STRESS &

INTONATION

English is a stress-timed language

meaning some syllables will be
longer, and some will be shorter.

STRESS
It is the relative emphasis that may be given to
certain syllables in a word, or to certain words in a
phrase or sentence. To understand word stress, it
helps to understand syllables. Every word is made
from syllables. Each word has one, two, three or
more syllables.
Ex:

PHOtograph
PENcil
MARyland

phoTOgraphy
comMITtee
soCIety

photoGRAphic
volunTEER
information

PROMINENCE
Stress or accentuation depends crucially on the
speakers ability to make certain syllables more
noticeable than others. A syllable which stands out in
this way is a prominent syllable.
A syllable might be more prominent by differing from
the surrounding syllables in terms of:
loudness
pitch
length

WORD STRESS RULES

1. One word has only one stress. (One word cannot
have two stresses. If you hear two stresses, you hear
two words. Two stresses cannot be one word. It is true
that there can be a "secondary" stress in some words.
But a secondary stress is much smaller than the main
[primary] stress, and is only used in long words.)

2. We can only stress vowels, not consonants.

Several rules for word stress which can make it

easier to deal with:
STRESS ON THE FIRST SYLLABLE
rules:

2-syllable NOUNS

Ex:

2-syllable ADJECTIVES

PROper, SLENder, CLEver,

HAppy

PREsent, EXport, CHIna, Table

STRESS ON LAST SYLLABLE

rules:

ex:

2-syllable VERBS

preSENT, exPORT, deCIDE,

beGIN

There are many two-syllable words in English whose

meaning and class change with a change in stress.
Ex: the word present
PREsent - noun (gift)
- adjective
(opposite of absent)

preSENT - verb (to offer)

STRESS ON PENULTIMATE SYLLABLE

(penultimate = second from end)
rules:

ex:

Words ending in -ic

GRAPHic, geoGRAPHic,
geoLOGic

Words ending in -sion and -tion

teleVIsion, reveLAtion

For a few words, native English speakers don't always "agree" on

where to put the stress.
For example:
some people say teleVIsion and others say TELevision.
another example is: CONtroversy and conTROversy.

STRESS ON ANTE-PENULTIMATE SYLLABLE

(ante-penultimate = third from end)
rules:

ex:

Words ending in -cy, -ty, -phy and - deMOcracy, dependaBIlity,

gy

phoTOgraphy, geOLogy

Words ending in -al

CRItical, geoLOGical
COMPOUND WORDS
(words with two parts)

rules:

ex:

For compound nouns, the stress is

on the first part

BLACKbird, GREENhouse

For compound adjectives, the stress

is on the second part

bad-TEMpered, old-FASHioned

For compound verbs, the stress is on

the second part

underSTAND, overFLOW

In spoken language, grammatical words

(auxiliary verbs, prepositions, pronouns, articles)
usually do not receive any stress. Lexical words,
however, (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs) must
have at least one stressed syllable.
Ex:
F

The BEAUtiful MOUNtain apPEARed transfix

F

in the DIStance.

CHANGING THE MEANING THROUGH WORD

STRESS

When you are speaking English the words you

stress can change the underlying meaning of a
sentence. Let's take a look at the following sentence:
I said she might consider a new haircut.
I said she might consider a new haircut.
I said she might consider a new haircut.
I said she might consider a new haircut.
I said she might consider a new haircut.

INTONATION

In linguistics, intonation is the variation of pitch when speaking.

Intonation and stress are two main elements of linguistic
prosody.
Intonation is the music of a language, and is perhaps the most
important element of a good accent.
Intonation the rise and fall of pitch in our voices plays a
crucial role in how we express meaning.

INTONATION CONTOUR
- the rise and fall of pitch throughout the sentence.
Consider the difference between:

You're going. (statement)

You're going? (question)

An important feature of English intonation is the use of an

international accent (and extra stress) to mark the focus of a
sentence. Normally this focus accent goes on the last major word of
the sentence, but it can come earlier in order to emphasize one of the
earlier words or to contrast it with something else.

TONE
A tone is a certain pattern, not an arbitrary one,
because it is meaningful in discourse. By means of tones,
speakers signal whether to refer, proclaim, agree,
disagree, question or hesitate, or indicate completion and
continuation of turn-taking in speech.
TYPES OF TONE:
FALL
LOW-RISE
HIGH-RISE
FALL-RISE

Fall (A Falling Tone)

A falling tone is by far the most common used
tone of all. It signals a sense of finality, completion,
belief in the content of the utterance, and so on
Questions that begin with wh-questions are generally
pronounced with a falling tone:
Where is the PEN cil?
Imperative statements have a falling tone
Go and see a DOC tor.
Requests or orders have a falling tone too.
Please sit DOWN.
Exclamations:
Watch OUT!
Yes/No questions and tag questions seeking or expecting
confirmation
You like it, DON'T you?
Here it is used when it is sure that the answer is yes.
Have you MET him?

Low Rise (A Rising Tone)

This tone is used in genuine 'Yes/No' questions
where the speaker is sure that he does not know the
answer, and that the addressee knows the answer.
Such Yes/No questions are uttered with a rising tone.
For instance, consider the following question uttered
with a rising tone, the answer of which could be either
of the three options:
QUESTIONS: Isnt he NICE?
Do you want some COFfee?
ANSWER: YES.
NO.
I DONT KNOW.

High Rise (A Rising Tone)

If the tonic stress is uttered with extra pitch
height, as in the following intonation units, we may
think that the speaker is asking for a repetition or
clarification, or indicating disbelief.
Examples:
a) I'm taking up taxidermy this autumn.
b) Taking up WHAT? (clarification)
a)She passed her driving test.
b)b) She PASSED? (disbelief)

Fall Rise
Fall-rise signals dependency, continuity, and
non-finality. It generally occurs in sentence non-final
intonation units. Consider the following in which the
former of the intonation units are uttered with a fallrise tone (the slash indicates a pause):
Examples:
Private enterPRISE / is always Efficient.
A quick tour of the CIty / would be NICE .
PreSUmably / he thinks he CAN.
Usually / he comes on SUNday