1. Introduction to English pronunciation and phonetics Lecture 5

2. Sentence stress
one or several words in a sentence pronounced with more emphasis than the other words
Rule of thumb
lexical words are stressed
function words are unstressed (=weak form)
new information is stressed
this is a general rule

3. Sentence stress
Compare stress and interpretation
Did Erik say that?

4. Which words are stressed?
When a lexical word doesn’t add new information, it is often unstressed
Example:
French is a difficult language.
French verbs are particularly difficult.

5. Which words are stressed?
function words can be stressed if adding new info, e.g. for emphasis or contrast.
He bought a car and a house.
NB! Common Swedish emphasis mistake:
*My English is quite good, and I do use it everyday.

6. Sentence stress vs. strong and weak forms
most function words have strong and weak forms
when the word is unstressed, the weak form is used
Examples:
We can meet at ten. /kn/
I can do it but I won’t. /kæn/

7. Sentence stress
ARRIVING HEATHROW SATURDAY NOON. PLEASE MEET. LOVE MARK.
I will be arriving at Heathrow on Saturday at noon. Please can you meet me. With love from Mark.

8. American English
has its roots in English as it was spoken in Britain, Scotland and Ireland in the
17th and 18th centuries
changes in North America as well as in the British Isles have resulted in today’s American English
relatively few regional dialects

9. Br and Am English- two dialects
Vocabulary (e.g. pavement - sidewalk)
Grammar (e.g. Have you eaten already? – Did you eat already?)
Semantics (e.g. first floor, public school)
Spelling (e.g. colour - color)
Pronunciation

10. General American
an umbrella term used for neutral and commonly used US English
spoken by a majority of Americans in the Western and Middle states
comparatively few regional accents in US English
Canadian English have many phonological similarities with GA, but is considered a separate variety

11. Different vowel sounds
RP /ʌ/ — GA /ɜ/
‘worry, courage, hurry’
RP /ɒ/ — GA /ɑ:/ ; /ɔ:/
‘holiday, want, bomb ; gone, coffee’
RP /ɑ:/ — GA /æ/
‘dance, laugh, bath, answer’
Weak/lacking diphthongs in GA
‘hair, here, my’

12. Different consonant sounds
In GA, but not in RP
• /r/ is pronounced in all positions
• /l/ is more or less dark in all positions
• /t/ is a voiced flap /D/ before unstressed syllable
E.g. ‘better, writer, metal’ (but not ‘contain’)
• ‘wh’ is often pronounced /hw/

13. Different pronunciations
many individual pronunciation differences
RP GA
ate /et || eıt / /eıt/
pasta /'pæstə/ /'pɑ:stə/
vitamin /'vıtəmın/ /'vaıtəmın/
tomato /tə'mɑ:təʊ/ /tə'meıtoʊ/
progress /'prəʊgres/ /'prɑ:grəs/
either/neither /'aıðə/ /'i:ðər/

14. Different word stress
primary stress earlier in GA than in RP in some words
RP GA
address address
donate donate
research research

15. Different word stress
primary stress later in GA than in RP in some French loanwords
RP GA
garage garage
café café
ballet ballet
brochure brochure

16. Vowel reduction differences
in some words with suffixes, the vowel in the suffix is less reduced in GA than in RP
Examples:
February
cemetery
category
ceremony
dictionary

17. and now over to...

18. Written exam: A1, HS1/T1
• part of the A1/HS1/T1 language structure exam
• 20 multiple choice questions
• roughly proportioned according to the time given to the subject areas in the lectures
• example exam in the language structure compendium

19. Lecture notes
Language structure compendium
Study questions in Rönnerdal and Johansson (pp )