TPH L 8 Sentence Stress and Rhythm

Theoretical Phonetics
Lecture 8
Sentence Stress and Rhythm
1. Sentence Stress
OUTLINE 2.
3.
Speech Rhythm
Rhythmic group
4. Functions of rhythm
WHAT IS SENTENCE STRESS?
Remember that word stress (syllable stress) is the„beat‟ on one or more

syllables within a word;
Sentence stress is the „beat‟ on certain words within a sentence.
Sentence stress is the music of spoken English. In other words, sentence

stress can be described as the „rhythm‟ of spoken language
Like word stress , sentence stress can help you to understand spoken
English, even rapid spoken English.
WHY IS “STRESS” If you stress all the words in an
utterance, you may sound unpleasant or
IMPORTANT? even cause misunderstanding, because:
1. You are giving too much information;

It adds rhythm when you
speak 2. English native speakers usually stress
all words only when they are impatient or
angry;
Sentence Stress
The special prominence of accented words is achieved through the greater
force of utterance and changes in the direction of voice pitch, constituting the
nuclear tone.
Difference between stress and accent IS BASED ON
the dominant perceptual the dominant perceptual

component is loudness component is PITCH
Degrees of stress in an utterance correlate with the pitch range system.
Nuclear stress is the strongest, because it carries the most important
information.
Non-nuclear stresses are subdivided into full and partial.
Full stress occurs only in the head of an intonation group, partial stress occurs in
the pre-head and tail
If you remove the structure words from a
sentence, you will probably still
understand the sentence.
If you remove the content words from a

sentence, you will not understand the
sentence. The sentence has no sense or
meaning.
SENTENCE STRESS Rules

Imagine that you receive this message
● This sentence is not complete.

● It is not "grammatically correct".
● But you probably understand it.
● These 4 words communicate very well.
THIS SENTENCE MAY PROBABLY HAVE A MEANING
Somebody wants you to sell their car for them because they have gone to France.
We can add a few words:
NO NEW INFORMATION JUST GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT
We can add MORE words:
But the information is basically the same:
SO the 4 key words (sell, car, gone, France) are accentuated or stressed.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
In our sentence, there is 1 syllable between
SELL and CAR and 3 syllables between CAR
It adds "MUSIC" to the language. It is the rhythm of
and GONE.
the English language. It changes the speed at which
we speak (and listen to) the language. But the time (t) between SELL and CAR and
between CAR and GONE is the same.
The time between each stressed word is the same.
We maintain a constant beat on the
stressed words.
To do this, we say "my" more slowly, and

"because I've" more quickly.
We change the speed of the small structure

words so that the rhythm of the key content
words stays the same.
The basic rules of sentence stress are:
1. content words are stressed

2. structure words/ function words are
unstressed
3. the time between stressed words is
always the same
EXCEPTIONS!!!!
The rules above are for what is called "neutral" or normal stress.
But sometimes we can stress a word that would normally be only a structure word, for
example to correct information. Look at the following dialogue:
"They've been to Mongolia, haven't they?"

"No, THEY haven't, but WE have."
Note also that when "be" is used as a main verb, it is usually unstressed—even though as a
main verb it is also a content word.
Content words are stressed
Three types of sentence-stress:
1. normal (or syntactical) sentence-stress

2. logical sentence-stress
3. emphatic sentence-stress
Normal Stress
Normal stress affects content words which convey the necessary information to the
listener, eg: We have plenty of time.
Normal sentence-stress is used to arrange words into sentences or intonation

groups phonetically.
Logical sentence stress
The position of the last sentence-stress determines the place of the nucleus of
the communicative centre. By shifting the position of the last stress we can
change the place of the nucleus of the communicative centre,
eg: Nelly 'spoke to him yesterday.
Nelly 'spoke to him yesterday.
Nelly 'spoke to him yesterday.
Logically different messages are expressed in the given sentences. Each

shifting of the stress modifies the meaning of the sentence.
Most human utterances express not only the speaker's thoughts, but also his feelings and attitudes to reality and to the
contents of the sentence. Both normal and logical stresses can be unemphatic or emphatic.
Emphatic sentence stress

Tina gave the book to \ANN
I said that \MAX gave the book to Ann.
\HE gave her the book.
● Emphatic stress increases the effort of expression

● It may strengthen the stressed word making it still more prominent.
● Emphatic stress manifests itself mainly on the High Fall or the Rise-Fall of the nuclear syllable.
● Emphatic stress is a powerful expressive means.
● It is the highest degree of logical and emotional prominence of words in a phrase.
Sentence Stress Illustrated:
Sentences Meaning
1. I don’t think she would I don’t think that, but someone else does.
write it.
2. I DON’T think she will It is not true that I think that.

listen to him.
3. I don’t THINK she will I don’t think that, I know that. Or: I don’t think that,
listen to him. but I could be wrong.
4. I don’t think SHE will I think that someone other than her will listen to
listen to him. him.
5. I don’t think she WILL I think that she is will not be willing or agreeable to
listen to him. listening to him.
6. I don’t think she will Instead of listening, she might talk to him.
LISTEN to him.
7. I don’t think she will I think that she will listen to someone else than him
listen to HIM.
ENGLISH AS A STRESSED-TIME LANGUAGE
PATTERNS OF ENGLISH AS STRESSED-TIMED LANGUAGE
PATTERNS OF ENGLISH AS STRESSED-TIMED LANGUAGE
RHYTHMIC GROUP AS THE BASIC UNIT OF RHYTHM
IT’s a speech segment containing a stressed syllable and unstressed syllables
attached to it.
The stressed syllable is the nucleus of the group. There are as many rhythmic
units in an utterance as there are stressed syllables in it. The smallest rhythmic
unit is a rhythmic group, which contains a stressed syllable with preceding or
/and following unstressed syllables attached to it
The unstressed syllables are clitics
The unstressed syllables preceding the stressed with which they are grouped
are called PROCLITICS, those following he stressed syllable are called -
ENCLITICS
He rose without a word | searched for Tom Evance’s card,| handed it to her
{he} rose is a proclitic
handed {it} is an enclitic
{to} is a proclitic to the word {her}
{without a} is a proclitic to {word}

There are two alternative views among phoneticians concerning the
grouping of stressed and unstressed syllables.
According to the first point of view the grouping is based on the semantic
principle: the unstressed syllables tend to be drawn either to the stressed
syllable of the same word or to the lexical unit with which they are
semantically connected:
EXAMPLE
They decided I to go I to the country I for the weekend.

According to the other point of view the unstressed syllables tend to join the
preceding stressed syllable.
This theory is called enclitic. According to the enclitic principle the same
phrase will be divided into rhythmic groups in the following way:
EXAMPLE
They decided to I go to the I country for the I weekend.

Summary
The enclitic tendency is considered to be more typical of English,
though experimental data show that the type of division into rhythmic
groups depends on the tempo and style of speech.
The enclitic tendency is observed in rapid colloquial speech,
while in careful slow, more explicit formal speech the semantic tendency
prevails.
Functions of rhythm
- to organise the segments of speech: smaller units are organised into
smaller one
- integration and delimitation: integration of the text and its parts and
marking the boundaries between parts of the text
- aesthetic : rhythmically organized speech is easily perceived produces a
certain emotional effect on human beings.
- pragmatic: makes discourse expressive and thus increase its pragmatic
potential (public speaking)
-

TPH L 8 Sentence Stress and Rhythm

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

TPH L 8 Sentence Stress and Rhythm

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

TPH L 8 Sentence Stress and Rhythm

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Theoretical Phonetics

Remember that word stress (syllable stress) is the„beat‟ on one or more

Sentence stress is the „beat‟ on certain words within a sentence.

Sentence stress is the music of spoken English. In other words, sentence

IMPORTANT? even cause misunderstanding, because:

1. You are giving too much information;

Diﬀerence between stress and accent IS BASED ON

the dominant perceptual the dominant perceptual

If you remove the content words from a

SENTENCE STRESS Rules

● This sentence is not complete.

THIS SENTENCE MAY PROBABLY HAVE A MEANING

NO NEW INFORMATION JUST GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT

We can add MORE words:

But the information is basically the same:

To do this, we say "my" more slowly, and

We change the speed of the small structure

1. content words are stressed

"They've been to Mongolia, haven't they?"

1. normal (or syntactical) sentence-stress

Normal sentence-stress is used to arrange words into sentences or intonation

eg: Nelly 'spoke to him yesterday.

Nelly 'spoke to him yesterday.

Nelly 'spoke to him yesterday.

Logically different messages are expressed in the given sentences. Each

Emphatic sentence stress

I said that \MAX gave the book to Ann.

\HE gave her the book.

● Emphatic stress increases the effort of expression

2. I DON’T think she will It is not true that I think that.

The unstressed syllables are clitics

{he} rose is a proclitic

handed {it} is an enclitic

{to} is a proclitic to the word {her}

{without a} is a proclitic to {word}

They decided I to go I to the country I for the weekend.

They decided to I go to the I country for the I weekend.

groups depends on the tempo and style of speech.

The enclitic tendency is observed in rapid colloquial speech,

You might also like