Word Stress

موضوع: Word Stress الأربعاء أبريل 27, 2011 2:24 pm

What is Word Stress?
In
English, we do not say each syllable with the same force or strength.
In one word, we accentuate ONE syllable. We say one syllable very loudly
(big, strong, important) and all the other syllables very quietly.

Let's
take 3 words: photograph, photographer and photographic. Do they sound
the same when spoken? No. Because we accentuate (stress) ONE syllable in
each word. And it is not always the same syllable. So the shape of each
word is different.

click word to hear shape total
syllables stressed
syllable
PHO TO GRAPH 3 #1
PHO TO GRAPH ER 4 #2
PHO TO GRAPH IC 4 #3

This
happens in ALL words with 2 or more syllables: TEACHer, JaPAN, CHINa,
aBOVE, converSAtion, INteresting, imPORtant, deMAND, etCETera, etCETera,
etCETera

The syllables that are not stressed are ‘weak’ or
‘small’ or ‘quiet’. Native speakers of English listen for the STRESSED
syllables, not the weak syllables. If you use word stress in your
speech, you will instantly and automatically improve your pronunciation
and your comprehension.

Try to hear the stress in individual
words each time you listen to English - on the radio, or in films for
example. Your first step is to HEAR and recognise it. After that, you
can USE it!

There are two very important rules about word stress:

One word, one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. So if you hear two stresses, you have heard two words, not one word.)
The stress is always on a vowel

موضوع: رد: Word Stress الأربعاء أبريل 27, 2011 2:26 pm

Stress in Simple Words:
One-Syllable Words:
If they are pronounced in isolation, they are said with primary stress.

Two-Syllable Words:
A. Verbs:
•
The second syllable of the verb is stressed if it contains a long vowel
or a diphthong or if it ends with more than one consonant:
pursuit /pejsu:t/
arrive /ejraiv/
attract /e'trukt/
assist /ejsist/
• The first syllable is stressed if the final syllable contains a short vowel with or without a final consonant:
enter /jente/
open /jeqpen/
equal /ji:kwel/
• The first syllable is stressed if the final syllable contains /eq/:
follow /jfmleq/
borrow /jbmreq/

B. Adjectives:
• Two-syllable adjectives are stressed according to the same rule of two-syllable verbs:
divine /dijvain/
correct /kejrekt/
lovely /jlrvli/
even /ji:ven/
hollow /jhmleq/

C. Nouns:
• The first syllable of the noun is stressed if the second syllable contains a short vowel.
money /jmrni/
product /jprmdrkt/
larynx /jluriŋks/
• The second syllable is stressed if it does not contain a short vowel.
estate /ijsteit/
balloon /bejlu:n/
design /dijzain/

Three-Syllable Words:
A. Verbs:
• The middle syllable is stressed if the last syllable contains a short vowel and ends with only one consonant:
determine /dijto:min/
encounter /iŋjkaqnte/
• The final syllable is stressed if it contains a long vowel or a diphthong, or if it ends with more than one consonants:
entertain /entejtein/
resurrect /rezejrekt/
B. Nouns:
• The middle syllable is stressed if it contains a long vowel or a diphthong:
disaster /dijzg:ste/
potato /pejteiteq/
• The first syllable is stressed if the final and the middle syllables contain a short vowel:
quantity /jkwmntiti/
cinema /jsinime/
C. Adjectives:
• The first syllable is always stressed in three-syllable adjectives:
opportune /jmpetju:n/
derelict /jderilikt/
insolent /jinslent/
anthropoid /junhrepnid/

COMPLEX WORDS
Complex
words are of two major types: words made from a basic stem word with
the addition of an affix, and compound words, which are made of two (or
occasionally more) independent English words (e.g. ‘ice-cream’,
‘armchair’).
We will look first at the words made with affixes;
these will be called affix words. Affixes are of two sorts in English:
prefixes, which come before the stem (e.g. prefix ‘un- stem ‘pleasant’
= ‘unpleasant’) and suffixes, which come after the stem (e.g. stem
‘good’ suffix ‘-ness’ = ‘goodness’).

Affixes will have one of three possible effects on word stress:
1. The affix itself receives the primary stress:
• ‘semi-’ ‘circle’ /jso:kl/  ‘semicircle’ /jsemiso:kl/
• ‘person’/jpo:sn/ ‘-ality’  ‘personality’ /po:sjnuliti/

2. The word is stressed just as if the affix was not there
• ‘pleasant’ /jpleznt/  ‘unpleasant’ /rnjpleznt/
• ‘market’ /jmg:kit/  ‘marketing’ /jmg:kitiŋ/

3. The stress remains on the stern, not the affix, but is shifted to a different syllable:
• ‘magnet /jmugnet/  ‘magnetic’ /mugjnetik

» Syllables and Syllable Stress