ACCENT / STRESS and Intonation

Stress or Accent

There are two different kinds of stress in English, word stress and sentence stress. Both are essential to communicate meaning satisfactorily and both cause many foreign learners of English considerable problems.

a) Sound and syllable: Speech sounds are put together into syllables and syllables into words which in turn are combined into sentences. A syllable may consist of one speech sound or more. Nevertheless, it does not have more than one vowel sound. A vowel sound, as a matter of fact, forms the nucleus of a syllable. Therefore, a word has as many syllables as there are vowel sounds in it.

b) Syllable division of words: English words consist of one or more syllables. Each syllable contains a vowel. A syllable may have one or more consonants before and/or after it. Thus, in the word ‘teach’ there is only one syllable, whereas the word ‘tea-cher’ has two syllables. In the examples that follow the letter V represents a vowel sound and the letter C represents a consonant sound.

Words of one syllable

or V

my CV

aim VC

bit CVC

scratched CCCVCC

Words of two syllables

tapers CVCVC

matchbox CVCCVC

language CVCCVC

Words of more than two syllables

examination VCCVCVCVCVC

Concept of Word-stress – its importance

The syllables of a word can be spoken with more or less force or emphasis. Where a syllable is spoken with emphasis, it is said to be stressed. Syllables that are not spoken with emphasis are unstressed. Not all syllables in an utterance are spoken with equal emphasis. There are certain syllables that are stressed more than others. Thus in the word ‘father’, the first syllable ‘fa-’ is stressed and so, is spoken more prominently than the second syllable ‘-ther’. Similarly, in the word ‘about’, the second syllable is stressed and so, is spoken more prominently than the first syllable. We shall now look at some common words to note the syllabic stress patterns. The accent mark is put before the syllable stressed.

STRESS PATTERNS

Stress in English words varies from word to word. In some words, the stress falls on the first syllable while in other, it may fall on the second, third, or the fourth syllable.

Here are a few examples of words stressed on different syllables:

(i) Words stressed on the first syllable:

Two-Syllable Three-Syllable Longer Words

'husband 'literature 'aristocrat

'stomach 'character 'benefactor

'dozen 'advertise 'chauvinism

'stupid 'industry 'melancholy

'splendid 'atmosphere 'pomegranate

(ii) Words stressed on the second syllable:

Two-syllable Three-syllable Longer words

nar'rate ap'pendix par'ticipant

bal'loon ef'ficient ri'diculous

be'gin de'velop re'sponsible

draw'ee sa'liva ap'preciate

ru'pee an'tenna rhi'noceros

(iii) Words stressed on the third syllable:

Three-Syllable Four-Syllable Five-Syllable

guaran'tee appli'cation irre'proachable

ciga'rette appo'sition irre`'sponsible

engi'neer appa'ratus satis'factory

remi'nisce corre'spondence irre'pressible

corre'spond elec'tricity

(iv) Words stressed on the fourth syllable:

dedica'tee civili'zation

exami'nation mechani'zation

partici'pation inferi'ority

The above lists clearly show that stress in English words has to be learnt individually.

Here is a list of words consisting of varying number of syllables and having different stress patterns. Listen to them on the tape and practice saying them with the stress as marked.

Words consisting of two syllables:

Stress on first syllable Stress on second syllable

`bargain ad`mit

`govern for`bid

`thorough bam`boo

`secret mon`soon

`message suc`ceed

`canvas sup`press

`injure dis`miss

Words consisting of three syllables:

Stress on first syllable Stress on second syllable Stress on third syllable

`illustrate ad`venture recol`lect

`recipe spec`tator briga`dier

`tentative po`tato question`naire

`obstacle ad`dition person`nel

`cemetery re`vision coin`cide

`symmetry um`brella addres`see

Words consisting of more than three syllables:

Stress on first syllable	Stress on second syllable	Stress on third syllable	Stress on fourth syllable
`honorary	com`munity	ana`lytical	exami`nee
`honourable	com`modity	irre`sponsible	acade`mician
`secularism	e`xaggerate	psycho`logical	accele`ration
`cannibalism	a`nalogy	cata`strophic	mechani`zation
`favouritism	i`tinerary	pano`rama	exagge`ration
		mathe`matics	exami`nation

RULES FOR WORD STRESS

Therefore, stress in English is difficult to explain and to indicate any rules for stressing individual words is all the more difficult. However, a few general guidelines may be given as follows:

Functional shift of stress

There are a number of words of two syllables in which the accentual pattern depends on whether the word is used as a noun, an adjective or a verb. When the word is used as a noun or an adjective, the stress is on the first syllable. When the word is used as a verb, the stress is on the second syllable. Here are a few examples:

Noun/ Adjective Verb

'absent ab'sent

'object ob'ject

'subject sub'ject

'permit per'mit

'record re 'cord

'progress pro'gress

'produce pro'duce

'perfect per'fect

'increase in'crease

'decrease de'crease

'present pre'sent

Words with prefixes/suffixes; their stress patterns:

Words with weak prefixes are accented on the root.

a'rise         a’bout              be'low         be'hold             com'pose
a'lone      a'bove           be'come       be'lieve            de'velop
a'loud      ac'cept          be'fall           be'side               re'duce

Prefixes with negative connotations are stressed.

'disloyal 'illogical

'insincere 'half-finished

Verbs of two syllables beginning with the prefix dis- are stressed on the last syllable.

dis'arm dis'may

dis'band dis'pel

dis'cern dis'miss

dis'close dis'solve

dis'count dis'tend

dis'grace dis'turb

dis'guise dis'tress

Verbs of two syllables ending in -ate, -ise/-ize, -ct are stressed on the last syllable.

-ate -ize/-ise -ct

nar'rate cap'size in'fect

vib'rate chas'tise select
mi'grate bap'tize pro'tect

lo'cate com'prise de'pict

Words ending in -ion are stressed on the penultimate i.e. last but one syllable

appli'cation indi'gestion

civili'zation con'gestion

compo'sition sug'gestion

conver'sation 'question

culti'vation imagi'nation

exami'nation intro'duction

Words ending in -ic/-ical/-ically/ -ial/-ially/ -ian have the stress on the syllable preceding the suffix.

-ic -ical -ically

apolo'getic patri'otic apolo'getical apolo'getically

e'lectric scien'tific

sympa'thetic

-ial -ially -ian

me'morial es'sential of'ficially vic'torian

of'ficial super'ficial 'specially politician

presi'dential cere'monial es'sentially disciplin'arian

Words ending in -ious. -eous have the stress on the penultimate (i.e., the last but one) syllable.

-ious -eous
'anxious 'piteous

in'dustrious                                        cou'rageous
in'jurious                                            'gorgeous
la'borious                                            'hideous
re'bellious                                           'righteous
vic'torious                                           simul'taneous

Words ending in -ate,-ise/-ize, -ify, -ity, -cracy, -crat, -graph, -graphy, -meter, -logy

Words of more than two syllables ending in ate, -ise/-ize, -ify are stressed on the ante-penultimate syllable (i.e., third from the end).

'complicate	'colonise	'justify
'separate(v)	'enterprise	'classify
'educate	'brutalise	'beautify
'cultivate	'patronise	'certify
ar'ticulate	'realize	'gratify

Words ending in -ity have the stress on the ante-penultimate syllable

(i.e., third from the end)

a'bility curi'osity elec'tricity gene'rosity

possi'bility proba'bility ac'tivity e'quality

Words ending in -cracy. -crat have the stress on the ante-penultimate syllable

(i.e., third from the end).

-cracy -crat

au'tocracy 'autocrat

dc'mocracy 'democrat

tech'nocracy 'technocrat

plu'tocracy 'plutocrat

aris'tocracy a'ristocrat
bu'reaucracy 'bureaucrat

Words ending in -graph, -graphy. -meter, -logy have the stress on the ante-penultimate syllable (i.e., third from the end).

-graph -graphy -meter -logy

'autograph pho'tography ther'mometer psychology

'paragraph spec'trography lac'tometer bi'ology

'photograph bi'ography di'ameter zo'ology

Words stressed on the suffix:

Words ending with the suffixes –ain, -eer. -ental. -ential. -ese, -esce, -escence. -escent. -esque. -ique, -itis. -ee. -ette -ade etc. are stressed on the suffix.

-ain                                  -aire                                                 -eer
ob'tain       re'tain                 millio'naire                              engi'neer   mountai'neer
main'tain   ex'plain              question'naire                          volun'teer marke'teer
per'tain     ascer'tain                                                             car'eer

-ental -ential -ese

experi'mental	exis'tential	Bur'mese
funda'mental	provi'dential	Chi'nese
acci'dental	presi'dential	Assa'mese
dcpart'mental		Japa'nese
-esce	-escence	-escent
coa'lesce	effer'vescence	ado'lescent
conva'lesce	do'lescence	effer'vescent
-esque	-iquc	-ritis
pictu'resque	phy'sique	neu'ritis
gro'tesque	u'nique	arth'ritis
-ee	-ette	-ete
pay'ee	eti'quette	de'lete
addres'see	ciga'rette	re'plete
employ'ee	ga'zette	con'crete (v)
absen'tee	lhou'ette	com'plete
-ade
barri'cade
cas'cade
de'grade
lemo'nade

Sentence Stress

Connected speech in English has its own patterns of accent. Words that are important for meaning – content words like nouns, adjectives, principal verbs and adverbs – are generally accented. Grammatical words like articles, personal and relative pronouns, auxiliary verbs, prepositions and conjunctions are generally not accented.

The situation is complicated by the fact that sentences, too, are stressed to underline their meaning. Sentence stress is very important since we use it to communicate part of the meaning of the sentence. It also determines the rhythm of our speech. Normally, certain words in a sentence are spoken more loudly than the others. In the sentence ------ We are going to Spain for a holiday.------- the word Spain takes the primary stress, if the sentence is spoken in normal circumstances. However, when the speaker wishes to emphasize the fact that they are travelling to Spain for a holiday and not on business, the sentence may be spoken like this, stressing the last part of the sentence ------ We are going to Spain on a holiday.

INTONATION

To enable the learners familiarize themselves with the use of the tunes/tones. We have already seen the vibrating glottis which provides, in sounds, the voiced-voiceless distinction. However, it has another important role to play in continuous speech, i.e., it provides pitch fluctuation. By pitch fluctuation, we mean that the pitch of the voice is continually in the process of either falling or rising while we are talking. In fact, it never remains constant for more than a fraction of a second. Pitch fluctuation is found in the speech of all communities. It is not a random fluctuation but follows well-defined melodic patterns, which are meaningful.

Pitch

The pitch of the voice is determined by the frequency of the vibration of the vocal cords, i.e., the number of times they open and close in a second. The patterns of variation of the pitch of the voice (i.e., the fall or the rise) constitute the intonation of a language. If you say, Put it down! the pitch of your voice will move from a high level to a low level. This is called the falling tone. It can be illustrated thus:

Put it

If you say the same sentence with a rising tone the pitch of your voice will move from low to high, as shown below:

Put it d

Tune/tone shapes

The number of important words in a word group decides the shape of a tune (tone) and by the attitude you wish to express. By important words, we mean the words which carry most of the meaning in a group. For example, in answer to the question "How was Sheila?” you say, "She was in an appallingly bad temper” - the first four words are not especially helpful to the meaning, i.e., they are not important. But the last three words are important: each of them adds to the picture you are giving of Sheila. Let us see how it might be said:

She was in an appallingly bad

So the most important word in this group is temper and this decides the shape of the tune.

Before we talk about the speakers' attitude(s) let’s see what runes you must learn to use while speaking English. We cannot teach you all the tunes that English speakers use, but we will describe the ones that we feel you must know.

The falling tune

The falling tune is sometimes referred to as the glide-down. It consists of a fall in the pitch of the voice from a high level to a low level. It is marked [ ^\].

The falling tune is normally used in:

1. Ordinary statements made without any implications, e.g.:

a. I 'liked it very ^\much

b. It was 'quite ^\good.

2. Questions beginning with a question-word such as what, how, where, why, etc., when said in a neutral way, e.g.:

a. 'Who were you ^\ talking to?

b. 'What's the ^\ matter?

3. Commands, e.g.:

a. 'Go and 'open the ^\window.

b. 'Take it a^\way.

4. Exclamations, e.g.:

a. ^\Splendid!

b. ^\How extraordinary!

5. Question tags: when the speaker expects the listener to agree with him, e.g.:

a. It’s pleasant to'day, ^\isn't it?

b. It was a 'good film, ^\wasn't it?

6. Rhetorical questions, e.g., where the answer is obvious:

a. Isn't that^\kind of her?

b. Wasn't that a ^\difficult exam?

The rising tune

The rising tune is sometimes referred to as the glide-up. It consists of a rise in the pitch of the voice from a low level to a high level. It is marked ( _/ )

The rising tune is normally used in:

1. Incomplete statements, e.g.:

a. It's 'seven ‘o _/ clock (and she hasn't got up as yet.)

b. I'll 'buy you a _/dress (if I go there.)

2. Polarity type questions which demand a yes/no answer, e.g.:

a. 'Are they _/ coming?

b. 'Will you _/ do it?

3. Non-polarity (wh-type) questions when said in a warm/friendly way, e.g.:

a. 'How's your _/ daughter?

b. 'What's the _/ matter?

4. Polite requests, e.g.:

a. 'Go and 'open the _/ window.

b. 'Take it a _/way.

5. Question tags: when the speaker gives his/her listener the option to disagree with him/her,

a. You're a ^\gardener, _/aren't you?

b. It was a ^\good ^\film, _/wasn't it?

6. Repetition questions, e.g.:

(John told me to do it.) Who told _/you?

7. Expected responses, e.g.:

_/Thank you.

(If you wish to express real gratitude, you should say thank you with a falling tune. A rising tune shows a rather casual acknowledgement of something not very important.)

8. Alternative questions, e.g.:

a. Do you like _/tea, _/coffee or ^\coke?

b. 'Shall we _/drive or go by ^\train?

9. Enumeration, e.g.:

_/One _/ two, _/three, _/four, ^\five.

10. Afterthought, doubt, hesitation, e.g.:

a. I'd 'buy a ^\new one, if I could af _/ford it.

b. In 'spring it 'rains a ^\lot, _/generally.

11. Greetings, partings, apologies, encouragement, e.g.:

a. Hel_/lo.

b. Good _/bye.

c. I'm so _/sorry,

d. You ought to keep on _/trying.

The falling-rising tune

The last of the tunes that you must learn is the falling-rising tune. This tune is sometimes referred to as the dive. It consists of a fall from high to low and then a rise to the middle of the voice. This tune can be used on either one syllable or different syllables of a word or sentence. It can be illustrated thus:

1. That was n c

y of them.

2. There were s e e

3. T e

h c

a i

t n

was

If the fall is on one syllable and the rise begins on a later syllable it is referred to as a divided fall-rise. Sentence 3 is an example of this.

The fall-rise can be marked in two ways. If the tune is used on one syllable it is marked ( )

e.g., seventy.

If the tune is used on different syllables of a word it is marked ( )

e.g., seventy.

If the fall-rise is used on two different words in a sentence it is marked as in the following example:

\That was, nice.

The falling-rising tune is normally used for special implications not verbally expressed. For example if you say

She’s \beautiful

With a falling tune you mean precisely that. But if you say the same sentence with a falling-rising tune

She’s beautiful

You imply something-perhaps that she is beautiful, but not intelligent.

Consider the following examples in which the falling –rising tune is used to convey special implications, e.g.:

a. I am waiting (so do hurry up).

b. I haven’t much appetite (but I’ll join you to be polite).

c. The ‘houses are nice (but perhaps to people are not).

This tune can also be used for correcting what someone has said and as a warning, e.g.:

a. (He’s forty-five.) Forty- six.

b. (I like him a lot.) You used to like him

c. ‘Please be careful.

References:

Spoken English by BalasubramanyamSpoken English by Peter RoachSpoken English by R.K. BansalCourse on Spoken English published by CIFEL

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22 December 2012

STRESS AND INTONATION