LETRAS Fundamentos da Pronúncia do Inglês

2020.2 Student:
IN TODAY’S LESSON 1) understand what assimilation is; 2) get acquainted with the word stress patterns of
YOU WILL: English; 3) explore the most common occurrences of assimilation 4) practice the
predominant word stress patterns.

CLASS 12: Assimilation & word stress

WARM-UP: USEFUL CONCEPTS Read the definitions and the concepts to the examples. (1) (2)
A assimilation B word stress/ syllable stress
Neighboring sounds between syllables or words tend to Some vowel phonemes of a word will sound longer or
take on or assimilate one another’s the characteristics. louder than others. The resulting effect of this is what is
This phenomenon is called assimilation. called stress.

a. ( b ) translated b. ( a ) issue c. ( b ) parked d. ( a ) grandpa

VIDEO 01: Pronunciation: Assimilation of /s/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-8FkAqstTU

01. (3) Watch VIDEO 01. Practice saying the examples of /s/ assimilation given in the video.

02. (3) Match the examples to their phonetic transcriptions.

a. Bless you! ( e ) /ðɪʃɝːt/

b. Can you just shut the door, please? ( c ) /dəʊntˈwɝːr.iðætsˈjuː.ʒu.əl/
c. Don’t worry, that’s usual. ( f ) /ðɪʃjɑːtɪzˈbjuː.t̬ə.fəl/
d. He always makes you feel good. ( a ) /ˈbleʃjuː/
e. This shirt… ( d ) /hiːˈɑːl.weɪzmeɪkʃjuːfiːlgʊd/
f. This yacht is beautiful. ( b ) /kənjuːdʒʌˈʃʌðədɔːrpliːz/

VIDEO 02: Pronunciation: Assimilation of /n/ followed by /p/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yrzg7DDo0ao

03. (3) Watch VIDEO 02 up to 1’18”. When people pronounce the tube station name Green Park, do you hear the
sound /n/ or the sound /m/?
/m/

04. (3) Continue watching the video up to 2’15”. According to the presenter’s explanation, which statement below
best describes what happens when people pronounce Green Park?

a. ( ) Sloppy people prefer to pronounce Green Park as /'gri:mpa:rk/ because they speak too fast to pay
attention to all the consonant sounds.
b. ( ) The bilabial sound /n/ assimilates the alveolar sound /p/ to make the transition between the words
‘green’ and ‘park’ easier and more fluent.
 c. ( x ) The bilabial sound /p/ assimilates the alveolar sound /n/ to make the transition between the words
‘green’ and ‘park’ easier and more fluent.

05. (3) Listen to the other examples in VIDEO 02 and practice saying them.

06. (3) Transcribe the examples from VIDEO 02. Notice that the part of the examples where the assimilation happens
has been highlighted.

a. I own ten pairs of socks.

b. He didn’t do it on purpose.

c. I would love to live in Paris.

d. Can you come on Wednesday?

07. (1) Expand your understanding of assimilation by reviewing the rules of this phenomenon of connected speech
with the PowerPoint slideshow entitled “Rules of Assimilation”, posted in today’s class folder.

08. (2) (4) Access the file named STRESS PATTERNS 1_Word Stress 101, posted in FILES – CLASS MATERIALS – CLASS
12: Assimilation & Word Stress. Follow the teacher’s instructions.

09. (2) (4) Access the file named STRESS PATTERNS 2_Affixation Rules, posted in FILES – CLASS MATERIALS – CLASS
12: Assimilation & Word Stress. Listen to the teacher’s explanations and follow his instructions.

10. (2) (4) Access the file named STRESS PATTERNS 3_Same or Different and follow the teacher’s instructions.

VIDEO 03: Stress in long words - Stop saying https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGRIyLimIwU

11. (2) (4) Before you watch VIDEO 03, look up the word ‘advertisement’ in the Cambridge Learner’s Dictionary:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/advertisement and fill out the table below. Where does the
stressed syllable fall?

advertisement phonetic transcription stressed syllable

UK pronunciation  /ədˈvɜː.tɪs.mənt/ 1( )2(x )3( )4( )

US pronunciation  /æd.vɝːˈtaɪz.mənt/ 1( )2( )3(x )4( )

12. (2) (4) Watch VIDEO 03. Which tips below does Tim give? Check all that apply.

a. ( x ) Look up the pronunciation of new words in the dictionary.

b. ( ) Memorize the suffixes that ‘steal’ the word stress.
c. ( ) Remember that most words are stressed on the first syllable.
d. ( x ) Remember that the symbol ( ' ) comes before the stressed syllable.
e. ( x ) Some suffixes determine where the stress falls within a word.

13. (4) Can you correctly stress Tim’s challenge words?

a. addressee ( b ) •●••

b. biography ( d ) ••●

c. climatology ( a ) ••●
d. journalese ( c ) ••●••