Department of English SPOKEN ENGLISH

Faculty of Arts and Humanities – Ain Chock SEMESTER 1

Hassan II University
Casablanca, Morocco. Prof. M. EL-HAJJAMI

Word Stress (Cont.)

Suffixes

I. Strong endings
They control the position of stress in words. The following is a list of the most common strong
endings and the exceptions. The stress pattern is enclosed between brackets, using the numbers 0, 1,
2 (the letter C means consonant).

Strong Examples Stress Strong Examples Stress

ending pattern ending pattern
-ity Quality (200) -ial Artificial (1020)
-ety Propriety (0200) -ian Pedestrian (0200)
-ify Intensify (0200) -iate Appreciate (0200)
-efy Liquefy (200) -iant Brilliant (20)
-ion Persuasion (020) -iac Maniac (20)
-io Oratorio (1020) -ient Omniscient (020)
-ior Superior (020) -ience patience/ (20)
-iot Patriot (200) -uent Congruent (200)
-iom Axiom (20) -uence Influence (200)
-ious Serious (20) -ium Aquarium (020)
-eous Spontaneous (020) -uate Accentuate (20)
-uous Congruous (200) -ual Intellectual (1020)
-ible Responsible (020) -CCant Distant (20)
-iCent Intelligent (0200) -CCent Insistent (020)
-uC- Particular (0200) -CCance Acquaintance (020)
-ia Insomnia (020) -CCence Correspondence

When any of the above endings occurs in a word, the stress normally falls on the preceding syllable
(penultimate syllable). However, there are some exceptions and a few cases to remember:

When a verb ends in two consonants, the stress normally falls on the final syllable:
arrest (02) correspond (102) superintend (1002)

The strong ending –ate is a little more complicated.

In nouns and adjectives of two syllables, the strong stress falls on the first syllable:
pirate (20) senate (20)
In verbs of two syllables, the strong stress falls on the second syllable:
create (02) deflate (02) situate (102)
In words with more than two syllables, the strong stress falls two syllables from the end (ante-
penultimate syllable): intoxicate (0200) rehabilitate (10200)

II. Exceptions:
The following examples are the most common and useful exceptions to the rules of strong endings;
however, they are not the only ones.
arabic (2000) arithmetic (0200) arsenic (200) catholic (20)

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heretic (200) lunatic (200) politic (200) rhetoric (200)
dandelion (102) alliance (020) compliant (020) decrial (020)
defiant (020) defiance (020) denial (020) spiritual (200)
breakfast (20) pursuant (020) warrant (20) enhance (02)
ornate (02) experiment (0200) protestant (200) innate (02)
underrate (102) mistranslate (102) discontent (102) debate (02)

Practice:
Provide the stress pattern for each of the following words.
Pathetic: Malicious piety fantastic
Compatriot hypochondriac globalization responsible
Symposium synchronic amplify gorgeous
fastidious Malaysian artificial Simultaneous
society anxiety virility consistent
Studio obedient eloquent disparity
Oratorio dependence ambiguous development
Athletic purity patient politician
Provision stupefy Sympathetic substantial

III. Weak endings

They do not change the stress pattern of the words to which they are added. The most common and
useful weak endings in English and their exceptions are the following.

Weak ending Example Stress pattern Example Stress pattern

-ed recapitulate (10200) recapitulated (102000)
-ly convenient (020) conveniently (0200)
-ary station (20) stationary (2000)
-ery Confection (020) confectionery (02000)
-ness righteous (20) righteousness (200)
-ful mercy (20) merciful (200)
-less motion (20) motionless (200)
-ing surprise (02) surprising (020)
-ingly fascinate (200) fascinatingly (20000)
-edly decide (02) decidedly (0200)
-or navigate (102) navigator (1020)
-able debate(v) (02) debatable (020)
-ment punish (20) punishment (200)
-est Pretty (20) prettiest (200)

IV. Exceptions

Most of the exceptions to weak endings are about the ending –able.
Word Correct stress patterns Wrong stress pattern
orator (200) (020)
admirable (2000), (0200)
comparable (2000) (0200)
lamentable (2000) (0200)
irreparable (0200) (10200)
reputable (2000) (0200)
incomparable (0200) (10200)

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disreputable (02000) (10200)
formidable (2000) (0200)
amicable (2000) (0200)
irrevocable (0200) (10200)
inevitable (02000) (10200)
applicable (2000) (0200)
preferable (2000) (0200)

Provide the stress pattern for each of the following words.

Physics physical (ly) physician
person personal (ly) personify/ personality
photograph photography photographic(ally)
democrat democracy democratic
maths mathematics mathematician
regular regularly regularity
grammar grammarian grammatical/ grammatically
continue continuous continuity

Sentence stress in English

I. Function and content (structure)

Listen to the following sentence: “Shall we go for a walk?”

Which words are stressed? Why?
✦ Spoken English is divided into function and content words.
✦ Function words carry only grammatical meaning, such as prepositions (to, from, for, with),
auxiliaries (are was do have could), articles (a an the), quantifiers (some any few all), pronouns
(he she it you).
✦ Content words carry real meaning such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs.

Nouns, main verbs, adjectives, adverbs, question words and demonstratives are content words, that
is, they have independent meanings of their own, and articles, pronouns, prepositions, auxiliary
verbs, and conjunctions are grammatical words, that is, their main function is to show the
grammatical relations among words.

Exercise 4: In the sentences below, underline the function words and circle content words.
1- Can we go for a swim in the sea?
2- It‟s a beautiful day in the South of England.
3- How do you want to pay for this, sir?
4- Jessica Smith is required in „Arrivals‟ immediately.
5- When you get to the station, give me a call.
6- Would you like some of my carrot cake?

II. Stress and rhythm

The rhythm of English speech depends on the stressed syllables occurring at regular intervals of
time.
'Go and 'post this 'card.

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In this sentence there is one stressed syllable, then one unstressed syllable, and then one stressed
syllable, and so on.

The 'boy you 'met on 'Monday 'came to 'see you.

In this sentence, stressed syllables occur regularly, one after every weak syllable, but there is a
slight pause after 'Monday'.
In sentences that we use in our everyday speech, the stressed syllables may not occur so regularly.
Take the sentence

He is a pro'fessor of Mathe'matics at the Uni'versity of 'Mekness.

There are four stressed syllables. There are four unstressed syllables before the first stressed
syllable, four unstressed syllables between the first and the second stressed syllables, five
unstressed syllables between the second and the third stressed syllables, and three unstressed
syllables between the last two stressed syllables.

A stressed syllable together with any unstressed syllables which may follow it form a stress group.
The fundamental rule of English rhythm is this: each stress group within a word group is given
the same amount of time.

When there are too many unstressed syllables between two stressed syllables, we have to say them
quickly and use the reduced or weak forms of some of the words. In weak syllables the vowels
generally used are ə/, /ɪ/, and /ʊ/. Sometimes we also leave out certain sounds - don't pronounce
them at all.

Article Word Strong form Weak form Example

Articles a /eɪ/ /ə/ It‟s a book
/ɪts ə'bʊk/
An / æn/ /ən/ He ate an apple
/hi: eit ən'æpl/
The /ðiː/ /ðɪ/ Before vowel:
/ðə/ The eigth of june
/ðɪ 'eɪtθ əv/ /'ʤuːn/
Before consonats
The book‟s here
/ðə 'bʊks 'hɪə/
Auxiliaries Are /ɑː/ /ə/ They are going
and modals /ðeɪ/ ə'gəʊɪŋ/

Been /biːn/ /bɪn/ I‟ve been here for nine

months.
/aɪv bɪn hɪə /fə /'naɪn
mʌnθs/
Can /kæn/ /kən/ Can I go now?
/kən aɪ 'gəʊ 'naʊ/?
Could /kʊd/ /kəd/ Could I borrow your
book?
/kəd aɪ 'bɒrəʊ /jə/ /bʊk/?
Has /hæz/ /həz/ The bus has come
/ðə bʌs həz kʌm/

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 Have /hæv/ /həv/ Have they arrived?
/həv ðeɪ əˈraɪvd/?
Must /mʌst/ /məs/ I must go now
/aɪ məs gəʊ naʊ/
Shall /ʃæl/ /ʃəl/ Shall I do it?
/ʃəl aɪ 'du: ɪt/?
Should You should help him
/ʃʊd/ /jʊ ʃəd hɛlp hɪm/.
Prepositions At, for, / ət/, / fə, /fr The letter‟s from my
from, /æt/, /fɔː/, /frɒm/, /ɒv/ əm/, / əv/ mother.
of /ðə ˈlɛtəz frəm/ maɪ
ˈmʌðə/.
It‟s made of silver.
/ɪts meɪd əv ˈsɪlvə/.
Conjunctions And, /ænd/, /æz/, /bʌt/, /ðæn/, /ðæt/ /ənd/ /əz/, / Over and above
as, but, əʌt/, /ðən/, / /ˈəʊvər ənd əˈbʌv/.
than, ðət/ As soon as I can
that, /əz/ /ˈsuːn/ /əz/ /aɪ/
etc. /ˈkæn/.
Pronouns He,me, /hɪ/, /mɪ/, Her aunt's come.
she,you /hiː/,/miː/,/ʃiː/,/juː/,/ʌs/ //ʃɪ/, /jʊ/, /hə ˈɑːnts həz/ kʌm/.
,us /əs/ (possessive)
Could you please as her?
/kəd jʊ ˈpliːz ˈɑːsk ə/?

III. Schwa function words

Read and listen to the passage below, the schwa sound is written in IPA:
I‟d like tə go shopping fər ə pair əf shoes, bət thə shops ə closed becəse thəs ə weathər əlert.
əparrəntly lots əf snow is coming in frəm thə Highlənds so thə govərnmənt həv ədvised peopəl tə
stay ət home.

✦ Many function words are pronounced with schwa when they are weak.
✦ If a function word is stressed, it can not be pronounced with schwa.
✦ Function words are always strong when said alone or are at the end of a sentence.

Drill: Say the word on the left alone (strong), then say it in the sentence on the right using
the schwa sound (weak):
1- to /tu:/ I went to work early. /tə/ 2- are /ɑ:/ What are you
doing? /ə/
3- was /wɒz Was it warm in Greece? /wəz/ 4- from /frɒm/ This cardʼs from my
family.
5- there /ðeə/ There werenʼt enough drinks. /ðə/ 6- can /kæn/ Where can we buy a
map? /kən/
7- her /hɜ:/ Her carʼs broken down. /hə/ 8- for /fɔ:/ Iʼll repeat for the last
time! /fə/

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IV. Practice
I. Read the following telephone conversation, identify the words that have
weak forms and transcribe them.
Physics physical (ly) physician
person personal (ly) personify/ personality
photograph photography
photographic(ally)
democrat democracy democratic
maths mathematics mathematician
regular regularly regularity
grammar grammarian grammatical/
grammatically
continue continuous continuity
/ˈfɪzɪks/ /ˈfɪzɪkᵊl/ (ly) /fɪˈzɪʃᵊn/
/ˈpɜːsᵊn/
/ˈpɜːsᵊnᵊl/ (ly) /pɜːˈsɒnɪfaɪ// /ˌpɜːsᵊnˈæləti/
/ˈfəʊtəɡrɑːf/ /fəˈtɒɡrəfi/ /ˌfəʊtəˈɡræfɪk/(/ˈælaɪ/)
/ˈdɛməkræt/ /dɪˈmɒkrəsi/ /ˌdɛməˈkrætɪk/
/mæθs/ /ˌmæθəˈmætɪks/ /ˌmæθᵊməˈtɪʃᵊn/
/ˈrɛɡjələ/ /ˈrɛɡjələli/ /ˌrɛɡjəˈlærəti/
/ˈɡræmə/ /ɡrəˈmeəriən/
/ɡrəˈmætɪkᵊl// /ɡrəˈmætɪkᵊli/
/kənˈtɪnjuː/ /kənˈtɪnjuəs/ /ˌkɒntɪˈnjuːəti/