Subject:Phonetics and Phonology

Topic: Above the Segment

 Stress
 Tone and Intonation

Submitted to: Ma’am Farha Kashif

Submitted by: Humara Aakfah Riyadh

Roll No. 01161026

M Phil Applied Linguistics

 Stress
 What is stress
 Why stress is crucial
 Levels of stress
 Which words are stress and which are not
 Placement of stress within the sentence
 What makes a syllable prominent
 Compound words
 Strong and weak syllable
 Stress in two/three syllable words
 Tone and intonation

What is stress?

 The degree of force with which a word/ syllable is uttered.

 In any word only syllable receives more emphasis than the other.
 Stress changes not only the level of voice but also changes vowels.

Why stress is crucial?

 Stress is crucial in English pronunciation. It can be called a grammatical device in English.

 A part of meaning of a word depends on stress. Its serves to mark the function of word
in spoken English.
 To understand word stress, it helps to understand syllables. Every word is made from
syllables. We can only stress vowels not the consonant.
 Stressing the wrong syllable can change the meaning or types of the word.
 It can make the word very difficult to hear and understanding.

Types of stress

 Primary level

It is the stronger degree of syllable. It gives final stressed syllable. It’s very important in
compound word.

 Secondary level

It is the weaker degree lexical stressed syllable in a word

 Tertiary level
Unnecessary degree of complexity
  Quaternary level
Word reduction

Which words are stress and which are not?

Stressed Words Unstressed Words

Nouns and Relative Nouns Personal Pronouns

Demonstrative Interrogative Pronoun Prepositions

Main Verb Conjunctions

Adjectives Helping verbs

Adverbs Articles

Placement of stress within the sentence

Morphological Grammatical Phonological

 Simple word  Noun  No. of

 Affixes  Verb syllables
 Compound  Adverb  Strong
Words  Preposition  weak
 Adjective
 What makes a syllable prominent?

Loudness: Human language has way to make some syllables more prominent than others in
terms of

 Loudness
 Length
 Pitch
 Quality

Strong and weak syllables

Strong Syllables:

 A strong syllable has a rhyme which either has a syllable peak which is a long vowel or
diphthong or a vowel followed by a coda (one or more consonants). For example die,
heart, bat.

Weak Syllables:

 Weak syllable has a syllable peak which is a short vowel and no coda unless the syllable
peak is schwa. For example re in reduce, be in herbicide, pen in open.
 One important thing is that only strong syllables can be stressed. Weak syllables are
always unstressed.

Emphatic Stress:

 Emphatic or shifting stress is used by the speaker to show the importance or significant
of a unit information in an utterance. Emphasis is focused on the most important
element the speaker wishes to draw attention to and it is achieved through the degree
of intensity (pitch, change) given to the particular word.

Stress in two syllable words

 Simple rules for assigning stress to polysyllabic words. Suffixes – ate

 Stress at 1st syllable
 CALculate
 DEMonstrate
 MAgistrate
 MOtivate
 OPerate
 -IC “Stress the second syllable from the end if a word has three/four syllables”.

 draMAtic
 ecoNOmic
 inorGAnic
 hisTORic
 phoNEtics
 emPHAtic
 optiMIStic

-CAL “Stress the third syllable from the end if a word has four/five syllables”.

 demoCRAtial
 geoMETrical
 meTHODical
 poLITical
 ilLOgical
 ecoNOMical
 reCIProcal
 photoGRAPHical

-URE “Stress the second syllable from the end if a word has three/four syllables”

 adMIXture
 adVENture
 conJECture

-TION/SION “Stress the second syllable from the end if a word has four/five syllables”

 adminisTRAtion
 coopeRAtion
 consideRAtion
 organiZAtion
 privatization

-ISM “Stress the first/initial stress

 PATriotism
 ORganism
 MECHanism
 RAtionalism
 Nationalism
-ABLE “Stress the first syllable from the beginning if a word has four/five syllables”

 HOnorable
 REAsonale
 COMfortable
 FAvourable

Word ending in –ER, -OR, LY

The stress is place on the first syllable. DIRector ORderly MANager.

Copmound word

A compound noun is a noun made out of two nouns in order to form one word. In a compound
noun, a first word usually takes oj the stress.

 ICEland
 TOOTHpaste
 SEAfood

Noun+compound noun:

Noun+compound nouns are two word compound nouns. In noun+compound noun, the stress is
on the first word.

 AIRplane mechanic
 PROject manager
 BOARDroom member

Compound adjectives

A compound adjective is an adjective composesd of at least two words. Often hyphens are used
in compound adjectives, in compound adjectives, the stress is plaed within the second word.

 ten-MEter
 rock-SOlid
 fifteen-MInute

Compound verbs:

Compound verb is when subject has two or more verbs. The stress is on the second or on the
last part.
  Ali loves bread but deTESTS butter
 Dogs love to eat bones and love DRINking water
 Hina baked cookiesand ATE them up

Sress above the level of the word

One syllable in each word more prominent than the other so in longe stretches of syllables like
phrases and sentences, one syllable will always be more prominent. Te most prominent of all is
the head syllable of the final foot.

 He likes wtching FOOTball

 She was out last NIGHT
 They like eating CANdies

Tone and intonation

The individual pitch patterns assosiated with word or syllable re known as tone. Language
which use pitch in this way are known as tone language. Tone is essentially a property of
individual syllable or a word, while intonation can apply to much longer stretches such as
phrases or sentences. In english a change of pitch effects the meaning and function of uttrences
in discourse. Intonation is about how we say thigs rather than what we say. Without
intonation,it is impossible to understand the expressions and thoughts that go with words.

Intonation reinforces grammer:

 Wh-question:fall

Questions which can be answered with yes or no, typically have a rise on a tonic

 Conditional sentences: rise on the first clause & a fall on the second
 Imparatives: fall

Imparatives are characterized by a fall on the tonic syllable, as in LEAVE IT. With a fall on
“LEAVE” and low pitch on “IT”.

 Yes/no question: fall

Questions which can not be answered with yes or no, typically have a fall on a tonic

 Congratulations or solutions-rise
 Series oe enumeration-first rise last fall

A series orf rises terminated by a fall.

We have got bitter mild, stout and porter. Which has rises on bitter, mild and stout but a fall on
porter.

Use of intonation is to indicate attitude. Negative attitude (falling patterns) that means a lack of
interest dismissiveness, unfriendlyness. Positive attitude (rising patterns) typically indicate
friendlyness or enthusiasm, strongly agree.

Example:

 Yes/no question: fall

Questions which can not be answered with yes or no, typically have a FALL on a tonic.

 Speaker interest

Questions which can not be answered with yes or no, typically have a RISE on a tonic.

So, the overall level of pitch and the size of the falls or rises also contributes to an indication of
attitude of the speaker and his interest.

 Wh-question:fall (rise)
 Conditional sentences: rise on the first clause & a fall on the second
 Imparatives: fall (rise)
 Yes/no question: fall (rise)
 Congratulations or solutions-rise (fall)
 Series oe enumeration-first rise last fall.