The nature of stress

1. The nature of stress Dr. Marga Vinagre Department of English Studies UAM

2. The Nature of Stress How to identify Stressed syllable • - Production: using more muscular energy than is used for unstressed syllables. • - Perception: perceiving stressed syllables as more prominent than unstressed ones. **(more prominent) louder, longer, has a higher pitch, and has a vowel of a certain quality. How to mark a stressed syllable • placing the mark [] before the stressed syllable. • Examples: - The first syllable in ‘father’ is marked high up with [] because it is stressed /f:/. • - The middle syllable in ‘apartment’ is marked high up with [] because it is stressed /p:tmnt/. • - The final syllable in ‘receive’ is marked high up with [] because it is stressed /rsi:v/

3. Levels of Stress Two-level analysis: stressed and unstressed syllables. E.g. The second syllable in ‘around’ has a higher pitch (hence, stressed) /rand/ Three-level analysis: primary [], secondary [], and unstressed syllables. E.g. in the word ‘photographic’ the most stressed syllable is the third one; so it has a primary stress []. The second and last syllables are unstressed. There is a type of stress weaker than the primary stress and stronger than the unstressed syllables; this syllable has a secondary stress []. /fə.təgræf.k/

4. Placement of Stress within the word • How can we select the correct syllable to stress in an English word? • There is a set of rules governing the placement of stress in nouns, verbs, and adjectives even though there are some exceptions. • When placing stress, it is necessary to consider the following: • Morphologically simple or complex word • Simple words consist of one morpheme ( one grammatical unit). They may include one syllable (like ‘cat’) or more than one syllable (like ‘father’) . Complex words consist of more than one morpheme ( more than one grammatical unit). E.g. affixinated words, compound words. • the grammaticalcategory of the word: Noun, verb, -----etc. • how manysyllables in the word • strong or weak syllable: weak syllables are always unstressed; strong syllables can be stressed or unstressed. Compare: the first and second syllables in ‘potato’ /ptt/; ‘open’ / pn/. • Weak syllables (those which end in ,, :, , : or a syllabic consonat)

5. Two-syllable words • In two-syllable words, one syllable is stressed and the other is unstressed. • How to place the stress in a two-syllable word? • If the word is a verb or an adjective, the stressed syllable is the strong one. Other two-syllable words like adverbs and prepositions behave like verbs and adjectives. Examples: ‘apply’ /pla/ ‘assist’ /sst / ‘open’ /pn/ ‘envy’ /envi/ ‘alive’ /lv/ ‘divine’ /dvn/ ‘lovely’ /lvli/ ‘even’ /i:vn/

6. Two-syllable words If the word is a noun, there is a different rule. If the 2nd syllable contains a short vowel, the stress is placed on the first syllable. Otherwise, it will be on the second syllable. Examples: ‘money’ /mni / ‘estate’ /stet/ ‘design’ /dzan /

7. Three-syllable words • In three-syllable words, stress placement is more complicated. • How to place the stress in a three-syllable word? • In verbs • If the final syllable is strong, then it’s stressed. If the final syllable is weak, the stress will be placed on the pre-final syllable if it’s strong. If both final and pre-final syllables are weak, the first syllable will be stressed. Examples:

8. Three-syllable words • In nouns: a different rule is applied. • If the final syllable is strong, stress will be placed on the 1st syllable. Examples: • If the final syllable is weak or ends with //, then it is unstressed. If the pre-final syllable is strong, it will be stressed. Examples: • If the 2nd and 3rd syllables are both weak, then the 1st syllable is stressed. Examples:

9. Mark the stressed syllable. Justify your answer (2-syllable words): Verbs attract clamber detest bellow Nouns honey paper captain refrain // // // // // // /r/ //

10. Mark the stressed syllable. Justify your answer: (3-syllable words) • Verbs: • disconnect • encounter • Nouns: • custody • connection // / / / / //

11. Mark the stressed syllable. Justify your answer: • Verbs: • disconnect • encounter • Nouns: • custody • connection / / / / / / / /