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    Stress

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    saidatkareem220
    The document provides 12 rules for determining word stress in English. [1] The first rule states that the part of speech determines if the first or second syllable is stressed for bi-syllabic words. [2] Exceptions are provided for suffixes like "-ate", "-ish", and "-al". [3] Additional exceptions handle prefixes, suffixes like "-ion" and "-ism", and syllables with schwa sounds. The rules aim to help students understand word stress patterns which is important for English pronunciation.

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    Stress

    Uploaded by

    saidatkareem220
    111 views9 pages
    The document provides 12 rules for determining word stress in English. [1] The first rule states that the part of speech determines if the first or second syllable is stressed for bi-syllabic words. [2] Exceptions are provided for suffixes like "-ate", "-ish", and "-al". [3] Additional exceptions handle prefixes, suffixes like "-ion" and "-ism", and syllables with schwa sounds. The rules aim to help students understand word stress patterns which is important for English pronunciation.

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    The document provides 12 rules for determining word stress in English. [1] The first rule states that the part of speech determines if the first or second syllable is stressed for bi-syllabic words. [2] Exceptions are provided for suffixes like "-ate", "-ish", and "-al". [3] Additional exceptions handle prefixes, suffixes like "-ion" and "-ism", and syllables with schwa sounds. The rules aim to help students understand word stress patterns which is important for English pronunciation.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    111 views9 pages

    Stress

    Uploaded by

    saidatkareem220
    The document provides 12 rules for determining word stress in English. [1] The first rule states that the part of speech determines if the first or second syllable is stressed for bi-syllabic words. [2] Exceptions are provided for suffixes like "-ate", "-ish", and "-al". [3] Additional exceptions handle prefixes, suffixes like "-ion" and "-ism", and syllables with schwa sounds. The rules aim to help students understand word stress patterns which is important for English pronunciation.

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    ENGLISH DEMYSTIFIER ACADEMY LECTURE NOTE

    *STRESS.*

    🧠
    * Stress* is an aspect in the supra segmental phonology. It's the emphasis placed on words
    or syllable. In word stress we say syllable is the prosodic feature of stress.

    There are two types of stress and these are :

    📍Word stress
    📍Sentence /Emphatic stress.
    The emphatic stress is simple and easier. It's just to look for option that doesn't have the
    stressed word in the sentence.

    Word stress can be divided into three:

    📍Primary stress,
    📍Secondary stress,
    📍Weak stress.
    🎓Primary stress is the stress that is more heard when pronounced. It refers to the syllable
    more heard than others. It's often represented with upper stroke in transcription.

    🎓Secondary stress refer to the syllable that is less heard and it's often represented with
    lower stroke in transcription.

    🎓Weak stress is known as Schwa stress. It's the stress that isn't really heard at all and do have
    Schwa in pronunciation.

    For the sake of your UTME we shall be dealing with Primary stress.
    Shall we proceed?

    * 🧠RULE 1*
    *Part of speech stress rule.*

    📍 The rule states that when a word is bi-syllabic(two syllable) and it belongs to any part of
    speech. The part of speech it belongs to will determine the primary stress.

    🎓When it is a noun or adjective, the primary stress will be on the first syllable.
    🎓When it belongs to the verb or adverbial part of speech, the primary stress should be on the
    second syllable.

    *Examples*

    REfuse(noun)

    reFUSE(Verb)

    INcrease (noun)

    inCREASE(Verb)

    CONvert (noun)

    conVERT(Verb)

    Hope this rule is clear?

    * 🧠RULE 2*
    *Prefix and Suffix stress rule*

    📍 This rule states that Prefix and suffix are not stressed.
    Examples :

    🎓 enGAGE ~ment~
    You can use this rule in exam. Immediately you delete the suffix(ment) you will be left with
    engage.

    Remember rule 1

    *Engage* belongs to Verb part of speech and so would be stressed on second syllable since
    it's bi-syllabic .

    So the stress pattern will be *enGAGEment*

    Compare this example under this rule to that in rule 2.

    🎓Another example is disagreement. Below is the stress pattern:


    ~dis~ - aGREE- ~ment~

    The above is the right stress pattern following the rules...

    Do you get it?

    * 🧠RULE 3*
    *Second to the last rule*

    Words ending in : *ion, ic, ial, ian* have stress on the syllable before them. This means second
    to the last syllable.

    For easy remembering, just remember words that their suffixes start with "I or U" fall under this
    category. You can as well remember through this sentence : Introduct *ion* of democrat *ic*
    colon *ial* grammar *ian*
    📍Examples
    🎓eduCAtion
    🎓coMMERcial
    🎓preCIsion
    🎓matheMAtics
    _Hope this is understood?_

    * 🧠RULE 4*
    *Third to the last syllable stress rule*

    This rule states that words ending in: *cal, ate, ty, al* are stressed on third to the last syllable.

    Most words always which are more than two syllables fall under this category.

    You can remember this rule using this sentence : *cal* culus *ate* *ty* pical *al* ien.

    Most words that end in "y" falls under this category. Example are fy, gy, phy etc....

    Examples are:

    🎓coMMUnicate
    🎓ecoNOmical
    🎓eTERnity
    🎓interNAtional
    Kindly note that "ate" has another rule when it's two syllabic. I will explain this in one of the rules
    later.
    * 🧠RULE 5*
    *First syllable stress.*

    This rule states that words ending in "izm" and "ism" are stressed on the first syllable.

    However, words which end in "ism/izm" with prefix will have stress on the second syllable
    because prefix are not stressed.

    Examples:

    📍FA-vou-ri-ti-sm
    📍JOUR-na-li-sm
    📍SO-cia-li-sm
    _Hope this is clear?_

    * 🧠RULE 6*
    *Schwa stress rules*

    Schwa is the weak stress in word stress. When the primary stress according to the listed rules
    is to be on a Schwa transcriptional syllable or sound, then the primary stress moves to the
    syllable before or after it depending on the position of the syllable with Schwa transcription.

    Examples:

    a-GO /əˈɡəʊ/

    a-LONE /əˈləʊn/

    DOC-tor /ˈdɒktə/

    FA-mous /ˈfeɪməs/

    _Hope this is clear?_

    * 🧠RULE 7*
    *"ate" stress rule.*

    This rule states that when "ate" ends a word and it's of two syllable, the second syllable (i.e the
    syllable with "ate") should be stressed.

    Examples :

    📍dic-TATE
    📍re-LATE
    📍fru-STRATE
    Kindly note that this rule only works with words ending with "ate" which are of two syllables. But
    when the syllables are more than two, rule 4 must be considered (i.e third to the last)

    Hope this is clear?

    * 🧠RULE 8*
    *"ish" stress rule*

    This rule states that when words of two or three syllables end with "ish", the stress must be
    placed on the syllable before "ish"

    Examples:

    📍NOU-rish
    📍FLOU-rish
    📍FOO-lish
    📍e-STA-blish
    📍FUR-nish
    📍mal-NOU-rished
    🧠
    : * RULE 9*

    *"able/ible" stress rule.*

    This rule states that words ending with "able/ible" are stressed on the _fourth or third_ to the
    last syllable depending on other rules of stress applied as the case of the word maybe.

    Examples :

    📍CHE-ri-sha-ble
    The above is stressed on fourth to the last by using two rules.

    First, using rule 2 (prefix and suffix), "cherishable" is the same as " cherish + ~able~ "

    Next is the rule of "ish" (rule 8) cherish becomes "CHErish". So the correct stress pattern
    becomes CHE-ri-sha-ble.

    📍re-JEC-ta-ble /re-JEC-ti-ble
    The above is third to the last by using just two rules.

    First, using rule 2 (prefix and suffix), "rejectable" becomes "reject + ~able"

    Now back to rule 1 (part of speech rule), "reject" belongs to verb part of speech and thus should
    be stressed on second syllable. "reject" becomes "reJECT." The main word becomes "reJEC-ta-
    ble."

    Note: To always attain at the right answer, delete the suffix (able) and base on the word using
    other rules I have taught you.

    _Hope this is clear?_

    🧠
    : * RULE 10*

    *"ure" stress rule*


    This is also related to rule 4. Most words ending in "ture" are stressed on the third to the last
    syllable...

    Examples :

    📍ex-PEN-di-ture
    📍FUR-ni-ture
    🧠
    : * RULE 11*

    *"al" exception stress rule.*

    If you remember that "al" falls under third to the last syllable (rule 4), you would see that trying it
    for some words won't work out. This is the more reason I need to make the exception clear just
    as I explained the exception for two syllable words ending with "ate".

    The exception rule for "al" states that when "ment" comes before "al" then "ment" should be
    stressed. For instance :

    📍frag-MENT-al
    📍en-vi-ron-MENT-al
    📍De-part-MENT-al
    📍fun-da-MENT-al
    📍seg-MENT-al
    _Hope the above exception is clear?_

    * 🧠RULE 12*
    *"ism/izm" exception stress rule.*

    As early as er stated in rule 8 that words ending in ism/izm are stressed on the first syllable,
    there is an exception to it.
    The exception rule states that when "ism" is a suffix ending a word and has "ion + al" before it,
    the rule applicable is fourth to the last which is the syllable before "ion"

    For instance :

    📍pro-FE-ssion-al-ism.
    In the above, the first syllable isn't stressed because if you apply the rule of prefix and suffix
    (rule 2), the remain word becomes "profession" Now apply second to the lass syllable rule (rule
    3) because ends in "ion" Then the complete stress pattern becomes : pro-FE-ssion-al-ism.

    COMPILED BY DR ADROIT AND DR SAM OF ENGLISH DEMYSTIFIER ACADEMY

    To join us, kindly contact us on 08110280149

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