Unit 4 Phonemic Transcription Stressed and unstressed words in texts

Some words have strong or weak realizations according to their syntactic function or the prominence the speaker gives them in the text.

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  Those are /ə/ my clothes (weak form)
  
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  Yes, you are /ɑ:/ (strong form)
  

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  I would /wəd/ say so (weak form)
  
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  If I could, I would /wʊd/ (strong form)
  

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  There was /wəz/ a huge noise (weak form)
  
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  Do you know who it was? /wɒz/ (strong form)
  

Location may also influence the form we use:

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  Who are you talking to?  “stranded” /tu/
  
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  I’m going to change  unstressed /tə/ (before consonants)
  
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  I’m going to eat  unstressed /tu/ (before vowels)
  

There may be different degrees of weakening:

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  Have  /hæv/  /həv/  /əv/  /v/
  
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  Some  /s˄m/  /səm/  /sm/
  
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  Because  /bɪ’kɔ:z/  /bɪkəz/  /kəz/  /kz/
  

Syntactic words, usually weak:

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  Articles (a, an, the)
  
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  Auxiliaries (be, do, have, will, can, must…)
  
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  Conjunctions (and, as, but, because…)
  
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  Prepositions (for, of, from, at, to…)
  
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  Pronouns (you, he, she, hum, us, her…)
  
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  Possessive adjectives (my, his, your…)
  
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  Relative pronouns (that, who, which…)
  
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  Indefinite adjectives and adverbs (some, there…)
  
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  Some titles (sir, mister, miss, saint…)
  

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  Green card /ɡri:ŋ ‘kɑ:d/
  
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  Bright colour /’braik ‘k˄lə/
  

Regressive / perseverative / lagging assimilation.

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  Forget them /fə’ɡet təm/
  

Coalescence (reciprocal):

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  Would you…? /’wʊdʒu/
  

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  Asked - /ɑ:s(k)t/ (isolated word)
  
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  Policeman /p(ə)’li:smən/ (isolated word)
  
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  Lots of money /’lɒts ə(v) m˄ni/
  
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  Best friend /‘bes(t) fren(d)/ (connected speech)
  
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  Want to, going to /'wɒnə/ /'ɡɒnə/ (informal)
  
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  Smoothing: towel, desire /tɑ:l/ /dɪ’zɑ:/
  

RP & non-rhotic accents: /keə/

GenAm & rhotic accents: [kɛ:r - keər - keɚ]
Caring

All accents, including RP: /’keərɪŋ/

RP there /ðeə/ - there is /ðeərɪz/

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  Word or lexical stress is not represented in isolated, one-syllable words, but only when those words carry sentence (rhythmic) stress.
  

/faɪə/ /ðerɪz ə ‘faɪə/

 /ˌænθrə'pɒlədʒi/

1. 
   With primary stress themselves: trainee /treɪ'ni:/, Portuguese /pɔ:tjʊ'gi:z/
   
2. 
   Influencing stress in the stem: perfection /pə'fekʃən/, courageous /kə'reɪdʒəs/
   
3. 
   Not affecting stress: comfortable /'kʌmftəbəl/, wonderful /'wʌndəfəl/
   

Prefixes do not normally affect word stress: preoccupied /pri:'ɒkjʊpaɪd/, unbelievable /ʌnbɪ'li:vəbəl/

1. 
   Noun+noun: tablecloth
   
2. 
   Adj.+-ed: heavy-handed, bad-mannered
   
3. 
   Adv.+verb: backfire, upgrade.
   

Variation in stress may be due to rhythm: bad-mannered boy or other reasons: controversy, kilometer.

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  Tonality. The speech chain is divided into units called IPS (Intonation Phrases or Tone Units)
  

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  Tonicity. In addition to other rhythmically stressed and unstressed syllables, in each IP there is a prominent or tonic syllable (the nucleus) carrying the nuclear tone.
  

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  Tone. The pitch can rise, fall, remain level, etc. producing a wide range of possibilities.
  

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  She was trying to lose ‘weight (broad focus)
  

A shift happens when we make the focus contrastive:

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  She was trying to ‘lose weight (not gain it).
  
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  She was ‘trying to lose weight (but she couldn’t).
  
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  She ‘was trying to lose weight (but not any more).
  
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  ‘She was trying to lose weight (not me).
  

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  High fall: conclusive, final, used for statements, wh- questions, etc.
  
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  Low fall: also conclusive; less emotionally involved.
  
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  Fall-rise: doubt, uncertainty, hesitating request, limited agreement.
  
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  Low rise: used when something is to follow, or there is an invitation to reply.
  
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  Full rise: disbelief or shock.
  
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  High rise: mild puzzlement at what we have just heard.
  
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  Level: enumerations. Also expresses routine, boredom, etc.
  
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  Rise + fall: surprise, strong approval.