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Syllable and Syllable Stress

Vasundhara Rawat

Examination

Kindergarten

Chimpanzee

Fonder

Rat

Now try breaking each word into parts and pronounce again.

• Ig-za-mi-na-tion• Kin-der-gar-ten• Chim-pan-zee• Fon-der• Rat

May be on the basis of i , a , o ,u , e sounds?

You may wonder we have a name for this:-Yes, ‘Syllable’ .

What is a Syllable?A syllable is the sound of a vowel

that is created while pronouncing the letters A, E, I, O, U and their combinations.

We can say that,The number of times that you hear the sound

of a vowel is the number of syllables in a word.

20 vowel sounds 12 monophthongs

and 8 Dipthongs

Words can be mono-syllabic and polysyllabic.

ExaminationIg-za-mi-na-tion 5 syllabic

KindergartenKin-der-gar-ten 4 syllabic

Chimpanzee Chim-pan-zee 3 syllabic

Fonder Fon-der 2 syllabic

RatRat Mono syllabic

Word stressAll words that have more than one syllable have word stress .

How do we give

to a word

When a syllable is stressed, it is pronounced

longer in duration higher in pitch

louder in volume

Presentation

A stressed syllable is denoted by placing a stress mark(‘) just before the stressed syllable.

For example, receive will be transcribed as /ri’si:v/

Look at this

And this..

Importance of word stress Mistakes in word stress are a common cause of

misunderstanding in English.

Stressing a word differently can change the meaning or type of the word .

Stressing the wrong syllable in a word can make the word very difficult to hear and understand.

On the other hand, knowing the right syllable stress can help you understand the words even in poor audibility.

Fluent English speakers use word stress to communicate rapidly and accurately.

Look at these words

Photograph

Photographer

Photographic

PHO-to-graph

Pho-TO-gra-pher

Pho-to-GRA-phic

Word stress Rules

We can only stress vowels, not the consonants.

When a multi-syllable word has a long vowel, usually this is stressed.

emplo’yee exam: ig-’zam

Stress is usually on the first syllable of 2 syllablic nouns

'pen/cil 'a/pple 'prin/ter 'Chi/na And 2 syllable adjectives 'o/pen 'fa/mous ‘cle/ver

'clum/sy Stress is usually on the last or ultimate syllable

of 2 syllable verbs.re/'view de/'cide be/'gin o/'bey

Examples1• Her ‘conduct is good. (noun)• She con’ducts herself well. (verb)

2•-What is our ‘import policy. (adjective)• We im’port this item from USA (verb)

3•-He was ‘present here yesterday . (adjective)• Please pre’sent your case . (verb)

4•-Tell me the ‘object of your case. (noun)• I ob’ject to your ideas. (verb)

5•What are your ‘subjects of study? (noun)• He was sub’jected to torture. (verb)

Stress is on the penultimate syllable (penultimate means ‘second from end’) for words with the endings below:

Words ending in -ic 'gra/phic ge/o/'gra/phic, a/'ller/gic, e/'ccen/tric,

al/co/'ho/lic Words ending in -sion and -tion de/mon/'stra/tion, e/du/'ca/tion,

in/for/'ma/tion, a/'dop/tion, Words ending in -ious de/'li/cious, 'glo/rious, 'con/scious,

Stress on ante-penultimate syllable (ante-penultimate means ‘third from end’) for words with the endings below:

Words ending in -cy, -ty, -phy and -gy de/'mo/cra/cy, de/pen/da/'bi/li/ty, pho/'to/gra/phy, ge/'o/lo/gy, 'sa/ni/ty

Words ending in -al 'cri/ti/cal, ge/o/'lo/gi/cal, 'e/thi/cal

Words ending in -ise 'su/per/vise, 'or/ga/nise, 'e/xer/cise, 'ad/ver/tise, 're/cog/nise

Words ending in -ate co/'mmu/ni/cate, 're/gu/late, a/'ppre/ci/ate, 'cal/cu/late, 'con/cen/trate

• Examination Ig-za-mi-’na-tion

• Kindergarten ‘Kin-der-gar-ten

• Chimpanzee Chim-pan-’zee

• Fonder ‘Fon-der

• Rat ‘Rat

THANK YOU!