Friday, 18 August 2017
Lab Work Manual - 2
. 2.Word Accent or Word Stress
• Speech Sounds: When we are talking of sounds used in different languages of the world without reference to any particular language, these sounds are called speech sounds.
• Phonemes – Sounds used in a particular language are called its phonemes.
• Vowels and Consonants – Phonemes of all languages are divided into two groups: Vowels and Consonants
• Cosonants: Phonetically, consonants are sounds which require a complete closure at some point in the speech tract or narrowing sufficient to produce friction when breath air is forced out through it.
• Linguistically, they are sounds which function as marginal elements in a syllable and are optional. They are also preceded by the indefinite article ‘a’ rather than ‘an’ wherever it is required.
• Vowels: Phonetically, vowels are sounds which do not need any closure or narrowing sufficient to produce friction when air is forced through it for their articulation.
• Linguistically, they form the central element and are mandatory in a syllable. Moreover, they are preceded by the indefinite article ‘an’ instead of ‘a’ wherever required.
Word Stress or Word Accent – In all English words consisting of more than one syllable, one syllable is made prominent by articulating with a slightly greater force of breath. This feature of English pronunciation is called word accent or word stress.
Primary and Secondary Stress
In some long words, two syllables are made prominent. But one of them is articulated with slightly less force than the other. The syllable which is articulated with maximum force is said to carry primary stress. The other syllable which is articulated with a slightly less stress is said to carry the secondary stress.
Symbols used to indicate primary and secondary stress
Primary Stress: The symbol used to indicate primary stress is a small vertical stroke above and before the syllable carrying the primary stress. It means that the syllable to the right of this symbol carries the primary stress. Psy’chology (The sign shows that the primary stress is on cho)
Secondary Stress: The symbol of secondary stress is a similar vertical stroke but below and before the syllable carrying the secondary stress. It means that the syllable to the right of the symbol carries the secondary stress. ,Demo’cratic (The signs show that the secondary stress is on ‘de’ and the primary stress is on ‘cra’.
Note: In the lines above, I have used apostrophe as the sign of primary stress and comma as the sign of secondary stress. But the actual sign is different. It is just a small vertical line at the place where the apostrophe or the comma has been used by me.
Syllable Structure
Syllable –
While pronouncing a word, we divide it into smaller parts. These parts are called syllables.
Syllable Structure
A syllable is a phoneme or a group of phonemes which constitute one spoken part or segment of a word.
A syllable may consist of one to eight phonemes. One of these eight is always a vowel. The others are consonants. Therefore, if a syllable consists of only one phoneme, that phoneme must be a vowel.
So we can have a syllable without a consonant but there can be no syllable without a vowel. In other words, the vowel is a mandatory or compulsory element of a syllable whereas the consonants are an optional element.
The syllable or syllables may be found either before or after the vowel or both before and after it. The maximum number of consonants permissible before a vowel in a syllable is three and the maximum number of consonants after the vowel is four. In one syllable, we cannot have more than three consonants before the vowel and more than four consonants after the vowel.
• Distribution of Consonants in the Structure of syllables
• No. of Phonemes Possibilities ,Syllable Structure
• 1 (1 v) One possibility v
• 2. (1 v + 1 c) Two possibilities cv / vc
• 3. (1 v + 2 c) Three possibilities ccv / cvc / vcc
• 4. (1 v + 3 c) Four possibilities cccv / ccvc / cvcc / vccc
• 5. (1 v + 4 c) Four possibilities cccvc / ccvcc / cvccc / vcccc
• 6 (1 v + 5 c) Three possibilities cccvcc / ccvccc / cvcccc
• 7 (1 v + 6 c) Two possibilities cccvccc / ccvcccc
• 8 (1v + 7 c) One possibility cccvcccc
Help for locating primary stress
• Word stress in English is variable in the sense that it can fall on different syllables in different words consisting of the same number of syllables – the first, the second, the third , the fourth and so on.
• But it is fixed in the sense that in a given word, it has always to be on the same syllable.
• There are no strict rules regarding which syllable in a word is to be given primary stress.
• However, there are a few guidelines which can be helpful in most of the cases.
• 1. In disyllabic nouns and adjectives ending in …..ate, the primary stress is always on the first syllable.
• 2. In verbs ending in ………ate, the following rules are helpful:
• Two syllables – Pr. Stress on the last syllable.
• Three or more syllables – Pr. Stress on the third syllable from the end.
• Verbs ending in ………ise/ize
• 1. Verbs having 2 syllables – Pr. stress on the last syllable
• 2. Verbs having 3-4 syllables – Pr. stress on the 3rd syllable from the end
• 3. Verbs having five or more syllables – Pr. Stress on the the 4th syllable from the end
Prefixes and Suffixes
• Prefixes
• 1. Re – The prefix re…… is given secondary stress and is pronounced ri: if it means again.
• 2. If it does not carry the meaning ‘again’, it remains unstressed and is pronounced ‘ri’.
• Suffixes
1. Inflectional Suffixes
(Suffixes used to make plurals of nouns, derive different forms of verbs and different degrees of adjectives and adverbs)
• – Inflexional suffixes which are added to a word
• to form plurals(s/es) of nouns or
• to form the past and past participle of a verb (d/ed) or
• to form the comparative and superlative degrees of adjectives and adverbs (er/est)
• do not change the location of stress in the original word.
Derivational Suffixes: Those suffixes which change the class of the original word.
A. The following derivational suffixes do not change the location of the stress in the original word:-
• ….ance, ....age, ….ant, ….ende, ……ent, ……en, ……er, ……or, ……ess, …….ful, ……fy, ……….hood, ……….ice, ……ish, ......ism, ….ive, …….less, …….ly, …….ment, …….ness, ……..ship, …….ter, …….ure, …..er
• Exceptions – Refer - Reference, Defer – Deference
Prefer – Preference, Infer -- Inference
B. Suffixes or endings affecting primary stress
• 1. ….aire, ….eer, ….ier, ….ee -- Pr. St. on the last syllable
• Millionaire, Questionnaire, Doctrinaire, Opinionaire
• Engineer, Gazetteer, Profiteer, marketer
• Addressee, Guarantee, Payee, Employee, Lessee
• 2. ….ental – Pr. St. on the second syllable from the end
• Dental, Parental, Accidental, Ornamental, Fundamental
• 3. ….graphy, ….logy, ….metry, ….sophy, ….cracy, ….crisy, ….gamy, ….nomy, ….phony, …. ----- Pr. St. on the 3rdsyllable from the end
• Biography, Bibliography, Geography, Telegraphy, Photography
• Biology, Psychology, Geology, Physiology, Zoology
• Biometry, Geometry, Trigonometry,
• Philosophy, Theosophy
• Democracy, Autocracy, Bureaucracy,
• Hypocrisy
• Bigamy, Monogamy, Polygamy
• Astronomy, Economy, Agronomy,
• Telephony, Euphony
• 4. ….grapher, ….logist, ….sopher, …sophist, ….nomer, ….nomist
Pr. St. on the 3rd syllable from the end
• Biographer, Geographer, Photographer, Oceanographer
• Biologist, Geologist, Theologist, Psychologist, Zoologist
• Philosopher, Theosophist, astronomer, Economist,
• 5. ….ian, ….ial, ….ion -------- Pr. St. on the 2nd syllable from the end
• Ceremonial, Memorial, Remedial, Commercial, Dictatorial, Tutorial
• Electrician, Magician, Musician, Physician, Civilian, Comedian,
• Admission, Permission, Commission, Competition, Occupation, Examination, Civilisation
• 6. ….ic, …ics --------- Pr. St. on the 2nd syllable from the end
• Academic, Artistic, Electric, Dramatic, Generic, Philosophic, Romantic, Specific
• Dialectics, Economics, Linguistics, Mathematics, Phonetics, Ethics
• Important Exceptions to this rule = ‘Arabic, A’rithmetic, ‘Catholic, ‘
Lunatic, Ma’tric, ‘Politics, ‘Rhetoric(s), ‘Turmeric, ‘Heretic
When …al or …ally is added to these words after c, the stress does not change. But ‘Heretic – He’retical, He’retically, and ‘Politics – Po’litical, Po’litically are exceptions to this rule.
• 7. …..ious ------ Pr, St. on the 2nd syllable from the end
• Atrocious, Judicious, Notorious, Delicious, Hilarious, Fallacious
• 8. ….ity ------ Pr. St. on the 3rd syllable from the end
• Quality, Ambiguity, anonymity, Deity, Durability, Electricity, Facility, Futility, Magnanimity, Opportunity, Popularity, Possibility, Publicity, Sagacity, Spontaneity, Suitability, Unanimity, University
• 9. ….ette ---------- Pr. St. on the last syllable
• Gazette, Cigarette, Casette
• 10. ….oo ---- Pr. St. on the last syllable
• Bamboo, Voodoo, Tatoo
• 11. …..ive ------ Pr. St. on the 2nd syllable from the end
• Restive, Elective, Expensive, Responsive
• 12. …. A vowel letter (a,e,i,o,u) + tive-------Pr. St. on the 3rdsyllable from the end = Fricative, Positive, Executive, Imperative, Relative, Secretive,
3. Sentence Stress
• All the words in an English sentence are not stressed when it is delivered. Rather some words are stressed and others are left unstressed. The stressed words stand out from the neighbouring words i.e. they are more prominent than the others. Sentence stress refers to this practice of selecting some words in a sentence for giving greater prominence.
• Stressed and Unstressed categories :- Under normal circumstances, some categories of words are stressed and others are left unstressed.
• Stressed categories – Content words i.e. the words which are important from the point of view of meaning are generally stressed. They belong to the following categories:
• 1. All nouns
• 2. Demonstrative and Interrogative pronouns: Who, what, whom etc.
• 3. Lexical (content) verbs
• 4. All adjectives
• 5. All adverbs
• Unstressed categories: Form words are generally left unstressed. They belong to the following categories:-
• 1. Pronouns other than interrogative pronouns
• 2. Auxiliary verbs
• 3. Prepositions
• 4. Articles
• 5. Conjunctions
• Exceptions to sentence stress rules
• Content words are not stressed when
• 1. they are repeated
• 2. words in their neighbourhood are stressed.
• 3. rhythm demands it`
• 4. one word in a sequence of two content words is habitually contrasted with some other word e.g. acute angle v/s obtuse angle
• 5. ‘Be’ and ‘have’ are used sentence medially as main verbs
• 6. demonstrative pronouns are used like the article ‘the’ without their demonstrative force.
• On the other hand, form words are stressed when
• 1. they are the focus of contrast
• 2. they are polysyllabic prepositions and occur before pronouns
• 3. auxiliaries are stressed
• 4. When rhythm demands it
• i. when they are attached to n’t ii. when they are sentence final
iii. when they are sentence initial in a yes/no question
5. Prepositions are always stressed when they are sentence final.
4. Rhythm
English is a very rhythmic language. Rhythm is an important feature not only of poetry but also of prose in English.
The kind of rhythm used in English is called stress-timed rhythm.
In this kind of rhythm, we give the same amount of time to the unstressed syllables between stressed syllables as to one stressed syllable irrespective of their number.
It means that if we have two or more unstressed syllables between two stressed syllables, the time we give to them is not proportional to their number. They have to be hurried up and delivered in the same amount of time as one stressed syllable.
To achieve this feat, we either increase our pace or shorten the words by dropping some sounds from them or by using their weak forms .
However, if their number is too large to be managed in this way, one of them, which happens to be in the middle of the sequence, is stressed for the sake of rhythm.
4. Rhythm
English is a very rhythmic language. Rhythm is an important feature not only of poetry but also of prose in English.
The kind of rhythm used in English is called stress-timed rhythm.
In this kind of rhythm, we give the same amount of time to the unstressed syllables between stressed syllables as to one stressed syllable irrespective of their number.
It means that if we have two or more unstressed syllables between two stressed syllables, the time we give to them is not proportional to their number. They have to be hurried up and delivered in the same amount of time as one stressed syllable.
To achieve this feat, we either increase our pace or shorten the words by dropping some sounds from them or by using their weak forms .
However, if their number is too large to be managed in this way, one of them, which happens to be in the middle of the sequence, is stressed for the sake of rhythm.
5. Strong and Weak Forms
Some words in English have two forms – the strong form and the weak form. The strong form is the full form of the word and the weak form is the shortened or abridged form of the word.
We cannot speak English fluently without making use of these weak forms where required. They help us to create rhythm in our speech.
All these words function words. Content words do not have weak forms. Given below is a list of the words which have both strong and weak forms:
1. Auxiliary verbs – is, am, are, was, were, do, does, has, have, had, can, could, shall, should, will, would, must.
2. Conjunctions – and, as, than, that, but.
3. Pronouns – he, she, him, her, his, me, them, us, we, who, you.
4. Prepositions – at, for, from, of, to.
5. Articles – a, an, the, some.
6. Miscellaneous – be, been, there, sir.
. 6. Contrastive Stress
Sometimes, a word in a sentence is the focus of the contrast of meaning. In other words, what that word conveys is opposed to something else which may be explicitly stated or implied.
When a word in a sentence is the focus of contrast, it is not only stressed but stressed more than the other stressed words In the sentence irrespective of the category to which it belongs.
• We will take a simple sentence to illustrate what we have said.
• The boys are playing on the road. (not the girls)
• The boys are playing on the road. (It is wrong to say they are not.)
• The boys are playing on the road. (not just sitting or standing)
• The boys are playing on the road. (not near the road)
• The boys are playing on the road. (not on the side of the road)
• The boys are playing on the road. (not in the ground)
7. Intonation – The use of Rising and Falling Tones
• If the stress on the vocal cords increases, and the volume and the pitch rise as we come to a certain part of a sentence, it is said that we are using the rising tone.
• But if the volume and pitch of voice decreases and the vocal cords feel relieved as we approach a certain part of a sentence, we are said to be using the falling tone.
• The change of tone can also change the meaning or grammatical function of a sentence. The same written sentence spoken with a different intonation becomes a different sentence or changes its grammatical function.
Functions of Intonation
A. Grammatical Functions
• 1. Intonation distinguishes statements from yes/no questions.
• A statement is delivered with a falling tone at the end. The same sequence of words becomes a yes/no question if it is delivered with a rising tone at the end.
• The teacher is coming. (Falling tone at the end.)
• The teacher is coming? (Rising tone at the end.)
• 2. Intonation distinguishes a polite request from a command (order).
• The same imperative sentence serves as a polite request if it is delivered with a rising tone at the end. But it becomes a command if it is delivered with a falling tone at the end.
• Open the door. (RIsing final tone – Polite Request)
• Open the door. (Falling final tone – Command)
• 3. Intonation shows whether the sentence is complete or incomplete.
• If we pause in the middle of a long sentence, we have to use the rising tone in order to indicate that the sentence is incomplete and something more is going to follow.
You must work hard if you want to succeed in life.
(In the above sentence, if deliver the word ‘hard’ with a falling tone, the listener will get the impression that the sentence is complete, that we have reached the full stop. He will be surprised and confused when we go on to add something more to the same sentence. So we have to use the rising tone here. But we have to use the falling tone while delivering the word ‘life’ to indicate that the sentence is complete now. )
• 4. Intonation distinguishes a defining adjective (relative) clause from a non-defining one.
• If the relative clause is made a part of the same tone group as includes its antecedent, it is non-defining. But if it forms a separate tone group, it is a defining one.
The security guard who stands near the main gate is very rude. {Non-defining. It means that there are more than one security guards and we are talking of the one who stands at the main gate.}
• The security guard, who stands at the main gate is very rude. {Defining. It means that there is only one security guard. He stands at the main gate and he is very rude.}
B. Attitudinal Functions
• Tone can also indicate attitude and feeling. Look at the following sentences:
• 1. When will you arrive? (Falling tone: normal question neither polite nor impolite)
When will you arrive? (Rising toe: a very polite question showing deep respect)
• 2. Your friend is very nice. ( Falling tone: Genuine feeling)
Your friend is very nice. (Rising tone: expresses doubt about his being nice)
• Thank you. (Falling tone: Genuine gratitude)
Thank you. (Rising tone: Casual attitude, no sincere feeling)
• You will harm yourself. (Falling tone: Casual attitude)
You will harm yourself. (Rising tone: Deep concern)
C. Accentual Functions
• We can make any part of our utterance more prominent than the rest of the sentence to indicate its relative importance in accordance with the meaning we want to convey by raising the tone as we utter that part.
• We are playing a friendly match tomorrow. (The information that the match is friendly is more important than the rest of the sentence.)
• We are playing a friendly match tomorrow. (The information about the time is more important than the rest of the sentence.)
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment