Standard Word Patterns in Word Stress

I found this article in http://www.onestopenglish.com/,  the Macmillan teacher’s resource website, which is definitely a very reliable source of information.

 This is a huge area. However, there are some fairly regular patterns and these might help your student. The following general “rules” may be of some use but bear in mind that there will often be exceptions!

1.       With verbs of two syllables, if the second syllable of the verb contains a long vowel or a diphthong, or if it ends with more than one consonant, the second syllable is stressed.

Examples: apply, attract, complete, arrive, resist

2.      With verbs of two syllables, if the final syllable contains a short vowel and one (or no) final consonant, the first syllable is stressed.

Examples: enter, open, equal, borrow, profit

Exceptions to this rule include admit and permit (verb).

3.      There are some suffixes (or word endings) that usually carry stress. Words with these endings usually carry stress on the last syllable:

-ain	entertain
-ee	refugee
-eer	mountaineer
-ese	Portuguese
-ette	cigarette (NB American English would stress the first syllable)
-esque	picturesque

4.      The main or primary stress usually falls on the syllable before these endings:

-ion	decision, application
-ious / -eous	contentious, courageous
-ity	simplicity
-ive	extensive
-graphy	photography, biography

5.      In compound words or words made up of two elements, there are again some general patterns.

·         If the first part of the word is broadly speaking a noun, then the first element will normally carry more stress:

typewriter, car ferry, suitcase, tea cup

·         If the first part is broadly speaking an adjective, then the second element will carry more stress

loudspeaker, bad-tempered, black market, young learner

Methodology: stress patterns in English, By Tim Bowen

http://www.onestopenglish.com/support/ask-the-experts/methodology-questions/methodology-stress-patterns-in-english/146393.article

Word Stress

This part was also taken from  "Sound Foundations, Learning and teaching pronunciation", Adrian Underhill, Macmillan, 2005.

I absolutely love that book. You should get it! It was written in a very simple and clear way.

Word Stress

"Word stress is the term used to describe the accent or emphasis given to a

particular syllable of a word, and it is a more or less invariable attribute of that

word when spoken in isolation. Words of more than one syllable contain both

stressed and unstressed syllables. Learners’ dictionaries indicate the stressed

syllable(s) for every multi-syllable word as if it were being spoken in isolation.

The stress symbol used by most dictionaries is /'/ just before the affected syllable,

eg/spə'sIfIk/.The location of this stress is as much a part of the pronunciation of a

word as are the phonemes themselves. Sounds and stress both contribute to the

acoustic identity of a word, so both need to be studied at the same time."

A practical definition of stress

"A stressed syllable is articulated with relatively more force than an unstressed

syllable. This is due to the extra pressure of air reaching the vocal cords, caused by

an increase in lung power. There are three distinguishable acoustic results. You may perceive syllables as stressed if, compared with their neighbours, they are

relatively:

1 louder;

2 longer;

3 different in pitch (usually higher but possibly lower).

To this we can add a fourth variable:

4 the sounds in a stressed syllable may be more clearly articulated, and in

particular the vowels may be ‘purer’.

As a result of this we can also add a fifth variable, which also provides a visual clue:

5 stressed syllables may be accompanied by larger jaw, lip and other facial

movements by the speaker.

These five variables are in fact all interrelated, because they are all ways of

increasing or decreasing the amount of energy in the articulation at any point.

They all concern the way that articulatory energy is distributed across the word.

In fact you can think of the stress pattern of a word as its energy profile."

Unstress in words

"Insofar as loudness, length and pitch correlate with stress, so absence of all three

can correlate with unstress.

Regarding the fourth variable, clarity and purity of articulation, it is worth saying

more about the changes that can result from unstressing the sound:

1 The consonants in an unstressed syllable may be more weakly or even

incompletely articulated.

2 The vowel in the syllable may sound less distinct. This loss of sharpness in

unstressed vowels is called reduction, and all vowel sounds can undergo greater

or lesser degrees of reduction. All monophthongs reduce towards the central

/ə/ sound, though /i: / often reduces to /I/ and /u: / often reduces to /ʊ/

Unstressed diphthongs become generally less distinct, often losing their two vowel

glide quality and merging into one composite ‘greyish’ monophthong."

Primary and secondary stress

"Longer words, especially when spoken in isolation, may have more than one

stressed syllable (eg popularity), in which case one of the stresses is given more

force than the other. The strongest is referred to as primary stress and the less

strong as secondary stress.

Both primary and secondary stress are in contrast to unstress. Secondary stress

can be realized acoustically by duration and loudness, and through clearer

articulation. It merely has less energy than its neighbouring primary stress.

However the pitch change quality of stress tends to occur as an attribute of

primary stress only."

Stress shift in words

"Sometimes words with secondary stress change their stress pattern in connected

speech, especially when followed by a word which is more strongly stressed." In those cases, we shift the main stress to the position of the secondary stress

 "Sound Foundations, Learning and teaching pronunciation", Adrian Underhill, Macmillan, 2005.

Consonants

Consonant: A sound in which the air is partly blocked by the lips, tongue, teeth, etc. Any letter of the English alphabet which represents these sounds, e.g. d /d/, c /k/

Definition taken from the Cambridge TKT Glossary

“All consonants (with the exceptions of /w/ and /j/) involve a restriction to the

outflow of air, and it is the precise place and manner of this restriction that gives

each consonant its unique sound. We can describe the uniqueness of each

consonant quite well using these three variables:

1 voiced or unvoiced;

2 place of articulation (where the sound is produced in the vocal tract);

3 manner of articulation (how the sound is produced in the vocal tract).”

 "Sound Foundations, Learning and teaching pronunciation", Adrian Underhill, Macmillan, 2005.

Voiced or Unvoiced

Voiced: The vocal cords vibrate

Unvoiced: There is no vibration

Manner of Articulation

Plosives: There is a build-up of air just before the sound starts, and

there is a sort of pop as the air is released and the consonant sound too is

released.

“The air stream is completely blocked by the tongue or lips, held momentarily, then the pressure is released explosively”

 /p/b/t/d/k/g/

Affricates: Just like plosive sounds, they begin with a build up of pressure, but the air is released more slowly, creating a more fricative sound

/ʧ/ /ʤ/

Fricatives: There is a restriction to the air flow (there is no complete block)

“At the beginning of the sound you’ll notice an increase in the pressure of air

behind the restriction, producing an audible friction which provides the

characteristic sound of that consonant”

“fricatives can be sustained and given longer or shorter duration.”

/f,v,θ,ð,s,z,ʃ,ʒ/

Nasal: “the air stream carries the sound through your nose”

/m, n, ŋ/

Fortis Fricative: When the sound /h/ is produced before a vowel,

There is a stronger expellation of air from the lungs (fortis) than is

 required for the vowel alone, causing friction in the vocal tract (fricative), which is already shaped in readiness for the following vowel.

Lateral: The air stream escapes over the sides of the tongue /l/

/r, w, j/ Sounds

In order to create these sounds, the vocal tract is narrowed, however there is no friction noise

Frictionless continuant: While the tongue is being curled upwards, the air stream escapes freely, without friction, over the central part of the tongue. It is continuant because it can be sustained like a vowel /r/

The /w, j/sounds are called semi-vowels because even though the vocal tract is narrowed when they are produced, there is no friction noise and they can be sustained

Place of Articulation

Bilabial: the two lips come together to block the air stream /p, b, m/

Alveolar: the front part of your tongue (the ‘blade’) makes contact with the bony ridge immediately behind your upper front teeth.

At this point the block to the air stream is both made and released. /t, d, n, l/

The friction is produced by pressing the blade of your tongue lightly against

the alveolar ridge /s, z/

Palato-Alveolar: the blade of your tongue makes contact with the junction between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate, and the body of the tongue is slightly raised towards the hard palate. /ʧ, ʤ, r/

The friction here is produced with the tongue at a point slightly further back

from /s/ and /z/, so that the blade of the tongue is roughly opposite the join

between the alveolar ridge and the palate. /ʃ, ʒ/

Velar: The air stream is blocked when the back of your tongue is in contact with the soft palate. /k, g, ŋ/

Labio-dental: the friction for this consonant is produced by pressing your bottom lip lightly against the edge of your top front teeth.  /fv/

Dental: The friction here is produced by pressing the tip of your tongue lightly against the inside edge of your top front teeth, so that the air stream is just able to flow in between tongue and teeth, producing friction /θ, ð/

The sound /h/ : can be articulated in any of the twelve different mouth/tongue postures corresponding to the twelve English monophthongs.

The sound /w/: The exact starting position depends on the nature of the following vowel, but it is usually characterized by rounded lips, hence the full description of /w/ as a voiced bilabial semi-vowel. /w/ occurs initially but not finally.

The sound /j/: The exact starting position of /j/ depends on the nature of the following vowel, but it is usually characterized by the tongue being close to the palate, hence the full description of /j/ as a voiced palatal semi-vowel, /j/ occurs initially but never finally.

 "Sound Foundations, Learning and teaching pronunciation", Adrian Underhill, Macmillan, 2005.

The Schwa Sound

“The central vowel /ə/ can claim to be the ‘smallest’ English
 vowel sound and yet   it is the only phoneme with its own name. 
It is by far the most frequent vowel sound in continuous speech, 
though it never carries stress. It is its unstressed nature that

contrasts with stressed vowels to contribute to the rhythmical nature of English.(…) 
Its correct use is crucial to the smooth rhythmic quality of spoken English. /ɜ:/ is its longer, stressed equivalent.”

 "Sound Foundations, Learning and teaching pronunciation", Adrian Underhill, Macmillan, 2005. (Page 11)

PART 2 Phonology

This part of KAL tests candidates’ knowledge of segmental and suprasegmental phonological features.

Segmental Features

• phonemes: the different phonemes of English and their places and manner of articulation e.g. bilabial plosive, voiced or unvoiced consonant; front or back vowels etc.

In this website not only will you be able to see the IPA chart, but you will also be able to click on the symbols and hear both the sounds related to each one of them and sample words including the sounds

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/activities/phonemic-chart

Taken from http://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/phonemic-chart.htm

Vocal tract: Parts of the body which contribute to the production of vocal sounds: the lungs, larynx, oral cavity(mouth), lips and nose

To facilitate the learning of the phonemes of standard English, we need to know

• how each sound is produced within the vocal tract :   manner of articulation

• where in the vocal tract each sound is produced :  place of articulation

The phonemic chart is arranged to convey much of this information visually.

Difference between vowels and consonants

The vowel sound: has no particular restriction to the air flow, though it does require a particular ‘posture’ of the tongue, jaw and lips.

Consonants:  begin with some kind of restriction to the air flow which you then release as you move into the following vowel. Most consonants have their own restriction to the flow of air, which is what gives them their unique sound.

Vowel Sounds

 Difference between monopthongs and dipthongs

Dipthongs: the tongue/jaw/lip posture changes during the sounding of the vowel, changes quality

Monopthongs :there is  no such movement, doesn’t change its quality

The characteristic sound of a vowel depends on the shape and size of the resonant space in the mouth. This is determined by:

·         the horizontal tongue position or location (front–center–back);

·         the vertical tongue position or height (high–mid–low);

·         the lip position (rounded–neutral–spread).

And there is a fourth characteristic of vowels which is not dependent on tongue or lip position:

·          the typical length or duration of the vowel (long–short)

Horizontal tongue position

·         Front: When the highest point of the tongue is below the hard palate          /i ː  ɪ  e   æ/

                   i:    leek         I      lick            e   leg             æ    lack

·         Back: When the highest point of the tongue lies below the soft palate           / ɑ:  ɔ:  ɒ  ʊ  u: /

                  ɑ:  lark      ɔ:  lord            ɒ lock          ʊ  look      u: Luke

·         Central: when the highest point of the tongue lies un an intermediate position at the junction of the hard and soft palates            / ʌ  ɜ:  ə /

                  ʌ luck         ɜ:  lurk         ə butter

Vertical Tongue Position

• ·         High or close:  denotes that the raised part of the tongue is relatively close to the roof of the mouth, and above the level it holds in ‘neutral’ position. / i:  u:/

                   i:    leek         u: Luke

• ·         Low or open:  denotes that the tongue is relatively distant from the roof of the mouth, and below the level it holds in neutral position. / ɑ:  ɒ /

                  ɑ:  lark      ɒ lock         

• ·         Mid indicates a neutral or middle position between these two extremes /e   ɜ:  ə/

-Close mid or Mid high:  /ɪ  ʊ/

-Open mid or Mid Low: / æ ʌ  ɔ: /

Lip position

•        Rounded:   vowels / ɔ:  ɒ  ʊ  u: /
•        Unrounded:  vowels  /i:  ɪ e  æ  ɑ:  ʌ   ɜ:  ə/

Adapted from "Sound Foundations, Learning and teaching pronunciation", Adrian Underhill, Macmillan, 2005.

Images taken from the same book "Sound Foundations, Learning and teaching pronunciation", Adrian Underhill, Macmillan, 2005.

Adrian Underhill on Using the Phonemic Chart!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=trEWW3ZlWfA