English Phonetics and Phonology

STRESS
Group 6
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Members
Tạ Thanh Tân B2100543

Nguyễn Xuân An B2112691

Đặng Cao Quốc An B2112690

Nguyễn Kim Thi B2100522

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Table Of Contents
1. The nature of stress
2. Kinds of stress
3. Levels of stress
4. Placement of stress with
word
5. Complex word stress

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Definition of stress
- English accents are Which syllable is stressed?
stressed syllables that are
read louder and more Potato
clearly than other sounds in
words. Potato
- In the dictionary, if the /pəˈteɪtəʊ/
stress falls on a syllable,
there is a comma before
that syllable.
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 The nature of stress
What are the characteristics of stressed syllables?

consider what the

Production speaker does in
producing stressed
syllables.
consider what
Perception characteristics of sound
make a syllable seem to a
listener to be stressed.
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The view of production The view of perception
Stressed syllables are more
prominent than the unstressed
syllables.

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LOUDNESS PITCH

4 factors

LENGTH
QUALITY
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 Stressed syllables are louder than
LOUDNESS unstressed syllables.
Example: sustainable
/səˈsteɪnəbl/

One of the syllables is made longer than

LENGTH the others.
Example: sustainable
/səˈsteɪnəbl/

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 One syllable is said with a pitch that is noticeably
different from that of the others (how high or low
PITCH the note is).
Example: sustainable Intonation: sustainable
/səˈsteɪnəbl/

important Intonation: important

/ɪmˈpɔːtnt/

A vowel that is different from other syllables around it.

Example: babebaba
/bɑːˈbiːbɑːbɑː/
QUALITY
Example: environment phonology
/ɪnˈvaɪrənmənt/ /fəˈnɒlədʒi/
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2. Kinds of stress
2.1 Tonic stress:
 Tone unit  building block of all spoken
communication
 Tonic stress  the syllable in a word which receives
the most stress in tone unit.
 A tone unit has one tonic stress.
 a sentence can have more than one tone unit more
than one tonic stress.

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Examples
- He's waiting
- He's waiting / for his friend
- He's waiting / for his friend / at the station.

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2.2 Emphatic stress:
Be used to express our intended meaning or to
show how special sth is
Adverbs and modifiers:
Extremely
Terribly
Completely
Utterly
Especially

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That was a difficult test. - Standard statement
That was a difficult test. - Emphasizes how
difficult the test was

I was extremely tired. - Standard statement

I was extremely tired. - emphatic stress

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• Careful!
Positive words = more positive message
Negative word stressed = more negative
message

Ex: He’s a terrible liar. = bad news

He’s a terrible liar. = really bad news

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2.3 Contrastive stress
Be used to point out the difference between one object
and another
Tend to be used with determiners (This, that, these &
those)
Be used to bring out a given word in a sentence which will
also slightly change the meaning

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I think I prefer this color. (= not any of the others)
“this” has contrastive stress

A: Do you want pizza or pasta?

B: Pasta, please. (Pasta has contrastive stress)

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• He walked to the party yesterday. (It was he, not
someone else.)
• He walked to the party yesterday.
 (He walked, rather than drove.)
• He walked to the party yesterday.
 (It was a party, not a meeting or something else.)
• He walked to the party yesterday.
 (It was yesterday, not two weeks ago or some other
time.)
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Sentence   Meaning

1. Tilly wants to borrow your green shirt.   A. She wants yours, not mine.

2. Tilly wants to borrow your green shirt.   B. She really likes it!

3. Tilly wants to borrow your green shirt.   C. Not the grey one.

4. Tilly wants to borrow your green shirt.   D. She wants the shirt, not the skirt.

5. Tilly wants to borrow your green shirt.   E. Not your friend Tina.

6. Tilly wants to borrow your green shirt.   F. She wouldn’t just take it without asking.
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LEVELS OF STRESS

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ENGLISH HAS THREE LEVELS OF STRESS

• PRIMARY STRESS

• SECONDARY STRESS

• UNTRESSED SYLLABLES

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 PRIMARY STRESS
The loudest syllable in the word with a very noticeable change in pitch on the
vowel. Primary stress is marked in IPA by putting a raised vertical line [ˈ] at the
beginning of the syllable.
EX: Music /ˈmjuːzɪk/

In one-syllable words, that one syllable has the primary stress

EX: Tea /tiː/ , cut /kʌt/

The function words like “the”, “a”, and “an”… are usually unstressed or
reduced

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 SECONDARY STRESS
Syllables which aren't completely unstressed, but
aren't as loud as the primary stress. Secondary stress
is marked with a lowered vertical line [ˌ] at the
beginning of the syllable.

EX: photographic /ˌfəʊtəˈɡræfɪk/

environmental /ɪnˌvaɪrənˈmentl/
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 UNSTRESSED SYLLABLE
Syllables that have no stress at all. We often rush
through them and shorten them so much that the
vowel in the syllable is almost completely gone.
- Unstressed syllables containing /ə/, /i/, /ɪ/,/u/, or a
syllabic consonant, will sound less prominent than
an unstressed syllable containing some other vowel.
EX: University /ˌjuːnɪˈvɜːsəti/
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 PLACEMENT OF
THE STRESS
WITHIN THE WORD

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 There are some rules to decide on stress placement
1. Whether the word is morphologically simple, or whether it is
complex as a result of either containing one or more affixes (i.e.
prefix es or suffixes) or being a compound word.

2. What the phonological structure of those syllables is.

3. How many syllables the word has.

4. What the grammatical category of the word is (noun, verb,

adjective, etc.).
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4.1 Two syllable

• VERB

• NOUN

• ADJECTIVE

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 VERB
• If the final syllable is • A final syllable is also
weak, then the first unstressed if it contains /əʊ/
syllable is stressed.
Answer /ˈɑːnsər/ Follow /ˈfɒləʊ/
Happen /ˈhæpən/ Borrow /ˈbɒrəʊ/

• If the final syllable is strong, then that syllable is stressed even if the
first syllable is also strong
Begin /bɪˈɡɪn/ Forgive /fəˈɡɪv/ Invite /ɪnˈvaɪt/

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 ADJ
• Two-syllable simple adjectives are stressed according to the same rule 

lovely  /ˈlʌvli/ happy /ˈhæpi/

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 ADV

• Other two-syllable words such as adverbs seem to behave like verbs

and adjectives.
Lovely /ˈlʌvli/ Before /bɪˈfɔː(r)/

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 NOUN
• Stress will fall on the first
syllable unless the first
syllable is weak and the
second syllable is strong.
Father /ˈfɑːðə(r)/ Advice /ədˈvaɪs/
Table /ˈteɪbl/ Machine /məˈʃiːn/
 Note:
There are some words that are stressed that depend on the part of speech 
Desert (n) /ˈdezət/ ≠ Desert (v) /dɪˈzɜːt/ (=abandon)
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4.2 Three syllable

• VERB

• NOUN

• ADJECTIVE

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 VERB
• If the final syllable is Entertain /ˌentərˈteɪn /
strong, then it will Recommend /ˌrekəˈmend/
receive primary stress.
• If the last syllable is weak, then it
will be unstressed, and stress will be Determine /dɪˈtɜːrmɪn/
placed on the preceding
(penultimate) syllable if that
syllable is strong.
• If both the second and third   Parody /ˈpærədi/
syllables are weak, then the stress
falls on the initial syllable 32
 NOUN
• Nouns require a slightly different rule. The
general tendency is for stress to fall on the Quality /ˈkwɒləti/
first syllable unless it is weak.

• In words with a weak first syllable, Tomato /təˈmɑːtəʊ/

the stress comes on the next syllable

• When a three-syllable noun has a

strong final syllable, that syllable Intellect /ˈɪntəlekt/
will not usually receive the main
stress 33
 ADJ
• Adjectives seem to need the same rule, to produce stress patterns
 

Insolent /ˈɪnsələnt/
Retarded /rɪˈtɑːrdɪd /
Opportune /ˈɒpətjuːn/
Anthropoid /ˈænθrəpɔɪd/

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 05
COMPLEX WORD
STRESS
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5.1 WHAT IS COMPLEX WORD?
Complex words are of two major types:

● Words are made from a basic word form

(which we will call the stem), with the
addition of an affix. 

● Compound words, which are made of

two (or occasionally more) independent
English words
● EX:
‘ice cream’, ‘armchair’ 36
Affixes are of two sorts in English:

Which come before the stem (e.g. Prefix

Prefixes
‘un-’+ stem ‘pleasant’, = ‘unpleasant’)

Suffixes Which come after the stem (e.g. stem

‘good’+ suffix ‘-ness’ = ‘goodness’)

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Complex word stress
Affixes will have one of three
possible effects on word stress:

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5.2 Suffixes
A suffix is a letter pattern that is fixed to the end
of a word.
We will concentrate on those which are common
and productive. That is applied to a considerable
number of stems and could be applied to more
to make English word.

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The suffixes are referred to in their spelling form:

Suffixes carrying primary stress themselves

Suffixes that do not affect stress placement

Suffixes that influence stress in stem

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Suffixes carrying primary stress themselves
The primary stress is on the first syllable of the suffix. If the stem consists of
more than one syllable there will be a secondary stress on one of the
syllables of the stem.
Ex: volunteer /ˌvɒlənˈtɪə/, evacuee /ɪˌvækjuˈiː/, journalese /ˌdʒɜːnəˈliːz/,...

Suffixes that do not affect stress placement

'-able': comfort /ˈkʌmfət/; comfortable /ˈkʌmfətəbl/
'-en': wide /waɪd/; widen /ˈwaɪdn/
'-ful': wonder /ˈwʌndə/; wonderful /ˈwʌndərfl/
'-ish': devil /ˈdevl/; devilish /ˈdevəlɪʃ/ (adjective)
replenish /rɪˈplenɪʃ/ (verb)

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Suffixes that influence stress in stem
The primary stress on the last syllable of the stem.
'-ic': climate /ˈklaɪmət/; climatic /klaɪˈmætɪk/
'-ial': proverb /ˈprɒvɜːb/; proverbial /prəˈvɜːbiəl/
'-ion': perfect /ˈpɜːfɪkt/; perfection /pəˈfekʃn/
'-ious': injure /ˈɪndʒə/; injurious /ɪnˈdʒʊəriəs/
The suffixes ‘-ance’, ‘-ant’ and ‘-ary’
• When they are attached to single-syllable stems, the stress is almost
always placed on the stem . Ex: guidance /ˈɡaɪdns/, sealant /ˈsiːlənt/,
dietary /ˈdaɪətəri/
• If the final syllable of the stem is strong, that syllable receives the stress.
Ex: importance /ɪmˈpɔːtns/, centenary /senˈtiːnəri/
• Otherwise the syllable before the last one receives the stress. Ex:
inheritance /ɪnˈherɪtəns/; military /ˈmɪlətri/
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5.3 Prefixes
Stress in words with prefixes is governed by the same rules as
those for words without prefixes. That is because the effect of
prefixes on stress do not have the comparative regularity,
independence and predictability of suffixes, and there is no prefix
of one or two syllables that always carries primary stress.

Ex: aside /əˈsaɪd/

antecedent /ˌæntɪˈsiːdnt/
semicircle /ˈsemisɜːkl/

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5.4 Compound words
Its main characteristic is that it can be analyzed into two (some can be
more) English words. As with the many of the distinctions being made in
connection with stress, there are areas of uncertainty.

Some ways in writing compound words

• Written as one word, ex: armchair, sunflower
• Separated by hyphen, ex: gear-change, fruit-cake
• Separated by a space, ex: desk lamp, battery charger

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A few rules are given although there are not
completely reliable:
1. Normally, two-word compounds (two nouns) has the stress on the
first element.
Ex: typewriter /ˈtaɪpraɪtə/
suitcase /ˈsuːtkeɪs/

2. Compounds with an adjectival first element and the ‘–ed’ morpheme

at the end receive stress instead on the second element.
Ex: bad-tempered /ˌbæd ˈtempəd/
half-timbered /ˌhɑːf ˈtɪmbəd/

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3. Compounds in which the first element is a number in some form
also tend to have final stress.
Ex: three-wheeler /ˌθriː ˈwiːlə/
second-class /ˌsekənd ˈklɑːs/

4. Compounds functioning as adverb are usually final-stressed.

Ex: North-East /ˌnɔːθ ˈiːst/
downstream /ˌdaʊnˈstriːm/

5. Compounds which function as verbs and have an adverbial first

element take final stress.
Ex: downgrade /ˌdaʊnˈɡreɪd/
back-pedal /ˌbæk ˈpedl/

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5.5 Variable stress
Stress pattern is not always fixed and unchanging in English word.
Stress position may vary for one of two reasons:
• The stress move to preceding syllable and change to
secondary stress.
Ex:

• Not all speakers agree on the placement of stress in some

words
Ex: controversy /ˈkɒntrəvɜːsi/, /kənˈtrɒvəsi/

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5.6 Word-class pairs
When a pair of prefix + stem word exists ,both them of which are spelt
identically, one of which is a verb and the other is the either a noun or
an adjective, the stress will be placed on the second syllable of the
noun or adjective.

Ex: export /ˈekspɔːt/ (N); /ɪkˈspɔːt/ (V)

import /ˈɪmpɔːt/ (N); /ɪmˈpɔːt/ (V)
present /ˈpreznt/ (N,A); /prɪˈzent/ (V)

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References
English phonetics and phonology (Peter Roach)
https
://www.thoughtco.com/esl-intonation-stress-types1212091https://ww
w.youtube.com/watch?v=q5v6eI5BmDk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wktplsegk3g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSj6PTySYLM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VWvBk1fxuM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmyo3Nzi9L0

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