ASSIGNMENT No.

1
Name: Amina Mushtaq
Program /level: BS
Roll no: BY409418
Course: Phonetics and Phonology (9056)
Semester: Spring, 2021
Level: MA TEFL
ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY,
ISLAMABAD
(Department of English Language and Applied
Linguistics)
Question:
What is primary stress? Elaborate primary and secondary stress by giving
examples.
Answer:
Stress
English is usually known as a stress-timed language. There is roughly an even duration between
successive stressed syllables. Unlike it, in syllable-timed languages, each syllable is pronounced
with approximately the same length of time. Stress is the degree of force used in the
pronunciation of a certain syllable making higher sound for listeners. A syllable is a unit of
pronunciation that has one vowel sound. Stress and syllable are both linked to each other closely;
however, it is difficult to define stress from a listener’s point of view.
A stressed syllable is often, but not always, louder than an unstressed syllable. A stressed
syllable is produced with greater respiratory energy by pushing more air out of the lungs in one
syllable as compared to others.
Importance of Stress
It is important to put the stress in the correct position of a syllable. It helps a listener to
understand the message more easily. The stress over the wrong syllable in a word make it very
difficult to understand. Wrongly stressed words are able to alter the meaning or the type. For
example, the word import can be distinguished as a noun and as a verb by the users of English. If
the listeners understand the meanings of the uttered words, mistakes with word stress can make
them feel irritated which hinder effective communication. One of the researchers found out that,
“there is a great deal of evidence that native speakers rely very much on the stress pattern of
words when they are listening to others. In fact, experiments have demonstrated that often when
a native speaker mishears a word, it is because the foreigner has put the stress in the wrong place,
not because he or she mispronounced the sound of the word” (Longman, 1987). It is important
for English learners to comply the correct placement of word stress in order to avoid confusion.
For example, the alteration of stress in words such as ˈobject and obˈject may 144 create
confusion if they are not stressed properly.

Types of Stress
In English language, there are only three main types of stress. These types are called primary
stress, secondary stress and unstressed. These types of stress are enough to play two main roles;
they show the features of the word itself (word stress) and they also show the points in the word
which may carry the important information when the word is used in longer utterance (sentence
stress). Roach (2009) refers to the fourth level of stress which is Tertiary. Tertiary level is rare in
English language.
Primary Stress
When we pronounce certain words, we put stress on certain syllables. There are some syllables
which are very prominent and strong due to the effect of stress. Primary stress represents the
maximal prominence of the syllable in a word. Roach (2009) mentions that primary stress is on
the strongest syllable in a word which appears to be more prominent than other syllables.
Primary stress can be marked with a vertical mark [ ' ] placed above and in front of the syllable.

Examples:
Father / ˈfɑːðə /
About / əˈbaʊt /
Receive / rɪˈsiːv /
Camera / ˈkæmərə /

Secondary Stress
In long words of more than one syllable, a type of stress can be observed, that is weaker than
primary stress (strong). The IPA marking for secondary stress is [,] to be placed before the
syllable concerned.

Examples:
Photography / fəˈtɒgrəfi /
Anthropology / ˌænθrəˈpɒləʤi /
Organization / ˌɔːgənaɪˈzeɪʃən /
Activation / ˌæktɪˈveɪʃən /

Question:
Differentiate between weak and strong forms of pronunciation.
Answer:
Grammatical words are words that help us construct the sentence but they don't mean anything:
articles, prepositions, conjunctions, auxiliary verbs, etc.

These words have no stress, and so they are weakened. That weakened form is called "weak form" as
opposed to a "strong form", which is the full form of the word pronounced with stress. The strong
form only happens when we pronounce the words alone, or when we emphasize them. Weak forms
are very often pronounced with a schwa, and so are very weak and sometimes a bit difficult to hear
properly.

Sometimes weak forms are easy to spot, because we use contractions in the spelling to show it:
I am French (strong form)   I'm French (weak form)

But usually there is no change of spelling, only the pronunciation is different:

But   strong form: /bʌt/ weak form: /bət/

Tell him to go   strong forms /hɪm/ /tu:/ weak form: /tel əm tə gəʊ/

As you can see, the grammatical words "him" and "to" are unstressed and have a weak form when
pronounced inside a sentence.

another example: I would like some fish and chips

strong forms   /aɪ wʊd laɪk sʌm fɪʃ ænd tʃɪps/ This version sounds unnatural and, believe it or not,
more difficult to understand for a native speaker.

weak forms   /ɑ wəd laɪk səm fɪʃ ən tʃɪps/ and we can use weaker forms sometimes: /ɑd laɪk səm
fɪʃ ən tʃɪps/ so we can see that the auxiliary verb "would" has two weak forms /wəd/ and /d/

Students who are learning English usually use only strong forms, and they sound very unnatural.
English speakers use weak forms all the time, every single sentence is full of them, and students find
it difficult to understand because they are not used to them, and very often they don't even know they
exist.

Why do grammatical words weaken the way they do. It's all about rhythm. The way English is
pronounced makes it necessary to weaken function words so you can keep the rhythm. You can
find more about rhythm here or simply watch this introduction video:

Strong form and weak form in English conversation

English Words are Stressed when speaking

It is very common to use strong form and weak form when speaking in English because

English is a stress-time language. It means you stress on content words such as nouns and
principal verbs, while structure words such as helping verbs, conjunctions, prepositions… are not
stressed. Using proper strong form and weak form can help you to speak English more
fluently.
For example, take a look at these sentences:

 She can play violin.

 Mary is from Chicago.
Here are these two sentences with stressed words in bold.

 She can play violin.
 Mary is from Chicago.
In this case the words ‘can‘ and ‘is from‘ are weak form. The weak form change the vowel to “ə”
sound.
 can in strong form: /kæn/
 can in weak form: /kən/
 from in strong form: /frɔm/
 from in weak form: /frəm/
Below are some function words that you can remember:

 auxiliar verbs am, are, be, been, can, could, do, does, has, had, shall, should,
was, were, would,
 prepositions at, for, from, of, to,
 pronouns he, her, him, his, me, she, them, us, we, you,
 conjunctions for, and, but, or, than, that,
 particles to,
 articles  a, the, an,
 

Function words have both strong and weak forms in English

A lot of function words have both strong and weak forms. As a rule, the weak form turns the
vowel to be muted. For example, take a look at these sentences:

Word Strong form Weak form

/ði/ /ðə/
– when stands before the vowels – when stands before the consonants

The Ex: They have bought the apples. Ex: I dislike the man.

/ bət/
/bʌt/ – mention the difference
– stress on the contrast
Ex: His girl friend is very beautiful, but is not
But Ex: I’m but a fool. enough intelligent.

/ðæt/ /ðət/
– as a demonstrative pronoun or – as a relative pronoun.
adjective
Ex: I think that we should improve quality of
That Ex: That is Tom’s car. services a lot.

Does /dʌz/ /dəz/

 – stress on the verb of action
– as a helping verb ()
Ex: She  does hope for interview
next week. Ex: Does she work as a teacher?

 /him/
Ex: This gift was sent to him not /im/
Him to his wife. Ex: I haven’t seen him for ages.

/hə:/
Ex: He loves her but not other /hə/
girls. Ex: Her mother is still young.
Her

 /fɔ:/ /fə/
Ex: A good job is what I Ex: I am looking for a job.
For looking  for.

 /æt/ /ət/
What are you looking at? I’ll meet you at the office.
At
How strong form and weak form are used in everyday English conversation.

The weak form is usually used in everyday English conversation, especially when speaking
fast. But there are many situations you have to speak in strong form for the followings:
1. Stand at the end of sentence

 What are you looking at (/æt/)?

 Where are you from (/ frɔm/)?
2. In the contrast situations

 The letter is from him, not to him. /frɔm/ /tu/

 He likes her, but does she like him? /hə:/ /him/
3. Stress on opposite prepositions

 I travel to and from London a lot. /tu/ /frɔm/

4. Stress on the purpose of the meaning.

 You must get the unniversity certificate to have good job in the future. /mʌst/
 You must choose us or them, you cannot have all. /mʌst/
The words that have two syllables or more will have the strong pronunciation and weak
pronunciation. The vowel of the weak pronunciation will be chaned to /ə/ sound. Let’s see the
following examples:
 Strong form Weak form

U Butter / ‘bʌtə/ Autumn / ‘ɔ:təm/

E Settlement / ‘setlmənt Violet / ‘vaiələt/

Or Mortgage / ‘mɔ:gidʒ/ Forget / fə‘get/

O Potato / pə’teitou/ Carrot / ‘kærət/

Ar March /mɑ:t∫/ Particular /pə‘tikjulə/

A Character / ‘kæriktə/ Attend [ə‘tend]

 

Question:

Define phonology and differentiate between phonetics and phonology with

examples.

Answers:

Define phonology

The branch of science dealing with the relations between climate and periodic
biological phenomena (such as bird migration or plant flowering)

Or

 periodic biological phenomena that are correlated with climatic conditions

Phonetics vs Phonology

Phonetics and Phonology are two terms that have to be understood with an understanding of the
difference between them. It is important to know that phonetics deals with the study of the
production of sounds. On the other hand, phonology deals with the study of the characteristics of
sounds and their changes. This is the basic difference between phonetics and phonology. It is
very important to remember that both phonetics and phonology belongs to the scientific study of
a language which is known as linguistics. Linguistics is divided into four main parts as
phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. Phonetics comes under phonology as both are
concerned with sound.
Phonetics:
Phonetics deals with the organs of sound production. The organs of sound production are mouth,
tongue, throat, nose, lips and the palate. From these organs or parts in the mouth various sounds
are produced. These sounds are called as gutturals, palatals, cerebrals, dentals, and labials.
Gutturals are produced in the throat, palatals are produced from palate, cerebrals are produced at
the roof of the palate, dentals from teeth, and labials from lips. However, if you take a look at the
IPA, International Phonetic Alphabet, the classification for the place of origin or articulation of
sound for consonants (pulmonic) is much more broad. They are as bilabial (lips), labio-dental
(lips and teeth), dental (teeth), alveolar (alveolar ridge), post- alveolar, retroflex (tongue is curled
back), palatal (palate: hard palate), velar (velum: soft palate), uvular, pharyngeal (pharynx),
glottal (vocal chords).

Phonology:
Phonology, on the other hand, deals with the sounds and their changes due to various factors such as
climatic change, race, influence of other languages and the like. There are various sound changes such as
diphthongization, palatalization, metathesis, anaptyxis, apocope, syncope, vowel breaking, haplology,
assimilation, dissimilation, and the like. It is interesting to note that phonology plays a Question:

Differentiate between weak and strong forms of pronunciation.

Answer:
Grammatical words are words that help us construct the sentence but they don't mean anything:
articles, prepositions, conjunctions, auxiliary verbs, etc.

These words have no stress, and so they are weakened. That weakened form is called "weak form" as
opposed to a "strong form", which is the full form of the word pronounced with stress. The strong
form only happens when we pronounce the words alone, or when we emphasize them. Weak forms
are very often pronounced with a schwa, and so are very weak and sometimes a bit difficult to hear
properly.

Sometimes weak forms are easy to spot, because we use contractions in the spelling to show it:

I am French (strong form)   I'm French (weak form)

But usually there is no change of spelling, only the pronunciation is different:

But   strong form: /bʌt/ weak form: /bət/

Tell him to go   strong forms /hɪm/ /tu:/ weak form: /tel əm tə gəʊ/

As you can see, the grammatical words "him" and "to" are unstressed and have a weak form when
pronounced inside a sentence.
another example: I would like some fish and chips

strong forms   /aɪ wʊd laɪk sʌm fɪʃ ænd tʃɪps/ This version sounds unnatural and, believe it or not,
more difficult to understand for a native speaker.

weak forms   /ɑ wəd laɪk səm fɪʃ ən tʃɪps/ and we can use weaker forms sometimes: /ɑd laɪk səm
fɪʃ ən tʃɪps/ so we can see that the auxiliary verb "would" has two weak forms /wəd/ and /d/

Students who are learning English usually use only strong forms, and they sound very unnatural.
English speakers use weak forms all the time, every single sentence is full of them, and students find
it difficult to understand because they are not used to them, and very often they don't even know they
exist.

Why do grammatical words weaken the way they do. It's all about rhythm. The way English is
pronounced makes it necessary to weaken function words so you can keep the rhythm. You can
find more about rhythm here or simply watch this introduction video:

Strong form and weak form in English conversation

English Words are Stressed when speaking

It is very common to use strong form and weak form when speaking in English because

English is a stress-time language. It means you stress on content words such as nouns and
principal verbs, while structure words such as helping verbs, conjunctions, prepositions… are not
stressed. Using proper strong form and weak form can help you to speak English more
fluently.
For example, take a look at these sentences:

 She can play violin.

 Mary is from Chicago.
Here are these two sentences with stressed words in bold.

 She can play violin.
 Mary is from Chicago.
In this case the words ‘can‘ and ‘is from‘ are weak form. The weak form change the vowel to “ə”
sound.
 can in strong form: /kæn/
 can in weak form: /kən/
 from in strong form: /frɔm/
 from in weak form: /frəm/
Below are some function words that you can remember:

 auxiliar verbs am, are, be, been, can, could, do, does, has, had, shall, should,
was, were, would,
  prepositions at, for, from, of, to,
 pronouns he, her, him, his, me, she, them, us, we, you,
 conjunctions for, and, but, or, than, that,
 particles to,
 articles  a, the, an,
 

Function words have both strong and weak forms in English

A lot of function words have both strong and weak forms. As a rule, the weak form turns the
vowel to be muted. For example, take a look at these sentences:

Word Strong form Weak form

/ði/ /ðə/
– when stands before the vowels – when stands before the consonants

The Ex: They have bought the apples. Ex: I dislike the man.

/ bət/
/bʌt/ – mention the difference
– stress on the contrast
Ex: His girl friend is very beautiful, but is not
But Ex: I’m but a fool. enough intelligent.

/ðæt/ /ðət/
– as a demonstrative pronoun or – as a relative pronoun.
adjective
Ex: I think that we should improve quality of
That Ex: That is Tom’s car. services a lot.

/dʌz/
– stress on the verb of action /dəz/
– as a helping verb ()
Ex: She  does hope for interview
Does next week. Ex: Does she work as a teacher?

 /him/
Ex: This gift was sent to him not /im/
Him to his wife. Ex: I haven’t seen him for ages.

Her /hə:/ /hə/

 Ex: He loves her but not other
girls. Ex: Her mother is still young.

 /fɔ:/ /fə/
Ex: A good job is what I Ex: I am looking for a job.
For looking  for.

 /æt/ /ət/
What are you looking at? I’ll meet you at the office.
At
How strong form and weak form are used in everyday English conversation.

The weak form is usually used in everyday English conversation, especially when speaking
fast. But there are many situations you have to speak in strong form for the followings:
1. Stand at the end of sentence

 What are you looking at (/æt/)?

 Where are you from (/ frɔm/)?
2. In the contrast situations

 The letter is from him, not to him. /frɔm/ /tu/

 He likes her, but does she like him? /hə:/ /him/
3. Stress on opposite prepositions

 I travel to and from London a lot. /tu/ /frɔm/

4. Stress on the purpose of the meaning.

 You must get the unniversity certificate to have good job in the future. /mʌst/
 You must choose us or them, you cannot have all. /mʌst/
The words that have two syllables or more will have the strong pronunciation and weak
pronunciation. The vowel of the weak pronunciation will be chaned to /ə/ sound. Let’s see the
following examples:
Strong form Weak form

U Butter / ‘bʌtə/ Autumn / ‘ɔ:təm/

E Settlement / ‘setlmənt Violet / ‘vaiələt/

Or Mortgage / ‘mɔ:gidʒ/ Forget / fə‘get/

O Potato / pə’teitou/ Carrot / ‘kærət/

 Ar March /mɑ:t∫/ Particular /pə‘tikjulə/

A Character / ‘kæriktə/ Attend [ə‘tend]

 vital role in the study of languages or linguistics. This is due to the fact that phonology paves the
way or lays the foundation for morphology or word building.

On the other hand, it can be said that phonetics is the subset of phonology. This is due to the fact
that phonology is based on phonetics. Hence, phonetics forms a very important part in the
understanding of the origin of sounds. A philologist pays a great importance to both phonetics
and phonology when he compares two or more languages and their characteristics. A linguist
accepts various causes for sound or phonetic changes.

Difference between Phonetics and Phonology:

• Phonetics deals with the study of the production of sounds. On the other hand, phonology deals
with the study of the characteristics of sounds and their changes. This is the basic difference
between phonetics and phonology.

• Phonetics deals with the organs of sound production.

• Phonology, on the other hand, deals with the sounds and their changes.

• It can be said that phonetics is the subset of phonology.

These are the differences between phonetics and phonology.