Chapter 6: Stress

By Dauer

Stressed & Unstressed Syllables

 Stressed syllables sound louder, are usually longer, & have clearer vowels & stronger
consonants.
 Unstressed syllables sound softer, are usually shorter, & are frequently reduced or
centralized.

Stressing the correct syllable in a word is just as important as pronouncing the sounds correctly,
since words & phrases can have different meanings depending on which syllable is stressed.
Example: ‘Invalid /ˈinvəlid/: a sick person; in ‘valid /inˈvӕlid/: not valid or not correct. ‘Trusty
/ˈtrəstɪ̈ /: reliable; trus’tee /trəsˈtɪ̈ /: a person who manages someone else’s property.

Vowel Reduction

 The change in vowel quality from a stressed full vowel to a short central vowel is called
reduction or centralization of unstressed vowels.

Vowels in unstressed syllables immediately before or after stressed syllables are usually
reduced. General rule:
Front vowels /ɪ̈ , ɪ, eɪ, ɛ/ reduced to /ɪ/
Low & back vowels /æ, ɑ, ɔ, oʊ, ʊ, ʊ̈/ reduced to /ə/
Vowels followed by /ɚ/ reduced to /ɚ/
Stress Placement in Words of Two or More Syllables

 Prefixes are syllables added to the beginning of a word & can change its meaning.
Example: believable-unbelievable.
 Suffixes are syllables added to the end of a word & can change both the meaning & the part
of speech. Example: believe (verb)-believable (adjective).
 The root is the center of a word & carries its basic meaning. Example: person (root) + -al
(suff.) + -ity (suff.)= Personality.
 Compounds are words that have more than one root, each of which can exist as a word by
itself. Example: whiteboard, house keeper, football, washing machine.

Rules for stress placement in words of two or more syllables

 Stress the first syllable of two-syllable nouns: ‘table, ‘mother, ‘paper

 Stress the root of two-syllable verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions & some nouns:
ap’pear, pro’tect/’suffer, ‘punish; a’live, re’mote/’useful, ‘proper; ‘quickly, ‘later; a’bove,
be´low; mis’take, suc’cess.
 Stress words of more than two syllables according to their suffix:
 The suffix in words ending in < -ee, -eer, -ese, -ette, -esque, -
ique> & verbs ending in <-ain>. Examples: disa’gree, volun’teer,
Portu’guese, pictu’resque, enter’tain.
 The syllable immediately before the suffix in words ending in <-
ial, -ion, -cient, -ical, etc.>. Examples: of’ficial, per’mission,
pro’ficient, ‘practical.
 Stress the second syllable before the suffix in words ending in <-
ate, -ize, -ary>. Examples: con’gratulate, ‘organize, ‘summary.
 Stress remains on the same syllable as other forms of the word
when using suffixes such as <-able, -al, -ed, -ful, -ness, etc.>.
Examples: be’lieveable, pro’fessional, con’gratulated, ‘beautiful,
‘happiness.

 Stress compound nouns on the first element: ‘fireman, po’liceman, ‘wastepaper basket.
 Stress two-word verbs more strongly on the last word: pick ‘up, turn ‘off, put a’way.
 Stress reflexive pronouns on the last syllable: my’self, our’selves.
 There is no sure rule for figuring out where to stress words of more than two syllables
which don’t fall into those categories:
 Stress on the first syllable: ‘confident, ‘difficult; ‘alphabet,
‘character.
 Stress on the first syllable of the root: bi’lingual, over’come,
ir’regular, un’natural.
 Stress the same as a related word: ‘decorate-’decorative, de’clare-
de’clarative.
 Words borrowed from foreign languages are often stressed on the last syllable: ga’rage,
bro’chure, di’vine.

Chapter 10: Stress in Simple Words

By Peter Roach

Nature of stress

We can study stress from the points of view of production & of perception.
 The production of stress is generally believed to depend on the speaker using more
muscular energy than is used for unstressed syllables. When we produce stressed syllables,
the muscles we use to expel air from the lungs are often more active, producing higher
subglottal pressure.
 From the point of view of perception, all stressed syllables are prominent.
What makes a syllable prominent?

Loudness. Stressed syllables are louder than unstressed syllables.

Length. If one syllable in a word is made longer than the others, that syllable is generally
stressed. Example: important /imˈpoːtənt/.
Pitch. If all syllables are said with low pitch except for one, then the high-pitched syllable
will be heard as stressed.
Quality. If there’s one of the vowels in a word, the “odd” syllable will tend to be stressed.
Example: potato.

Levels of stress

 Primary stress is the strongest type of stress. Example: purpose /ˈpəːpəs/

 Secondary stress is weaker than primary stress but it has more prominence than
unstressed syllables. Example: anthropology /ˌænθrəˈpɒlədʒɪ/
 Unstressed level is characterized by being the absence of any prominence. Example:
indivisibility /ˌɪndɪvɪzəˈbɪlətɪ/
°

Placement of stress within the word

In order to decide on stress placement, it’s necessary to make use of some or all the following
information:

Whether the word is morphologically simple or complex

The grammatical category of the word
The number of syllables
The phonological structure of those syllables

It is possible to divide syllables into two basic categories: strong & weak. One component of a
syllable is the rhyme, which contains the syllable peak & coda. A strong syllable has a rhyme with
either a syllable peak which is a long vowel or diphthong, with or without following consonant
(coda) (examples: die, heart, see) or a syllable peak which is a short vowel, followed by at least one
consonant (example: much, bat, pull). A weak syllable has a syllable peak which consists of one of
the vowels i, u, ə & no coda except when the vowel is ə. Examples: ‘en’ in ‘sudden’; ‘fa’ in ‘sofa’.

Two-syllable words

In the case of simple two-syllable words, either the first or the second syllable will be stressed,
not both. There is a general tendency for verbs to be stressed nearer the end of a word & for
nouns to be stressed nearer the beginning.
  With verbs, if the final syllable is weak, then the first syllable is stressed: enter /ˈentə/,
equal /ˈiːkwəl/.A final syllable is unstressed if it contains əʊ: follow /ˈfɒləʊ/
 A final syllable which is strong will be stressed even if the first f syllable is also strong:
apply /əˈplaɪ/, attract /əˈtræk/
 Adjectives are stressed according to the same rule: lovely /ˈlʌvlɪ/, correct /kəˈrekt/.
However, there are exceptions: honest /ˈɒnɪst/, perfect /ˈpɜːfɪkt/
 In the case of nouns, stress will fall on the first syllable unless the first syllable is weak &
the second syllable strong: larynx /ˈlærɪŋks/, balloon /bəˈluːn/
 Adverbs tend to behave like verbs & adjectives: later /ˈleɪtɚ/ perhaps /pəˈhɑps/

Three-syllable words

 In verbs, if the final syllable is strong, then it will receive primary stress: resurrect
/ˌrezəˈrekt/
 If the last syllable is weak, stress falls on the penultimate syllable if it is strong:
determine /dɪˈtɜːmɪn/
 If both the second & third syllables are weak, then the stress falls on the initial syllable:
monitor /ˈmɒnɪtə/
 In nouns, stress falls on the first syllable unless it is weak: custody /ˈkʌstədɪ/
 If the first syllable is weak, then stress will fall on the next syllable: potato /pəˈteɪtəʊ/
 Final syllable will not usually be stressed: intellect /ˈɪntəlekt/. Adjectives seem to behave
in the same way: insolent /ˈɪnsələnt/

Chapter 11: Complex Words Stress

By Peter Roach

Complex words are of two major types:

Words made from a stem with the addition of an affix

Compound words, made of two independent words

Affixes have one of three possible effects on words stress:

 The affix itself receives the primary stress: personality /pɜːsnˈælɪtɪ/

 The word is stressed as if the affix weren’t there: marketing /ˈmɑːkɪtɪŋ/
 The stress remains on the stem, but it shifts to a different syllable: magnet /ˈmægnət/-
magnetic /mægˈnetɪk/

Suffixes
  Productive suffixes are applied to a considerable number of stems & could be applied to
more to make new words.
 A stem is what remains when the affixes are removed. Example: personality= personal
(stem) + -ity (suffix)
 A root is the smallest piece of lexical material that a stem can be reduced to. Example:
personality= person (root) + -al (suffix) + -ity (suffix)

Suffixes carrying primary stress themselves

-ee: refu’gee.
-err: volun’teer
-ese: Portu’guese
-ette: cigar’ete
-esque: pictur’esque

Suffixes that don’t affect stress placement

-able: ‘comfortable
-al: re’fusal
-ful: ‘wonderful
-ing: a’mazing
-less: ‘powerless
-fy: ‘glorify
-y: ‘funny
-ish: ‘devilish (adj) re’plenish (verb)
Suffixes that influence stress in the stem

-eous: ad’vantage-advan’tageous
-graphy: ‘photo-pho’tography
-ial: ‘proverb-pro’verbial
-ion: ‘perfect-per’fection
-ive: ‘reflex-re’flexive

When the suffixes –ance, -ant & -ary are attached to single-syllable stems, the stress is placed
on the stem (guidance, sealant, dietary). When the stem has more than one syllable; if the final
syllable is strong, that syllable receives the stress (im’portance, cen’tenary). Otherwise, the
penultimate syllable receives the stress (in’heritance).

Prefixes
 There is no prefix of one or two syllables that always carries primary stress. Stress in
words with prefixes is governed by the same rules as those for polysyllabic words without
prefixes.

Compound words

Its main characteristic is that it can be analyzed into two words, both of which can exist
independently.

 Compounds which combine two nouns normally have the stress on the first element:
‘sunrise, ‘suitcase.

Stress on the second element

 Adjectival first element & -ed morpheme at the end: ˌhalf-ˈtimbered, bad-´tempered
 First element is a number: ˌsecond-ˈclass
 Compounds functioning as adverbs: ˌdown ˈstream
 Compounds functioning as verbs & have an adverbial first element: ˌback-ˈpedal

Variable stress

Stress position may vary as a result of the stress on other words occurring next to the
word in question, or because not all speakers agree on the placement of stress in some words.
Example: ˌbad-ˈtempered- ˈbad-tempered teacher

Word-class pairs

If two words are spelt identically, the stress is placed on the second syllable of the verb
but on the first syllable of the noun or adjective. Example: ‘contract (N)-con’tract (V); ‘contrast
(A)-con’trast (V); ‘present (NA)-pre’sent (V).

Stress & Rhythm in English

By María-Josep Solé Sabater

Introduction

An appropriate stress & rhythmic pattern is more important for intelligibility than the
correct pronunciation of isolated segments & stress & rhythm determine the pronunciation of
segments in English. They are suprasegmental aspects that give the overall shape to the word or
sequence. Assigning the right stress pattern & learning to produce unstressed syllables is the most
productive single device for achieving an adequate pronunciation of English.

Linguistic phenomena sensitive to stress

The role of stress goes far beyond the segmental & suprasegmental levels. It has a bearing
on syllable structure, morphology, grammar & meaning.

Segmental effect of stress

Stress affects not only vowels but the whole syllable. Consequently, consonants in
unstressed syllables will suffer important reduction processes. Examples: /p, t, k/ are aspirated in
the words əˈp°ɑːt, ˈt°eɪk, k°ʌm, but not in pəˈlɑɪt, təˈnɑɪt, ˈbeɪkɪŋ .

Phonological variation due to stress

Stress might determine the occurrence of different phonemes. For example, the
pronunciation of the letter x as [ks] or [gz] in words such as exit /’eksit/ and exist /ig’zist/ is
determined by the position of stress. If the stress in on the preceding syllable the cluster will be
voiceless; if the stress is on the following syllable the cluster will be voiced.

Syllable structure & stress

Stressed vowels attract adjacent consonants to their syllable. Example: ˈæt-ɪk; ə-ˈteɪn.
Thus, stress can be said to determine the grouping of sounds into syllables in English.

Morphological, syntactical & lexical variation due to stress

 Morphological derivation might involve a change in stress since many of the suffixes
which are added to derive words have an effect on stress (‘politics, po’litical). There are
also suffixes that attract the stress of the word on to themselves (-aire in questionnaire).
 The stress & subsequent phonetic changes is the only indicator of the syntactic
category of words (‘present, pre’sent). The noun or adjective always has the stress on the
first syllable, & the verb on the second syllable.
 There is also a small number of words where stress indicates a lexical contrast that
doesn’t correlate with the syntactic function of the word: ‘reefer, re’fer.
 Phrasal verbs have the main stress on the particle: the ‘driver pulled ‘up the ‘car.
  Prepositional verbs have the main stress on the verb: he ‘went by the ‘highway.
 In nouns & adjectives the first element is only stressed: ‘handout, ‘runaway.
 In verbs the particle has more prominence than the verb: to hand ‘out, to drop ‘out.
Noun phrases have the main stress on the noun: ˌloud ˈspeaker
 Compounds have the main stress on the first element: ˈloud ˌspeaker.
 Grammatically speaking, the presence or absence of stress indicates the syntactic
function of the word.
 That as a demonstrative always has the full form: I want ðæt book.
 Relative or conjunction that is always weak: the one ðət I want; she said ðət she would.
 There as an adverb: I was ðeə.
 There as an empty subject: ðeəʳ are three of them.
 Some as an indefinite adjective: I’ll have səm biscuits.
 Some as a pronoun or meaning a certain quantity: I’ll have sʌm; sʌm students.

Stressing & unstressing

 The pitch of stressed vowels is usually higher than that of unstressed vowels. Stressed
syllable stands out in pitch from the rest.
 Stressed vowels also tend to have a longer duration and to be louder than unstressed
vowels.
 A syllable is identified as stressed because it is relatively more prominent than the rest.
 In English, there’s an extra cue for stress which is vowel quality, in particular the reduced
quality of unstressed syllables. Thus, stress is a relational feature.

Word stress & sentence stress

 Word stress has a fixed distribution; it is a lexical feature of the word & consequently
word stress is related to the lexicon. English stress is a distinctive feature in a word.
 If stress changes, meaning might change: a ‘present, to pre’sent.
 One of the ways in which we stores words in our mental lexicon is according to its stress
pattern. Thus, we find it difficult to interpret a word pronounced with the wrong stress
pattern.
 Other type of evidence for the storage of words under stress patterns comes from ‘tip of
tongue’ phenomena & ‘slips of the tongue’.
Tip of tongue phenomena is not being able to
remember a given word but having it ‘on the tip of
your tongue.’ Sometimes, speakers cannot retrieve
a word but they can tell the stress pattern.
Slips of the tongue or transposition of sounds show
that the most common type of tongue slip involves
the transposition of stressed syllables. Example: he
 was on the nerve of a vergeous breakdown instead
of he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

 Sentence stress emphasizes the portion of the utterance that is more important for the
speaker or that the speaker wants the listener to concentrate on.
 Stress in a sentence has no fixed distribution, it is related to semantics.
 Content words or lexical words are likely to be more prominent since they are more
important for meaning. They are: nouns, adjectives, verbs & adverbs.
 Grammatical or function words tend to be unstressed. They are: articles, pronouns,
prepositions, auxiliaries & conjunctions.

Stressing & meaning

 There’s no right way of stressing a sentence. The choice to stress some words rather than
others depends on the context of the message & on the particular meaning the speaker
wants to convey.
 Since stress has the function of signaling to the native speaker the most important words in
the utterance, it’s very difficult to understand speech in which every single word is stressed
or made equally prominent, just because nothing is made prominent.

Stressing & tempo

 Tempo or speaking rate is related to speaking style. The more careful the style, the slower
the tempo & the more stresses; the more informal the style, the faster the tempo & the
fewer stresses.

English rhythm

There are two kinds of rhythm in languages:

 Syllable-timed rhythm, where syllables tend to occur at regular intervals of time &
consequently all syllables tend to have the same length (Spanish).
 Stressed-timed rhythm, where stressed syllables tend to occur at regular intervals. Thus,
syllables might vary in length since there might be a varying number of syllables between
stresses (English).
 In English, rhythm is organized into feet. The foot begins with the stressed syllable &
includes all the unstressed syllables up to the next stress where a new foot begins.
  No language is purely stressed-timed or syllable-timed but tends to behave more like one or
the other pattern.
 Rhythm is tempo dependent. The faster the speech, the more stressed-timed the rhythm.

The basic differences between syllable-timed languages & stress-timed languages are:

In Spanish, there’s a weak vowel reduction since every syllable is allotted virtually the
same amount of time to be produced. In English, unstressed vowels are strongly reduced
so that stressed vowels can be heard.
The reduction & subsequent elision of unstressed vowels have resulted in a large amount of
consonant clusters & a complex syllable structure in English.
In Spanish, speaking rate effects on the duration of stressed & unstressed vowels is
roughly the same. In English, speaking rate doesn’t affect the duration of stressed &
unstressed syllables proportionally.
Stress-timed languages tend to have secondary stress in words to avoid long sequences
of unstressed syllables & to keep the rhythmic beat.
In syllable-timed languages the syllable occurs at roughly regular intervals of time &
the syllable is the rhythmical unit in verse. In stressed-timed languages it’s the stress
which occurs regularly & the metric system is based on the foot.

Isochrony

 In English, stresses occur at roughly regular intervals of time, & therefore all feet tend to
be of equal duration or isochronous.
 Since feet take roughly the same amount of time to be produced & the number of syllables
in a foot might vary, it follows that the length of syllables must also vary.
 If there are no intervening syllables between two stresses, the syllable which alone in a
foot will tend to be stretched in time (/’P a t /’goes/). If there are a number of
intervening unstressed syllables, the stressed syllable will be made shorter, & the
unstressed syllables will be squeezed together between stresses & they will suffer
important phonetic reductions such as vowel weakening or assimilation (/’Pat should
have /’gone/).
 The more organized the speech, the more isochronous it will be.
 Grammatical words are squeezed in order to fit into the constant time interval between two
stressed syllables.
 Many grammatical words are said to have a full form used when the word is stressed for
rhythmical, emphatic or contrastive reasons, & weak form used when the word is
unstressed & must be fitted between stresses.
Rhythmic alternation

 English rhythm is characterized by the principle of rhythmic alternation; that is weak

& strong syllables alternate with one another.
  Once the lexemes of an utterance have been selected, a set of rules (syntactical,
morphological, phonetic & rhythmic) are applied to the utterance to determine its phonetic
realization. Thus, a structure which doesn’t observe the stress alternation principle will
be modified by the rhythm rules to conform more closely the ideal rhythmic
alternation.

If a series of content words appear next to each other, some stresses are dropped.
Example: ‘John’s / ‘friend /’wants /’get /’home /be’fore /’midnight will become ‘John’s
friend ‘wants to get ‘home before ‘midnight. Similarly, if an utterance contains a succession
of three stresses, the intermediate stress tends to be dropped. Example: ‘big blue ‘eyes.
If an utterance consists of a succession of unstressed function words, stressed are added.
For example, as & if are stressed when they occur at initial position & are followed by
unstressed syllables.
If two stresses are next to each other in a phrase, the first stress is moved to the
preceding strong syllable to space out the stresses. Example: ˌJapaˈnese ‘student will
become ˈJapanese ˈstudent.

Sentence Stress in English

By Daniel Jones

 When all the important words in a sentence are equally important they all have strong
stress. In this way it frequently happens that a number of strong syllables occur
consecutively. ‘John has ‘just ‘bought ‘two ‘brown ‘large ‘dog .

SENTENCE STRESS TABLE

NORMALLY STRESSED NORMALLY UNSTRESSED

NOUNS

Nearly all nouns Nouns with wide denotation

PRONOUNS
Demonstrative Personal
Emphatic Reciprocal
Possessive Reflexive

DETERMINERS
Quantitatives Articles
Numerals Possessive adjectives
Ordinals
Demonstratives
 ADJECTIVES
Adjectives proper
Active participials
Passive participials

VERBS
Main verbs Auxiliaries, affirmative form,
in statements. (In questions the
the affirmative form may be
stressed or unstressed at will

Verbals, except those of be and have

Auxiliaries, negative form, whether in
questions or statements.

ADVERBS
All adverbs except connectives Relative adverbs (connectives)
Prepositions used as adverbial particles

PREPOSITIONS
Longer prepositions Monosyllabic prepositions

INTERROGATIVES
All interrogative words, whether
pronouns, determiners or adverbs

INTERJECTIONS AND EXCLAMATIONS

Interjections standing alone Interjections followed by
Emphasized words
CONNECTIVES
Two-word connectives One word-connectives

 As a general rule, it can be said that relative stress of words in a sentence depends on their
relative importance; the more important the word is, the stronger its stress. The most
important words are usually nouns, adjectives, demonstratives & interpersonal
pronouns, main verbs & adverbs. Such words are therefore generally strongly stressed.
When all the important words in a sentence are equally important, they all have strong
stress. The other words in a sentence, mostly function words, which join to those content
words, are normally unstressed; such is the case of prepositions, auxiliaries,
conjunctions & pronouns.
 Content words may be stressed, but it can shift.
 English rhythm requires stressed syllables to be separated by unstressed ones- a
tendency which functions both at words & at connected speech level.
  In sequences of 3 content words, the 2nd one tends to lose its stress if it has no more than 2
syllables. Example: a ‘nice ‘old ‘chair.
 Phrasal verbs that can take a DO adopt different stress pattern depending on the position &
nature of O.
 Phrasal verbs then cannot take DO are stressed on both verb & particle, unless
they’re immediately preceded &/or followed by another stressed word.
 Many double-accented compounds & some simple words may lose the stress closest to
another stress in the utterance. Example: ‘nineteen-nine’teen.
 When adjectives are used attributively (before nouns) they drop their primary stress;
when they’re used predicatively (after verbs) they lose their secondary stress. Examples:
‘good-looking ‘boy; I ‘find him good-‘looking.
 English place names: ‘Hyde Park ‘Corner; ‘opposite Hyde ‘Park
 Double accented words in noun phrases: a ˌJapaˈnese ˈlesson
 Verbs + adjectives= both words stressed. Example: ‘give ‘up, ‘put a‘way

Exceptions:

When it is desired to emphasize a word for contrast, its stress is increased.

In the expression to make sure the make is usually unstressed in order to give greater force
to sure.
In ‘some people ‘think so there’s an implied contrast with other people, therefore people is
unstressed.
When a sentence contains a word which has been used just before, that word is generally
unstressed.
When one word is in a sequence of two words in naturally contrasted with some other
word, that word alone receives the stress. Example: ‘pleasure trip.
The stressing of this, these, that, those (demonstrative) depends on the amount of
“demonstrativeness” it is desired to suggest.
When which is used as a demonstrative pronoun (and this), it’s stressed according to the
general rule
The exclamatory what is unstressed in order to give greater emphasis to the main word.
Example: What ‘beautiful ‘weather!
When such is followed by an emphatic word or it qualifies an unstressed noun, it’s
generally unstressed (such a ‘curious shape; I ‘don’t know ‘anything a’bout such matters).
But when is followed by a word incapable of receiving emphasis, it’s usually stressed
(‘such a ‘thing ‘ought to be im’possible).
When the expressions sort of, kind of are used indefinitely, sort & kind are usually
unstressed (there was a sort of ‘seriousness in his ‘face). When these expressions are
followed by words which can’t be emphasized, both are unstressed (I don’t ‘like ‘that
kind of thing). Also, when sort of is used in colloquial speech as an adverb meaning “in
some kind of way”, it’s unstressed (he sort of ‘slipped).
The double stress in groups of words such as ‘give ‘up are subject to rhythmical alternation.
Example: ‘John went a’way
In some cases, two ways of stressing are possible. For example, in so ‘many ‘years the
stress is usually on many. The other type of stressing (‘so many ‘years) is avoided because
when so many is pronounced with the stress on so, they usually have the meaning of
“such & such number or quantity”.
Loss of stress for correct pronunciation is not always essential for correct pronunciation.
When the foreign learner is in doubt as to whether a stress should be suppressed, it is safer
to retain the stress.
When two nouns in sequence are felt as being very closely connected by the sense, so that
they form practically a word, the second is generally unstressed (compound words).
Example: tennis ball, violin string.
There are some exceptions, namely cases in which the second element expresses or implies
a contrast. Example: ‘birthday ‘present & ‘Christmas ‘present are both stressed because
present is felt to be the important word.
The word street in names of streets is never stressed.
In phrases of parenthetical nature, words are often unstressed. Example: ‘has he gone to
‘town this morning? However, due to intonation, a certain amount of stress would often be
put on the word morning, provided that town has the lowest pitch.
The verb be is stressed when it’s in final position. Example: ‘here we ‘are.
The verb be is unstressed when final & immediately preceded by its subject, if that subject
is stressed. Example: he ‘asked what the ‘time was.
When the subject follows the verb, the verb is generally unstressed. Example: ‘after a
‘storm comes a ‘calm.
The pronoun one in good one or everyone is always unstressed.
The pronoun each in each other is unstressed, & other is generally unstressed. The
reflexive pronouns when used as object are generally unstressed. Example: he ‘hurt
himself.
Auxiliary verbs are stressed in certain situations: 1) in affirmative statements for the
sake of emphasis (It ‘can be done); 2) when immediately followed by not pronounced nt (I
‘shouldn’t have ‘thought so); 3) when introducing a question (‘Have you ‘seen them?); 4)
in other questions when there’s curiosity or anxiety & the aux. is immediately preceded
by the interrogative word (What ‘are you ‘doing?); 5) when the principal verb is
suppressed (‘Yes, I ‘have).
The word going in going to is unstressed.
The adverbs on, forth in the expressions and so on, and so forth are unstressed. Examples:
and ‘so on, and ‘so forth.
Now & then are normally stressed. The expression is pronounced ‘now then. The adverb so
in think so is unstressed.
Adverbs sometimes don’t take stress in final position following a stressed object.
Example: ‘put your ‘things on.
Monosyllabic prepositions & the disyllabic preposition upon are usually unstressed.
They may, however, be stressed when occurring at initial position (‘In the ‘room they
‘found a ‘dog).
Prepositions of two or more syllables such as ‘after, ‘into, be’tween, ‘during, be’sides,
a’long, con’cerning are often stressed in non-final position. However, it’s not essential.
The final prepositions in sentences like What are you looking at? are unstressed though
they have their strong forms.
In sentences ending with a preposition & a pronoun the final pronouns are unstressed
unless special emphasis is needed. Example: It’s ‘very ‘good for you. Sometimes it’s
necessary to stress the preposition in sentences of this type in order to bring out a
contrast. Example: the ‘bills were ‘not ‘large but there were a ‘great ‘many ‘of them.
Conjunctions introducing dependent clauses are often stressed when initial. Example:
‘when he ‘comes I’ll intro’duce him to you.
Copulative conjunctions and, but are generally unstressed, although they might be
stressed when immediately followed by two or three consecutive unstressed syllables.
Example: ‘and at the ‘same ‘time/ and at the ‘same ‘time.
Other linking conjunctions, such as now, then introducing the continuation of a
narrative or conversation are unstressed. Example: now ‘when he was ‘gone.
The pronoun it won’t be stressed in any case. When emphasis is required, it’s replaced
by this or that.