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Pronunciation: stress and rhythm

Stress and rhythm are important elements in English pronunciation. If learners pronounce all the syllables in a sentence too regularly, with the same force and at the same speed, they can be quite hard for English speakers to understand. And if learners are not sensitive to English stress and rhythm, they may not perceive unstressed syllables (especially ‘weak forms’, (see here) at all, and this may make it difficult for them to follow natural English speech.

Stress​

Stress is the word for the ‘strength’ with which syllables are pronounced. In speech, some parts of English words and sentences sound louder than others. For example, the first syllable of CARpet, the second syllable of inSPECtion or the last syllable of conFUSE are usually stressed, while the other syllables in these words are not. In the sentence Don’t look at HIM – HE didn’t do it, the words him and he are stressed in order to emphasise them. Stressed syllables are not only louder; they may also have longer vowels, and they may be pronounced on a higher musical pitch.

Word stress​

English words with more than one syllable mostly have a fixed stress pattern. There are not many rules to show which syllable of a word will be stressed: one usually has to learn the stress pattern of a word along with its meaning, spelling and pronunciation. Examples:

Stressed on first syllable:

  • AFter, CApital, HAPpen, EXercise, EAsy

Stressed on second syllable:

  • inSTEAD, proNOUNCE, aGREEment, parTIcularly

Stressed on third syllable:

  • enterTAIN, underSTAND, concenTRAtion

The stressed syllable of a word is the one that can carry an intonation movement (see here) below).

Many short phrases also have a fixed stress pattern.

  • front DOOR (not FRONT door)

  • LIVing room (not living ROOM)

Related words can have different stress patterns.

  • to inCREASE
  • an INcrease
  • PHOtograph
  • phoTOgrapher
  • photoGRAphic

A good dictionary will show how words and common phrases are stressed.

Variable stress​

Some words have variable stress. In these, the stress is at or near the end when the word is spoken alone, but it can move to an earlier position when the word is in a sentence, especially if another stressed word follows. Compare:

  • afterNOON (stress at the end)
    It’s time for my AFternoon NAP . (stress at the beginning)
  • JapanESE
    JApanese COOking
  • nineTEEN
    The year NINEteen TWENty

Many short phrases – for instance, two-word verbs – have variable stress.

  • Their marriage broke UP .
    Money problems BROKE up their marriage.
  • Do sit DOWN .
    She SAT down and cried.
  • It’s dark BLUE .
    a DARK blue SUIT

Stress and pronunciation​

Unstressed syllables nearly always have one of two vowels: /ɪ/ (in unstressed prefixes written with e, like de-, re-, pre-, ex-) or /ə/ (in other cases).

Compare the first syllables in the following pairs of words:

  • PREference (/ˈprefrəns/)
    preFER (/prɪˈfɜː(r)/)
  • EXpert (/ˈekspɜːt/)
    exPERience (/ɪkˈspɪərɪəns/)
  • CONfident (/ˈkɒnfɪdənt/)
    conFUSED (/kənˈfjuːzd/)
  • PARticle (/ˈpɑːtɪkl/)
    parTIcular (/pəˈtɪkjələ(r)/)

Many short words (mostly pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions and auxiliary verbs) have two quite different pronunciations: a normal ‘weak’ unstressed form, and a ‘strong’ form used when the word has special stress. (For details, (see here).)

  • ‘I was (/wəz/) here first.’ ‘No you weren’t.’ ‘Yes I was (/wɒz/).’

Emotive and contrastive stress​

We can use stress to emphasise (strengthen) a particular word or expression. There are two main reasons for this. We may wish to show that we feel strongly about what we are saying (‘emotive emphasis’).

  • I feel GREAT!
  • Your hair looks SO good like that!
  • This is your LAST chance.

Or we may wish to show a contrast between, for example, true and false, or present and past, or a rule and an exception (‘contrastive emphasis’).

  • ‘Why weren’t you at the meeting?’ ‘I WAS at the meeting.’
  • I don’t do much sport now, but I DID play football when I was younger.
  • I don’t see my family much, but I visit my MOTHER occasionally.

Emphasis can also show that something expected actually happened, or is the case.

  • I thought I’d pass the exam, and I DID pass.

We often stress auxiliary verbs to show emphasis. This can make a whole sentence sound emphatic, or it can indicate a contrast. Most auxiliary verbs change their pronunciation when they are stressed (see here).

  • You HAVE grown!
  • I AM telling the truth!
  • You MUST believe me!

In emphatic sentences without auxiliary verbs, we add do to carry stress.

  • DO sit down.
  • She DOES like you.
  • If he DOES decide to come, let me know, will you?

With stressed auxiliary verbs, word order can change (see here). Compare:

  • I’m really tired.
  • I really AM tired.

Changes in stress can affect the meaning of a sentence. Compare:

  • MEGAN called me yesterday. (She was the one who called.)
  • Megan CALLED me yesterday. (But she didn’t come and see me.)
  • Megan called ME yesterday. (But she didn’t call you, did she?)
  • Megan called me YESTERDAY. (Not today.)

Stress in sentences; rhythm​

Rhythm is the word for the way stressed and unstressed syllables make patterns in speech. In sentences, we usually give more stress to nouns, ordinary verbs, adjectives and adverbs, and less stress to pronouns, determiners, prepositions, conjunctions and auxiliary verbs.

  • She was SURE that the BACK of the CAR had been DAMaged.

Stressed syllables are pronounced more slowly and clearly, and (in the opinion of some linguists) follow each other at roughly regular intervals. Unstressed syllables are pronounced more quickly and less clearly, and are fitted in between the stressed syllables. Compare the following two sentences. The second does not take much longer to say than the first: although it has three more unstressed syllables, it has the same number of stressed syllables.

  • She KNEW the DOCtor.
  • She KNEW that there was a DOCtor.