:Chapter two

Stress in English and Arabic

Syllables are usually described as consisting of a center which has
little or no obstruction to airflow and which sounds comparatively
loud. Before and after this center, there tends to be obstruction to
airflow and less loud sound.
What are we talking about here?!
Onset: consonant sound preceding the vowel in a syllable. Key
/kiː/
Nucleus: the main part of a syllable that is mostly a vowel. Eve
/iːv/
Coda: consonant sound in a syllable that follows its nucleus.
Cat /kæt/
Consonant cluster: two or more consonants together.
 Word Onset Nucleus Coda

Big /bɪɡ/ b ɪ g
Access /ˈæk.ses/ // - s // æ e // k s
Object /ˈɒb.dʒɪkt/ // - dʒ // ɒ ɪ // b kt
 Initial Medial Final
English C (cat) C (middle) C (sad)
CC (sleep) CC /rɪˈplaɪ/reply CC (shift)
CCC (strong) CCC /dɪˈskraɪb/ describe CCC (helped)

- CCCC /ˈek.strə/ extra CCCC (texts)

Arabic C (Nam) slept C (waheed) lonely C said (happy)
- CC (Ibtasim) smile CC (sihr) magic

.No syllable begins with more than three consonants in English .1

.No syllable begins with more than one consonant in Arabic
Syllables can have three or more consonant sounds in medial .2
.and final positions in English
No Syllable has more than two consonant sounds in medial
.and final positions in Arabic
Syllable structure in English and Arabic
English
V >> eye Arabic
VC >> in >> CV ‫في‬
VCC >> art >> CVC ‫ِمن‬
>> CVCC ‫نهر‬
VCCC >> asks
CV >> to
CCV >> tree
CCCV >> Straw
CVCCC>> text
CVCCCC > texts
CCVC > skin
1. Whereas a syllable in English can lack an onset, no syllable in
Arabic begins with a nucleus.

2. Whereas we can find consonant clusters of three or more

consonant sounds in English, the ultimate number of consonant
sounds in consonant clusters in Arabic is two.

3. The ultimate number of consonant sounds found in an initial

position in a syllable in Arabic one, whereas it is three in English.

4. While we can have consonant clusters of three or more

consonant sounds in initial and medial positions in English, the
ultimate number in Arabic is two.
English and Arabic have three syllable structures in common: .5
‫ ذا‬CV see - CVC
‫ِمن‬ bat - CVCC
‫ نهر‬cost
Clearly, syllable structures in English are more than those of .6
Arabic. Therefore, we can not find a syllable structure that is
restricted to Arabic. However, we can find several syllable
.structure patterns that are restricted to English
English allows syllables without onsets and codas, whereas .7
.Arabic does not
English has four open syllables (ending in a vowel): V (I), CV .8
. ) ( (see), CCV (free), CCCV (spray). Arabic has one:‫ذا‬CV

.English has 13 closed syllables, whereas Arabic has two .9

Segmental features:
Involves the study of individual distinctive features of a segment
like a sound’s place of articulation, manner of articulation and
voice. For example, /p/ is a bilabial, plosive and voiceless.

:Suprasegmental features
Involves the study of more than one segment. It studies stress,
pitch, intonation and rhythm.

:Stress
Syllable prominence derived from several phonetic factors such as
increased length, loudness, pitch movement or a combination of
these aspects.
The meaning of a spoken message is not only encoded in
contrasting segmental features, but there are also suprasegmental
features that are significant in carrying meaning in the spoken
message and giving language its overall appearance.

Stress is not on the periphery of language as it is often treated in

some language teaching settings. Failing to pronounce a word
correctly or to misplace a stress in a word often results in changing
the meaning of a word or would probably not be comprehended by
a native speaker. In summary, stress is used in the identification of
words, their grammatical functions and contextual meaning.
English and Arabic phonological systems vary extensively in
their suprasegmental features including word stress
placement. Therefore, difficulties are likely to arise due to
the differences in the way native speakers of the two
languages use stress to express meaning.

This is an area of paramount significance for communicative

and linguistic purposes given the complexity of the
phenomenon of English stress and the differences between
Arabic and English stress systems.
Palestinian learners of English face problems in stress
recognition and placement which lead to problems in
comprehension, speaking and communication. English stress is
an area of EFL which seems to be under-investigated and under-
taught in Palestinian contexts.
Three levels of stress in English:
1. Primary stress: the loudest syllable in the word. Primary stress
is marked by putting a raised vertical line [ˈ] at the beginning of
the syllable. E.g. father /ˈfɑːðə/ ; About /əˈbaʊt/ ; Receive /rɪ
ˈsiːv/
2. 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. E.g.
Activation /ˌæktɪˈveɪʃən/ ; Organization / ˌɔːgənaɪˈzeɪʃən /

3. Unstressed syllables: syllables that have no stress at all. E.g.

open /ˈəʊ.pən/ ; about /əˈbaʊt/
Degrees of English stress
In English, most linguists recognize three levels of stress: most

prominent, intermediate and least prominent. /ˌsʌb.stɪˈtʃuː.ʃən/

/sʌb/ - /stɪ/ - /tʃuː/ - /ʃən/

Secondary Unstressed Primary Unstressed

stress stress
 .Assess your understanding
:Discuss the following statements
Both segmental and suprasegmental features of a language play .1
.a significant role in conveying meaning and communicating
Syllable structures in English and Arabic are greatly different. .2
Discuss this statement, give examples and discuss any relevant
.implications for English teaching in Palestine
There are three levels of stress in English. Identify these levels .3
and illustrate your answer with examples. (Do not worry about
.phonemic transcription of words in the exam, please)
Define stress and provide examples on how important of a .4
.feature it is both on word and sentence levels
 .Assess your understanding
.State whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F)
.) ( The onset and nucleus of a syllable comprise the rhyme of the syllable .1
.) ( /The coda in the word ‘hit’ is the final consonant sound of the word /t .2
It is not uncommon to have a syllable in English beginning with a vowel .3
.) ( sound
Primary stress of a syllable is represented in phonemic transcription through .4
) ( a vertical line under first sound of a syllable
Arabic language has no syllable beginning with consonant cluster of two or .5
.) ( three consonant sounds
The ultimate number of consonant sounds that can be sound in an initial .6
.) ( position of syllable in English is three
The ultimate number of consonant sound in medial and final positions in .7
.) ( Arabic is two
) ( Some syllables in English and Arabic have no onsets or codas .8
:Stress within two syllable words in English
Stress location within words is usually concerned with words
consisting of two or more syllables where the relative stress
distribution needs to be specified. -
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
In two-syllable words, when stress is placed on the first syllable,
.the word is a noun

/Subject /ˈsʌbdʒekt/ - object /ˈɒb.dʒɪkt

In two-syllable words, when stress is placed on the second
.syllable, the word is a verb

/Subject /səbˈdʒekt/ - object /əbˈdʒekt

Most adjectives and adverbs seem to behave like nouns and have
stress in the first syllable. E.g. ‘lovely’, ‘even’, ‘honest’, ‘perfect’.
Stress in compound words in English
.Noun + Noun & Adjective + Noun >> First syllable is stressed .1
/Desktop /ˈdesktɒp/ pencil-case /ˈpensl keɪs
/Bookshelf /ˈbʊkʃelf/ greenhouse /ˈɡriːnhaʊs

.Adjective + past participle >> verb part is stressed .2

/Well-meant /ˌwel ˈment/ hard-headed /ˌhɑːd ˈhedɪd
.Preposition + verb>> the second syllable is stressed .3
/Understand /ˌʌndəˈstænd/ overlook /ˌəʊvəˈlʊk
Stress in phrasal verbs in English
.The particle in a phrasal verb receives the stress
/Turn off /tɜːn ˈ ɒf/ hand out /hænd aʊt
.The plane takes off at 4:30 .1
.He keeps picking up on his sisters .2
.I went to the bank to take out some money .3
.Thanks for checking on me .4
.Giving up at this stage is sheer lunacy .5
Stress in words with added ending
In words ending with –ic, -cian, -tion, -sion, the syllable before the
.ending is stressed

/E.co.no.mic /ˌekəˈnɒmɪk .1
/Tech.ni.cian /tekˈnɪʃn .2
/Grad.u.a.tion /ˌɡrædʒuˈeɪʃn .3
/Co.he.sion /kəʊˈhiːʒn .4
Stress in words with added ending
In words ending with –phy, -gy, -try, -cy, -fy, and –meter, the third
.syllable from the last is stressed
/Photography /fəˈtɒɡrəfi .1
/Biology /baɪˈɒlədʒi .2
/Geometry /dʒiˈɒmətri .3
/Parameter /pəˈræmɪtə(r) .4
/Thermometer /θəˈmɒmɪtə(r) .5
Identify the stressed syllable in the following list of words

. ..……………… ˈoffoff .1
TakeTake
Pho/ ˈ to/gra/phy
. .……………… Photography .2
Comm/u/ni/ ˈ ca/tion
. .…………… Communication .3
well- ˈpatterned / well- ˈpaid
. ……………… well-patterned/ well-paid .4
Doornobˈ
. ..……………… Doorknob .5
..……………… . Greenhouse
Greenhouseˈ .6
. …………………… Report ˈ
Report (n.) .7
.…………………… Re ˈport
Report (v.) .8
. ...……………………Over ˈlook
Overlook .9
/Bi /ˈol/ o/gy /baɪˈɒl.ə.dʒi
. ……………………… Biology .10
 O o oO
College; Cousin .....………; …………
oO oO
Reveal; Disease .………… ; …………
oO Oo
object (v); Anchor; ……………;…………
Oo oO
Lettuce; Contain ……………;…………
:Stress in complex words
A complex word may consist of (1) a base (or root) and one or
more affixes (for example, quicker), or (2) more than one root in a
.compound (for example, blackbird)

:Derivational suffixes can be categorized into three types

Stress preserving: do not change the placement of stress in .1

words. E.g. “wonderful.” , silly/ silliness
”.The stress attracting: gets primary stress. E.g. “employee .2
The stress shifting: makes the stress shift. E.g. ACtive >.3
Stress within utterances:
Stressed words in language are nouns, verbs, adjectives, and
adverbs; other connecting words must be weakened. Those
connecting words are articles, prepositions, conjunctions,
and helping verbs.
:Words to stress in utterances
nouns (people, places, things) .1
verbs (actions, states) .2
adjectives (words that modify nouns) .3
adverbs .4
negative words (not, never, neither, etc.) .5
modals (should, could, might, etc., but not will or can) .6
yes, no, and auxiliary verbs in short answers (e.g., Yes, .7
she does.)
Quantifiers (some, many, no, all, one, two, three, etc.) .8
Wh-Question words (what, where, when, why, how, etc)
:Words NOT to stress in utterances

articles (a, an, the) .1

prepositions (to, in, at, on, for, from, etc.) .2
conjunctions (and, or, so, but, etc.) .3
personal pronouns (I, you, he, she, etc.) .4
possessive adjectives (my, your, his, her, etc.) .5
Be verb (am, is, are, was, were, etc.) .6
The modals will and be going to (because they’re common) .7
The modal can (because it’s so common) .8
.The kids are at the park
.He bought a red car for his daughter

.We are not familiar with this new computer program

.The athlete ran quickly and won the competition

?Why aren’t you doing your homework

:Stress within utterances
Sentence stress is the music of spoken English. Like word stress,
sentence stress can help you to understand spoken English, even
rapid spoken English. Within utterances, content words are usually
stressed.
Most sentences have two basic types of word:
Content words
Content words are the key words of a sentence. They are the
important words that carry the meaning or sense—the real content.
Function words
Grammatical words like determiners, pronouns, auxiliary words, …
tend to be unstressed in normal speech unless particular emphasis is
placed on them to convey a specific idea.
:Stress within utterances
The location of the major stressed syllable within utterances can be
responsible for changing the intended meaning. In examples 1a and
1b, the syllables that carry the major stress are capitalized:

.1a. I THOUGHT you would eat it

)intended meaning: you have eaten it(

.1b. I thought you would EAT it

.)intended meaning: you have not eaten it(
.a. I didn’t say he stole the money
..………………… :intended meaning(

.b. I didn’t say he stole the money

..…………………… :intended meaning(

.c. I didn’t say he stole the money

..…………………… :intended meaning(
.I did not say YOU should kill him .1

.I did not say you should KILL him .2

.I did not say you should kill him .3

?Are you going to Dublin tomorrow .1
?Are you going to Dublin tomorrow .2
?Are you going to Dublin tomorrow .3
?Are you going to Dublin tomorrow .4
 :Stress within utterances
Stress is used to emphasize information in a sentence. Usually, the
words that are stressed are the ones that give new information to
the listener.
Normal statement: 'I went to the movies last night’ (no change in
pitch).

If it is an answer to the question: ‘where did you go last night?’,

the answer should stress: ‘The movies’

If the question is: ‘who went to the movies last night?’ the answer
should stress ‘I’.
:Placement of stress in Arabic
Arabic lexical stress is more predictable than English stress. .1
.Arabic has stress placement rules that operate at the word level
When the word consists of a sequence of syllables / cv/ the first syllable carries primary -
stress and other syllables carry weak stresses. 'Ka-ta-ba. 'Da-ra-sa
When a word includes a long syllable /v:/, this syllable receives primary stress and other -
syllables receive weak stresses. Ka-reem. Ba-eed. Mus-li-moon
When a word consists of two long syllables or more, the syllable which is near to the -
end of the word receives primary stress and the long syllable which is near the beginning
.of the word receives secondary stress. ‘a-mi-loon. M. saa-e-haat. Aa-bi-doon

In the absence of a long vowel in a word, stress is generally on the first syllable -

The idea that stress can alter meaning of a lexical item is utterly .2
.foreign to Arabic
:Placement of stress in Arabic
Word stress in Arabic bears a strong relationship to vowel length,
and the correct word stress aids intelligibility. In general, heavy
syllables stress are syllables of longer duration. In a word with a
syllable with one long vowel, the long vowel attracts the stress e.g.
/ke-taab/ and /kaatib/.
In a word with two long vowels, the second long vowel attracts
stress e.g. /ma-kaa-’tiib/.
:Placement of stress in Arabic
Word stress .1
Words of one syllable have primary stress whether it is long or
short. E.g. /ˈbard/ (cold)
‫برد‬ ‫طار‬
; /ˈtar/ (flew) ‫في‬
; /ˈfii/ (in)

Words of two or three syllables take a primary stress on the first

; syllable. E.g. /ˈkataba/ (wrote)
‫كتب‬ ; /ˈabadan/ (never)
‫ابدا‬

A multi-syllable word takes the primary stress on the last syllable.

; E.g. /yaktoˈbon/ (they‫يكتبون‬
write)
It is said that the stressing of words in sentences varies according to the
degrees of emphasis the speaker wishes to give to particular words. There are
.always words which are of greater importance than others

In Arabic, sentence stress is changeable depending on the emphasis placed on

particular lexical items. Pragmatics and the context of language use are
.closely linked to stress on the level of sentence in Arabic and English

‫هل ستسافر أنت الى ايرلندا غدا؟‬

‫هل ستسافر أنت الى ايرلندا غدا؟‬
‫هل ستسافر أنت الى ايرلندا غدا؟‬
Pedagogical implications and teaching suggestions
The stress placement is part of the identity of a word and therefore
teachers can build students’ confidence by drawing their attention
to patterns in word stress that do exist. This is by answering the
following questions:

1. What is with stress word stress?

2. Why word stress is important?
3. What are the main rules of word stress?
4. How can I help my students master word stress?
Pedagogical implications and teaching suggestions
1. Teachers can expose students to listening for word stress. This
can be done by tracing the patterns for two syllable words. In case
of having words spelled alike such as [Record] and [reCORD];
[SUBject] and subject, the important thing for the teacher is to
make the nouns sound different from the verbs by lengthening the
stressed syllables.
Pedagogical implications and teaching suggestions
2. Learning the stress on three or four syllable words
necessitates having the students listen and repeat what they hear
while concentrating on the stressed syllable. One of the best
games for teaching the stressed syllables of these words is the
echo game. In this game, students use arm movements to
practice word stress in three and four syllable words. After
repeating playing the echo game, students are recommended to
make short conversations using the phrases they just practiced.
Pedagogical implications and teaching suggestions
3. Marking stress is very helpful for easy learning. Here,
teachers can use a clear easy-to-see way of marking stress on the
board and on handouts for students. This can be done through
using big-circle-small-circle method/demonstration (O o). It is
very easy to see and has the added advantage of identifying the
number of syllables in the world as well as the stressed syllable.
For example,
oOo computer
Oo Object (n)
Pedagogical implications and teaching suggestions

4. Students should follow the teacher in saying the word in

different ways while exaggerating the stressed syllable and
compressing the unstretched ones.

5. The teacher can provide students with a list of words and ask
them to put the words into the correct column based on whether
stress falls on the first second or third syllable .
Assess your understanding
.Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F)
1. Suprasegmental features have to do with the physical process of
articulating sounds ( ).
2. In a two-syllable Arabic word ending with a long vowel, the first
syllable attracts stress ( ).
3. Adjectives like ‘honest’ tend to have the first syllable stressed
( ).
4. The third syllable in the word ‘determine’ is stressed ( ).
5. Content words like, verbs, conjunctions and adjectives receive
stress in English utterances ( ).
6. Placing stress on a particular item in a sentence can lead to a
total change of meaning ( ).
!Have a great day