LINGUA INGLESE 1 modulo B Introduction to English Linguistics prof. Hugo Bowles Lesson 8 Stress + Intonation 1

Stress

3 Stress for Italian learners of English English stress patterns are generally rather irregular. Let’s make a comparison with a language like Italian, which is highly regular. Any native speaker of Italian will know where the stress should lie on the following nonsense words: todernoentedettoli. Unusual stress patterns are marked orthographically, e.g. calamita/calamitàmeta/metà

4 English not sure Native English speakers cannot be so sure about placement of stress in words they have never heard. Accents (ò,à,ù etc.) are not used in the writing system.

5 Where is the stress?

6

7 i TOLD you to go

8 i told YOU to go

9 Word and Phrasal Stress The conventions for marking stress are: an upper vertical bar before primary stress e.g. / kreızı / / ˈ kreızı /

10 What is word and phrasal stress? A series of factors combine to give us what is known as word stress: - Pitch - Vowel quality - Length - Loudness We can illustrate these by using nonsense words.

11 Pitch In the following word the third syllable will be perceived as being stressed given its falling intonation. / dı:dı: ̖ dı:dı:dı: /

12 Vowel quality In the following word the third syllable will be perceived as being stressed as it has a different vowel phoneme. dı: dı: da: dı: dı: This seems to be an important factor in English, as central vowels are often used in unstressed positions.

13 Length Vowel phonemes tend to be longer in stressed positions. The only example we can give with length having phonemic value in English is: da da da da: da da Obviously, stressed syllables do not necessarily have long vowel sounds, e.g explicit

14 Loudness In the following word the third syllable will be perceived as being stressed as it is louder. /dı: dı: dı: dı: dı:

15 Combined factors Note that usually all four factors combine to give us what is known as word stress. So much so that it is in fact difficult to utter the preceding examples e.g. that of loudness without involving the other three.

16 Speaker and Regional Variation Stress placement is by no means uniform all over the English-speaking world. Some differences are regional, e.g. magaZINE (GB) vs. MAGazine(NZ) Other differences are between individuals in the same geographical area (e.g. kiLOmeter, KIlometer).

17 Consequences of misplaced stress Placing stress on the wrong syllable in a single word usually does not usually lead to comprehension problems, although it does require extra effort by the listener. Stress (together with intonation) has important functions, misplacing, or not placing enough stress may make communication ambiguous.

18 Acquiring stress patterns English word stress is not totally random and many authors have proposed systems to explain its functioning. While some recommend that learners utilise these rather complicated systems, others feel that it is better to take words one-by-one. Clearly if words are to be taken individually the learner must do a lot of listening and/or dictionary work.

19 Schwa = unstressed Photograph Photographic Photographer Ə ƏƏ Ə Ə

20 Quiz Apply Arrive Japan Attract Assist Estate Balloon Correct Enter Envy Equal Open Money Product Hollow entertain

21 Stress in verbs and nouns One problematic point is that of words that have one stress pattern if nouns and another if verbs e.g. NounVerb DEsertdeSERT IMportimPORT EScorteSCORT REcordreCORD PROtestproTEST

22Compounds Compounds usually have main stress on the first, qualifying item, e.g. HolePLUGholeMANhole – SMART card – CAR park – SWImming pool – AIRbag – NIGHTclub N.B. Many compounds are present in other languages as loan words. Italian speakers usually place the stress on the second element, e.g. airBAG, and do the same when speaking in English.

23 Notebooks (1) Write down the words whose stress you always get wrong e.g. apply process Japan secretary airbag etc.

24 Notebooks (2) Write down the stress patterns of English Put one pattern at the top of each page

25 Notebooks (3) Write down the difficult words under the correct pattern apply Japan secretary

Intonation

The functions of intonation Attitudinal function Accentual function Grammatical function Discourse function

Speech may be divided into tone units. Each tone unit is composed of: a tonic syllable (obligatory) optional elements which precede the tonic syllable (pre-head, head) optional elements which follow the tonic syllable (tail)

In short: (pre-head) + (head) + tonic syllable + (tail)

We will begin by looking at the tonic syllable, it may follow one of these intonation patterns fall rise fall-rise rise-fall level

Each of these may express particular attitudes Fall: neutral statement Rise: neutral question, doubt Fall-Rise: surprise, scepticism Rise-Fall: emphatic statement Level: boredom, disinterest

Fall: neutral statement, conclusion E.g. Have you seen Ann? Yes. (Falling intonation indicates ‘I have answered your question and do not intend to add anything else’)

Rise: questioning, doubt, desire to continue conversation E.g. Have you seen Ann lately? Yes… (Rising intonation indicates ‘I want to continue the conversation, I am curious’)

Rise-Fall: emphatic statement, irritation, command Do I really have to clean my room? Yes!

Fall-Rise: surprise, scepticism Ann and Peter were on good terms at the party Oh yes?

Level: boredom, lack of interest Can you remember Peter Jackson, the cost consultant for our company in Taiwan? The other day in the office I invited him for dinner, he’ll be coming tomorrow. Yes.

We shall begin by considering the fall: here is a tone unit solely composed of a tonic syllable

Things become more complicated when we add syllables

In this case there are no stressed syllables before the tonic: ‘I said’ is the pre-head

Here we have added a stressed syllable, ‘told’, before the tonic, which is called the head. Notice how the intonation rises from the pre-head.

Here we have added syllables after the tonic, this is called the tail. Note how it tends to follow the intonation pattern of the tonic.

This is obviously not the only possible realisation of this sentence. If we put the main stress on ‘told’, it changes the pattern completely.

In a similar way a rising tonic syllable will condition its tail: here ‘when’ is the tonic syllable

Again when we come to complex tone we find the tail following the tonic syllable: for a fall-rise the fall occurs on the tonic and the rise at the end of the tail

No matter how many syllables there are in the tail, the rise finishes on the last

While diagrams are immediate and clear, a more practical system of symbols has been developed to denote innotation

Stress marking in a sentence HEAD TAIL I want to go to the dentists tomorrow morning.

Stressed syllables in the head …… HEAD ……..are noted with a vertical tick I want to go to the dentists ˈ ˈ

Stressed syllables in the tail …….. TAIL are noted with a dot I want to go to the dentists to morrow morning ˈ ˈ..

How to analyse a tone unit Identify the tonic (syllable), i.e. the syllable where there is strong movement and stress) Are there any other stressed syllables before the tonic? - no: the area before the tonic is called the “pre- head” - yes: the area between the stressed syllable and tonic is called the “head” and the area before the stressed syllable is the “pre-head” Are there any words after the tonic? If yes, this is the “tail”

a. movement on “these” these Bill called to give me give methese ˈ HEAD PRE-HEAD TONIC SYLLABLE