10.2.1. Primary Stress
In English, the syllables of words differ in prominence. In polysyllabic words (words of more than one syllable), one of the syllables always has a greater degree of prominence than any other syllable. The syllable of greatest prominence is known as the primary stressed syllable, or the syllable that carries primary stress. The primary stressed syllable can be marked by placing a ˈ mark in the following way:
Primary stress
aˈpart part
deˈfine fine
ˈpattern pat
ˈmetal met
ˈpamela pam
ˈimpudent im
ˈmiserable mis
phoˈnetics net
In monosyllabic words (words of one syllable), the outcome is unambiguous: the syllable, i.e. word, has primary stress (eg. heat, look, greet) and does not need to be marked.
10.2.2. Secondary stress
Many words have two stresses, one primary and one secondary. The secondary stress can be marked by placing a diacritic before the syllable which has secondary stress:
Secondary Primary
ˌacaˈdemic ac Dem
aˌpoloˈɡetic pol Get
ˌecoˈnomic ec Nom
ˌexplaˈnation ex Nat
deˌlibeˈration lib Rat
enˌvironˈmental vir Ment
ˌɡeneˈrosity gen Ros
pheˌnomeˈnoloɡy nom Nol
ˌrhodoˈdendron rho Den
(i) words that have secondary stress are very often morphologically related to simpler forms
e.g. aˌpoloˈɡetic / aˈpoloɡy; ˌɡeneˈrosity / ˈɡenerous.
(ii) secondary stress (mostly) precedes the primary stress
(iii) at least one syllable (usually) intervenes between the secondary and primary stress
Exceptions to (ii) and (iii): Compounds
A compound is a word which is composed of two separate words. Examples would be roadblock, sunglasses and loudspeaker. These have two stresses, one of them primary, the other secondary. The secondary stress can precede or follow the primary stress, and there need not be an intervening syllable:
ˈsurˌcharɡe
ˈblackˌboard
ˈsuperˌmarket
ˈsunˌɡlasses
ˈloudˌspeaker
ˈupˌstairs or ˌupˈstairs
ˌoutˈstare
Exceptions to (ii) and (iii): Unreduced syllables
There are some words in which the secondary stress can follow the primary stress. In such cases, it is conventional to refer to the secondary stressed syllable as an unreduced syllable. The same diacritic can be used to indicate an unreduced syllable.
Primary Unreduced
ˈalterˌnate al nate
ˈreaˌlise re lise
ˈsystemaˌtise sys tise
ˈanecˌdote an dote
ˈsyllaˌbub syll bub
ˈrhuˌbarb rhu barb
ˈdiphˌthonɡ diph thong
ˈpoˌtash po tash
In some cases, the occurrence of an unreduced syllable is predictable (eg. words ending in -ate or -ise), in others it is not. Note that there is also not necessarily a requirement that an unstressed syllable intervenes between the primary stressed and unreduced syllable.
10.2.3. Weak Unstressed syllables
In almost all cases, syllables other than primary stressed, secondary stressed or unreduced syllables are unstressed. In General English, the large majority of the vowels of unstressed syllables can be transcribed as /ə/:
/əbˈdʌkt/ abduct
/ədˈmɪt/ admit
/kəmˈbaɪn/ combine
/ˌkɒnfəˈmeɪʃn/ confirmation
/kənˈdɪʃn/ condition
/əˈlæbəˌrət/ elaborate
/pəˈtrəʊl/ patrol
There are also some cases when unstressed vowels have a quality other than /ə/. It is not possible to list them all, but some of these include:
Some words that end in unstressed -ish, -ic, -ism and -ing
/ˈrædɪʃ/ radish
/ˈmjuːzɪk/ music
/ˈkɒmjənɪzm/ communism
/ˈrʌnɪŋ/ running
Unstressed /ɪə/ and /ʊə/; some of which are given below:
/ˈænjʊəl/ annual
/ˈæktʃʊəl/ actual
/kənˈtɪnjʊəs/ continuous
/ˈɡɑːdɪən/ guardian
/ˈdʒuːnɪə/ junior (nb. can also be pronounced /ˈdʒuːnjə/ )
/ˈvɜ:rɪəs/ various
Word-final unstressed /ɪ/ and /əʊ/
/ɪ/ in words like very, city, every
/əʊ/ in words like potato, barrow
Unstressed vowels preceding stressed vowels
/ɪnflʉːenʃl/ (not /ɪnfləenʃl/ ) influential
/əpriːʃiːæɪʃn/ (not /əpriːʃəæɪʃn/ ) appreciation
Schwa is also known as the "indeterminate vowel" because its exact pronunciation varies with context. Sometimes schwa has a quality reminiscent of /ɐ/, sometimes /æ/ and sometimes of other vowels. In other words it is not always a central vowel with a quality similar to that of /ɜː/. Its main distinguishing feature is that it is a very short, unstressed vowel with a tendency to be more centred than the majority of the vowels. Very often you will hear speakers pronounce a vowel such as the final vowel in "mother" in a way that makes it sound like a /ɐ/ rather than what you might expect a /ə/ to sound like. Such a sound is still considered to be a schwa, however. In a word final position the only vowels that can occur are the long monophthongs, the diphthongs and schwa. There is a rule in English which only permits long vowels (ie. long monophthongs and diphthongs) in open syllables (syllables that end in a vowel rather than a consonant). The only exception to this rule is schwa, which occurs because it is a reduction of a long vowel. So, if you hear /ɐ/ at the end of a word such as "mother" treat it as /ə/.
10.3. Rules of stress
10.4. Contrastive stress
10.5. Stress shift
10.6. Sentence stress
10.6.1 Lexical and functional words
1.7. Rhythm
In English as well as in Arabic the stressed syllables tend to occur at regular intervals of time. This phenomenon has a considerable effect on the duration of sounds and syllable in connected speech. It also affects the perception of the stressed syllables in speech. This phenomenon is known as rhythm and is caused by isochronous stress pulses. Thus English and Arabic have stresstimed rhythm.
In English, accent is a significant feature due to the following factors:
(1) It is an essential part of the phonological structure of the word; words become unrecognizable if the accent is wrongly placed.
(2) The rhythm of an utterance depends to a greater degree upon the succession of stressed syllables, as English is a language with stresstimed rhythm.
(3) The choice of the vowel depends on where the stress is placed in respect of structural words. If a syllable is stressed, it is generally the strong vowel that is used and in unstressed syllables, it is mostly a weak vowel that is used.
(4) Stress is said to be contrastive in English i.e., it makes for a difference in grammatical meaning and function in some words. There are a number of disyllabic words in English in which the accentual pattern depends upon whether the word is used as a ‘noun’ or adjective or as a verb. The accent is on the first syllable if the word is a noun or adjective and on the second if it is a verb. Some examples are:
Noun/adjective Verb Noun/ Adj Verb
'conduct con'duct 'record re'cord
'digest di'gest 'subject sub'ject
'present pre'sent
Exercises Primary and secondary stress
Mark primary stress using and any secondary stressed or unreduced syllables using . You do not need to give a phonemic transcription. Mark stress as it occurs in the recording.
Example: economic Answer: ˈecoˌnomic
(i) accommodation
(ii) certainty
(iii) orthodox
(iv) fanatical
(v) greenhouse
(vi) methodical
(vii) unbelievable
(viii) Adelaide
In the following sequences, a schwa is usually obligatory:
/mən/ salmon
/nən/ linen
/tʃəl/ satchel
/dʒəl/ angel
/tʃən/ question
/dʒən/ dungeon
In the following cases both possibilities occur with reasonable frequency.
/ʃl/ vs /ʃəl/ bushel
/ʃn/ vs /ʃən/ cushion
/ʒn/ vs /ʒən/ Persian
(ii) Syllabic /m/
All sequences have a /ə/ preceding /m/ except the following which may either have a /ə/ or else may be syllabic:
/bəm/ or /bm/ album
/ðəm/ or /ðm/ fathom
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