Pronunciation
Word Stress
Native speakers of English use word stress
naturally
Understanding Syllables
Every word is made of syllables.
Each word has 1,2, 3 or more syllables.
Each word has 1,2, 3 or more syllables.
word
|
No.of syllables
|
|
cat
|
cat
|
1
|
red
|
red
|
1
|
quite
|
quite
|
1
|
quiet
|
qui-et
|
2
|
orange
|
or-ange
|
2
|
table
|
ta-ble
|
2
|
expensive
|
ex-pen-sive
|
3
|
interesting
|
in-ter-est-ing
|
4
|
realistic
|
re-al-is-tic
|
4
|
unexceptional
|
un-ex-cep-tion-al
|
5
|
Notice that (with a few rare exceptions) every
syllable contains at least one vowel (a, e, i, o or u) or vowel sound.
What is Word Stress?
English speakers do not say each syllable with the
same force or strength. In one word, a speaker accentuates ONE syllable. He says
one syllable very loud (big, strong, important) and all the other syllables quietly.
click word to hear
|
shape
|
total
syllables |
stressed
syllable |
PHO TO GRAPH
|
3
|
#1
|
|
PHO TO GRAPH ER
|
4
|
#2
|
|
PHO TO GRAPH IC
|
4
|
#3
|
TEACH er,
Ja PAN,
CHI na,
a BOVE,
conver SA tion,
IN teresting,
im POR tant,
de MAND,
et CET
era,
The syllables that are not stressed are weak
or small or quiet.
Rules of
Word Stress in English
- One word, one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. So if you hear two stresses, you have heard two words, not one word.)
- The stress is always on a vowel.
1 Stress on first syllable
rule
|
example
|
Most 2-syllable nouns
|
1.
PRES ent,
2.
EX port,
3.
CHI na,
4.
TA ble
|
Most 2-syllable adjectives
|
1.
PRES ent,
2.
SLEN der,
3.
CLEV er,
4.
HAP py
|
2 Stress on last syllable
rule
|
example
|
Most 2-syllable verbs
|
|
In English, there are many two-syllable words, their meaning
and class change with a change in stress. The word present, for example
3 Stress on penultimate syllable (penultimate = second
from end)
rule
|
example
|
Words ending in -ic
|
|
Words ending in -sion and -tion
|
|
For a few words, native English speakers don't always
"agree" on where to put the stress. For example, some people say teleVIsion
and others say TELevision. Another example is: CONtroversy and conTROversy.
4 Stress on ante-penultimate syllable
(ante-penultimate = third from end)
rule
|
example
|
Words ending in -cy, -ty,
-phy and -gy
|
|
Words ending in -al
|
|
5 Compound words (words with two parts)
rule
|
example
|
For compound nouns, the
stress is on the first part
|
BLACKbird,
GREENhouse
|
For compound adjectives, the
stress is on the second part
|
bad-TEMpered,
old-FASHioned
|
For compound verbs, the
stress is on the second part
|
to underSTAND,
to overFLOW
|
Sentence Stress
Like word stress,Sentence stress is the music of
spoken English.
Sentence stress is what gives English its rhythm
or "beat".
Most sentences have two types of word:
- content words
- structure words
Content
words are the key words of a sentence. They are the important words that
carry the meaning or sense. If you remove the content words from a sentence,
you will not understand the sentence.
Structure
words are not very important words. They are small, simple words that make
the sentence correct grammatically or "structurally" If you remove
the structure words from a sentence, you will probably still understand the
sentence.
Imagine that you receive this telegram message:
Will
|
you
|
SELL
|
my
|
CAR
|
because
|
I've
|
GONE
|
to
|
FRANCE
|
You probably understand it. These 4 words
communicate very well. Somebody wants you to sell their car
for them because they have gone to France. We can add a few
words:
Will
|
you
|
SELL
|
my
|
CAR
|
because
|
I've
|
GONE
|
to
|
FRANCE
|
The new words do not really add any more
information. But they make the message more correct grammatically. We can add
even more words to make one complete, grammatically correct sentence. But
the information is basically the same:
Content Words
|
|||||||||
Will
|
you
|
SELL
|
my
|
CAR
|
because
|
I've
|
GONE
|
to
|
FRANCE.
|
Structure Words
|
The 4 key words (sell, car, gone, France)
are accentuated or stressed.It is important because it adds
"music" to the language. It is the rhythm of the English
language.
I am a proFESsional phoTOgrapher
whose MAIN INterest is to TAKE SPEcial, BLACK and WHITE PHOtographs that exHIBit ABstract MEANings in their photoGRAPHic STRUCture.
Linking in English
There are basically two types of linking:
- consonant
> vowel
We link words ending with a consonant sound to words beginning with a vowel sound
- vowel
> vowel
We link words ending with a vowel sound to words beginning with a vowel sound
In this lesson we look at:
vowels
|
a
|
e
|
i
|
o
|
u
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
consonants
|
b
|
c
|
d
|
f
|
g
|
h
|
j
|
k
|
l
|
m
|
n
|
p
|
q
|
r
|
s
|
t
|
v
|
w
|
x
|
y
|
z
|
|||||
The important thing in linking is the sound,
not the letter. Often the letter and the sound are the same, but not always.
For example, the word "pay" ends with:
- the consonant letter "y" yet it gives the vowel sound "a"
Here are some more examples:
For example
|
though
|
know
|
ends with the letter
|
h
|
w
|
Yet it ends with the sound
|
o
|
o
|
For example
|
uniform
|
honest
|
begins with the letter
|
u
|
h
|
Yet it begins with the sound
|
y
|
o
|
Linking Consonant to Vowel
When a word ends in a consonant sound, we often
move the consonant sound to the beginning of the next word if it starts with a
vowel sound.
For example, in the phrase "turn off":
We write it like this:
|
turn
|
off
|
We say it like this:
|
tur
|
noff
|
Remember that it's the sound that matters.
In the next example, "have" ends with:
- the letter "e" (vowel)
- the sound "v" (consonant)
So we link "have" to the next word
"a" which begins with a vowel sound:
We write it like this:
|
Can I have a bit of egg?
|
We say it like this:
|
Ca-nI-ha-va-bi-to-fegg?
|
Linking Vowel to Vowel
When one word ends with a vowel sound and the next
word begins with a vowel sound, we link the words with a sort of W or Y
sound.
If our lips are round at the end of the
first word, we insert a “W” sound:
|
|
If our lips are wide at the end of the first
word, we insert a Y sound:
|
|
Contractions
How to Pronounce "the" in English
When "the" comes before a vowel sound,
we pronounce it as a long "thee".
vowel
sound
|
we write
|
we say
|
A
|
the apple
|
thee apple
|
E
|
the egg
|
thee egg
|
I
|
the ice-cream
|
thee ice-cream
|
O
|
the orange
|
thee orange
|
U
|
the ugli fruit
|
thee ugli fruit
|
It is important to understand that it is what we say
that matters, not what we write. It is the sound that matters, not the
letter used in writing a word. So we use a long "thee" before a vowel
sound, not necessarily before a vowel. Look at these cases:
we write
|
with
|
we say
|
with
|
the house
|
consonant (h)
|
thuh house
|
consonant sound
|
the hour
|
consonant (h)
|
thee our
|
vowel sound
|
the university
|
vowel (u)
|
thuh youniversity
|
consonant sound
|
the umbrella
|
vowel (u)
|
thee umbrella
|
vowel sound
|
When to Say "a" or "an"
The indefinite article is a
or an. But how do we know when to say a and
when to say an?
The rule is really very simple. It depends on the sound
at the start of the following word. (It does not depend on the way we write the
following word, it depends on the way we say it.)
A + consonant sound
If the following word starts with a consonant
sound, then we say a.
a cat
|
a game of golf
|
a human emotion
|
a Peruvian
|
a very fat woman
|
An + vowel sound
If the following word starts with a vowel
sound, then we say an.
an apple
|
an extremely
easy job
|
an interesting
film
|
an old man
|
an umbrella
|
The importance of sound
Normally, we pronounce consonant letters with a
consonant sound, and vowel letters with a vowel sound. But there are some
exceptions. The rule about a or an is still
the same. You just need to think about the sound, not the writing. Look at
these examples:
consonant letter with vowel sound
|
|
an honest man
|
on-est
|
an hour
|
our
|
an FBI agent
|
eff-bee-eye
|
Tongue-Twisters
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