3f. English word stress
Key tips:
- Unlike in Russian, English stressed syllables rise in pitch. In Russian stressed syllables fall in pitch
Exercises
Pronounce the material in these exercises out loud, slowly and accurately. Make sure to clearly enunciate the sound. When it becomes easier at the speed you’re at, increase the speed. Remember: don’t sacrifice accuracy for speed!
Word lists
2 syllable words
stress pattern: laLA • ⦿
a-: ago, around, along, arrive, anoint, approve, atone, alive, attract, announce, allow
be-: before, because, befall, belie, behind, benign, bereft, behold
co-: collide, contain, collect, correct, collude, confine, collage, corrode, command
de-: deny, denote, delay, design, decide, deploy, devour, deface, demote, deride, demand
ex-: exhaust, exact, exclude, expel, excite, explore, extent, expect, exist, exam
Three syllables - stress pattern: laLAla • ⦿ •
a-: arranging, annoying, aroma, arriving, attractive, allowance, approval
be-: beguiling, betrothal, belabor, belongings, besotted, bedazzling, beforehand
co-: collecting, correcting, connoting, computer, corruption, corrosive, commanding
de-: destructive, detractor, determine, description, demolish, descending, demanding, demeaning
ex-: exactly, examine, example, explorer, excitement, exhaustion, exciting
Key tips:
- As in Russian, English stressed syllables are longer in duration
- As in Russian, vowels in unstressed syllables are often reduced
- Unlike in Russian, English words can have more than one stress (Russian words can only have one stressed syllable)
/ɑ/ → /ə/ conflict (n) vs conflict (v)
/æ/ → /ə/ address (n) vs address (v/n)
/ow/ → /ə/ protest (n) vs protest (v)
/i/ → /ə, ɪ/ repeat (n) vs repeat (v)
/ɛ/ → /ə, ɪ/ predator vs predation
Word lists
/ɑ/ → /ə/ (/ɑ/ is the vowel in “father”)
controversy, controversy (BrE), controversial
demonstrative, demonstrative, demonstration
innovative, innovative, innovative, innovation, innovate
conflict, conflict
origin original originally originator originality
computer, computing, computation 🔊Listen: computer
compete competition
progress, progress, progressing, progression
prosody, prosodic
/æ/ → /ə/ (/æ/ is the vowel in “cat”)
adult, adult, adulting, adulting
affirmation, affirm, affirmative
address, address, addressing
magic magical magician
accusation, accuse, accusatory, accusative
acrid, acridity, acridness
photograph, photography
geography, geographical
family, familial, familiar
/i/ → /ə, ɪ/ (/i/ is the vowel in “meet”)
repeat, repeat,
rejects, rejects (0:53)
retire, retirement, retiree
regal, regalia
pretense, pretend, pretentious
/oʊ/ → /ə/ (/oʊ/ is the vowel in “boat”)
protest, protesting, protest, protesting, protestation
photo photography photographic, photographically, photographee
robot, robotic
pronoun, pronounce, pronunciation
proceed, proceed, proceeding, procession
/ɛ/ → /ə, ɪ/ (/ɛ/ is the vowel in “get”)
preparation, prepare, preparatory, preparatory
predator, predation, predatory, predat(o)ry
repetition, repetitive
respiratory, respire, respirat(o)ry
prefer, preference, preferable, preferable
record, record, recording
resident, reside, residential
present, present, presented, presenting, presentation
preserve, preservation
precedent, precede, preceding
special, specific, specifically, specification, specificity
Sentences
Primary stresses are bolded while secondary stresses are underlined. Remember, stressed syllables (primary or secondary) have full vowels whereas unstressed syllables have reduced vowels
- The magical magician demonstrated his magicalness, not his *magicality.
- You are to repeat this repetition repetitively; I don’t want a repeat of last time
- *Hexagonalization is when you make things hexagonal, so they are hexagons
- The Pentagon’s architecture is pentagonal.
- The scene in the horror movie was horrifically horrifying. It was horrible
- No way! I was terrified of that scene. It was terrifically terrifying. Not terrible.
- I’m not a historian. I love history, but I’m bad at historical facts, as well as historiography.
- The orthography of English makes no orthographical sense
- I tried to imagine an imaginary image with my imagination, but it’s not as good as photorealistic imaging with my camera
- I kept a record of the recordings, which I recorded
- She proposed that he avoid any improper propositions.
- The proprietor of the property did not properly promote the promotion.
- The Pacific Ocean is not yet pacified
- The producers put the product into production, producing them productively.
- My post was postponed, but I’ll keep you posted about the postponement
- Adrian studies phonetics, so he is a phonetician (AKA a phoneticist) but he also studies phonology, because he loves phonological phenomena, so he is also a phonologist.