Differences Between Arabic and English Stress System

California State University, Fullerton
Linguistic Department
Annual Linguistic Symposium
April 09, 2012
''Incorrect stress assignment to English words by Arabic
speakers
Presented by
Ali Asiri
Introduction
Many non-native speakers of English speak with
what is called a foreign accent.

One of the reasons for such an accent is that
each language varies considerably in the rules of

placing stress within words, and this affects the
way English is pronounced.
One of the points of differences between
Standard Arabic and English is the way the two

languages employ the stress patterns of words.
Papers purpose:
The purpose of this paper is to discover how
the two systems differ by holding a

comparison between Modern Standard Arabic
(MSA) and English word stress patterns in
order to ascertain the outstanding
characteristics of the two languages in this
particular linguistic area and hence to predict
the points of interference apt to arise in
learning English
Differences between Arabic

and English stress system
In English, stressed syllables are stressed and
unstressed syllables are reduced to neutral schwa //.

English word
Phonetic
transcription
Today
/tde/
Occur
/kr/
about
/bat/
Arabic stressed syllables are not lengthened the way
English does and unstressed syllables dont show

reduction in their vowel quality.
For example,
mad-ra-sa
In Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), the stress
location is predictable and governed by rules.

In English, assigning stress to words is
complicated and difficult process.
Word stress in both (MSA) and the dialects is
non-phonemic. stress cannot be used to

distinguish meanings in Arabic.
Whereas in English words like the noun
permit are distinguished from the verb permit
by stress alone,
Word stress in both (MSA) and the dialects is
non-phonemic. stress cannot be used to

distinguish meanings in Arabic.
Whereas in English words like the noun
permit are distinguished from the verb permit
by stress alone,
content
He is not Content about his papers

content.
present
The students presented the teacher with a

present.
Egyptian
meaning
pronunciation
MSA
pronunciation
Mad-ra-sa
Mad-ra-sa
school
In English, content words are stressed words in a sentence and
function words are usually unstressed, unstressed syllables in

function words are reduced to schwa //.
In Arabic, unstressed syllables in function words keep their vowels
value.
English sentence
I'll go to library.
Phonetic
transcription
/ al go t labrri/
English is a stress-timed rhythm which means that the
time taken to get from one stressed syllable to another

stressed syllable is equally even regardless of the number
of the unstressed syllables that are in between.
Arabic, on the other hand, is syllable-timed rhythm

which means that syllables that occur in a
sentence are equally spaced and occur at even
intervals . Consequently, every syllable, whether it
is stressed or unstressed in Arabic sentence is
pronounced clearly and takes the same time of
pronunciation.
The stress rules in Arabic and English are
more intricate than some other

languages.
In Finnish: the stress always falls on the first
syllable of a word.
In Polish: on the next-to-last syllable of a word.
In French: on the last syllable of a word.
(Gaith)
common mistakes by Arabic

speakers:
Misplacement of assigning the stress to the words
due to added suffixes.

For example, photograph, photography,
photographic.
Incapacity to assign stress to the words that
change their meaning by shifting the stress.

Confusion
of some
pairs of words.
English word
sentence
Conflict
The newspaper description of conflict

conflicts.
Project
We project the next project will cost

millions
Suspect
The police suspect the suspect knows the

victim

Pronouncing
the vowel of unstressed syllable with its full
quality.
For example, it is common to eat salad in Sweden.
It is common to eat salad in Sweden.
Arabic pronunciation
It is commn to eat
salad in swedn
English pronunciation
It is commn to eat
salad in Swedn.
Failure
to adopt the stress-timed rhythm of English
He went to school
Arabic pronunciation
/Hi: wnt tu: sku:l/
English pronunciation
/hi: wnt t sku:l/
Having difficulty to assign the stress to the verbs that end in heavy syllables such
as, -ize, -ment, -fest, and -ary in which stress falls two syllables before the suffix.
Socialize
graduate secretar
,
y
manifest
monopoli
ze
comple
ment.
Stress misplacement of three-or-more syllable verbs that ending in light syllable.

Develop.
Stress misplacement of words that end in one of these suffixes: -cial, -tion, and ic.
For examples,
Commercial, information, economic
Stress misplacement of abstract nouns that end in these suffixes: -ance, -ancy, -y,
For example,
Presidency, dependency, monarchy
Stress misplacement of three-syllable nouns with
tense vowel in the final syllable such as, appetite,

institute.
Stress misplacement of three-or-more syllable
adjectives with light endings such as adamant,

barbarous, magnificent, and generous. Also,
three-syllable adjectives ending in heavy
syllables such as asinine, and difficult proved to
be difficult for Arabic speakers.
Negative transfer (NT)

Does Arabic language lie behind the stress
misplacement of English words?

In order to be able to answer this question we
need to be familiar with some basic stress rules of
Arabic, and they are as follows:
Stress always falls on the ultimate syllable
if that syllable is superheavy.
This rule takes precedence over all others.

ri-jaal men

ja-diid new
2. In monosyllabic words, stress falls on
the ultimate syllable.
ma(a) what
qad already
3. In disyllabic words, stress falls on the
penultimate
syllable.
Arabic Roman English
hi-ya she
ba-na(a) he built
4. In polysyllabic words, stress falls on

the penultimate if that syllable is heavy.

ja-dii-dun new
ka-tab-tum you wrote

5. In polysyllabic words, stress falls on the
antepenultimate if the penultimate is light.
ka-ta-ba he wrote
aa-Si-ma capital

it is necessary to understand how words are divided
into syllables (syllabic structure).

1. A light syllable consists of a consonant
followed by a short vowel (CV).
/ ka/ consonant followed by
CV
a short vowel.
2. A heavy syllable consists of either a consonant
followed by two vowels (CVV), or of a consonant
followed by a short vowel and a consonant (CVC).
CVV / baa/ consonant followed by a long vowel.
CVC
/bab/ consonant followed by a short vowel and a
consonant
A superheavy syllable consists of a
consonant
followed by one or two vowels followed by one or
two consonants:
CVVC
/nuun/ consonant + long vowel + consonant
CVCC

/kabb/ consonant + short vowel + double
consonant
In his article, Mohammed Anani proved that Arabic learners dont
just transfer, from the mother tongue, individual phonemes which

approximate the target sound, but rather they tend to be influenced
by a much more comprehensive negative transfer related to
underlying structure of the source language.
Mohammed compiled a list of words in which he found a clear
evidence of Arabic influence in stressing these words in conformity

with Arabic. The first group is words that end in superheavy
syllables on which the stress falls in Arabic.
. The first group is words that end in superheavy

syllables on which the stress falls in Arabic
The word
English
pronunciation
Arabic
Arabic
pronunciatio words
n
Dictate
dictate
Dictate
Sa-laam
Concrete
concrete
Concrete
Du-ruus
Parachute
Parachute
parachute
Ja-miil
Headlights
headlights
headlights
Ri-jaal
Topcoat
topcoat
topcoat
Yaa- baan
appetite
appetite
appetite
The second group is the words dont contain
superheavy syllable. These words consist of light

and heavy syllables: (cv-cv-cvc),
(cvc-cv-cv).
The word
English
pronuncia
tion
Arabic
pronuncia
tion
Arabic
similar
structure
words
Position
Position
position
Mas-a-la
Condition
Condition
Condition
Mas-ta-ra
Delicious
Delicious
Delicious
Mar-ha-la
Musician
Musician
Musician
sa-la-ta
political
political
political
Conclusion
It is very clear that Arabic speakers transfer some
Arabic features when pronouncing English words or

sentences. It is called Negative transfer.
The mistakes done by Arabic speakers regarding
stress placement is recurring and predictable which
can be utilized by English teachers to approach these
mistakes and classify them in order for students to be
aware of the general rules of English stress system.
The stress patterns of English are very complicated
and therefore students are highly recommended to
refer to some reliable pronouncing dictionary when
they come across difficult words.
references
Halpern, J. (n.d.). word stress and vowel neutralization in modern
standard arabic. 7.
Ghaith, S. (1993). The assignment of primary stress to words by some
arab speakers.System,21(3), 381-390.

Kharma, N., & Hajjaj, A. (1997). Errors in English among Arabic speakers:
Analysis and remedy . Beirut: York Press Librairie du Liban Publishers.

Wahba, E. (1998). Teaching pronunciation--why?. Forum, 36(3), .
Wines, M. (1989). Incorrect stress placement in the case of arab learners
of english.international review of applied linguistics in language

teaching,27(1), 6.

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California State University, Fullerton

what is called a foreign accent.

each language varies considerably in the rules of

Standard Arabic and English is the way the two

the two systems differ by holding a

Differences between Arabic

unstressed syllables are reduced to neutral schwa //.

Arabic stressed syllables are not lengthened the way

English does and unstressed syllables dont show

In Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), the stress

location is predictable and governed by rules.

non-phonemic. stress cannot be used to

Word stress in both (MSA) and the dialects is

non-phonemic. stress cannot be used to

He is not Content about his papers

The students presented the teacher with a

In English, content words are stressed words in a sentence and

function words are usually unstressed, unstressed syllables in

English is a stress-timed rhythm which means that the

time taken to get from one stressed syllable to another

Arabic, on the other hand, is syllable-timed rhythm

The stress rules in Arabic and English are

more intricate than some other

common mistakes by Arabic

due to added suffixes.

change their meaning by shifting the stress.

The newspaper description of conflict

We project the next project will cost

The police suspect the suspect knows the

the vowel of unstressed syllable with its full

to adopt the stress-timed rhythm of English

/Hi: wnt tu: sku:l/

/hi: wnt t sku:l/

Stress misplacement of three-or-more syllable verbs that ending in light syllable.

Stress misplacement of three-syllable nouns with

tense vowel in the final syllable such as, appetite,

adjectives with light endings such as adamant,

Negative transfer (NT)

misplacement of English words?

2. In monosyllabic words, stress falls on

the ultimate syllable.

4. In polysyllabic words, stress falls on

ka-tab-tum you wrote

antepenultimate if the penultimate is light.

it is necessary to understand how words are divided

into syllables (syllabic structure).

A superheavy syllable consists of a

In his article, Mohammed Anani proved that Arabic learners dont

just transfer, from the mother tongue, individual phonemes which

evidence of Arabic influence in stressing these words in conformity

. The first group is words that end in superheavy

The second group is the words dont contain

superheavy syllable. These words consist of light

Arabic features when pronouncing English words or

arab speakers.System,21(3), 381-390.

Analysis and remedy . Beirut: York Press Librairie du Liban Publishers.

of english.international review of applied linguistics in language

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