Week 8-9

Syllables
&
Stress
 Syllable
• consist of a centre which has little
or no obstruction to airflow and
which sounds comparatively loud;
before and after this centre, there
will be greater obstruction to
airflow and/or less loud sound.
 Structure of a syllable
• Pre-initial
• Initial
• Post-initial
• Vowel
• Pre-final
• Final
• Post-final 1
• Post-final 2
• Post-final 3
Structure of a syllable
 Structure of a syllable
•
PrI I PI V PrF F PF1 PF2 PF3
•Ex: are A (minimum syllable)
• or O (minimum syllable)
• am ` m (zero onset)
•ought O t (zero onset)
•bar b A (zero coda)
•key k i: (zero coda)
•ran r ` n (both O and C)
•fill f 1 l (both O and C)
 Structure of a syllable
PrI I PI V PrF F PF1 PF2 PF3
• helped h e l p t
• next n e k s t
• play p l $
• scan s k ` n
• s k r i: m scream
• s p l 1 t split
• t w e l f 8 s twelfths
• sixths s 1 k s 8 s
 Syllable
• Some syllables are strong,
others are weak
• Vowel “schwa” 9: the most
frequently occuring vowel in
English, is always associated
with weak syllables.
 Vowel “schwa” 9
• Character =k`r9kt9
• Accurate =`kj9r9t
• Potato p9=t$t!
• Forget f9=get
• Postmen =p!stm9n
• Stronger =str47g9
• Autumn =Ot9m
• Thorough =86r9
• Gracious =gr$S9s
 Syllabic Consonants
• Are not vowels in weak syllables but
stands as the peak of the syllable in
stead of the vowel
• Syllabic L bottle b4tL
• Syllabic N seven sevN
• Syllabic Xm uppermost 6pXm!st
• SyllabicX7 thicken 81kX7
• Syllabic R preference prefR9ns
Combination of syllabic
consonants
•National n`SNL
•Literal l1tRL
•Veteran vetRN
 Stress
• Louder, longer, higher pitch,
different quality pronunciation of a
syllable
• Levels of stress:
- Primary stress 9=r~nd
- Secondary stress -f!t9=gr`f1k
- Unstressed
Word stress: All words of more than one syllable have
what is called word stress. This means that at least one of the

syllables is l o n g e r and louder

 Stress
• Stress in simple words:
- stress in 2-syllable words (p77)
- stress in 3-syllable words (p78)
• Stress in complex words:
- Affixes: Prefixes and Suffixes
- Compounds
 Affixes
• Prefixes: same rules as those for polysyllabic words
without prefixes.
Ex: Irregular, uncomfortable, disagree, illegal
• Suffixes:
- Suffixes carrying primary stress themselves: -ese,
-ee, -eer… Ex: Japanese, employee, engineer
- Suffixes that do not affect stress placement: -ful, -ly, -
ment, -ness, -ous, -able… Ex: wonderful,happily
punishment, silliness, poisonous,fashionable
- Suffixes that influence stress in the stem: -ion, -ive,
-ial, ic… Ex: reflexive, perfection, proverbial, historic
 Compound words
• Compound nouns: stress on the first
element
Ex: =teacup, =suitcase, =sunrise
• Other compounds: final stress, the
first word takes secondary stress
Ex: -Bad-=tempered, -second-=class,
-down-=stream, -ill-=treat
 Word-class Pairs
• =Export N - ex=port V
• =Object N - ob=ject V
• =Present N, A - pre=sent V
• =Produce N - pro=duce V
• =Record N, A - re=cord V
• =Contract N - con=tract V
Sentence stress in English is the way
a speaker highlights certain words in
each sentence
 Exercises
Do exercises on pages 63, 72
Do exercises 1,2 on page 81
Do exercises 1,2 on page 88