Tema 9. Sistema fonológico de la lengua inglesa III: acento, ritmo y entonación.

Comparación con el sistema

fonológico de la lengua o lenguas oficiales de la Comunidad Autónoma correspondiente.
EEOOII 51. El sistema fonológico de la lengua inglesa (4): Acento, ritmo y entonación. Formas fuertes y débiles.

TOPIC 9

EEOOII: Tema 51.

INTRODUCTION
1. STRESS
1.1 Primary and Secondary Stress.
1.2 General Rules.
1.3 Functional Variation.
1.4 Stress in Compound Nouns.
1.5 Sentence Stress.
1.6 STRESS IN SPANISH

2. RHYTHM
2.1 Intervals of Time between
Stressed Items.
2.2 Changes of Rhythm.
2.3 RHYTHM IN SPANISH.

3. INTONATION
3.1 Intonation in Question Tags.
3.2 Functions of Intonation. He was in an a „ ppall ing ly „ bad „ temper

3.3 INTONATION IN SPANISH.

4. CONCLUSION &

TEACHING INFERENCE
BIBLIOGRAPHY
(Appendix: The Shape of Tunes.)
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INTRODUCTION
It is important in English to produce not only a good pronunciation but also to
be able to reproduce these correct sounds in connected speech, as opposed to
individual isolated sounds.

Frequently, in natural speech, sounds undergo various changes. We will

examine these changes by looking at three phenomena, different from each other but
closely connected: stress, rhythm and intonation. These phonetic features affect
long stretches of utterance such as syllable, the word or the sentence. They are
known as suprasegmental or prosodic features.

Stress concerns the prominence with which a part of a word or phrase is

distinguished from the other parts. For example: inde‟PENdent did you „TELL her?

Rhythm concerns the pattern of stresses within an utterance, occurring at

regular intervals, For example: the PARty FINished at eLEven

Intonation concerns the association of relative prominence with pitch, which is the
aspect of sound perceive as “high” or “low”. Sentences can have a falling tone, as in:

Pedro won the match. (indicating a statement) or

a rising tone, as in: Pedro won the match? (indicating a question )

1. / /
Stress is a term that we apply to words in isolation with more than one syllable.
It refers to the property that certain syllables carry which make them stand out
from the rest of the word. It seems certain that stressed syllables are made with
more effort than unstressed ones; the muscles in the lungs seem to expel air more
aggressively than for unstressed syllables. The prominence that these syllables
exhibit is usually pronounced in four ways.
> Pitch > Length > Loudness > Quality

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Any of these four factors can occur alone or in combination to produce the
prominence that marks a stressed syllable from an unstressed one.

ba
PITCH ba ba
ba ba
Pitch is an auditory sensation that places sounds on a scale from high to low.
Every syllable has pitch, however, any syllable that is articulated with a
noticeably different pitch will be deemed to carry stress. This can go either way: if
all the syllables are said in a low pitch except one, then that higher pitch syllable will
be deemed to carry the stress of the word. Pitch also plays a central role in intonation.

LENGTH ba ba baaaa ba ba
Length seems to play a role in stress. Generally, if one syllable has a longer
length than the others in the word then it is deemed to be the one carrying
stress. Length is one of the most important determiners of stress.
BA
LOUDNESS ba ba ba ba
It seems obvious that if one syllable is articulated louder than the others then
it will have achieved some prominence from the other syllables. This prominence
would then make that syllable the stressed syllable. However, it is very difficult to
make a sound louder without affecting the length, pitch or quality of that syllable.

QUALITY ba ba bæ ba ba
A syllable will carry prominence if it contains a vowel that is different in quality
from the surrounding vowels. This effect is usually achieved by having a strong
vowel in the midst of weak ones. The prominence of the strong vowel is contrasted
with the weaker vowels.

1.1 PRIMARY AND SECONDARY STRESS .

Stress is not marked in spelling. The notation of stress is the high mark
demonstrated in the following examples:

for stress on the first syllable.

for stress on the second syllable.
for stress on the third syllable.

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It is possible to pick out a second, weaker, stressed syllable from the primary
stress. This is known as secondary stress and it is notated with the low mark e.g.:

In this example, the 3rd syllable is more pronounced than the 1st syllable, but the 1st
syllable is still more prominent than the other syllable and so carries the low mark.
Some words have “double primary stress”: Amen, hullo, thirteen, fourteen …

1.2 GENERAL RULES. HOW TO DETERMINE WHERE STRESS LIES.

English is not a language that follows precise rules for the placement of
stress. In French, the last syllable is usually the stressed one; in Polish, it is usually
the penultimate one; and in Czech, it is generally the first syllable that is stressed.
Unfortunately, English has a very complex set of procedures that determine
stress. It should be noted that nearly all-English speakers agree on where stress
should be placed so the system of stress does have some method to its madness.

ONE SYLLABLE WORDS .

Obviously, these present no problems because, when pronounced in isolation,
they receive the primary stress. (There is no other syllable competing with it.)

TWO SYLLABLES WORDS .

The choice is still quite simple; either the 1st or the 2nd syllable will be stressed.
TWO SYLLABLES VERBS: If the second syllable of the verb contains a long
vowel or diphthong, or if it ends with more than one consonant, then the second
syllable is stressed.

If the final syllable contains a short vowel and one or no final consonant, then
usually, the first syllable will be stressed.

TWO SYLLABLES ADJECTIVES are stressed in the same manner.

/ „ leizi /

TWO SYLLABLES NOUNS generally use a different rule. If the second syllable
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contains a short vowel, then the stress usually comes on the first syllable - otherwise
it will be on the second syllable.

THREE SYLLABLE AND MORE WORDS .

Determining stress becomes very complicated from this point on. The rules
start to become quite arbitrary with more exceptions than can easily be explained
away. One general hint to remember is that weak syllables never carry stress.
Therefore, any syllable with a “schwa” in it will never be the stressed syllable.

There are some OTHER RULES we can tentatively apply.

 Native words and early French adoptions tend to have the main stress on
the root syllable and keep it there, regardless of added affixes: „stand
under'stand misunder'stand

 More recent additions to the language change the main stress according to
the affixation: 'Photograph pho‟tography photo'qraphic

 All abstract nouns ending in '-ion' are stressed on the syllable preceding
that ending, as for example: Invi‟tation

 The syllable before nouns ending in “-ity”, nouns or adjectives which end in
“-ian” and adjectives ending in “-ic” are also stressed. For example:
Impetu‟osity ag'rarian lib'rarian syste‟matic

1.3 FUNCTIONAL VARIATION .

Some words which can operate either as nouns / adjectives or verbs are
differentiated by their stress:
NOUN / ADJECTIVE VERB
'record / „re kɔːd / re'cord / rɪ‟kɔːd /
„perfect / „pəːfɪkt / per'fect / pə‟fekt /
„insult / „insʌɫt / in’sult / in‟sʌɫt /
„refuse / ‟refjʊːs / re’fuse / ri‟fjʊːz /
In some words, there has been a tendency recently for this dual form to die out.
An example of this would be “export” used for both noun and verb.

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1.4 STRESS IN COMPOUND NOUNS .

These are generally stressed on the first element, with a secondary stress on
the second element. For example: 'bath,room 'hair,dryer

If a compound is made part of another compound, the stress is re-

distributed to give the same rhythm: 'Iiqht,house 'Iighthouse-,keeper
There are two exceptions to this general rule: words ending in “-ever” or “-self”:
how'ever him'self
There are also some compounds which preserve the stress pattern of the
phrases from which they are derived, with main stress on the final element: town'hall

In many cases, the stress often shifts from the second element to the first
when the compound is being used attributively in a noun phrase:
the bedroom is up‟stairs the „upstairs bedroom
Double stress can be used in compound adjectives whose first element is an
adjective: 'quick-'thinking ‘easy- „goinq

Stress builds sense. Thus, we can tell the difference between: 'blue,bottle
(compound nouns = a type of fly) and ,blue 'bottle (noun phrase = a bottle which is blue).
Likewise: „black ,bird (compound nouns = a kind of bird)
a ,black „bird (noun phrase = any bird being black)

An „English ,teacher (someone who teaches English)

An ,English „teacher (a teacher who is English)

1.5 SENTENCE STRESS.

Words that are normally stressed may become unstressed, or less stressed,
when they are together in phrases and sentences. Stress may also be moved onto
another syllable according to the relevance or meaning we want to give them.

Overall there are two classes of words:

- Content or lexical words are those that receive stress in a sentence: verbs,
nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and demonstrative words. E.g. That is John.

- Form or grammatical words are the ones that do not receive stress in a sentence:
auxiliary verbs, conjunctions, prepositions, pronouns, and articles. E.g. That is John.
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(see Appendix in Topic 7 for more examples)

Weak forms are those words that are pronounced in an unstressed manner.
Many of the most common words in English can come in either a strong or a weak
form. As it has been said they are nearly all function words such as conjunctions,
articles, pronouns, prepositions and some auxiliary and modal verbs.
Generally the strong forms of these words are used when they are being
directly quoted, contrasted or if they appear at the end of a sentence.

The pronunciation of a weak form can be so different from the strong form that
it is barely recognizable as being the same word. If said in isolation, it would be all
but unintelligible. Usually, it is the context that makes it understandable. (see below)
Weak form examples:
The most common weak form examples are:

 Articles before consonants sounds: The man did it.

The before vowels sounds: The orange.

A, An before consonants sounds: Ride a bike.

before vowels sounds: Pick an apple.

 Conjunctions

And Come and see.

Fish and chips.
But It's cheap but reliable.

Than better than expected.

 Pronouns, Possessive Adjectives

His When it occurs before a noun: Take his coat

Her before consonants: Take her home.

before vowels: Take her out.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is possible to use only strong forms in English, and some non-native speakers do exactly this.
However, it sounds very unnatural to a native speaker and it will also mean that a person
who only uses the strong form of English will have trouble understanding native speakers of English
who use the weak form all of the time.
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1.6 STRESS IN SPANISH.

In Spanish, like in English, syllables are divided into stressed (tónicas) and
unstressed (átonas) syllables: e-lec-tri-ci-DAD
átonas tónica

All words take accent in their pronunciation, monosyllabic words (con, de, por,
etc.) included, when pronounced in isolation: DE CAsa de PEdro

Some words, when they are written, require the stressed syllable to be marked
with a stroke over it. This stroke is called 'tilde'. We don‟t mark the stressed
syllable, when written, in English. There are a few words, usually foreign words, that
have a mark but it doesn‟t necessarily mean that the syllable is stressed: café,
fiancée etc. In poetry a mark is written when the poet wants to change the stress of a
word for rhythmic reasons.

The secondary stress occurs in Spanish as well, but it is not prominent:

Ex: Las cuestiones tanto „interiores como „exteriores.

Although English compounds generally turn into a secondary stress the one
that was the primary in the root, and this secondary stress still keeps a
considerable strength; Spanish moves the stress to the suffixes:
Ex: „central / centra‟lize, centrál / centralizár

In two-syllable words both languages have a preference for stressing the

syllable before the last; English tends to stress the antepenultimate syllable in three
or more syllables words whereas Spanish keeps the penultimate position for stress.

English vowels are deeply affected by their stress, whether primary or

secondary. Stressed vowels have a precise and clear pronunciation, whereas
unstressed vowels have a tendency to become indistinct.

2. RHYTHM.
Rhythm concerns the pattern of stresses within an utterance, occurring at
regular intervals. Normally, the natural rhythm of English provides roughly equal
intervals of time between the stressed items, as in the sentence:
'Tom and his 'brother are 'students
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Words that may have double or single stress vary according to rhythmic
variations. Such words could be : proper names, place names etc.

The Berlin wall. / ‟bəːlɪn / Piccadilly Circus / ‟pɪkədɪlɪ /

He went to Berlin. / bəː‟lɪn / The lights of Piccadilly Circus / pɪkə‟dɪlɪ /

2.1 INTERVALS OF TIME BETWEEN STRESSED ITEMS.

As we said there is a roughly equal amount of time between the stressed items.
Thus, two sentences with the same amount of stress but with differing amounts of
non-stressed items will generally take the same amount of time to say, as in:
She 'told 'someone She 'bought it for a „party

In the above examples the speaker would say „ bought it for a ‟ as fast as „ told ‟. But
that does not mean that English rhythm is invariably regular. Regularity of rhythm is
used for specific purposes:
Counting: „one, „two, „three, ...., thirty-„six, thirty-'seven
Lists: a 'book, a 'pen, a „ruler, a 'rubber
Emphasis: You should 'always 'Iook be'fore you 'cross the 'road

2.2 CHANGES OF RHYTHM.

We can change the rhythm of the sentence by stressing closed class
(normally weak) items like 'and' or 'are', which generally make use of the schwa
vowel. We could therefore have:
'Tom 'and his 'brother are 'students. (not just one, both of them are students)
'Tom and his 'brother 'are 'students. ( it is not true that they are not students )
Incidentally, this stress on a normally unstressed syllable can occur within a
word and not just in a sentence:
- I think it is possible. - Do you? I think it is 'impossible.

2.3 RHYTHM IN SPANISH .

In English, vowel length depends to a considerable extent on the rhythm of the

sentence. There is a strong tendency in connected speech to make stressed
syllables follow each other as closely as possible at equal distances.
On the other hand, rhythm in Spanish is subjected to a smaller unit, the
syllable. This makes the English sentence sound with a greater continuity and
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intonation unit than its Spanish equivalent, which sounds to the English speaker
like a staccato, or short abrupt sound. Therefore, it is essential in English to have a
sentence rhythm, which does not exist in Spanish.

In an English sentence certain words that are too close to the initial rhythmic
beat lose their lexical stress. This does not happen in Spanish.
Ex: Mary‟s younger brother wanted fifty chocolate peanuts.
In this example we can see the difference with the Spanish stress, in Spanish all the
words will be stressed; however, in English only the underlined bold type syllables
are really stressed, thus favouring rhythm.

Stress also varies in English depending on whether it is used on strong or weak

forms of the same words. There is nothing in Spanish that resembles the English
strong and weak forms so this will prove difficult for Spanish students.

3. / /
The messages that we convey to one another depend just as much on “ how ”
we say something as on “ what ” it is that we actually say. However, it is possible
to use the same words to convey a huge variety of meanings, moods or
intentions. The way we do this is by using intonation.

In the study of intonation, pitch, loudness and length are the most important
factors. They work together to give certain syllables prominence over the
others. The concepts of intonation are very closely related to those in stress, the
difference being that stress is concerned with individual words, whereas
intonation extends over a phrase or utterance. Individual sounds can be
compared with the individual notes in a piece of music, the intonation can be
compared with the melody or tune.

The meaning of an utterance can be changed simply by giving more or less

stress to one word or a syllable. Intonation changes can also achieve the same effect
and give prominence to those parts of an utterance on which the speaker wishes to
concentrate attention. By intonation we mean the variations that take place in the
pitch of the level of the voice.

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Every language has melody in it, only robots or computers “speak” on the same
musical note all the time. The voice goes up and down and these different pitches of
the voice combine to make tunes.
English intonation is different from Spanish, French, German or any other
language and a good speaker must learn these tunes. For example, we could say
'thank you' in two different ways. In the first, the voice starts high and ends low,
and this shows real gratitude in the second, the voice starts low and ends high, and
this shows a rather casual acknowledgement of something not very important. A bus
conductor will say 'thank you' in this second way when he collects your money, but if
a friend invites you to spend a weekend at his / her home and you reply with the
second 'thank you', your friend will be offended because you don't sound grateful.

There are five clearly discernable intonation patterns that are used on a
regular basis in English: - Falling - Rising - Flat - Fall-Rise - Rise-Fall

FALLING INTONATION .

This is the commonest tone in English

 affirmative sentences: He seems very intelligent

 It is also used in wh- questions: Why did you phone her?
 In commands: Take it away!
 In greetings and exclamations: Good evening. Good Heavens!

RISING INTONATION .

This is used to suggest that what is said is not final. It could be used if a
response is needed, Yes/No questions: Are you married?

Rising intonation can be used to express things like doubt, indifference,

politeness or interest. For example:

Are you coming? (doubt) // Can you come? (scepticism)

A slightly higher rise intonation could express things like surprise, concern,
anxiety or suspicion, as in:
He's coming on Monday (surprise) // Can we afford it? (anxiety)

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FALLING-RISING INTONATION .

It is mainly used for:

☯ Uncertainty or hesitation: Is it raining? - I think so
☯ Apologizing: That‟s your fault! - I‟m sorry
☯ Expressing differences of opinion: I‟d do that. - Well, I wouldn‟t.

☯ Irony: I don‟t like a good wine. I like water.

RISING - FALLING INTONATION .

 It is rare in English and difficult to pronounce, but may be used to express

Warmth, feelings of complacency, shock or surprise. That‟s great
 Criticism or challenge. Don‟t you dare!

FLAT OR ZERO INTONATION .

The zero intonation is a level pitch without significant pitch contrast. It can be
indicated with a horizontal arrow: . It is used when there is no reason for making
communicative choices. It is used by native speakers while thinking aloud, during
on-the-spot verbal encoding and other cognitive activities, e.g. er… mmm…

3.1 INTONATION IN QUESTION TAGS.

Question Tags can use rising intonation when the speaker wants information
or wants the other person to give his opinion: He didn't look ill, did he?

However, if the speaker only seeks confirmation of his opinion, falling

intonation would be used: It's cold today, isn't it?

O'Connor talks about twenty-four types of tunes, but native speakers do not
necessarily always follow these rules. The only way to use intonation in a reasonably
accurate way will come with careful, regular listening and imitation, although you will
probably never have the same variety of flexibility in their use as an English speaker
has.

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3.2. INTONATION IN SPANISH.

 Spanish uses the rising intonation in questions more than English.
 The falling-rising pattern is rarely used in Spanish.
 Adverbials and comment clauses are incorporated into the intonation group in
English while the Spanish system assigns a separate unit:
e.g. Se hace tarde / sabes
It‟s getting late, you know.

 Names and forms of address in English also form part of the same intonation
unit, but are separate in Spanish.
e.g. Hello John Hola Juan

 Spanish intonation is much more measured, so we have to teach the students

how to intonate the different English elements.
 Intonation in Spoken Spanish does not rise and fall as much as English.
Students should try and keep the voice as levelled as possible.

4. CONCLUSION AND TEACHING IMPLICATIONS.

All languages have their own prosodic patterns. When a non-native speaker
gets the stress rhythm or intonation wrong, s/he can be misunderstood or sometimes
misinterpreted as sounding rude or demanding when this is not intended.
What can be done to improve stress rhythm and intonation? First of all
students should be aware of the differences between English and Spanish.
Some useful techniques may be :
 Listen to as much spoken English as possible and be aware of where the
voice rises and falls. When you listen, try to consider the attitude and feelings
being conveyed. One word, for example, can be said in several different ways,
depending on the meaning you wish to convey.
 Stories motivate children to listen and learn, and help them to become aware of
the sound and feel of English.
 Creating Drama with poetry is an exciting language learning experience. The
use of poetry as drama in the English as a second language (ESL) classroom
enables the students to explore the linguistic and conceptual aspects of the

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written text without concentrating on the mechanics of language. Through this

technique, apart from several other aspects the teacher can model student‟s
pronunciation, intonation, stress, rhythm, and oral expression.

We have to take into account all the differences existing between L1 and L2
patterns of stress, rhythm and intonation, and try our students to differentiate them so
that English people can understand their speaking.

Pronunciation has been an area of major concern in the teaching of

second/foreign languages since the demise of the grammar-translation approach.
The insistence on perfect pronunciation peaked in the decades when the Audio-
Lingual Approach was unrivalled. When it was superseded by the now most popular
Communicative language teaching, pronunciation became relegated to a less
important position since the chief concern was regarded as the communication of
meaning, as opposed to the form (pronunciation) that carries it. However, the issue of
pronunciation has been one major point of dissatisfaction and complaint by many
learners and users of English, whose number is estimated to have reached one
billion. On the right grounds or not, these users wish to get rid of their accent for
various reasons, at a cost of reducing the focus on, perhaps, more relevant domains
and skills.

A question to ponder over is What is intelligibility? What is the optimum number of

pronunciation features for relatively successful communication between native and
non- native speakers of English?

Intelligibility can be defined as the “capacity for understanding a word or words when
spoken/read in the context of a sentence being spoken/read at natural speed.” It
needs to be emphasized here that contextual cues provide vital support for
intelligibility. It is important to identify the extent to which intelligibility in interaction
between native and non- native speakers can break down at the phonological level. If
certain phonological features are implicated in the breakdown, they should be part of
the pronunciation teaching. Then, the optimum number of phonological features,
which can be called „bilingual phonology,‟ would include those sounds whose less-
than perfect pronunciation (or replacement by features present in the mother tongue)
will not break down natural communication.

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Language is basically a means of communication. Differences in sound systems

have a phonological basis: they depend on variation in speech organ positions or
breath control. Teachers must understand the physical aspects of sound production.
Teachers will not necessarily teach these to students, but this knowledge will provide
a basis for teachers to identify the physical reasons for inaccurate approximations of
foreign language sounds, enabling them to give precise instructions which will help
students correct faulty pronunciation. Unless teachers understand how students are
using their speech organs in producing a native language sound and what they
should be doing to reproduce the foreign language sound acceptably, teachers will
not be able to help students beyond a certain stage of earnest but inaccurate
imitation. Incorrectly articulated consonants will affect the production of vowels, as
vowels will affect consonants. Students therefore require steady practice and muscle
training. Pronunciation is a motor skill that needs practice.

BIBLIOGRAPHY .

Alcaraz,E. and Moody, B. Fonética inglesa para españoles. Alcoy: Marfil,1994.

Crystal, D. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language (2nd ed.). Cambridge U.P.,1997.
Gimson, A.C.. An Introduction to the Pronunciation of English. Edward Arnold. London 1978
Jones,D. An Outline of English Phonetics. Cambridge: Heffers, 1960.
Jones,D. The Pronunciation of English. Cambridge University Press. 1973.
Jones, D. English Pronouncing Dictionary. Revised by Gimson. London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1989.
Wells, J. C. Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. London: Longman, 1990.

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APPENDIX: THE SHAPE OF TUNES.

As mentioned previously, we use intonation to express a particular attitude. Let
us examine the sentence “ he was in an appallingly bad temper ” in reply to different
questions:

1- How was John?

He was in an a „ ppall ing ly „ bad „ temper

The first five syllables have low pitch, then there is a jump to the stressed
syllable of 'appallingly' and the next two syllables are the same high pitch; then 'bad'
is a little lower and 'temper' glides downwards from the stressed to the unstressed
syllable.

2-Was John in a good temper?

Now there are only two changes of pitch, connected with the stressed syllables
of 'appallingly' and 'bad'. So these two words are still marked as important but
'temper' is not. Although it still has the first syllable stressed, the fact that there is no
change of pitch shows that the speaker is not treating it as important.

3- Was John in a bad temper?

He was in an a „ ppall ing ly „bad „temper

Both 'bad' and 'temper‟ are still stressed, but they are shown to be unimportant
because they have no change of pitch.

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