Syllable stress

Prévia do material em texto

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LÍNGUA INGLESA FONÉTICA E 
FONOLOGIA
TONICIDADE E ENTONAÇÃO
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Olá!
Ao final desta aula, você será capaz de:
1. Understand stress (propriety that a vowel or a syllable has to be said with a higher or a lower intensity), its
occurrences and manifestations;
2. understand intonation (cadence that the speech assumes emphasizing the aim of the speaker while carrying
out the communicative process), its occurrences and manifestations.
1 Stress and intonation
Stress is the relative force that a sound or syllable is spoken. The emphasis placed on the sound or syllable
spoken most forcefully in a word or phrase.
There are a couple of rules to know what the stressed syllable is. Let’s have a look at them.
STRESS ON ULTIMATE SYLLABLE (ULTIMATE = LASTSYLLABLE)
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Attention: For a few words, native English speakers don't always ‘agree’ on where to put the stress. For
example, some people say and others say . Another example is: teleVIsion TELevision CONtroversy and
.conTROversy
2 Special cases
· ENDINGS ANE, ENE, INE, IDE, ITE, OID, OSE, ULE E UTE
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· ENDINGS AL, AR, ANT, ENT, ANCE, ENCE, IS, ON, OUS, UM, - NOUNS AND ADJECTIVES
· POLYSSYLABIC WORDS
· When there are two consonant like letters within a word, the syllable before the double consonants is usually
accented. Examples: beGINner, LETter.
· In general, when a SUFFIX is added to a word, the new form is stressed on the same syllable as was the basic
word: aBANdon aBANdonment - HAPpy HAPpiness Exceptions: the words ending in -TION, -SION, -IC, -ICAL, -
ITY, and -GRAPHY - they receive the accent in the syllable preceding the suffix. Examples: conTRIbute
contriBUtion - biology bioLOgical - PUblic puBLIcity.
3 verbs IN -ATE
· Verbs with 2 syllables = stress the syllable before the last
STAte - INflate
· Verbs with more than 2 syllables = stress two syllables before the last
OPerate DESignate LIberate
If the word is polysyllabic and is a homograph (there is the same form for the adjective, noun and verb) the
stress does not change, but the pronunciation does.
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Nouns are stressed on the FIRST syllable and verbs on the SECOND one. 
WORDS WITH TWO PARTS 
 If the ‘unstressed’ part of the noun+noun compound is more than one syllable, it will have some word'NOTE:*
stress. However, the first part of the compound will get even more stress.
Example: AIR conDITioner (conditioner has a stressed syllable, but not so strong as AIR)
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** If they have a noun counterpart, however, it gets the stress on the first part.
E.g.: TURN off X turnoff
4 Don’t confuse compound noun and phrases
Look:
A) I was born in that GREEN HOUSE.
B) We grow tomatoes in that GREENHOUSE.
In letter A it means ‘a house which is green’. It is a PHRASE. The main stress on the last element. I was born in
that GREEN .HOUSE
In letter B it means ‘a place for growing plants’. It is a COMPOUND NOUN. The main stress is on the first element.
We grow tomatoes in that .GREENHOUSE
NOTE
Place names, such as Oxford Circus, Waterloo Bridge, Paddington Station, Lexington Avenue, New York etc. are
usually PHRASES.
5 Compound nouns
A compound noun is a noun that is made with two or more words. A compound noun is usually [noun + noun] or
[adjective + noun], but there are other combinations. It is important to understand and recognize compound
nouns. Each compound noun acts as a single unit and can be modified by adjectives and other nouns.
There are three forms for compound nouns:
1. Open or spaced - space between words ( );tennis shoe
2. hyphenated - hyphen between words ( );six-pack
3. closed or solid - no space or hyphen between words ( ).bedroom
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6 Stress in adjective/noun combinations
When you speak, it’s important to use words that describe what you are talking about. Words that describe
nouns (people, places or things) are called adjectives. When you use adjective/noun combinations, the noun
normally receives .greater stress
7 Stress within the sentence (content and function words)
The words are divided into two classes:
• - Words which have meaning in themselves.CONTENT WORDS
• - words which have little or no meaning other than the grammatical idea they express.FUNCTION WORDS
Function words are words (only about 300 in English) while are open closed class content words class words
(new words are being added in every language).
CONTENT WORDS are , but FUNCTION WORDS are left .stressed unstressed
See, here's a few examples.
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• One used as a noun-substitute (as in the réd dréss and the blúe one)
• The verbs be, have, do, will, would, shall, should, can, could, may, might, must (auxiliaries). These verbs are
stressed when they come at the end of the sentence and when they are used in tag question.
The same lexical word can function as either content or function word depending on its function in an utterance.
'I have come to see you'
'I have three apples'
'have' is a function word (auxiliary verb)
'have' is a content word (full verb)
'One has one's principles'
'I have one apple'
'one' is a function word (pronoun)
'one' is a content word (numeral)
'I have no more money'
'No. I am not coming'
'no' is a function word (a negative particle)
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'no' is a content word (Yes/No answer)
* Sentences in which the first component announces the material of which the second is made, both of them are
stressed.
Examples: It's an apple pie (the pie is made of apple) It's an apple tree (the tree is not made of apple).
8 Let's see how the difference between content and 
function words affects speech
The in the . (14 syllables). He can on as longbeautiful Mountain appeared transfixed distance come Sunday
as he doesn't have to any in the . (22 syllables).do homework evening
Did you understand?
Even though the second sentence is approximately 30% longer than the first, the sentences take the same time to
speak. This is because there are 5 words in sentence. From this example, you can see that youstressed each 
needn't worry about pronouncing every word clearly to be understood (we native speakers certainly don't). You
should, however, concentrate on pronouncing the words clearly.stressed 
· Primary Stress: In English, the syllables of words differ in prominence. In polysyllabic words (words of more
than one syllable), one of the syllables always has a greater degree of prominence than any other syllable. The
syllable of greatest prominence is known as the primary stressed syllable, or the syllable that carries primary
stress. The primary stressed syllable can be marked by placing a diacritic in the following way:
In monosyllabic words (words of one syllable), the outcome is unambiguous: the syllable, i.e. word, has primary
stress (e.g. heat, look, greet) and does not need to be marked.
· Unstressed syllables: Generally in English, the large majority of the vowels of unstressed syllables can be
transcribed as schwa:
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9 Stress syllable x tonic syllable
In any clause there is only one tonic syllable - tonic syllable, notice, not stressed syllable. A tonic syllable is not
just stressed. It also involves a change of intonation to emphasize the intention of the speaker:
Compare the position of the tonic syllable in each of these sentences:
1. I'm ing.go
2. I'm going to don.Lon
3. I'm going to London for a liday.ho
Of course, go in sentence 2 and both go and Lon in sentences 2 and 3 still have syllable stress, but they do not
bear either sentence's stress.tonic
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10 Intonation
Intonation is the tune of what you say. More specifically, it is the combination of musical tones on which we
pronounce the syllables that make up our speech. It’s closely related to sentence-stress.
Intonation can determine grammatical meaning as well as the speaker’s attitude. It will tell whether a person is
making a statement or asking a question; it will also indicate if the person is confident, doubtful, shy, annoyed, or
impatient. * .Pitch = entonation
PHRASESENDING WITH A FALLING PITCH
1. Declarative statements.
Examples:
Linda is my sister.
He is not going.
2. Questions that require more than YES/NO response (such question words include who, what, why, where,
which, how) begin with an interrogative word (question words).
Examples:
What’s this? (It’s a book.)
Where is my book? (It’s here.)
PHRASES ENDING WITH A RISING PITCH
1. Questions that ask for a Yes /No response (such questions include can, do, will, would, may, is, etc.)
Examples:
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Will you stay (No, I can’t.)
Can you hélp me?
Has he written you?
Were they asleep?
2. Statements that express doubt or uncertainty
Examples:
I’m not positive.
I think he’s coming.
3.Commands
Show me your finger.
Pay attention to your teacher.
10.1 Intonation in sentences with two or more phrases
Intonation also tells the listener if a speaker has completed the statement or question, or whether he or she has
more to say. Many sentences are spoken with two or more phrases joined together with such connecting words
as .and, if, or, so, or but
Example: He can sing, he can’t dance.but
1. Declarative sentences with two or more phrases
Keep your voice level - lower .before the connecting word and it at the end
Example: I must buy coffee > , tea > , and milk.
2. Questions presenting two or more choices
Example: Would you like cake > , or pie?
3. YES/NO questions with two or more phrases
Keep your voice > before the connecting word, and use a rising pitch / at the end of your question.level
Example: Will you come > if I drive you?/
Did he like the new belt > and gloves I bought?/
4. Embedded - questions - wh rising pitch
He wants to know how far it is to Boston.
I'm not sure what the professor's name is.
http://www.confidentvoice.com/english-sentence-intonation-patterns.htmi
http://www.confidentvoice.com/english-sentence-intonation-patterns.htmi
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11 Tag questions intonation
We can change the meaning of a tag question with the musical pitch of our voice. With rising intonation, it
sounds like a real question. But if our intonation falls, it sounds more like a statement that doesn't require a real
answer:
O que vem na próxima aula
· Concepts of restricted phonemes and allophones;
· phonological differences between British and American Accents. 
Saiba mais
http://fonetiks.org/engsou7am.html
http://www.tolearnenglish.com/exercises/exercise-english-1/exercise-english-674.php
http://fonetiks.org/engsou7am.html
http://www.tolearnenglish.com/exercises/exercise-english-1/exercise-english-674.php
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CONCLUSÃO
Nesta aula, você:
• Understood stress (propriety that a vowel or a syllable has to be said with a higher or a lower intensity), 
its occurrences and manifestations;
• understood intonation (cadence that the speech assumes emphasizing the aim of the speaker while 
carrying out the communicative process), its occurrences and manifestations.
•
•
	Olá!
	1 Stress and intonation
	2 Special cases
	3 verbs IN -ATE
	4 Don’t confuse compound noun and phrases
	5 Compound nouns
	6 Stress in adjective/noun combinations
	7 Stress within the sentence (content and function words)
	8 Let's see how the difference between content and function words affects speech
	9 Stress syllable x tonic syllable
	10 Intonation
	10.1 Intonation in sentences with two or more phrases
	11 Tag questions intonation
	O que vem na próxima aula
	CONCLUSÃO