The cases when unstressed words are stressed

Phrasal Stress

Sentence stress. The meaning of a sentence in oral speech is determined by those words which are more or less important semantically. Such words are pronounced with a certain degree of prominence which is called sentence stress (syntactical, logical). Such parts of speech as nouns, adjectives, notional verbs, adverbs are, as a rule, stressed. Such parts of speech as link, modal, auxiliary words, conj., prep., particles, and articles are usually unstressed.

The cases when unstressed words are stressed

 Unstressed words usually stressed at the beginning of a sentence, in negative forms, in short affirmative answers.

The word which constitutes the nuclear centre of the utterance is called logical stress. The word made prominent by logical stress is usually the last stressed word, and it’s pronounced either with the rise or with the fall. The function of sentence stress is usually semantic. E.g.: Do you want to stay here? (different words are stressed depending on what a person means).

The neutral vowel in different positions

The phonological analysis marks the opposition of the neutral sound /ə/ to other unstressed vowels, the most common among them is /ı/. The neutral sound /ə/ is phonologically opposed to the phoneme /ı/ with its own distinctive features capable of differentiating the meaning of lexical units. E.g.: officers /ə/ – offices /ı/; accept /ə/ – except /ı/.

The problem of the phonemic status of the neutral sound /ə/ has a morphological aspect. In English there’re numerous alliterations of vowels in stressed & unstressed syllables between the derivatives of the same root or different grammatical forms of the same word. Cf.:

/ж/ – /ə/ man – sportsman;

/∆/ – /ə/ some – wholesome;

/ס/ – /ə/ combine n – combine v;

/eı/ – /ə/ operation – operative;

/зυ/ – /ə/ post – postpone.

Syllable formation

Syllable formation in English is based on the phonological opposition vowel – consonant. Vowels are usually syllabic while consonants are not, with the exceptions of /l/, /m/, /ŋ/, which become syllabic if they occur in an unstressed final position preceded by a noise consonant, e.g. /`lıtl/ li ttle, bloss om, gar den.

4 types of syllables:

- open (no) CV

- closed (odd) VC

- covered (note) CV(C)

- uncovered (oh, oak) V(C)

The number of syllables in English word can vary from one to eight.

Syllable division

The sounds of language can be grouped into syllables according to the rules of phonotactics. The problem of syllable division exists only in case of intervocalic consonants and their clusters like in the words city, agree, extra, etc.

2 possible variants:

- the point of syllable division is after the intervocalic consonant;

- the point of syllable division is inside the consonant.

The words such as agree, abrupt should be divided into syllables in the following way: /ə-`gri:/, /ə-`br∆pt/ because combinations /gr/-/br/ are permissible initial clusters. On the other hand, there’re clusters that can never be found in the word initial position and consequently should be broken by syllabic boundary: admire /əd-`maıə/, abhor / əb-`ho:/.

In the cases where the number of intervocalic consonants is 3, as in the word extra we have to state the possible points

Difficulties in pronunciation of verbs

The suffix -ing is pronounced like /ıŋ/. If the verb ends in sound /ı/ it should be pronounced clearly: studying /st∆dı-ıŋ/. There’re some verbs and nouns which have the same spelling, but the stress falls on different syllables. As a rule, on the 1^st syllable in nouns, and on the 2^nd syllable in verbs. Some verbs don’t have any difference from nouns: a look – to look.

There’re some verbs and nouns which have the same final consonant: to believe – a belief; to advise – advice; to excuse – an e

Articulation of plosives

Plosive, or oral stop, where there is complete occlusion (blockage) of both the oral and nasal cavities of the vocal tract, and therefore no air flow. Examples include English /p t k/ (voiceless) and /b d g/ (voiced). If the consonant is voiced, the voicing is the only sound made during occlusion; if it is voiceless, a plosive is completely silent. What we hear as a /p/ or /k/ is the effect that the onset of the occlusion has on the preceding vowel, and well as the release burst and its effect on the following vowel. The shape and position of the tongue (the place of articulation) determine the resonant cavity that gives different plosives their characteristic sounds. All languages have plosives xcuse.

 

Organs of speech

The process of respiration consists of inspiration (breathing in) and expiration (out).When we speak we use outgoing air. During expiration the air moves from the lungs through the trachea, the upper part of which is called larynx.Inside the larynx there are two muscular folds running in a horizontal direction from back to front. The folds are called vocal cords. The opening between the vocal cords is called the glottis. When the vocal cords are held wide-apart, they relaxed and the glottis is open (quiet breathing and voiceless consonant). When the vocal cords are brought together they become tense and the flow air makes them vibrate so the voice is produced (all vowels and voiced consonants).When the vocal cords get ready for vibration the open glottis becomes narrower and the air passing through the lungs, glottis, pharynx and mouth cavity produces friction.Above the larynx there are two super-glottal cavities-pharynx, mouth cavity, nasal cavity. They are used to modify the colouring of the voice and noise. The cavities serves as a system of resonance chambers, capable of changing their shapes and sizes by different position of the soft palate, the tongue, the lower and upper jaw and the lips. The palate is formed by upper jaw. It’s divided into: the teeth ridge, the hard and soft palate and uvula. The passage into the nasal cavity is regulated by the position of the soft palate. The soft palate is lowered to the air pass through the nasal cavity (n).The tongue may take different positions (front, middle, back) and modify shape and size of the main resonance chamber to produce various qualities of vowels and consonants. The surface of the front part is called predorsal part; middle and back are called dorsal part. The two shapes of the tongue-apical (front edge raised, middle is lowered), and dorsal (edges are lowered, middle or back raised). The lips may be rounded and unrounded and can also form different kinds of abstractions used to produce consonants.

Intonational styles

Intonational style – a system of interrelated intonational means which is used in a social sphere and serves s definite aim of communication.

There is no universally recognized classification of styles. Vinogradov distinguishes 3 styles:

1) Colloquial (COMMUNICATION)

2) Informing (scientific styles are included)

3) Emotive (publicistic, belletrestyle).

This classification was criticized. There are 2 next marginal layers:

- formal – suggests careful articulation of styles, relatively slow speed of the pronouncing

- informal – everyday communication, rapid, colloquial, conversational

Stylistic use of intonation:

1) Informational – in press reporting, educational descriptive texts. Loudness normal or increased; pauses arerather long; rhythm is stable, properly organized; falling tones on the semantic centers, falling-rising or rising in the initial intonation groups;

2) Academic (scientific) – style of lectures (conferences, seminars). Loudness increased; pauses are rather long; rhythm is properly organized; high proportion of compound terminal tones (high fall + low rise, fall-rise, rise-fall-rise), a great number of high categorical falls;

3) Publicistic (oratorical). Phonostylistic characteristics: Loudness enormously increased; pauses are definitely long between the passages; rhythm is properly organized; tones mostly emphatic, especially emotionally underlined semantic centers, in non-final intonational groups falling-rising tones are frequent;

4) Declamatory (artistic). This is a highly emotional and expressive intonational style. Attitudinal, volitional and intellectual functions of intonation are of primary importance here and serve to appeal to the mind, will and feelings of the listener. This style can be heard on the stage, on the screen, in a TV studio, thus we see that it is always a written form of the language read aloud or recited. Phonostylistic characteristics: Loudness varied according to the size of the audience and to the emotional setting; pauses are long especially between the passages, prolonged emphatic pauses are used to underline the emphasis; rhythm is properly organized; common use of categorical low and high falls in final and initial intonation groups and on semantic centers;

5) Conversational (familiar) – this kind of English is a means for everyday communication, heard in natural conversational interaction between speakers. This style occurs mainly in informal external and internal relationships in speech of relatives, friends. This is spontaneous, colloquial, informal, everyday speech.

Nuclear tones

Nuclear tones are pitch patterns attached to the nucleus of the intonation pattern and to any following syllables (=the tail). The High Fall nuclear tone starts high in the speaker's pitch range and falls to low pitch by the end of the nucleus. If there is a tail then all syllables in it are low and fairly level in pitch. It often makes the speaker sound interested and involved in what he or she is saying:

A: Would you like a coffee?

B: Yes! (No)

Here are a couple of diagrams, indicating the pitch movement of the High Fall nuclear tone, (1) has no tail (2) has a tail:

English intonation

Intonation is defined as a speech melody, closely connected with sentence stress and express meaning and different emotions. Each sense group has its own intonation pattern and can be considered as the smallest unit of intonation.

A full-sized intonation group contains 3 or more stressed syllables forming the scale of the sense group. The scale is the tonal expression of all semantically important words making up the sense group.

When all the significant words in a sense group are equally important, they usually have equal sentence stresses. This kind of scale usually starts with higher pitch and then descends gradually until the final stressed word is reached (descending scale).

The first stressed syllable at a sense group concludes the scale and serves as a terminal tone of a sense group.

Sometimes it can be followed by several unstressed syllables, called tail.

· We distinguish 3 types of terminal tones: the falling terminal tone is cathegoric by its character. Expresses completeness, determination, finality. Types of sentences: categorical statements (I think he is right); special questions (Which way did you go?); smth or suggestions which should be done (Let`s go home);

· the rising terminal tone expresses incompleteness, insurance, indefiniteness, non-finality. Types of sentences: non-categorical statements, expressing uncertainty, doubt (I don’t quite mean that); general questions (Do you think it would be useful?); requests, advices, offers, polite suggestions (Let me know when you get there); repeated questions (Why hasn’t he come in time↑?)

the labial terminal tone is more indefinite and non-categorical in character than the rising tone. Rarely used in colloquial speech. It’s used in sentences uttered when the speaker pronounces some thought with indifference or when he speaks to himself (It doesn’t matter. The twilight is safe and cloudy).

Rhythm

Rhythm is a regular occurrence of stressed syllables. When several stressed syllables come close together (Ann came too late) the speed of the utterance is noticeably slower, than in the case when there’s some unstressed syllables between the stressed ones. Then unstressed syllables flow away more rapidly than the stressed ones. If the number of unstressed syllables in one interval is greater than in the neighbouring one, they are pronounced more quickly to make the intervals more or less regular (\Ann could have\ bought you some other book – the 2^nd interval is pronounced more rapidly).

In connected speech under the influence of rhythm many words can change their stressing. Such are words with 2 strong stresses. Under definite rhythmical conditions one of the 2 stresses becomes weaker. If such a word, used in the final position, is preceded by a stressed syllable, its first stress becomes weaker. E.g.: She lives down↓stairs. A ↓downstairs room.

Assimilation

Assimilation is the influence of one sound on the neighboring one so that they appear to have similar features. Both consonants and vowels undergo changes in connected speech, but consonants are more effected by assimilation. This term is applied only to neighboring consonants. When vowels influence consonants or vice versa, we use the term accommodation.

Assimilation can be complete (articulation of one sound changes entirely under the influence of the other so that the articulation of both becomes the same: <horse-shoe>) and incomplete (if the articulation of one sound is influenced by the other sound only in one respect. The effected phoneme retains its typical feature (tenth: <θ>; interdental sound <θ> influences the alveola sound <n>, so it also becomes interdental).

Assimilation can also be analyzed from the point of view of the influence. If the preceding consonant influences on the following, assimilation is progressive. If the preceding consonant is influenced by the one that follows, it is called regressive assimilation.

Welsh English

Some of the features of Welsh English are:

- Distinctive intonational differences, including a rising intonation at the end of statements - sometimes characterised as "sing-song".

- Lengthening of all vowels is common in strong valleys accents.

- The vowel /ʌ/ in English words such as "bus" is pronounced [ə], instead of the [ɐ] used in England. Thus, in Welsh English, the vowel sounds in "bus" and "the" are identical.

- In some areas, pronouncing [ɪ] as [ɛ] e.g. "edit" and "benefit" as if spelt "edet" and "benefet".

- A strong tendency (shared with Scottish English) towards using an alveolar trill [r] (a 'rolled r') in place of an approximant [ɹ] (the r used in most accents in England).

- Yod-dropping is rare after any consonant so rude and rood, threw and through, chews and choose, for example, are usually distinct.

Scottish English

Phonological characteristic of Scottish English:

- Scottish English is a rhotic accent, meaning /r/ is pronounced in the syllable coda. While other dialects have merged /ɛ/, /ɪ/, /ʌ/ before /r/, Scottish English makes a distinction between the vowels in herd, bird, and curd. Many varieties contrast /o/ and /ɔ/ before /r/ so that hoarse and horse are pronounced differently. /or/ and /ur/ are contrasted so that shore and sure are pronounced differently, as are pour and poor.

- There is a distinction between /w/ and /hw/ in word pairs such as witch and which.

- The phoneme /x/ is common in names and in SSE's many Gaelic and Scots borrowings, so much so that it is often taught to incomers, particularly for "ch" in loch. Some Scottish speakers use it in words of Greek origin as well, such as technical, patriarch, etc. The pronunciation of these words in the original Greek would support this.

- /l/ is usually velarized

- Vowel length is generally regarded as non-phonemic. Certain vowels (such as /i/, /u/, and /ж/ are generally long but are shortened before nasals and voiced plosives. However, this does not occur across morpheme boundaries so that crude contrasts with crewed, need with kneed and side with sighed.

- Scottish English has no /ʊ/, instead transferring Scots /u/. Thus pull and pool are homophones.

- Cot and caught are not differentiated in most Central Scottish varieties, as they are in some other varieties.

- In most varieties, there is no /ж/:/ɑː/ distinction; therefore, bath, trap, and palm have the same vowel.

- The happY vowel is most commonly /e/ (as in face), but may also be /ɪ/ (as in kit) or /i/ (as in fleece).

- /θs/ is often used in plural nouns where southern English has /рz/ (baths, youths, etc); with and booth are pronounced with θ.

Irish English

Hiberno-English – also known as Irish English

Hiberno-English retains many phonemic differentiations.

- With some local exceptions, /r/ occurs postvocally, making most Hiberno-English dialects rhotic

- /t/ is not usually pronounced as a plosive where it does not occur word-initially; instead, it is pronounced as a slit fricative

- The distinction between w /w/ and wh /hw/, as in wine vs. whine, is preserved.

-/ɒː/ and /o/ in horse and hoarse is preserved, though not usually in Dublin or Belfast.

- A distinction between [ɛɹ]-[ʌɹ]-[ʌɹ] in herd-bird-curd may be found.

- /l/ is never velarised

- The /aɪ/ in "night" may be pronounced in a wide variety of ways, e.g. [əɪ], [ɔɪ], [ʌɪ] and [ɑɪ], the latter two being the most common in middle class speech, the former two, in popular speech.

- The /ɔɪ/ in "boy" may be pronounced [ɑːɪ] (i.e. the vowel of thought plus a y) in conservative accents

- In some varieties, speakers make no distinction between the [ʌ] in putt and the [ʊ] in put, pronouncing both as the latter

- Any and many are pronounced to rhyme with nanny, Danny by very many speakers, i.e. with /a/

- /eɪ/ often becomes /ɛ/ in words such as gave and came (becoming "gev" and "kem")

- /dj/ becomes /dʒ/, e.g. dew/due, duke and duty sound like "Jew", "jook" and "jooty".

     /tj/ becomes /tʃ/, e.g. tube is "choob", tune is "choon"

     /nj/ becomes /n/, e.g. new becomes "noo"

The following show neither dropping nor coalescence:

+ /kj/; + /hj/; + /mj/ Dublin English

As with London and New York, Dublin has a number of dialects which differ significantly based on class and age group. These are roughly divided into three categories: "local Dublin", or the broad-working class dialect (sometimes referred to as the "working-class", "inner-Dublin" or "knacker" accent); "mainstream Dublin", the typical accent spoken by middle-class or suburban speakers; and "new Dublin", an accent among younger people (born after 1970).

Phrasal Stress

Sentence stress. The meaning of a sentence in oral speech is determined by those words which are more or less important semantically. Such words are pronounced with a certain degree of prominence which is called sentence stress (syntactical, logical). Such parts of speech as nouns, adjectives, notional verbs, adverbs are, as a rule, stressed. Such parts of speech as link, modal, auxiliary words, conj., prep., particles, and articles are usually unstressed.

The cases when unstressed words are stressed

 Unstressed words usually stressed at the beginning of a sentence, in negative forms, in short affirmative answers.

The word which constitutes the nuclear centre of the utterance is called logical stress. The word made prominent by logical stress is usually the last stressed word, and it’s pronounced either with the rise or with the fall. The function of sentence stress is usually semantic. E.g.: Do you want to stay here? (different words are stressed depending on what a person means).