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English Pronunciation and Intonation
The nature of stress
Stress in simple words
Complex word stress
Stress Shifts
Sentence stress
The Nature of Stress
1father open camera
2potato apartment relation
3about receive perhaps
In speech, stress is the amount of force one puts on a
syllable or words to give it prominence.
How to pronounce word stresses?
When a syllable is stressed, it is pronounced
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longer in duration,
higher in pitch,
louder in volume .
More muscular energy is used than is
done for unstressed syllables.
The muscles in our speech organs are
more active.
How do you say “teacher”?
Longer
Higher
teeeeeeeeeeee cher
tea
cher
Louder
TEA cher
All three
combined
TEEEEEEEEEEE
cher
In words with two or more syllables in
English, one of the syllables will receive
more stress than the others. Look up these
words in the dictionary and you will see a
mark indicating stress in front of this syllable.
People often have difficulty understanding
these words if the stress is wrong because a
word is considered mispronounced if the
wrong syllable stress is used. Correct stress
is, therefore, as important as correct sound.
Stress in Simple Words
The conventions for marking stress are: an
upper vertical bar before primary stress
e.g. 'lights 'basket
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and a lower bar for secondary stress.
e.g. inter'fere
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'
Levels of Stress

primary stress—the strong emphasis a speaker puts
on the most important syllable of a particular word
secondary stress—a less strong emphasis on the next
most important syllable
zero stress—any syllable that receives no stress

e.g. anthro'pology
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'
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Different Types of Weak Syllables
The schwa
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a -- attend, character, barracks, again, ballad,
necklace, workaday, workable, elephant
ar -- particular, molar, monarchy
ate -- intimate, accurate, desolate
o -- tomorrow, potato, carrot
or -- forget, ambassador, opportunity
e -- settlement, violet, postmen
er --perhaps, stronger, superman
u -- autumn, support, halibut
ough -- thorough, borough
ous -- gracious, callous
Any English vowel letter can be pronounced
with the schwa //.
allow
a
firemen
e
possible
i
//
command
o
support
u
Stress Placement
How can one select the correct syllable or
syllables to stress in an English word?
Stress Placement—Two-syllable words
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Either the first or the second syllable will be
stressed—not both.
If the second syllable of a verb or an adjective
contains a long vowel or diphthong, or it ends with
more than one consonant, that second syllable is
stressed.
apply attract arrive assist alive correct divine
Stress Placement—Two-syllable words

If the final syllable of a verb or an adjective
contains a short vowel and one (or no) final
consonant, the first syllable is stressed.
enter open envy equal happy social selfish
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In nouns, if the second syllable contains a short
vowel, the stress will usually come on the first
syllable.
money product larynx
Stress Placement—Three-syllable words

In verbs, if the last syllable contains a short vowel
and ends with not more than one consonant, that
syllable will be unstressed, and stress will be placed
on the preceding syllable.
encounter
'
'
determine
Stress Placement—Three-syllable words

In verbs, if the final syllable contains a long vowel or
diphthong, or ends with more than one consonant,
that final syllable will be stressed.
'
entertain
resurrect
'
Stress Placement—Three-syllable words
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In nouns, if the final syllable contains a short vowel
or [əʊ], it is unstressed.
If the syllable preceding the final syllable contains a
long vowel or diphthong, or if it ends with more than
one consonant, that middle syllable will be stressed.
'
'
'
potato
mimosa
disaster
synopsis
'
Stress Placement—Three-syllable words
'quantity 'cinema ' emperor 'custody
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In nouns, if the final syllable contains a short vowel
and the middle syllable contains a short vowel and
ends with not more than one consonant, the first
syllable will be stressed.
Adjectives seem to need the same rule.
'sinister 'insolent 'derelict 'anthropoid
But…
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All the rules have exceptions.
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The above rules do not cover all English words.
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You may have to learn the stress for each
individual word.
Complex Word Stress
Two major types of complex words:
1.
Words made from a basic stem word with
the addition of an affix, like preview and
useful
2.
Compound words, which are made of two
or more independent English words, like
ice-cream and armchair
Affixes have three possible effects on word stress:
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The affix itself receives the primary stress(e.g.
'
' semicircle and personality)
The word is stressed just as if the affix was not
'
there(e.g. unpleasant
and 'marketing)
The stress remains on the stem, not the affix, but is
'
shifted to a different syllable(e.g. magnetic)
Compound Words
When is primary stress placed on the first word
of the compound and when on the second?
Stress Placement—Compound Words
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noun+noun, stress on the first word
typewriter, suitcase, car-ferry, tea-cup, sunrise
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adjective+ed, stress on the second word
bad-tempered, half-timbered, heavy-handed
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number+ , stress on the second word
three-wheeler, second-class, five-finger
Stress Placement—Compound Words
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compounds functioning as adverbs, stress on the
second word
head-first, North-East, downstream
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compounds which function as verbs and have an
adverbial first element, stress on the second word
down-grade, back-pedal, ill-treat
Word Stress
Exercises
Stress Shifts
It would be wrong to imagine that the stress pattern
is always fixed and unchanging in English words.
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Rhythmical stress
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Contrasting stress
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Alternative stress
Variable Stress
regional differences
e.g. G.B. magazine
N.Z.'magazine
'
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individual differences
'
e.g. G.B. kilometer
' kilometer
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Sentence Stress
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Sentence stress refers to the word or words in a
sentence that receive a strong accent.
In most sentences, you will find a series of both
stressed and unstressed words.
Stressed syllables are long, have a pitch change and
have full vowel sounds while unstressed syllables are
short and often have reduced vowel sound.
What to stress in a sentence?
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Word or words that are semantically important in a
sentence.
Content words are usually stressed. They are nouns,
verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
Function words are usually not stressed. They are
determiners, pronouns, prepositions, auxiliary verbs
and conjunctions.
To stress all the words?
English speakers usually stress all words
only when they are impatient or angry.
Sentence Stress
Exercises
Stress with Poetry
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Read the poem “Hope Is the Thing with
Feathers” by Emily Dickinson to know its
main idea.
Underline the content words.
Compare your underlined words with your
partner.
Listen to the poem and see if there are any
changes you want to make in your underlined
words.
[[ˈfɛðɚ] one of the light soft
things that cover a bird’s body
Hope Is the Thing with Feathers
By Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all.
[pɚtʃ] to fly down and sit on
[ɡeɪl] a very strong wind
[sɔ:(r)] ] painful
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm,
That could abash the little bird,
That kept so many warm.
[əˈbæʃ] cause to be embarrassed
I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
[krʌm] tiny pieces
Yet, never, in extremity,
that fall from bread,
It asked a crumb of me.
[ɪkˈstreməti] the degree to which it
is severe, unusual, or unacceptable
biscuits, or cake
Stress with Poetry
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Read the poem “The Road Not Taken” by
Robert Frost. Discuss with your partner what
you think the poem means.
Which words are the content words? Which
words are structure words? Underline the
content words.
Compare your underlined poem with your
partner.
Listen to the poem and see if there are any
changes you want to make in your underlined
words.
[dɪˈvə:dʒ, daɪ-]
separate and go in
different directions
The Road Not Taken
By Robert
Frost
rhyming
scheme 押韵格式
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
[ˈʌndɚɡrəʊθ ] bushes, small trees, and other plants
growing around and under bigger trees
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
a
b
a
a
b
c
d
c
c
d
['trɒdn] PP of tread to put your foot on
or in something while you are walking
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
e
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
g
iambic tetrameter 抑扬格四音步
f
e
e
f
h
g
g
h
Sing a song!
Peerless
Doctor, actor, lawyer or a singer
Why not president, be a dreamer
You can be just the one you wanna be
Police man, fire fighter or a post man
Why not something like your old man
You can be just the one you wanna be
Driver, actor, lawyer or a singer
Why not president, be a dreamer
You can be just the one you wanna be
I know that we all got one thing
That we all share together
We got that one nice dream
We live for
You never know what life could bring
Coz nothing last for ever
Just hold on to the team you play for
I know you could reach the top
Make sure that you won"t stop
Be the one that you wanna be
Now sing this with me
We may have different ways to think
But it doesn’t really matter
We all caught up in the steam of this life
Focus on every little thing
That’s what does really matter
Luxury cars and bling
That’s not real life
I know you could reach the top
Make sure that you won’t stop
Be the one that you wanna be
Now sing this with me
Last year I used to dream about this day
Now I’m here I’m singing for you
I hope I could inspire you
Coz I’ve got all the love
Coz I’ve got all love for you
DARIN ZANYAR
The End
Review
Word Stress
morning, correct, certain, decide, notice,
sincere, Chinese, Shanghai, unknown,
nineteen, disloyal, mineral, camera,
potato, connection, revision, examination,
university, possibility, responsibility
Word Stress Rule
Where is the
stress?
Examples
Nouns
on the first
syllable
center
object
flower
Verbs
on the last
syllable
release
admit
arrange
on the first part
desktop
pencil case
bookshelf
greenhouse
Word type
Two syllables
Nouns
(N + N)
(Adj. + N)
Compound
Adjectives
(Adj. + P.P.)
Verbs
(prep. + verb)
on the last part
(the verb part)
well-meant
hard-headed
old-fashioned
understand
overlook
outperform
Word type
Phrasal Verbs
Where is the stress?
Examples
on the particle
turn off
buckle up
hand out
-ic
the syllable before the
ending
Word with
added
ending
economic
Geometric
-tion, -cian, -sion
Technician
graduation
cohesion
-phy, -gy, -try, -cy, -fy,
-al
photography
biology
geometry
-meter
the third from the last
syllable
parameter
thermometer
barometer
Sentence Stress
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It’s better to be too early than to be too late.
What can I do to help you?
All is well that ends well.
On the contrary, we often try to avoid that sort of
task
Learn those idiomatic ways of saying things.
There was a sort of curiosity in his voice.
After reading a book, put it back on the shelf again.
The teacher of the school was kind-hearted.