3.

RHYTHM
Rhythm is the periodic repetition of an event. Spanish and English differ in the type
of event that is periodically repeated: whereas in Spanish the events that occur at
approximately equal intervals are the syllables, in English they are the stresses. The main
principle that must be considering with respect to the rhythm of English is that accented
syllables tend to be separated from each other by unaccented ones, and that the “distance”
from one accented syllable to another accented syllable must be approximately the same.

STRESS-TIMED RHYTHM VS. SYLLABLE-TIMED RHYTHM

English is said to have a stress-timed rhythm because accented syllables appear separated
by unaccented ones and because the time between each accented syllable is the same. This
means that unaccented syllables are compressed and quickened to give time for the following
accented syllable to occur at regular interval of time. In the sentences:
‘How many ‘were there OoOo
‘How many more ‘were there OooOo
‘How many more of those ‘were there OoooOo

Spanish, French and Italian, on the contrary, is said to have a syllable-timed rhythm
because it is the syllables, either accented or unaccented, which tend to occur at regular
intervals. In Spanish, unaccented syllables are only slightly shortened and weakened.
The tendency to present similar intervals of time between accented syllables is technically
termed as isochrony. But absolute isochrony is seldom found in real speech. Isochrony only
occurs in carefully organised sentences, particularly in reading aloud, but is far less evident in
informal, conversational styles.

THE BORROWING RULE

The one simple rule of English rhythm is the BORROWING RULE, whereby a
syllable with a reduced vowel “borrows time” from any immediately preceding syllable
containing a full vowel. Each syllable containing a reduced vowel is much shorter and by
this rule a full-vowelled syllable is itself shortened if immediately followed by a syllable
with a reduced vowel:
Example: The (1) dark (2) blue (3) pat (4) tern (5) is (6) the (7) best (8)

Syllable 1 has a reduced vowel and so is short. Syllables 2 and 3 have full vowels and
are long. Syllable 4 has a full vowel but is shortened from long because syllable 5 with a
reduced vowel borrows time from it. Syllable 6 and 7 each take the short time of syllables
with reduced vowels. Finally, syllable 8 has a full vowel and is long.
RHYTHMIC ALTERNATION
English rhythm is characterized by the principle of rhythmic alternation (strong and
weak syllables alternate with one another [TROCHAIC RHYTHM]). Thus, a structure
which does not observe the stress alternation principle will be modified (as too many
stresses appear next to each other or there are long sequences of unstressed syllables) by
the rhythm rules to conform more closely to the ideal rhythmic alternation.

1. If a series of content words appear next to each other some stresses are dropped. There
is a stress on each of the following content words: ‘John's/ ‘friend/ ‘wants/ 'get / ‘home
/be’fore /‘midnight ; but some of these stresses, usually stresses on alternate words, are
dropped when these words occur in a sentence such as: 'John's friend 'wants to get 'home
before 'midnight. Similarly if an utterance contains a succession of 3 stresses as in
‘big/‘blue/ ‘eyes, the intermediate stress tends to be dropped in order to achieve a more
regular alternation (if the second one does not have more than two syllables): a ‘nice old
‘chair.

2. If an utterance consists of a succession of unstressed function words, e.g. he should

have been ‘earlier, stresses are added to produce a more regular rhythm: 'he should have
'been here 'earlier. Similarly, the rhythmical stressing of if and as in: 'If you are 'right, we
should be 'getting there ‘soon; / 'As a 'child he 'studied 'English but not in medial position
when next to another stress: ‘We should be ‘getting there ‘soon if you are ‘right / He
‘studied ‘English as a ‘child.

If and as are not likely to be stressed when immediately followed by a stress

syllable: As ‘Head of De’partment…

If an extra stress is to be added in ‘leave it in the ‘car, due to a very deliberate and slow
speaking rate, it cannot be added on the determinant, but must be added on the
preposition: ‘leave it ‘in the ‘car.

3. If two stresses are next to each other in a phrase, e.g. a ,Japa’nese ‘student / ,after’noon
‘tea, the first stress is moved to the preceding strong syllable: ‘Japanese ‘student /
‘afternoon ‘tea, to space of the stresses, but in the sentence be’tween ‘cars does not become
‘between ‘cars because the first syllable in between is not a strong syllable.
‘During the week’end The ‘weekend ‘party
English place names:
On ‘Friday after’noon The ‘afternoon ‘party
In ‘Hyde-Park ‘corner ‘Opposite Hyde-‘Park
‘tell the head-‘master The ‘head-master’s ‘office
She ‘lives near On ‘Picadilly ‘Circus
Near the ground-‘floor The ‘ground-floor ‘lights. Pica’dilly
 4. Less frequently single-accented words may suffer from this rhythmical modification:
He is ‘there al’ready -> He is already ‘gone

THE ANAPHORA RULE

The relative stress of words in a sentence depends on their relative importance. The
most important words are: nouns, adjectives, demonstrative and interrogative pronouns,
principal verbs and adverbs (CONTENT WORDS), so in the following examples, it is these
word classes which are stressed:
Whén would you like to spéak to the mánager? / The néw clóth was álready on the táble. /
Whát would you hópe to achíeve by wríting a létter? / Thát was the lást stráw.

However, there are some exceptions to this general rule:

1. When it is desired to emphasize a word for contrast (contrastive stress), its stress
is increased, while the stress of the surrounding words is dimished (See exercises 2 and 3).
Thus, in the following example, if we emphasize the function words “ín” and “róund”, the
lexical words “food” and “mouth” are relieved from the stresses: Pút the food ín your mouth,
nót róund your mouth. / Do you wánt coffee wíth sugar, or withóut sugar?

Note that in the Spanish equivalent of this last example, it would not be normal to stress
the preposition and destress the noun unless special emphasis were demanded by the
context:
- ¿Quíere café cón azúcar o sín azúcar?
- Cón azúcar.
- ¿Me ha dícho sín azúcar, nó?
- ¡He dícho cón azúcar!

In this last sentence there is now a note of impatience, which warrants the use of this
special stress in Spanish.

2. When a sentence contains a word which has been used just before, that word is not
generally stressed. This is called the ANAPHORA RULE, examples: Hów many tímes did he
hít you? Thrée times (no stress on the second token of TIMES). My name’s Bónd, Jámes
Bond (no stress on the second token of BOND).

3. Exclamatory “what” is unstressed: What a wónderful dáy! What stránge péople!

4. The word “street” in names of streets is never stressed: Góodge street; Wárren
street but Drúry Láne, Ábbey Róad, Sháftesbury Ávenue.
 5. The various parts of the verb “to be” are generally unstressed, except in final
position after an unstressed personal pronoun: The férry-boat was néarly always late; The
cáts were wáiting to be féd; Hére we áre. I dón’t know whére it ís.

Given the different accentuation patterns observed in English and Spanish, the main
problem that Spanish speakers have when they speak English is that they always place the
main accent on the last word of a sentence, no matter whether it is old or new information.
It’s crucial that Spanish speakers note that English sentence stress is more flexible than the
Spanish one and that the location of the main accent can be moved from sentence final
position to forward elements if they are more informative.

THE NUCLEAR STRESS: BROAD FOCUS SENTENCES

In a group of words there will be one word which is more important than the others and
the stressed syllable of this word receives the NUCLEAR STRESS. The accented syllable of
this word is more prominent than the other stressed syllables; this is achieved by extra-heavy
stress accompanied by a change in pitch, an upward or downward movement of the pitch of
voice, or a combination of the two. When this the case, the utterance is said to have a neutral
intonation, as we are not making any of its elements contrastive or emphatic.
In broad-focus sentences, the nuclear stress falls on the stressed syllable of the last
important words in an utterance. Examples:
Whát do you think you´re dóing? / You´ll never sée her agáin. / Lét’s have a pícnic in the
wóods.
However, there are some exceptions to the NUCLEAR STRESS RULE. First, the
nuclear stress may be fronted in sentences like:
The políce are coming! / The kítchen’s on fire! / There´s a spíder in the bath.
If there’s a pronoun in
subject position, the nucleus will The last important words are “doing, again and
be on the predicate, as a pronoun woods”, respectively and it is their stressed syllables
indicates that the subject is no that receive the strongest stress in the utterance.
longer part of the focus: It’s cóme
óff.
If we compare sentences which do not describe “sudden happening” with the above,
we see that the NUCLEAR STRESS RULE holds, and the sentence stress is on the last
important element:
Your bróther’s washing. These sentences have in common that verbs are intransitive, and
The téacher’s fúrious they describe a “coming on the scene” or “sudden happening”.
because a bóy swóre. Such sentences are sometimes referred as EVENT or
PRESENTATION SENTENCES. In these sentences we may
include statements related to body sensations, telephone
identifications, machinery breakdowns and the announcement of
someone’s death.
 Apart from involving appearance or disappearance, these last sorts of sentences have
human subjects and verbs describe somebody doing something and not merely happening.
The second exception to the nuclear stress rule is that of structures containing nouns
followed by common verbs:
I have instrúctions to leave. / Péter has a dúty to perform. / I have some stámps to sort
out. / There’s stíll the wáshing to do. / I´ve só much wórk to do.
Other exceptions to the nuclear stress rule include:
1. Sentence adverbials and adverbials of time: I go to Mánchester usually. It wasn’t a
very nice dáy unfortunately (the adverbials “usually and unfortunately are destressed”).
2. Afterthoughts – vocatives, direct speech markers: Don’t you agrée, Peter? (“Peter”
is destressed).
3. Old information at the end of the sentence (ANAPHORA RULE): Why don’t you
invite John to the party? Because I don’t líke John (this “John” is old information and so it’s
destressed). We had a long wáit. You mean we had a véry long wait (this “wait” is old
information and so it’s destressed).