a first kiss”

“To infinity and beyond”

“May the force be with you”

“I’ll be back”

“My mamma always said: Life was like a box of chocolates you never

know what you’re gonna get”

Which of the following words has the stress on the first syllable

•Biologist

•Photographer

•Psychiatrist

• Secretary

Which 2-syllable word has a different stress pattern from the others?

•a) police

•b) mother

•c) student

•d) money

Which 2-syllable word has a different stress pattern from the others?

• a) career

• b) shampoo

• c) balloon

• d) problem

Which 3-syllable word has a different stress pattern from the others?

• a) cinema

• b) Saturday

• c) umbrella

• d) manager

Which 3-syllable word has a different stress pattern from the others?

• a) potato

•b) paragraph

• c) computer

•d) professor

Which of these adjectives beginning with ‘un’ or ‘in’ has the stress on the final syllable?

• a) informal

• b) unhappy

• c) unfriendly

• d) unemployed

Underline the stressed syllable • Economic

• Economy

• Democracy

• Volunteer

• Acquisition

• Acquire

• Verification

• Recognizable

• Necessary

• Exception

• Contagious

• Delicious

• Ecological

• Relevant

• Unfortunately

• Accuracy

• Category

• Comfortable

• Literature

• Subsequent

Can you pass me a plastic knife?

I want to take a photography class.

China is the place where I was born.

Please turn off the television before you go out.

I can't decide which book to borrow.

Do you understand this lesson?

Sparky is a very happy puppy.

It is critical that you finish your essay.

My Grandfather wears an old-fashioned coat.

There is a lot of traffic on the highway today.

Register-Record-Upset-Project-Control- protest- subject- present

• They are conducting a science project

• Before the meeting, you have to register first.

• The equipment is out of control

• A protest was held by the company against animal testing

• This offer is subjected to the approval of the board

What is stress?

How can you identify stressed syllables?

Which sound never appears within a stressed syllable?

Up to how many levels of stress have been identified?

• When a word or syllable is pronounced with greater force than other words in the same sentence or other syllables in the same word,.

STRESS FEATURES

Pitch change: prominence

Loudness: Level of speaker’s voice

Length: Longer syllable

Word Stress

Qualify banana understand

Ooo oOo ooO

Syllabus Substitute Technical

Engagement Banana phonetic

Usherette Kangaroo understand

Key Rules

• Schwa is by nature an unstressed sound, never appears within a stressed syllable

• We can only stress vowels not consonants

Oo Ooo oOo Oooo ooOo

Plumber- electrician- doctor- journalist- musician- shop- assistant- teacher- soldier-

novelist- architect- carpenter- actor- policeman- fireman- lecturer- florist-

businessman- artist- farmer- scientist- researcher- gardener-designer

• Artist friendly When a noun or adjective comes from a one-syllable word

• Remove become

• Understand overflow

When a verb comes from a one-syllable word, compound verbs

second syllable

• Record record Some two- syllable words are both nouns and verbs.

• Bookshop newspaper

• Check-in desk crossword Compound nouns are made from two

smaller words

• Forget

• Forgetful

• Quietly

Stress does not change when adding prefixes or suffixes

• bad-TEMpered, old-FASHioned For compound adjectives, the stress is on the second part

Sentence stress

• The beautiful Mountain appeared transfixed in the distance.

• He can come on Sundays as long as he doesn't have to do any homework in the evening.

Sentence stress

• He LIVES in the HOUSE on the CORner

Content words: conveying important information

Function words: hold language together

Tonic syllable: Corner: most important word

Longer, louder, main pitch

Function words

Determiners

• the, a, some, a few

Auxiliary verbs

• don't, am, can, were

Prepositions

• before, next to, opposite Pronouns

• they, she, us

Conjunctions

• but, while, as

Content words

Adjectives &

adverbs

Main verbs

Nouns

Sentence stress

• Isochrony is the idea that a language rhythmically divides time into equal portions. Three types of divisions are postulated:

• the temporal duration between two stressed syllables is equal (stress-timed);

• The duration of every syllable is equal (syllable-timed);

• the duration of every mora is equal (mora-timed).

Isochronicity

In which sentence does the speaker want to tell us that John’s car is not second hand?

• a) John’s bought a new car.

• b) John’s bought a new car.

• c) John’s bought a new car.

• d) John’s bought a new car.

• Where did you say John lives?

• He lives in the house on the corner

• John lives in the block of flats on the corner, doesn’t he?

• No, he lives in the house on the corner

Sentence meaning

I love you (…and I want you to know this) I love you (I don’t love her) I love you (He doesn’t)