SENTENCE STRESS TABLE

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SENTENCE STRESS TABLE

NORMALY STRESSED NORMALY UNSTRESSED


NOUNS
Nearly all nouns
PRONOUNS
Demonstratives ('Those are lovely) Personal subjective/objective (She told me)
Possessives (Mine’s here) Reciprocal (They were hitting each other)
Emphatics (I made it myself) Reflexive (She bought herself a lovely dress)
Relative (This is the girl who stole them)
DETERMINERS
Quantitatives (Many, much, a little, few) Articles (The book is on a table)
Numericals (a good number, several, all) Possessive adjectives (Your husband is
Ordinals (first, second, seventh) handsome)
Cardinals (one, two, seven)
Demonstrative adjectives (These curtains
are lovely)
QUALIFICATIVES
When they qualify something (The ‘pretty
girl was playing in the ‘crowded playground)
VERBS
Principal verbs (They ‘went ‘home) Monosyllabic verb that precedes its subject
(‘Right’, said the ‘porter)
VERB TO BE
Final position (I ‘know who she ‘is) When it is a principal or auxiliary verb
When it precedes the conjunction that,
either stated or understood (The ‘fact ‘is
[that] he is ‘short of ‘money)
When it means to take place (‘When ‘is it?)
When it means to have to (She ‘is to ‘do it)
When it denotes existence (‘Those who ‘are
‘now will ‘cease to ‘be in a ‘few ‘years)
When it is a question tag (It ‘isn’t ‘nice, ‘is
it?)
VERB TO HAVE
When principal verb, question tag or in Any other situation
final position
When it means habitual obligation (‘Does
he ‘have to ‘work so ‘hard?)
When it means to experience (‘Did she
‘have a ‘nice ‘time?)
When it means consumption (I ‘had ‘tea
with ‘Anthy to’day)
When it means possession (She ‘has ‘two
‘cars BUT she has ‘got ´two ‘cars)
ANOMALOUS FINITES
(am, are, is ,was, were, have, has, had, do, does, did, shall, should, will, would, can, could,
may, might, must, ought, use, need, dare)
Contracted negative forms in statements Affirmative in statements (We shall ‘bring
(She ‘doesn’t ‘think so) and questions her a ‘doll)
(‘Shouldn’t I ‘go?) BUT she does ‘not…
In yes or no questions, the stress is optional
(‘Is it ‘going to be ‘fine? OR ‘is it ‘going to
be ‘fine?)
ADVERBS
They are normally stress in any position and, unlike prepositions, they don’t lose the stress
because of the object they are taking. This is so because they contribute to an important
modification of the meaning of the verb.
In any position Adverb of degree preceding a stress word
Words usually regarded as preposition (I’m rather ‘tired)
that also can be adverbs: about, above,
across, along, below, by, in, near, off, on,
over, past, round, etc. (He ‘runs a’bout in his
pa’jamas)
PREPOSITIONS
In final position are in strong form but Usually unstressed (At, but, for, from, of, to)
NOT STRESSED (‘What are you ‘looking Monosyllabic prepositions that don’t have
at?) weak form but don’t take stress, EXCEPT
Most disyllabic prepositions are stressed when there are not preceded by a stressed
on their second syllable EXCEPT after, word (They ‘live near the ‘shops BUT they’re
during, into, over. ‘near the ‘shops)
CONNECTIVES
Always unstressed (I’m ‘not as ‘lazy as she is)
INTERROGATIVES
They may be pronouns, determiners or adverbs
Usually stressed (‘Which is ‘mine? ‘What are
‘those? ‘When did that ‘happened?)
INTERJECTIONS
Usually stressed (‘Oh! ‘Fancy! ‘Goodness!)
EXCEPTIONAL CASES
MORE AND MOST (determiners)
When used as a noun or adjective (‘Do you When there are adverbials (She ‘had the
‘want some ‘more to ‘eat? OR ‘Most ‘people most ‘horrible ‘dream)
‘go a’broad for their ‘holidays)
ONE (determiners)
In a numerical sense (I ‘have ‘one ‘cat) As an indefinite pronoun (A ‘long ‘journey
When used in a definite, particular sense (I ‘makes one ‘feel ‘tired)
‘gave it to ‘one of my ´friends) In compound words (‘everyone, ‘someone,
In the expression ‘one day’ (‘One ‘day I’ll ‘no one)
be ‘come great)
STILL
When adverb of time (She’s ‘still ‘there) As an conjunction (I ‘don’t ‘think he’ll ‘go
After an adverb of degree after the but we still may ‘ask him)
adjective but unstressed before it (‘This
‘pen is ‘cheap but ‘that one’s ‘cheaper
‘still/still ‘cheaper)
LIKE (preposition)
When surrounded by fully stressed words
(He ‘ran like the ‘wind BUT He’s ‘like his
‘father)
STREET
When qualified by a name (unlike road that
is always stressed) (He ‘lives in ‘Oxford
street BUT He ‘passed a’long ‘Manchester
‘Road)
AGAIN (adverb)
When used to qualify an action/thing that When it’s not essential to the meaning of
is definitely repeated (She ‘failed her e’xam the sentence or when it’s used to qualify a
a‘gain) habitual action (He ‘goes to the office at
In the expression ‘again and again’ and ‘none and ‘comes ‘home again at ‘six)
‘time and time again’ (He ‘asked to ´go ‘time
and ‘time a’gain)
SOMETHING, SOMEBODY, NOTHING, NOBODY
(compounds)
As subjects (‘Something is ‘going to As objects (They ‘gave him something)
‘happen)
ANY (determiner, partitive)
When it means ‘no matter which’ (‘Any
‘dress will ‘do)
With a negative verbs with the meaning of
‘no’ or ‘none’ (‘Haven’t you ‘got ‘any
‘more?)
TITLES OF ADDRESS
Lord and Lady Mr. Mrs. and Miss
Polite forms of Sir and Madam (‘May I Sir (Sir ‘John)
‘help you, ‘Madam) King, Queen and Prince when followed by
Princess is always stressed but it varies a name
according to the rhythm (She’s a ‘royal
prin’cess/’princess ‘royal)
TEEN NUMERALS
In isolation take two stresses (‘fif’teen)
In connected speech, stressing depends on
the rhythm (It was ‘thirteen ‘shillings BUT
She ‘left at ‘three fif’teen)
SO
When meaning ‘correct’ (‘yes, ‘that is ‘so) As an adverb of degree (They are so ‘nice)
When meaning ‘in this particular way’ (She
‘opened the ‘window ‘so)
NOT (adverb)
Generally stressed (He’s ‘not at ‘home)
TOO
When it means ‘also’ (I ‘like ‘that ‘too) After a stressed adjective or adverb (She’s
a’rrived ‘much too ‘early)
SUCH
When followed by a word incapable of As an adverb of degree (They are such ‘nice
receiving emphasis (‘Such a ‘prick) as ‘you)
When it precedes a conjunction or
preposition (‘Bring ‘such ad you ‘have)
SOME
When it means ‘a certain’ (‘Some idiot has When it functions as an indefinite pronoun
‘broken it) (partitive) (‘Take some ‘bread)
When it means ‘only a small quantity, not When it means ‘one of a type’ (‘Find some
all’ (I ‘don’t ‘want them ‘all. Just ‘some) ‘English ‘girl to ‘practice with)
When it means ‘a certain quantity’ (‘Some
of her ‘friends)
When used as an adjective in contrast
(‘Some people ‘don’t like ‘tea)

Phonetics VI: first mid-term exam:


INTONATION
Intonation is the melody of speech. It studies how the pitch of the voice rises and falls, and how
speakers use this pitch variation to convey linguistic and pragmatic meaning. It also studies the
rhythm of speech. If we had no intonation, our speech would be monotonous. The problem is that
native speakers understand that learners have difficulties with segmental errors, so they can make
allowances for them. But they don’t make allowances for intonation errors since they don’t realize
that intonation can be erroneous.
General characteristics of intonation:
1. Is significant: utterances which are different only in respect of intonation may differ
from each other meaning.
2. Is systematic: we do not invent sounds, we learn them.
3. Is characteristic: pitch patterns or tunes in English are not necessarily the same in form
as those of other languages, nor do they necessarily produce the same effect.

TONALITY
The first matter a speaker has to decide when planning an utterance is the division of spoken
material into chunks, and each chunk will be associated with an intonation pattern. They are called
intonation phrases. The intonation structure reflects the grammatical structure, and an intonation
break generally corresponds to a syntactic boundary. Consequently, the presence or absence of
intonation breaks signals to the hearer the syntactic structure of the sentence. Tone groups normally
reflect a single idea or thought.
/ → intonation break │ // → intonation break + pause (punctuation mark)
We normally place intonation breaks between:
1. Sentences: division is obligatory, it stops with: ‘.’, ‘?’ and ‘!’.
2. Clauses: obligatory. If we have two clauses, it will be two subjects and to verbs.
3. Vocatives at the beginning of the clause: a vocative is whenever we refer to a person
(name, title of address, mom, etc.). After a vocative, you always have a comma. If the
vocative is at the end, we can choose to put the break or not. E.g. / Come in, // Claire. //
OR / Come in, Claire. //
4. Adverbials at the beginning of the clause: obligatory. E.g. / Tomorrow, // we’ll have a
test. //
5. Adverbials in the middle of a clause: obligatory. E.g. / Paul, // luckily, // came on
time. //
6. Sentence adverbials: they affect all the sentence. Obligatory. E.g. / I don’t believe
you, // actually. //
7. Subject/predicate: optional, only if the subject is too long. E.g. / The principal director
of the company in Texas / went to New York by plane for a meeting. //
8. Non-defining relative clauses: obligatory. E.g. / my friend, // who works in the
hospital, // is sick. //
9. Parallel structures (enumerations): obligatory. E.g. / a new country, // a new
school, // new teacher. //
10. Question tags: obligatory. E.g. / It is lovely, // isn’t it? //

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