Essay for stress Phonetics BA students

 

                   Essay for Stress in English

Stress means emphasis. It means some extra force or prominence given to a part of a word while speaking.

1.We pronounce certain words in one breath.

 E.g. pen, one, sing, school, bread etc

2.Some other words we pronounce in two parts or units.

Eg.   Present -   pre’sent

       Demand -   de’ mand

       Conduct –   con’ duct

3. Some words are pronounced in three or more parts or units.

Psychology              -                 Psy’cho’lo’gy

Confession              -                 Con’fes’sion

Consult                    -                  Con’sult

Consultation          -                  Con’sul’ta’tion

Contemporaneous -                 Con’tem’por’an’eous

Humanitarian         -                 Hu’man’it’ar’ian

The part or unit of a word is known as syllable.  The stress may fall on the first syllable or second syllable or third syllable as the case may be.

The syllable that receives the stress is marked by ‘.

Word Stress Rules

i. Two syllable English noun and adjectives are stressed in the first syllable.

ii. Two syllable English verb are stressed at the second syllable.

Words	Noun and adjective	Verb
Present	‘Present	Pre’sent
Object	‘Object	Ob’ject
Contract	‘Contract	Con’tract
Conflict	‘Conflict	Con’flict
Produce	‘Produce	Pro’duce
S Reject	‘Reject	Re’ject
Refuse	‘Refuse	Re’fuse
Record	‘Record	Re’cord

 

iii. The words that have three syllable words and end in -er or -ly often have a stress on the first syllable.

 

Word end in -er	Word end in -ly
‘Happier	‘Silently
‘Carpenter	‘Violently
‘Gardener	‘Loudly
‘Manager.	‘Truthfully
‘Easier	‘Patiently
‘Busier	‘Politely

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

iv. If a word ends with the suffix -ette, -ique, -ee, -eer then the stress should fall on the suffix itself.

 

Suffix -ette	Suffix -ique	Suffix-ee	Suffix -eer
Cigar’ette	Bout’ique	Refug’ee	Engin’eer
Cass’ette	Crit’ique	Employ’ee	Volunt’eer
Roul’ette	Un’ique	Train’ee	Aucction’eer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the suffix -ese again the stress is made on the suffix. Eg. Portug’ese, Japan’ese, Chin’ese

V. If a syllable ends with the suffixes -able, - ial, -ian, -ery, -ible, -ic, -ion, -ious, -ia, -ish, -tion then stress the before syllable of the suffix.

Suffixes	Stress before syllable of suffix
-able	Durable
-ial	Financial
-ian	Musician
-ery	Scenery
-ible	Terrible
-ic	Characteristic
-sion	Seclusion
-ious	Mysterious
-ia	Bacteria
-ish	Selfish
-tion	Invention

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vi. If a word ends with suffixes -cy, -phy, -gy, -al, -ty then stress falls on the third last syllable.

 

Suffixes	Stress on the third syllable
-cy	Democracy
-phy	Philosophy
-gy	Allergy
-al	Nautical
-ty	Clarity

 

Thus stress is very essential to speak like native. Without proper stress, English  pronunciation has no value.