Information Sheet 1.3-5

Information Sheet 1.3-5: Producing syllables in words applying neutral accent

Syllables stress in words applying neutral accent

The accented syllable is pronounced louder than the other syllables within the word—an accent to the vowel. An accented syllable will fully pronounce the vowel sound, while unaccented syllables have less emphasized vowels and possibly even the schwa sound.

Accented Syllables: Meaning & Examples

Have you ever marveled at how the sway of stress in a sentence can change its entire meaning? Stress is the art of the accented syllable – an essential yet often overlooked aspect of the English language. An accented syllable is the part of a word that commands more emphasis than the rest, given its increased volume, higher pitch, and longer duration.

What is an Accented Syllable?

In English, we stress one syllable more than the others when pronouncing a word. The accented syllable is pronounced louder than the other syllables within the word—an accent to the vowel. An accented syllable will fully pronounce the vowel sound, while unaccented syllables have less emphasized vowels and possibly even the schwa sound. Context can change the accented syllable. Schwa /ə/ is the sound an unaccented vowel can make that sounds like a short u or “uh.” Think of the sound at the end of “banana,” the beginning of “about,” or the middle of “Japan.” Schwa can also make the short i sound in words like common and basket.

The Significance of Accented Syllables

Why stress matters in English is more than just a question of correct speech—it’s about being understood. A word can change its meaning entirely depending on which syllable is accented, emphasizing the importance of learning and applying the correct stress pattern. This is crucial when conveying an intended message and ensuring clear communication in educational and professional settings.

In poetry, stress patterns are crucial. They form the foundation of the poem’s meter, the rhythmic structure that dictates how it flows. Just as a musician must understand notes and beats, a poet must grasp the role of accented syllables in crafting verses that resonate with the correct tempo and emotion.

Mastering stress patterns can be transformative for English Language Learners (ELLs). It can aid in improving their speech clarity and comprehension, allowing them to communicate more effectively in their daily lives. Navigating the complexities of stress patterns can be a milestone in achieving language proficiency and ultimately contribute to a learner’s confidence in their new language.

Understanding the Power of Accented Syllables

How we pronounce words, particularly the syllables we choose to accent, is crucial for effective communication. In day-to-day interactions, professional environments, and academic settings, being understood and understanding others is critical. The accented syllable plays a vital role in this process and the comprehension of our speech.

Consider the subtle differences in meaning conveyed through stress in everyday conversation. Misplacing the accent can alter the intended message and lead to confusion. Think about this sentence: The projector can project the image twenty feet forward onto the theater’s enormous screen. In this sentence, the stress is on the first syllable of the word project. Next, look at this sentence: I finished my class project ten minutes before the deadline. In this sentence, the stress falls on the second syllable in the word project. Context matters!

Understanding and using accented syllables effectively is a skill that enhances both our ability to express ourselves and our capacity to comprehend others. It is a facet of language that is too crucial to overlook, serving as the backbone of communication.

Strategies for Identifying Accented Syllables

Identifying the stressed syllable can be as simple as saying the word and listening for which part sounds loudest or has the clearest vowel sound. If a student isn’t sure what syllable to accent when pronouncing a word, ask them to try saying it in different ways, placing the stress on different syllables each time and listening for which one sounds familiar.

Take the word “cancel” for example. Try saying the word twice, stressing the first syllable and then the second. Which one sounded right?

can-cel or can-cel?

You probably figured out that the first way (can-cel) is correct.

Another strategy to try is having the student place their hand underneath their chin as they say the word. Since the accented syllable is the loudest and has the strongest vowel sound, their chin will drop further on the accented syllable.

Try it out with the words “pencil” and “button.”

The key to using this strategy is to say the word naturally. It may even help to use it in a sentence. You should have felt the accent in the first syllable of both words: pen-cil, but-ton. As mentioned, identifying the accented syllable is one of the finer points of language and should only be addressed once students have mastered phonics. When these strategies aren’t enough, have the student look up the word in the dictionary to find the accented syllable and give the proper pronunciation.

More Accented Syllable Words

re-fund pre-sent con-tract re-lax a-bout
dis-tance for-give re-peat be-hind en-joy

Watch these videos:

Syllable stress

A stressed syllable has a longer, louder, and higher sound than the other syllables in the word. Syllables with the schwa sound in them are rarely the stressed syllable.

Rule 1. When a two-syllable word can be both a verb and a noun or adjective, the verb form is usually stressed on the second syllable, and the noun or adjective form is stressed on the first syllable.

Example.

Everyone in our class is present today. (adjective) PREsent She gave her friend a lovely present. (noun) PREsent

The students will present their speeches on Monday. (verb) preSENT

Rule 2. Prefixes and Suffixes are not usually stressed

Examples:

Walk+ing WALKing

Un+clear unCLEAR

Thought+ful THOUGHTful

Help+less HELPless

Im+poss+ible imPOSSible

Rule 3. Words with some suffixes are usually stressed on the syllable just before the suffix. These suffixes include:

-tion –cian –sion –ic –ity –ical –ify –ogy –graphy

Examples:
examinAtion techNIcian disCUSSion eLECtric
elecTRICity geoLOGical geOgraphy

Word stress and intonation

Intonation is the alteration of voice pitch or tone when speaking, and stress is the use of emphasis to capture attention and express meaning.

Word Stress and Sentence Stress

Normally when we say “I feel stressed” it means “I feel anxious”. Stress is a kind of worried feeling about life or work. But there is another kind of stress that actually helps us understand. This other kind of stress is an accent that we make on certain syllables and words when speaking English.

In some languages, for example Japanese, people say each syllable with equal force. But in English, and some other languages, we put a big force (stress) on some syllables and no force on other syllables or words. This can make it difficult for speakers of other languages to understand English that is spoken quickly. Of course, for native speakers it is not difficult – in fact, stress actually helps native speakers understand each other. So it is very important.

We shall talk here about WORD STRESS (stress on a syllable inside a word) and SENTENCE STRESS (stress on words inside a sentence).

WORD STRESS

Word stress is like a golden key to speaking and understanding English.

If you do not already know about word stress, you can try to learn about it. This is one of the best ways for you to understand spoken English – especially English spoken fast.

What is word stress?

Take 3 words: photograph, photographer and photographic. Do they sound the same when spoken? No. Because ONE syllable in each word is STRESSED (stronger than the others).

PHOtograph
phoTOgrapher
photoGRAPHic

This happens in ALL words with 2 or more syllables: TEACHer, JaPAN, CHINa, aBOVE, converSAtion, INteresting, imPORtant, deMAND, etCETera, etCETera, etCETera

The syllables that are not stressed are “weak” or “small” or “quiet”. Native speakers of English listen for the STRESSED syllables, not the weak syllables. If you use word stress in your speech, you will instantly and automatically improve your pronunciation and your comprehension.

If you have an English teacher, you can ask her to help you understand word stress. Or you can try to hear the stress in individual words each time you listen to English – on the radio, or in films for example. Your first step is to HEAR and recognise it. After that, you can USE it.

Two important rules about word stress:

One word, one stress
The stress is always on a vowel

SENTENCE STRESS

Sentence stress is another golden key for speaking and understanding English. With sentence stress, some words in a sentence are STRESSED (loud) and other words are weak (quiet). Look at the following sentence:

We want to go.

Do we say every word with the same stress or force? No. We make the important words BIG and the unimportant words small. What are the important words in this sentence? Yes, that’s right: WANT and GO.

We WANT to GO.
We WANT to GO to WORK.
We DON’T WANT to GO to WORK.
We DON’T WANT to GO to WORK at NIGHT.

Now that you know that word stress exists, you can try to learn more about it. You should KNOW that SENtence and WORD STRESS are VERy imPORtant.

INTONATION

What is intonation?
Intonation and stress are closely linked. In fact, it’s impossible to dissociate them. They go hand in hand.
Intonation is about how we say things, rather than what we say, the way the voice rises and falls when speaking, in other words the music of the language.

Just as words have stressed syllables, sentences have regular patterns of stressed words. In addition, the voice tends to rise, fall or remain flat depending on the meaning or feeling we want to convey (surprise, anger, interest, boredom, gratitude, etc.). Intonation therefore indicates the mood of the speaker.

There are two basic patterns of intonation in English: falling intonation and rising intonation.

In the following examples a downward arrow (➘) indicates a fall in intonation and an upward arrow (➚) indicates a rise in intonation.
Again, these are not rules but patterns generally used by native speakers of English.

Remember that content words are stressed, and intonation adds attitude or emotion.
This explanation on intonation is intended to serve as a general guide to help learners.

It should in no way make them unnecessarily anxious! It should be remembered that a written explanation can never be a substitute for a ‘live’ conversation with a native speaker.

Attitudinal intonation is something that is best acquired through talking and listening to English speakers.

Falling Intonation (➘)

(The pitch of the voice falls at the end of the sentence.)
Falling intonation is the most common intonation pattern in English.

It is commonly found in statements, commands, wh-questions (information questions), confirmatory question tags and exclamations.

Statements

Nice to meet ➘ you.
I’ll be back in a ➘ minute.
She doesn’t live here ➘ anymore.
Dad wants to change his ➘ car.
Here is the weather ➘ forecast.
Cloudy weather is expected at the end of the ➘ week.
We should work together more ➘ often
I’m going for a walk in the ➘ park.

Commands

Write your name ➘ here.
Show me what you’ve ➘ written.
Leave it on the ➘ desk.
Take that picture ➘ down.
Throw that ➘ out.
Put your books on the ➘ table.
Take your hands out of your ➘ pockets.

Wh- questions (requesting information.)

(questions beginning with ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘why’, ‘where’, ‘when’, ‘which’, and ‘how’)
What country do you come ➘ from?
Where do you ➘ work?
Which of them do you ➘ prefer?
When does the shop ➘ open?
How many books have you ➘ bought?
Which coat is ➘ yours?
Whose bag is ➘ this?

Questions Tags that are statements requesting confirmation rather than questions.

Not all tag questions are really questions.
Some of them merely ask for confirmation or invite agreement, in which case we use a falling tone at the end.

He thinks he’s so clever, doesn’t ➘ he?
She’s such a nuisance, isn’t ➘ she?
He failed the test because he didn’t revise, did ➘ he?
It doesn’t seem to bother him much, does ➘ it?

Exclamations

How nice of ➘ you!
That’s just what I ➘ need!
You don’t ➘ say!
What a beautiful ➘ voice!
That’s a ➘ surprise!

Rising Intonation (➚)

(The pitch of the voice rises at the end of a sentence.)
Rising intonation invites the speaker to continue talking.

It is normally used with yes/no questions, and question tags that are real questions.

Yes/no Questions

(Questions that can be answered by ‘yes’ or ‘no’.)
Do you like your new ➚ teacher?
Have you finished ➚ already?
May I borrow your ➚ dictionary?
Do you have any ➚ magazines?
Do you sell ➚ stamps?

Questions tags that show uncertainty and require an answer (real questions).

We’ve met already, ➚ haven’t we?
You like fish, ➚ don’t you?
You’re a new student ➚ aren’t you?
The view is beautiful, ➚ isn’t it?

We sometimes use a combination of rising and falling intonation in the same sentence.
The combination is called Rise-Fall or Fall-Rise intonation.

Rise-Fall Intonation (➚➘)

(The intonation rises and then falls.)
We use rise-fall intonation for choices, lists, unfinished thoughts and conditional sentences.

Choices (alternative questions.)

Are you having ➚ soup or ➘ salad?
Is John leaving on ➚ Thursday or ➘ Friday?
Does he speak ➚ German or ➘ French?
Is your name ➚ Ava or ➘ Eva?

Lists (rising, rising, rising, falling)

Intonation falls on the last item to show that the list is finished.
We’ve got ➚ apples, pears, bananas and ➘ oranges
The sweater comes in ➚ blue, white, pink and ➘ black
I like ➚ football, tennis, basketball and ➘ volleyball.
I bought ➚ a tee-shirt, a skirt and a ➘ handbag.

Unfinished thoughts (partial statements)

In the responses to the following questions, the rise-fall intonation indicates reservation.
The speaker hesitates to fully express his/her thoughts.
Do you like my new handbag? Well the ➚ leather is ➘ nice… ( but I don’t like it.)
What was the meal like? Hmm, the ➚ fish was ➘ good… (but the rest wasn’t great).
So you both live in Los Angeles? Well ➚ Alex ➘ does … (but I don’t).

Conditional sentences

(The tone rises in the first clause and falls gradually in the second clause.)
If he ➚ calls, ask him to leave a ➘ message.
Unless he ➚ insists, I’m not going to ➘ go.
If you have any ➚ problems, just ➘ contact us.

Fall-Rise Intonation (➘➚)
(The voice falls and rises usually within one word.)

The main function of fall-rise intonation is to show that the speaker is not certain of the answer they are giving to a question, or is reluctant to reply (as opposed to a falling tone used when there is no hesitation). It is also used in polite requests or suggestions.

Hesitation/reluctance:

So you’d be willing to confirm that? …Well … I ➘sup➚pose so …
You didn’t see him on Monday? I don’t quite ➘re➚member …

Politeness-Doubt-Uncertainty: (You are not sure what the answer might be.)

Perhaps we could ➘vis➚it the place?
Should we ➘cop➚y the list?
Do you think it’s ➘al➚lowed?

References:
https://brainspring.com/orton-gillingham-weekly/accented-syllables-meaning-examples/#:~:text=The%20accented%20syllable%20is%20pronounced,possibly%20even%20the%20schwa%20sound
https://valenciacollege.edu/students/learning-support/west/communications/writing-center/documents/SyllableStress.pdf
https://www.englishclub.com/esl-articles/199810.php
https://www.learn-english-today.com/pronunciation-stress/intonation.html