word stress_learning guide

8/10/2019 Word Stress_learning Guide

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Word Stress


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Infosys Limited Word Stress

1 | P a g e I n f o s y s F o u n d a t i o n P r o g r a m

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Contents

Context ........................................................................................................................................................ 3

Word Stress ................................................................................................................................................. 3

1.1 Types of Word Stress ................................................................................................................. 4

1.1.1 Tonic Stress ......................................................................................................................... 4

1.1.2 Emphatic Stress .................................................................................................................. 4

1.1.3 Contractive Stress .............................................................................................................. 5

1.1.4 New Information Stress ..................................................................................................... 5

1.2 Syllable Stress ............................................................................................................................. 6

Exercises ...................................................................................................................................................... 6


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ContextThis document contains exercises to be completed as a part of the module- Word Stress

Word Stress

English language is considered a stressed languagewhereas many other languages are reflected as

syllabic language. In English, we stress upon certain words while other words are spoken quickly. When

languages such as French or Italian are spoken, each syllable spoken obtains equal importance (there is

stress, but each syllable has its own length).

This creates some confusion for non-native speakers. Speakers of syllabic languages are not able to

understand why native speakers speak some words quickly or swallow certain word/s in a sentence.

Articulation in syllabic languages uses a technique wherein each syllable is given equal importance, andtherefore equal time is required. The English language though, applies more time and stress on specific

words while swiftly skating over the other maybe less essential words.

Check out this example. The modal verb "should, when used in the positive form will have the speaker

quickly glide over it and not put too much emphasis on its pronunciation.

You should adhere to the Infosys dress policy.

On the other hand, in its negative form "shouldnt" we tend to stress on its negative form by also

stressing on should not.

You should notviolate the Infosys dress policy.

As you can see in the second sentence which is longer than the first, both shouldand notare stressed.

Thus we need to understand that we generally stress on some words which are referred to asCONTENT

WORDSsuch as

Nouns e.g. Town, India

(most) principal verbs e.g. visit, construct

Adjectives e.g. exciting, boring

Adverbs e.g. daily, quietly


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Non-stressed words are referred to as FUNCTION WORDSsuch as:

Determiners e.g. the, many, some

Auxiliary verbs e.g. don't, am, can, were

Prepositions e.g. below, next to, adjacent

Conjunctions e.g. for, while, and

Pronouns e.g. them, he, you

1.1 Types of Word Stress

There are four basic types of word stress.

1.

Tonic Stress

2.

Emphatic Stress

3.

Contrastive Stress4.

New Information Stress

1.1.1 Tonic Stress

Tonic Stress refers to the stress which is given to the syllable in a word in an intonation unit. An

intonation unit has one tonic stress and a sentence may have more than one intonation unit, and so

theyll have more than one tonic stress. Examples of intonation units with the tonic stress are bolded

below:

He's waiting

He's waiting / for his friend

He's waiting / for his friend/ at the station.

Generally, in a sentence, the final tonic stress receives major stress. In the above sentences, the word

'station'receives the heaviest stress. There are a number of occurrences where the stress changes from

this norm. A short explanation for each of the stress changes with example sentences to illustrate it in

detail is given below.

1.1.2 Emphatic Stress

When you want to emphasize on something, you may have to change the stress from the principal noun

to another content word such as an adjective (big, difficult, etc.), or an intensifier (very, extremely, etc.)

This will throw light on the special nature of the use of the word that you want to emphasize.


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For example:

That was a difficult test. - Standard statement

That was a difficulttest. - Emphasizes how difficult the test was.

We use many such adverbs or modifiers which aid in putting emphasis in sentences on words that

receive emphatic stress. For example extremely, terribly, completely, utterly, especially etc.

1.1.3 Contractive Stress

Contrastive Stressis used to show the difference between one entity and the other. Contrastive stress is

mostly used with determiners like 'this, that, these and those'.

For example:

I think I prefer thiscolor. Do you want these or thosecurtains?

Contrastive stress is also used to highlight a given word in a sentence which will also slightly change the

meaning.

Hecame to Infosys yesterday. (It was he, not someone else.)

He walkedto Infosys yesterday. (He walked rather than drove.)

He came to Infosys FCyesterday. (It was to the Infosys FC and not somewhere else.)

He came to Infosys yesterday. (It was yesterday not two weeks ago or some other time.)

1.1.4 New Information Stress

When someone is asked a question, the requested information answered back as a response is

obviously stressed more powerfully.

For example:

Where do you work?I work at Infosys Limited.

What do you want to do? - I want to go shopping.

When does class begin? - The class begins at nine o'clock.


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1.2 Syllable Stress

A syllable is a unit of sound made from a single vowel, or single vowel + consonantcombination.

Note: Syllables never have more than 1 vowel sound in them.

Eg: bit; a; un; as; dog; re; ist; bi

Monosyllable- words with one syllable

Disyllable- words with two syllables

Trisyllable- words with three syllables

Polysyllable- words with four or more syllables (words with three or more syllable are

referred to as polysyllabic)

Syllables break our words into sections which can be stressed, or unstressed. The syllable that is stressed

will alter the pronunciation of the word.

Exercises

Objective:To understand the importance of stressing on the right word while speaking English.

Problem Description:

a)

The easiest way to decide how many syllables are in a particular word is to clap it out. Clap your

hands along while you say the following words aloud:

Monosyllabic: dog there bike he walk bounce

Disyllabic: doc/tor Fri/day o/ver yel/low chick/en

Trisyllabic: hos/pit/al yes/ter/day de/tec/tive am/bi/ence

Polysyllabic: un/wa/ver/ing no/tif/ica/tion re/an/i/ma/tion pri/va/ti/zation

b)

Try saying the following words aloud while stressing on the first syllable:

doc/tor Fri/day o/ver mis/take pur/ple

Now try saying this again but with stress given to the second syllable.


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doc/tor Fri/day o/ver mis/take pur/ple

Note- The above words will always have their first syllable stressed.

c)

Here are some more examples. The bold O given on the side will indicate to you on which

syllable should be stressed in each word:

Monosyllabic O: bike cat black

Disyllabic O/o: prob/lem en/gine yel/low

Disyllabic o/O: be/side di/vide un/do

Trisyllablic O/o/o: dif/fi/cult hos/pit/al of/fi/cer

Triyllablic o/O/o: de/tec/tive pro/fess/or re/dun/dant

Summary of this assignment:

By the end of this assignment, the learner will be able to:

Ensure they use the right sounds to enhance clarity in their communication.

Understand the importance of stressing on the right word in speaking English.

Identify content words and function words.

Apply stress on the right word to ensure clarity of message.

word stress_learning guide

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