Module 7.

BLENDING OF WORDS: STRESSING AND UNSTRESSING

Earlier, you learned that monosyllabic words are stressed when spoken in isolation and
that polysyllabic words have only one primary stress. Our knowledge of stress must, however, go
beyond words because we do not really talk in words, most of the time, but in sentences, or at
least phrases. In normal connected speech, words flow. along smoothly with each other in
uninterrupted fashion, such that one word seems to merge with the next without any pause at all,
resulting in a single breath unit. Saying words as a breath unit and then hearing them as a single
thought group is the process of blending words.

WHICH WORDS SHOULD BE STRESSED?

Words are divided into two classes: (1) content words which have meaning in themselves, like
literature, professor, and exciting; and function words, which have little or no meaning other than
the grammatical idea they express, such as the, at, shall. In general, content words are stressed,
but function words are left unstressed, unless the speaker wishes to call special attention to them.

CONTENT WORDS, usually stressed, include

1. Nouns
2. Verbs (with a few exceptions listed under function words).
3. Adjectives
4. Adverbs
5. Demonstratives: this, that, these, those
6. Interrogatives: Who, what, why, etc.

FUNCTION WORDS, usually unstressed, include

1. Articles: the, a, an
2. Preposition: at, in, to, of, etc.
3. Personal pronouns: I, she; they, him, it, etc.
4. Possessive adjectives: her, their, my, its, your, etc.
5. Relative pronouns: who, which, that, whom
6. Common conjunctions: and, as, if, but, or
7. One used as a noun-substitute, as in the brown shoes and the black one.
8. The verbs be, have, will, can, would, shall, could, do, may, might and must.
These are verbs which may be used as auxiliaries: (You should evaluate it. They are performing
now.) Even when they are the principal verb in the sentence, they are usually unstressed: (The
concert was beautiful. Pilar has an amiable personality.) On the other hand, they are stressed
when they come at the end of a sentence (Better study while you can), and when they are used in
reiterative expressions (Good speech is an asset, isn't it?).

The Pronunciation of Unstressed Words of One Syllable.

The group of unstressed words of one syllable includes most of the commonest words in the language:
the, of, and, to, a, in, that, it, is, and I. By pronouncing the vowel of an unstressed syllable as /ə/, /l/or
/U/, a speaker weakens that syllable and increases the contrast between it and stressed syllables.

There are some words always weakened: a, an, and, of, or, the, and to. That is weakened when used as a
relative pronoun or a conjunction. Also, the verbs are, can and have are usually obscure or weakened,
but are given their clear pronunciation when that is used at the end of a sentence or in a tag question.

Thought Groups and Blending.

A thought group is a portion of a sentence set off from the rest by a pause or pauses.

When we make a pause in a sentence, it's usually for one of three reasons:

1. To make the meaning clear: When the wind blows / the waves run high.
2. For emphasis: Frankly, / I'm disappointed in you.
3. Or, simply to enable the speaker to catch a breath.

It is obviously impossible to draw up a neat set of "rules" for the division of sentences into thought
groups. In general, no pause is made within closely related word groups such as adjectives or articles
and the nouns they modify and so on.

To distribute pauses intelligently, it is first of all necessary that speakers understand the full meaning of
what they are saying and within thought groups, words and syllables are not pronounced as separate
units; they flow along smoothly. So, we shouldn't use glottal stops to separate vowel from vowel or
consonant from vowel; for example, the /iy/ and /ow/ of be over /biy owv ər/ should be blended.

Module 8. Thought Groups and Pausing

Thought groups are another aspect of spoken English rhythm that can have a beneficial impact on your
intelligibility. Thought groups allow you to organize your speech into groups of words that make up a
single idea (Grant, 2010). They help your listener(s) better understand the information in your speech by
organizing your ideas into comprehensible “packages” that are easy to process (Grant, 2010).

The only thing I’m interested in is completing this project on time.

The sentence is divided into two thought groups, with a very short pause in between. Every thought
group in English also has a single focus word, which is usually the last content word in the thought group.
The focus word usually has greater stress relative to the other words in the sentence. The focus word in
the first thought group above is interested; in the second thought group, the focus word is time. (Note:
Sometimes thought groups may contain only one word, as in this example.)

First, check to make sure that your seat belt is secure.

The sentence above contains 3 thought groups and 3 focus words.

Thought groups can be especially useful in presentations, speeches, debates, and other semi-prepared
public speaking contexts, but creating thought groups will improve your intelligibility in both your
conversational and formal speech.

It may not be easy to identify the boundaries of thought groups at first. If you’ve ever read a piece of
writing out loud, you’ve probably noticed how certain types of punctuation (commas, semicolons,
quotation marks, etc.) can separate thought groups. However, thought groups are not always separated
by punctuation (as in the sentence, The only thing I’m interested in is completing this project on time.).
Also, not every sentence will always be written down! Thought groups are a quality of speech, which are
carried into writing with punctuation.

Finally, keep in mind that a single sentence may be divided into different thought groups, thereby
affecting the meaning. Consider this silly example:

Woman without her man is nothing.

What does that sentence mean? Depending on how you divide the thought groups, the meaning can
change (very dramatically in this case).

Woman/ without her/ man is nothing.

Woman without her man/ is nothing.

As this example illustrates, thought groups are a tool to help you clearly communicate your meaning,
not something you have to “find” in every sentence you want to say. Different speakers can and do use
thought groups differently.
Example Questions:
Look at the following sentences, and identify (1) the most likely thought group boundaries and (2) the
focus word in each thought group.

1. The first item on our agenda is to address parking.

2. I’d like to introduce my wife Nita.
3. If you take care of the accounts I’ll handle the meeting.
 4. Microsoft CEO Bill Gates started a charity to fight poverty.
5. My new phone is acting up so could you email me instead?

Answers:
1. The first item/ on our agenda/ is to address parking.
2. I’d like to introduce my wife/ Nita.
3. If you take care of the accounts/ I’ll handle the meeting.
4. Microsoft CEO Bill Gates/started a charity/ to fight poverty.
5. My new phone is acting up/ so could you email me instead?