PRONUNCIATION

Grade: University Level

Meeting: 1

Word Stress in English

What is Word Stress in English?

Word stress is the system of stress within an individual word. Word stress is important because
English is a stress-timed language, which means that we speak with rhythm, pronouncing the stress
in each content word. Each content word is broken into parts called syllables. One of the syllables in
a word will have a stronger stress than the others. We pronounce the stressed syllable more loudly
and with more power, while the other syllables are pronounced more quietly and with less power.
Every content word in English has one strong stress. For example:

teacher has two syllables: tea cher Tee ch (Clear Alphabet)

The first syllable has strong stress, while the second syllable does not. It is weak.

Word stress is not regular in English. The positioning of word stress varies, although it is very often
on the first syllable of a word, so if you need to have a guess you should choose the first syllable!
This is mainly because suffixes – word endings – in English are not usually stressed. For example, a
two-syllable word ending with the suffix ing must be stressed on the first, because ing is never
stressed:

Suffixes can also help us to find word stress because there are many suffixes which follow a rule that
the stress must be on the syllable before, for example:
These suffixes are very common, so it’s reassuring to know that the stress will always be before each
one.

There are also a number of common suffixes which are stressed. They are the exception to the rule
that suffixes are unstressed. For example:

Other rules of word stress include:

a) Compound nouns are usually stressed on the first syllable. These are words which combine two
words, such as:

airport air + port

football foot + ball

popcorn pop + corn

strawberry straw + berry

b) Both parts of phrasal verbs are stressed, for example:

wake up

go out

c) Acronyms are usually stressed on the final syllable, for example:

BBC

DVD

d) There is a small group of words called homographs which are pairs of words with the same
spelling, but different stress depending on the type of word, (whether it is a noun or a verb), for
example:
e) As we can see in the table above, it is very common for two-syllable verbs to be stressed on the
second syllable.

This advice can help us to find word stress because modern English often consists mainly of:

 words of one syllable – where the word stress is obvious

 words with suffixes, which guide us because they are not stressed or follow a word stress
rule
 words which are compound nouns

Apart from the helpful guidance above, the best place to start if you want to find the stressed
syllable in a word is the final syllable. In general, a word is stressed on the nearest strong syllable to
the end. We must work from right to left, beginning with the final syllable, and assess whether each
syllable is strong or weak. It depends on the vowel sound: a strong syllable is one with a long vowel
sound (e.g., ar, ee), a diphthong (e.g., ai, ei), or a short vowel sound (e.g., a, o, but not a schwa
sound). If it is strong, we have found the stressed syllable. If it is weak, we must move along until we
find a strong syllable.

Reading - Put the words into groups depending on how many syllables there are:

Writing - Write more words on the topic of Learning English in each group:
Reading - Underline the stressed syllable in each word:

1. adverb
2. article
3. beginner
4. course
5. dictionary
6. elementary
7. English
8. grammar
9. homework
10. intermediate
11. level
12. listening
13. mobile
14. noun
15. paper
16. partner
17. pen
18. pronunciation
19. qualification
20. reading

Reading - Underline the suffix in each word and put the words into groups:

1. dictionary
2. reading
3. grammar
4. syllable
5. consonant
6. determiner
7. answer
8. elementary
9. listening
10. spelling
11. speaking
12. advanced
13. writing
14. tablet
15. mobile
16. example
17. beginner
18. qualification
19. student
20. level
21. computer
22. article
23. teacher
24. paragraph
25. certificate
26. intermediate
27. conjunction
28. partner
29. preposition
30. pronunciation

Reading - Match the words to make 20 compound nouns:

Reading - Add a word to each word to make a compound noun:

1. basket _______________
2. green _______________
3. under _______________
4. super _______________
5. land _______________
6. dust _______________
7. sales _______________
8. news _______________
9. tooth _______________
10. wind _______________
11. work _______________
12. play _______________
13. life _______________
14. ward _______________
15. paper _______________
16. milk _______________
17. every _______________
18. hair _______________
19. day _______________
20. wall       _______________

Reading - Use a dictionary to help you complete the table and underline the stressed syllable(s) in
each item:
Sentence Stress and the Sound Spine
Sentence stress is the sequence of stressed and unstressed syllables in a spoken sentence. It is a
natural part of spoken English and students should be encouraged to use it when they speak English.
English is a stress-timed language which is spoken with rhythm. This results from strong and weak
stresses that are built into both individual words and sentences.

The strong stresses in a sentence usually fall on the content words, while the weak stresses usually
fall on the function words. A syllable with a strong stress is spoken with more emphasis and volume.

Does sentence stress really matter? It’s a difficult area – why not just leave it out? It can be a difficult
concept for students to understand – particularly if their first language is not stress-timed, but
syllable-timed, i.e., in their first language all of the syllables in a sentence are spoken with more or
less equal stress (e.g., French or Japanese). Native speakers of English speak quite naturally with
sentence stress but if you asked one why they did this they would probably be unaware that they
were even doing it and be unable to explain the rules (unless they had specifically studied the
subject). Nevertheless, it is an important aspect of spoken English because when a student doesn’t
speak with sentence stress – or uses incorrect sentence stress – it can be hard to understand them,
or difficult to listen to them – even when what they’re saying is grammatically correct and really
interesting. This is a situation that can be quite frustrating for students.

Understanding sentence stress can also help students to get more out of listening to spoken English,
because they can learn to listen for the most important keywords – which have stress – rather than
trying to catch every word.

The long-term goal for students is to train themselves to be able to listen to English and
understand it mainly from the stressed vowel sounds and general grammatical context.

When studying sentence stress, it is necessary to understand contractions. A contraction is when

two words are joined together to make one word, e.g. He is becomes He’s or We are becomes
We’re. When we speak these words are usually contracted because they are unstressed function
words. By stressing them individually we draw attention to them, when they should be reduced,
‘behind’ the stressed content words. By reducing the number of function words, e.g., by using
contractions, we make the content words – and their stressed vowel sounds – easier to hear.

The process for finding stress in a sentence is as follows. Note: at each stage students should
practise saying the sentence out loud:
This sequence of vowel sounds on the stressed syllables in a sentence is called the sound spine. It’s
called the sound spine because it is the ‘backbone’ of the sentence, holding everything else
together. These five sounds are the most important sounds in this sentence and must be heard
clearly:

They correspond to the main keywords in the sentence, which give the meaning:

We should always try to find and emphasise the sound spine in a sentence. Whatever other sounds
are wrongly pronounced, the vowel sounds on the stressed syllables must be heard clearly and
correctly. If one or more of these vowel sounds is wrongly pronounced, miscommunication can
occur. The listener may say: ‘Sorry, I didn’t catch that. Could you repeat it, please?’ Imagine the
same sentence with the wrong sound spine:

I think you will agree with me that it is impossible to understand the original meaning of the
sentence! Yet this is how some students speak because they don’t know or understand the
importance of the sound spine. This example is extreme because it involves five errors, but in fact,
even one incorrect vowel sound on a content word could lead to your listener asking you to repeat
what you just said, especially if it is the most important word:
‘What? What’s a troon?’

Exercises:

Reading - Look at the words below and write them in two groups – content and function words:

Writing - Underline the stressed syllable in each word and write the stressed vowel sound using
Clear Alphabet. For example:

Ex. roundabout (au)

aeroplane

airport

boat

canoe

commuter

driver

engine

fine
flight

garage

journey

motorway

passenger

petrol

reservation

bike

runway

station

ticket

tractor

Writing - Write the contraction for each phrase:

Writing - Read each sentence out loud and follow the process shown in 2.5.6:

 Underline the content words

 Mark each stressed syllable
 Make any contractions
 Find the vowel sound on each strong stress and write it with Clear Alphabet

Remember to read the sentences out loud at each step!

1. I usually get the train at seven twenty-eight.

2. Gemma is driving to the airport to pick up her grandmother.

3. I flew from Heathrow to Copenhagen last night.

4. Oliver was crossing the road by the museum.

5. We have cancelled our flight because our daughter is ill.

6. All passengers must show their passports and boarding passes at the gate.

7. The next train to arrive at platform eight will be the nine forty-nine to Cardiff.
8. If we cycle to work, we will arrive quickly.

Speaking & Listening - Read each sentence out loud:

1. just the stressed words

2. just the unstressed words

Which way is easier to understand? Why?

Speaking & Listening - Read the sound spine for each sentence out loud a few times. See if
your partner can identify which sentence it comes from, without telling them.

Speaking & Listening - Here are some more activities for practising sentence stress:

 The students mark words in a text that are content (stressed) and function
(unstressed).

 The teacher models the sentences and students repeat afterwards individually, in
pairs, or as a group.

 The students record themselves saying sentences with correct sentence stress, then
listen back and check their work.

 The teacher (or a partner for pair work) says a sentence and the listeners have to
write only the content words or only the function words from it in the correct order.

 The whole group (or pairs) have to recite sentences as somebody claps, with the
strong stresses falling on each clap and the weak stresses falling in between.

 The students have to make a sentence when they are given only the content words,
or only the function words, and a given verb form.

 The teacher writes the content words from one sentence on separate cards, and the
students have to put them in order, then fill in the missing function words.
 The students listen to songs, poems, or limericks and identify the content and
function words; then practise repeating the lines with a partner or within the group.

 The students have to recite all the stressed or unstressed words in a sentence from
memory.

 The students compile a list of content words and function words from a text, and put
the words into groups according to their use, e.g., ‘noun’, ‘main verb’, ‘adjective’,
‘pronoun’, ‘conjunction’, ‘article’, etc.
 Mumbling game: the students have to say a sentence, not omitting the function
words completely, but mumbling them so that they are barely heard. This can
demonstrate quite well how native speakers of English stress the content words –
the words which have meaning – but glide over the function words as if they were of
little or no importance. (Yet the function words are critically important, particularly in
an English language examination situation, because they are the glue that holds the
content words together.)
Intonation
Along with the phonetic alphabet, sentence stress, and connected speech, intonation is an
important element in learning English pronunciation. Read the information that follows and check
that you understand it. You could discuss it with a partner or small group and be sure to ask your
teacher to explain anything you don’t understand.

1. In short, intonation means the ups and downs of the voice in a sentence. Good pronunciation
involves three elements: sentence stress (the sound spine), connected speech (connecting
syllables, not speaking word by word), and intonation. Varied intonation is more interesting than
robotic, monotonous speech, and therefore easier and more appealing to listen to. For example,
when reading aloud we should aim to “lift the words from the page” using intonation, rather
than reading in a flat boring voice.

Stress is non-negotiable – the sound spine must be heard clearly – and connected
speech is a must if you want to sound natural. But stress and connected speech are not enough
– we need to use intonation. For example, we could have correct stress and connected speech,
but still sound flat, dull, and emotionless. Without hearing emotion we cannot be sure of the
speaker’s intention. English intonation is more familiar to speakers of some languages than
others, e.g. European students of English may find English intonation patterns more familiar than
speakers from the Middle East or the Far East. However, many non-English speakers of English
would agree that English intonation (and stress) seem “too much” – too exaggerated – when
compared with their language.

2. Let’s say that we are clear about the sound spine of our sentence and we are using connected
speech. What about intonation? Standard (neutral) intonation in a statement (not a question)
usually involves going on a journey: up the mountain and back down again. We usually go up
around the middle of the sentence, and back down at the end. We must have closure. Let’s take
an example of a short sentence. We go up in the middle, either: a) at a clause break, e.g.

or b) on the key concept word, e.g.

In a longer sentence, or a list, there will be more ups and downs. We have to decide which
specific words or phrases are the most important in our communication. By “going up” on them
we give them emphasis, e.g.

3. Intonation in questions usually depends on the kind of question:

a) For yes/no questions – we go up at the end (rising intonation). The listener feels compelled
to answer,because we need closure. For example,
b) For wh- questions (what, where, when, etc.) – we go down at the end (falling intonation).
For example:

c) When the speaker uses a question tag, they can go up if they want to check some
information, e.g.

d) …and down if they are making a general statement and believe that the listener will agree,
e.g.

We can add extra emphasis when replying to questions, depending on what part of the sentence
the speaker asked about. In the sentence below there are seven possible wh- questions that
could be asked.

For example, if somebody asked: “Who rode their bike to the city lake?” you could put extra
emphasis on the name in the answer, by going up on the word “John”: John rode his bike to the
city lake. or John did.

Other intonation techniques include:

 Rising intonation at the end of a statement when we want to continue without being
interrupted, e.g.

 When making a list we use rising-falling intonation, e.g.

Be sure to get that closure at the end!

Function words are usually unstressed in standard English pronunciation, but we can use
intonation to give them extra emphasis – to make our point. Each function word has
a strong form and a weak form, so we can use the strong form if we want
to emphasise that word. For example, the weak form of the auxiliary verb “have” is uhv,
while the strong form is Hav – i.e. we hear the strong vowel sound a in the strong form, but
in the weak form it is reduced to a schwa sound. Here is a sentence with neutral (normal,
standard) intonation:
…while here is the same sentence but with specific intonation:

4. Another important use of intonation is to show mood, which helps to express intention and
meaning. There are several invaluable tools in the intonation toolbox and each one is adjusted to
convey mood, for example:

…and so on. An emotion like anger is a high-energy emotion and the speaker demands that the
listener hears them clearly. The intonation toolbox enables this. On the other hand, sadness is a
low-energy emotion, and the speaker may be less focused on whether anybody is listening. The
intonation tools used reflects this intention.

Of course, tone also depends on the personality of the individual person. For example, each
person will “sound upset” in a different way. Furthermore, some people – typically men – will
have a lower pitch range than others – typically women and children.

5. There are a number of short words and sounds that change their meanings completely
depending on the intonation: 21-english-sounds-and-words-where-intonation-changes-the-
meaning. If we do not use intonation, or use the wrong kind, our meaning might not be clear,
and communication may fail. For example:

Exercises

1. What is… a) sentence stress, b) connected speech, c) intonation?

2. Draw the clause break in each sentence and draw intonation arrows in each:

a) I left early because I didn’t like the film.

b) It was past ten o’clock, so we had to go.
c) Jim bought some cornflakes and a pie.
d) The book was good at first, then boring.

3. Draw arrows to show standard intonation in each question:

a) Do you like raw fish?
b) We both enjoyed the gig, didn’t we?
c) This is the right bus, isn’t it?
d) What’s the date today?

4. Write the tools in the intonation toolbox from the first letters:

a) t _ of v _
b) r _
c) e _ e _
d) p_ for e_
e) p _
f) s _
g) v _

5. Complete the table to show what happens with four different moods. Write and read your
own sentences out loud using the different moods:

6. Discussion: How does your language compare to English when it comes to stress and
intonation? Do you think there is too much of this in English? What short sounds do you use
in your language, and what do they mean? List ones which are the same as in English. List
ones which are different.
Other part : Sounds like vowel sounds etc
[Link]
human-body/lesson-3-3-intonation/

for evaluating the students’ pronunciation:

online dictionary websters, Cambridge,