UNIVERSIDAD JOSÉ MARTÍ

Lic. en medicina general

INGLES MEDICO

Stress in English words

Roberto Alejandro Lupian Anaya

Mtro. Marlon Jahaziel Lizama Ibarra

4º A
 STRESS IN ENGLISH WORDS
Stress is one of the important elements in English spoken language. Without the
sound knowledge of stress, learners of English may have difficulty understanding
English spoken language and the native speakers of English may fail to understand.

This lesson deals with word stress in English. Learning English word stress can give
the general overview of how native speakers put stress in English words. And this
could help the learners of English understand better the

However, the hearer may perceive stress on a syllable by means of several audible
phenomena. A stressed syllable often exhibits at least one or two of the following
characteristics:
1.) It is louder because there is more air coming from the lung by extra contraction
of the muscles of the rib cage. (Spoken more loudly)
2.) It is high in pitch because there may be extra activity of the pharyngeal muscles.
(higher pitch of voice)
3.) It is longer because the speech sound is produced by using more muscular
energy in the articulatory movements in the vocal tract; so it is said that the vowels
in the stressed syllable are longer than those in unstressed syllables. (longer vowel)

To get the clearer picture of the concept of unstressed syllable, some examples of
stressed syllables are demonstrated. In the word, faculty, it is the first syllable that
receives stress; so this implies that the last two syllables are unstressed. And, in the
word, computer the second syllable is stressed; so this means that the first and the
last syllable are unstressed.

The distribution of strong and weak syllables is important in understanding stressed

and unstressed syllables in English. For this part, general characteristics of weak
syllables will be discussed to understand better what unstressed syllable is.
It is found that the vowel in a weak syllable tends to be shorter, lower in intensity
than strong vowel and also different in quality.
For this part, level of stress in simple words is demonstrated. Although it is artificial
to learn levels of stress in isolation, it helps a lot to see levels of stress more clearly
than look at them in context and connected speech.
For example the word, about, the stress falls on the second syllable and the first
syllable is perceived as a weak syllable. To this, we can hear about louder in duration
and higher in pitch. Stress in English word can be divided into three level distinctions
which are primary stress, secondary stress and unstress.

According to Burquest 2001, syllable structure is often discussed in terms of

consonant-vowel patterns, commonly abbreviated as C (for consonant) and V (for
vowel). CVC therefore shows a single consonant followed by a single vowel, followed
by another single consonant. In the construction of syllables the typical proposal is
that there is a hierarchical arrangement of constituents. The Nucleus and coda are
combined into a Rhyme node, with the Rhyme and Onset then combined into a
syllable (typically designated with a lower case sigma)
 STRESS IN ENGLISH WORDS
WHAT IS STRESS
Is in some way more prominent than the others
in the same word. a speaker stresses a syllable
“by extra contraction of the muscles of the
ribcage and by extra activity of the laryngeal
muscles,” and perhaps also by increases in the
muscular activity in the articulatory movements.
A stressed syllable often exhibits at
least one or two of the following
characteristics:
1. It is louder because there is more air
coming from the lung by extra contraction
of the muscles of the rib cage. (Spoken
more loudly).
2. 2.) It is high in pitch because there may
be extra activity of the pharyngeal muscles.
(higher pitch of voice).
3. 3.) It is longer because the speech sound
is produced by using more muscular energy
in the articulatory movements in the vocal
tract; so it is said that the vowels in the
stressed syllable are longer than those in
unstressed syllables. (longer vowel).
WHAT IS
UNSTRESSED
Are characterized as louder, higher in pitch and
longer in duration, an unstressed syllable
therefore phonetically means the absence of
those features. To get the clearer picture of the
concept of unstressed syllable, some examples
of stressed syllables are demonstrated.
WEAK SYLLABLE
He distribution of strong and weak syllables is
important in understanding stressed and
unstressed syllables in English. For this part,
general characteristics of weak syllables will be
discussed to understand better what unstressed
syllable is.
LEVELS OF STRESS
For this part, level of stress in simple words is
demonstrated. Although it is artificial to learn
levels of stress in isolation, it helps a lot to see
levels of stress more clearly than look at them in
context and connected speech.