Transcript The nature of stress phonetics

The nature of stress
Dr. Marga Vinagre
Department of English Studies
UAM
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The Nature of Stress
How to identify Stressed syllable
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- Production: using more muscular energy than is used for unstressed
syllables.
- Perception: perceiving stressed syllables as more prominent than
unstressed ones.
**(more prominent) louder, longer, has a higher pitch, and has a vowel of a certain
quality.
How to mark a stressed syllable
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placing the mark [] before the stressed syllable.
Examples: - The first syllable in ‘father’ is marked high up with []
because it is stressed /f:/.
- The middle syllable in ‘apartment’ is marked high up with [] because
it is stressed /p:tmnt/.
- The final syllable in ‘receive’ is marked high up with [] because it is
stressed /rsi:v/
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Levels of Stress
Two-level analysis: stressed and unstressed syllables.
E.g. The second syllable in ‘around’ has a higher pitch
(hence, stressed) /rand/
Three-level analysis: primary [], secondary [], and unstressed syllables.
E.g. in the word ‘photographic’ the most stressed syllable is the third one; so it
has a primary stress []. The second and last syllables are unstressed. There is
a type of stress weaker than the primary stress and stronger than the unstressed
syllables; this syllable has a secondary stress []. /fə.təgræf.k/
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Placement of Stress within the word
How can we select the correct syllable to stress in an English word?
 There is a set of rules governing the placement of stress in nouns, verbs, and
adjectives even though there are some exceptions.
When placing stress, it is necessary to consider the following:
 Morphologically simple or complex word
Simple words consist of one morpheme ( one grammatical unit). They may include
one syllable (like ‘cat’) or more than one syllable (like ‘father’) . Complex words
consist of more than one morpheme ( more than one grammatical unit). E.g.
affixinated words, compound words.
the grammatical category of the word: Noun, verb, -----etc.
how many syllables in the word
strong or weak syllable: weak syllables are always unstressed; strong syllables
can be stressed or unstressed. Compare: the first and second syllables in ‘potato’
/ptt/; ‘open’ / pn/.
Weak syllables (those which end in ,, :, , : or a syllabic consonat)
Other unstressed syllables: those which contain  ()
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Two-syllable words
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In two-syllable words, one syllable is stressed and the other is
unstressed.
How to place the stress in a two-syllable word?
If the word is a verb or an adjective, the stressed syllable is
the strong one. Other two-syllable words like adverbs and
prepositions behave like verbs and adjectives. Examples:
‘apply’ /pla/
‘alive’ /lv/
‘assist’ /sst /
‘divine’
/dvn/
‘open’
/pn/
‘envy’ /envi/
‘lovely’ /lvli/
‘even’
/i:vn/
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Two-syllable words
If the word is a noun, there is a different rule. If the 2nd syllable
contains a short vowel, the stress is placed on the first syllable.
Otherwise, it will be on the second syllable. Examples:
‘money’ /mni /
‘estate’
/stet/
‘design’
/dzan /
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Three-syllable words
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In three-syllable words, stress placement is more
complicated.
How to place the stress in a three-syllable word?
In verbs
If the final syllable is strong, then it’s stressed. If the final
syllable is weak, the stress will be placed on the pre-final
syllable if it’s strong. If both final and pre-final syllables
are weak, the first syllable will be stressed. Examples:
‘entertain’
/
/
‘encounter’
/k/
‘parody’
/pr/
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Three-syllable words
• In nouns: a different rule is applied.
 If the final syllable is strong, stress will be placed on the 1st syllable. Examples:
‘intellect’ //
‘marigold’ /m/
If the final syllable is weak or ends with //, then it is unstressed. If the prefinal syllable is strong, it will be stressed. Examples:
‘potato’ /ptt/
‘disaster’ /:st/
 If the 2nd and 3rd syllables are both weak, then the 1st syllable is stressed.
Examples:
‘cinema’ /s/
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Mark the stressed syllable. Justify your
answer (2-syllable words):
Verbs
Nouns
//
honey
clamber //
paper
/
//
/
detest
captain
//
refrain
/r/
attract
bellow
/
/
//
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Mark the stressed syllable. Justify your
answer: (3-syllable words)
Verbs:
disconnect
/
/
encounter / /
Nouns:
custody
/ /
connection//
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Mark the stressed syllable. Justify your
answer:
Verbs:
disconnect
/

encounter/ /
 /
Nouns:
custody / /
connection
/ /
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