ENGLISH PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY

CHAPTER 1: THE PRODUCTION OF SPEECH SOUNDS

“The study of how sounds are produced and how the position of the mouth can be changed to
produce different sounds is called phonetics.”

1. ARTICULATORS ABOVE THE LARYNX

Where are speech sounds produced? – Speech sounds are produced in the vocal tract

How are speech sounds produced? – There is a movement of air.

When we talk, our muscles help push air from our lungs to create sounds. The muscles in our
chest control the airflow, and muscles in the larynx (the voice box) change the way the air
moves. After passing through the larynx, the air travels through the vocal tract, which ends at
the mouth and nose.

Air comes from lungs => goes up => larynx (vocal cords) => vocal tract => out of the body
through the mouth or the nose.

1.1 THE VOCAL TRACT

To make different sounds, we use various parts of the vocal tract. These parts are called
articulators, and learning about them is called articulatory phonetics. This help us understand
how speech sounds are made.

Vocal tract is divided into 2 parts:

Oral cavity (the mouth and pharynx) => mouth => oral sounds

Nasal cavity (the nose) => nose => nasal sounds (/m/, /n/, /ŋ/)

1.2 ARTICULATORS
Articulators are different parts of the vocal tract that are used to form different speech
sounds.

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7 main articulators:

1. The pharynx
 A tube above the larynx
 About 7 cm long in women, 8 cm in men
 At its top end, it is divided into 2:
o One part being the back of the mouth
o The other being the beginning of the way through the nasal cavity
2. The velum or soft palate
 Allows air to pass through the nose and through the mouth
 One of the articulators that can be touched by the tongue
 The tongue is in contact with the lower side of the soft palate => make the sounds /k/
and /g/ => called velar consonants (sounds). Ex: cook, go, bag
3. The hard palate
 Often called the “roof of the mouth”
 The tongue close to the hard palate => make a consonant /j/ called palatal sounds. Ex:
yes, year
4. The alveolar ridge
 Is b/w the top front teeth and the hard palate
 Is covered with little ridges
 The tongue touching the alveolar ridge => make the sounds /t/, /d/ and /n/ called
alveolar sounds. Ex: ten, die, nine
5. The tongue
 A very important articulator
 Can be moved into many different places and different shapes
 Divided into 5 parts: tip, blade, front, back, and root
6. The teeth (upper and lower)
 Only at the front of the mouth, immediately behind the lips
 The tongue is in contact with the upper side teeth => most speech sounds
 The tongue touching the front teeth => make dental sounds /θ/ and /ð/. Ex: think, they
7. The lips
 Are important in speech
 Can be pressed together when making the sounds /p/ and /b/
 Touch the teeth when making the sounds /f/ and /v/
 Be rounded to make the lip-shape for certain vowels, like /u:/
 Lips are in contact with each other => bilabial sounds /p/, /b/, /m/ and /w/. Ex: path,
bad, mine, when

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  Lips and teeth touching (lip-to-teeth contact) => labiodental sounds /f/ and /v/. Ex:
fight, via

NOTES:

1. The larynx (voice box) is also an articulator.

2. The jaws can also be considered articulators because they help in speaking by moving the
lower jaw.

3. The nose and the nasal cavity are important for making nasal sounds like /m/ and /n/. Even
though the nose isn’t an articulator in the same way as the other parts, it still plays a role.

REVIEW

TRUE OR FALSE

1) IN ENGLISH, THERE ARE MORE NASAL SOUNDS THAN ORAL SOUNDS PRODUCED.

False. In English there are only 3 nasal sounds /m/, /n/, /ŋ/ (where the airflow passes through
the nose) while most sounds are produced with the airflow passing through the mouth, making
them oral sounds.

GAP FILLING

2) THE SHAPE OF THE VOCAL TRACT IS A VERY IMPORTANT FACTOR IN THE

PRODUCTION OF SPEECH SOUNDS.

2. VOWELS AND CONSONANTS

 To produce speech sounds, there is a movement of air. Lungs => larynx => vocal tract
 Difference b/w Consonant and Vowel sounds

Vowels Consonants

Sounds in which there is no obstruction to Sounds involve some kind of obstruction (or
the flow of air when it passes from the larynx more than one constriction) in the vocal
to the lips. tract.

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QUESTIONS:

1) HOW MANY KINDS OF SPEECH SOUNDS ARE THERE IN ENGLISH? – There are 2 kinds of
speech sounds: vowels and consonants

2) HOW MANY VOWELS ARE THERE? – There are 25 vowels, including:

P Short vowels: 7
P Long vowels: 5
P Diphthongs: 8
P Triphthongs: 5

3) WHAT ARE 3 MAIN FEATURES OF LONG AND SHORT VOWELS?

Tongue shape: front vowels >< back vowels

Tongue height: close vowels >< open vowels

Lip-rounding: rounded vowels >< spread vowels

2.1 VOWELS IN GENERAL

Different vowels:

(1) The shape of the tongue = Tongue shape / Tongue part: The part of the tongue, b/w front
and back, which is raised highest. Including front, central, back.

 /iː/ , /æ/: the front part of the tongue is raised high => front vowels
 /ɑː/ in ‘calm’ and /uː/ in ‘too’: the back of the tongue is the highest point => back
vowels

(2) The position of the tongue = Tongue height: Vertical distance b/w the surface of the tongue
and the hard palate. Including close, close-mid, open-mid, open.

 /iː/ in ‘see’: tongue close to the roof of the mouth => close vowel
 /æ/ in ‘cat’: greater distance b/w the surface of the tongue and the roof of the mouth
=> open vowel

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(3) The lip-rounding

3 possibilities:

 Rounded: corners of the lips are brought towards each other and the lips pushed
forwards: /u/, /u:/, /o/, /ɔ/…
 Spread: corners of the lips moved away from each other, as for a smile: /i:/
 Neutral: are not noticeably rounded or spread: /ɑː/

2.2 ENGLISH SHORT VOWELS

There are 7 short vowels:

/ɪ/: front – close – spread (tongue shape – tongue height – lip-rounding). Ex: bit, pin, fish

/e/: front – mid – spread. Ex: bet, men, yes

/æ/: front – open - spread. Ex: bat, man, gas

/ʌ/: central – open-mid – neutral. Ex: cut, come, rush

/ɒ/: back – open – rounded. Ex: pot, gone, cross

/ʊ/: back – close – rounded. Ex: put, pull, push

/ə/: central vowel, schwa (âm phát ra ở các âm tiết không có trọng lượng âm (unstressed
syllable) và trong các nguyên âm đôi (diphthongs) trong tiếng Anh). Ex: the, about, perhaps,
common

 The most important sound, the most frequent sound in English

 Schwa is usually in unstressed syllable

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CHAPTER 2: LONG VOWELS, DIPHTHONGS AND
TRIPHTHONGS

1. ENGLISH LONG VOWELS

 There are 5 long vowels
 Tend to be longer than the short vowels in similar contexts
 The symbols consist of one vowel symbol plus a length mark made of two dots ː
 The differences b/w long and short vowels are not only in length but also in quality
(resulting from differences in tongue shape and height, and lip-rounding)

/iː/: front – mid – spread. Ex: beat, mean, peace

/ɛː/: central – mid – neutral. Ex: bird, term, purse

/ɑː/: back – open – neutral. Ex: card, half, pass

/ɔː/: back – close-mid – strong lip-rounding. Ex: board, torn, horse

/uː/: back – close – rounded. Ex: food, soon, loose

2. DIPHTHONGS
Diphthongs are sounds which consists of a movement or glide from one vowel to another.

A diphthong always forms just one syllable.

A pure vowel is a vowel which remains constant and does not glide.

The first part is much longer and stronger than the second part

There are 8 diphthongs in total and divided into 3 groups:

2.1 THE CENTRING DIPHTHONGS: ENDING IN /Ə/

The centring diphthongs glide towards the /ə/ (schwa) vowel

/ɪə/: the starting point is a little closer than /ɪ/ in ‘bit’, ‘bin’. Ex: beard, weird, fierce

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/eə/: this diphthong begins with a vowel sound that is more open than the /e/ of ‘get’, ‘men’.
Ex: aired, cairn, scarce, bear, hair, wear

/ʊə/: this has a straight point similar to /ʊ/ in ‘put’, ‘pull’. Ex: moored, tour, lure, poor, sure,
jury

2.2 THE CLOSING DIPHTHONGS

 The closing diphthongs have the characteristic that they all end with a glide towards a
closer vowel.

2.2.1 THE CLOSING DIPHTHONG ENDING IN /ɪ/

Three of the closing diphthongs glide towards /ɪ/

 /eɪ/: the starting point is the same as the /e/ of ‘get’, ‘men’. Ex: paid, pain, face, pay,
eight
 /aɪ/: this diphthong begins with an open vowel which is b/w front and back. Ex:
tide, time, nice, rice
 /ɔɪ/: the first part of this diphthong is slightly more open than /ɔː/ in ‘ought’, ‘born’.
Ex: void, loin, voice, boy

2.2.2 THE CLOSING DIPHTHONG ENDING IN /Ʊ/

Two closing diphthongs glide towards /ʊ/

 /əʊ/: the vowel position for the beginning of this is the same as for the schwa
vowel /ə/. Ex: load, home, most
 The lips may be slightly rounded in anticipation of the glide towards /ʊ/, for
which there is quite noticeable lip-rounding.
 /aʊ/: this diphthong begins with a vowel similar to /aɪ/. Ex: loud, gown, house
 Since this is an open vowel, a glide to /ʊ/ would necessitate a large
movement, and the tongue often does not reach the ʊ position.
 There is only slight lip-rounding

3. TRIPHTHONGS
 A triphthong is a glide from one vowel to another and then to a third, all produced
rapidly and without interruption.
 There are 5 closing diphthongs with /ə/ added on the end
 eɪ + ə = eɪə (layer, player, mayor, slayer)

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  aɪ + ə = aɪə (liar, fire, hire, mire, higher)
 ɔɪ + ə = ɔɪə (loyal, royal, soya, employer)
 əʊ + ə = əʊə (lower, slower, mower, rower)
 aʊ + ə = aʊə (power, hour, tower, shower, flower)

TRIPHTHONGS: 1 SYLLABLE OR 2?

 Words such as ‘fire’ or ‘hour’ are probably felt by most English speakers (with BBC
pronunciation) to consist of only one syllable
 Whereas ‘player’ and ‘slower’ are more likely to be heard as two syllables

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CHAPTER 3: VOICING AND CONSONANTS
 Consonants are classified into 2 groups (in terms of the voicing feature):
 Voiced consonants: /b/ , /d/ , /z/ => when we produce these sounds, the vocal cords are
moving
 Voiceless consonants: /p/ , /t/ , /s/ => when we produce these sounds, the vocal cords
are not moving
 The vocal cords are parts of the larynx, and play a role in producing voicing to the sounds
we make.

1. THE LARYNX (THE VOICE BOX)

 Is in the neck
 Is made of 2 large cartilages
 The larynx has 2 main parts that look like hollow boxes. When we breathe, air passes
through the trachea and then into the larynx.
 Adam’s Apple (The front part of the larynx can be felt as a point, especially in men)
 Inside the larynx are the vocal folds / vocal cords, which are two thick flaps of muscle.
These flaps are like lips and help us produce sound
 The moving of the vocal folds in inside the larynx causes the voicing to the sounds you
make => that is why the larynx is also called the voice box
 At the front the vocal folds are joined together and fixed to the inside of the thyroid
cartilage.
 At the back they are attached to a pair of small cartilages called the arytenoid cartilages
so that if the arytenoid cartilages move, the vocal folds move too.

Glottis: refers to the opening b/w the vocal folds

 4 states of the vocal folds:

 (1) Wide apart:
o For normal breathing
o Voiceless consonants: /p/ , /f/ , /s/
 (2) Narrow glottis:
o When the air is passed through the glottis (when it is narrowed) => a fricative
sound => /h/: voiceless glottal fricative

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  (3) Vibration:
o When the edges of the vocal folds are touching each other, air passing
through the glottis will cause vibration
o Voiced sounds
 (4) Tightly closed:
o Vocal folds are pressed together so that the air can’t pass
o Glottal stop / glottal plosive [?]

REVIEW

TRUE OR FALSE

1) WHEN THE AIR PASSES THROUGH NARROW GLOTTIS, WE CAN PRODUCE GLOTTAL
PLOSIVE.

False. Narrow glottis: the air passed through glottis => voiceless glottal fricative /h/. Glottal
plosive [?] is produced when vocal folds are pressed together so that the air can’t pass.

2) IF THE AIR PASSES B/W THE VOCAL FOLDS WHEN THEY ARE WIDE APART, WE CAN
PRODUCE VOICED SOUNDS.

False. We can produce voiceless sounds.

3) GLOTTAL STOP IS A SOUND PRODUCED BY PRESSING THE VOCAL FOLDS TIGHTLY

TOGETHER. => True

4) TO PRODUCE VOICED SOUNDS, THE VOCAL CORDS ARE VIBRATING. => True

GAP FILLING

1) IF THE AIR PASSED THROUGH THE NARROW GLOTTIS, THE RESULT IS A voiceless glottal
fricative /h/

2) ONE EXAMPLE OF VOICED SOUNDS IS /z/ (when you produce this sound, you touch your
larynx and you can feel the vibration)

3) VOICELESS CONSONANTS ARE PRODUCED WHEN THE VOCAL FOLDS ARE wide apart.

2. RESPIRATION AND VOICING

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  Egressive pulmonic airstream => the most commonly found air movement in languages.
 The vocal folds vibrate => voiced sounds
 The pressure of the air below the vocal folds (the subglottal pressure)
 3 main differences in the pressure of the air below the vocal folds:
 (1) Variations in intensity:
o Shouting => high intensity
o Speaking quietly => low intensity
 (2) Variations in frequency:
o Vocal folds vibrate rapidly => high frequency
o Vocal folds vibrate slowly => low frequency
 (3) Variations in quality:
o Different-sounding voice qualities, such as harsh, breathy, murmured or creaky

WRAP – UP

Consonants

Voiced Voiceless

Vibrating No vibration

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CHAPTER 4: INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH CONSONANT
SOUNDS

1. CONSONANT PHONEMIC FEATURES

(1) Voicing

 15 Voiced: vocal folds are vibrating

 9 Voiceless: vocal folds are not vibrating

(2) Place of Articulation

 Where the articulators make contact

 4 Bilabial: 2 lips are pressed together
 2 Dental: the tongue is in contact with the teeth
 6 Alveolar: the tongue blade is pressed against the alveolar ridge
 1 Palatal: the tongue is close to hard palate
 3 Velar: the back of the tongue is pressed against the velum

(3) Manner of Articulation

 How a consonant sound is produced

 6 Plosive: the stricture is formed and the air is released with a loud noise
 9 Fricative: air escapes through a narrow passage and making a hissing sound
 2 Affricate: begin as plosives and end as fricatives
 3 Nasal: the air escapes through the nose

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CHAPTER 5: ENGLISH CONSONANT SOUNDS

Voicing Place of articulation Manner of articulation

15 voiced consonants => 4 bilabial 6 plosive

vocal folds vibrate
2 labiodental 9 fricative
9 voiceless consonants =>
vocal folds NOT vibrate 2 dental 2 affricate

6 alveolar 3 nasal

5 post-alveolar 1 lateral (approximant)

1 palatal 3 approximant

3 velar

1 glottal

1. PLOSIVES
A plosive: a stop made with a pulmonic mechanism, such as in English /p/ or /b/

 (1) Closing phase: 1 articulator is moved against another / 2 articulators are moved against
each other => a stricture is formed (no air escapes from the vocal tract)
 (2) Compression phase: air has been compressed behind the stricture
 (3) Release phase: the articulators are moved to allow the air to escape
 (4) Post-release phase:
 If the air behind the stricture is still under pressure => the escape of the air will produce
loud noise => plosion
 There may be voicing during part of all of the plosive articulation

 6 plosive consonants: /p/ , /t/ , /k/ , /b/ , /d/ , /g/

 Different places of articulation
 /p/ and /b/: bilabial plosive (lips are pressed together)
 /t/ and /d/: alveolar plosive (the tongue blade is pressed against the alveolar ridge)

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  /k/ and /g/: velar plosive (the back of the tongue is pressed against the velum)
 All plosive can occur:
 At the beginning of a word: initial position. Ex: tea, car
 B/w other sounds: medial position. Ex: happy, ladder
 At the end of a word: final position. Ex: look, sleep

WRAP – UP

/p/ /b/

Voiceless Voiced

Bilabial Bilabial

Plosive Plosive

/k/ /g/
Voicing:
Voiceless Voiced
Place of articulation: Different in Voicing
Velar Velar
Manner of articulation:
Plosive Plosive

/t/ /d/

Voiceless Voiced

Alveolar Alveolar

Plosive Plosive

2. FRICATIVES
Fricatives are consonants with the characteristic that air escapes through a narrow passage
and making a hissing sound.

*NOTE: Hissing sound = fricative noise = friction noise

 There are 9 fricatives:

 Different places of articulation
 Each place of articulation has 1 fortis (voiceless) and 1 lenis (voiced)

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 Fortis fricatives are articulated with greater force than lenis and their friction noise is
louder

PLACE OF ARTICULATION
VOICING
Bilabial Alveolar Velar

Fortis (voiceless) p t k

Lenis (voiced) b d g

2.1 LABIODENTAL FRICATIVE: /f/ and /v/

 The lower lip is in contact with the upper teeth
 The fricative noise is weak
 /f/: voiceless labiodental fricative
 /v/: voiced labiodental fricative

2.2 DENTAL FRICATIVE: /θ/ and /ð/

 The tongue is placed b/w the teeth
 Air escapes through the gap b/w the tongue and the teeth
 /θ/: voiceless dental fricative
 /ð/: voiced dental fricative

2.3 ALVEOLAR FRICATIVE: /s/ and/z/

 The tongue blade is pressed against the alveolar ridge

 The air escapes through a narrow passage along the center of the tongue
 /s/: voiceless alveolar ridge
 /z/: voice alveolar ridge

2.4 POST-ALVEOLAR FRICATIVE: /ʃ/ and /ʒ/

 The tongue is in contact with an area slightly further back than the alveolar ridge
 The air escapes through a passage along the center of the tongue
 Lips are rounded
 /ʃ/: voiceless post-alveolar fricative
 /ʒ/: voice post-alveolar fricative

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2.5 VOICELESS GLOTTAL FRICATIVE: /h/
 The air passes through the glottis when it is narrowed
 Found before vowels
 Has the quality of the vowel it precedes
 /h/: voiceless glottal fricative

WRAP – UP

PLACE OF ARTICULATION
VOICING
Labiodental Dental Alveolar Post-alveolar Glottal

Fortis (voiceless) f θ s ʃ h

Lenis (voiced) v ð z ʒ

3. AFFRICATES:
Affricates are consonants which begin as plosives and end as fricatives

 English affricates: /tʃ/ and /dʒ/

 Same place of articulation: Post-alveolar. Same manner: Affricate
 Rounded lips

/tʃ/: voiceless post-alveolar affricate

/dʒ/: voiced post-alveolar affricate

/tʃ/ /dʒ/

t ʃ d ʒ

plosive fricative plosive fricative

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4. NASALS:
Nasal

 The air escapes through the nose

 The soft palate is lowered => complete closure in the mouth
 3 types of closure:
 Bilabial (lips) /m/: voiced bilabial nasal
 Alveolar (tongue blade against alveolar ridge) /n/: voiced alveolar nasal
 Velar (back of tongue against the soft palate). The nasal /ŋ/: voiced velar nasal
o No English words can begin with /ŋ/
o Can occur only within or at the end of a word

WRAP – UP

/m/ /n/ /ŋ/

Same Voiced (voicing) and Nasal (manner)

Different Bilabial Alveolar Velar

5. LATERAL
A lateral consonant /l/

 There is complete closure b/w the center of the tongue and alveolar ridge
 The only way for air to escape is along the sides of the tongue
 /l/: voiced alveolar lateral

6. APPROXIMANT
Approximant: an articulation in which one articulator is close to another but it’s not so close to
produce a complete consonant such as a plosive, fricative or nasal

 In some cases, there is no /r/ in the pronunciation. Ex: car /kɑː/, ever /ˈɛvə/, here /hɪə/,
hard /hɑːd/
 /r/: voiced post-alveolar approximant

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  /j/ and /w/: semi–vowels
 /j/: palatal (place) => voiced palatal approximant
 /w/: bilabial (place) => voiced bilabial approximant

CHAPTER 6: THE SYLLABLE

1. THE NATURE OF A SYLLABLE

 A syllable:
P A single unit of speech
P Having one vowel
P With or without surrounding
P Forming the whole or a part of a word
 Ex: book /bʊk/ => a syllable

/b/: consonant /ʊ/: vowel /k/: consonant

 In English, a word may have one or more than one syllables:

P 1-syllabled words: desk, chair, boy, girl
P 2-syllabled words: table, woman, doctor, mirror
P 3-syllabled words: entertain, monitor, syllable, consonant
P 4-syllabled words: helicopter, supervisor, environment, intelligent
P 5-syllabled words: disability, unacceptable, electricity
P 6-syllabled words: environmentalist, responsibility, cooperatively

 A minimum syllable: a single vowel in isolation

 Ex: Are /ɑ:/ , A /ə/
 Some syllables have one/some onset (s): the consonants preceding the vowel
 Ex: car /kɑː/ => 1 onset
 Sleep /sliːp/ => 2 onsets
 Square /skweə/ => 3 onsets
 Some syllables have no onset but have one or more codas: consonants following the vowel
 Ex: am /æm/ => 1 coda
 Ink / ɪŋk/ => 2 codas
 Some syllables have both onset and coda

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  Ex: ran /ræn/ => 1 onset, 1 coda
 Field /fiːld/ => 1 onset, 2 codas
 Sleep /sliːp/ => 2 onsets, 1 coda

WRAP-UP:

A syllable

Onset
(s) Vowel / Minimum syllable Coda (s)

2. STRUCTURE OF AN ENGLISH SYLLABLE

ONSET(S) + VOWEL + CODA(S)

pre-initial + initial + post-initial pre-final + final + post-final(s)

 If the syllable begins with a vowel (not having any consonant before a vowel)=> zero onset
 Ex: apple /ˈæpᵊl/ => the first syllable has zero onset
 Two or more consonants together before vowel will form a consonant cluster

ONSET STRUCTURE:
Pre-initial consonant + initial consonant + post-initial consonant

/s/ + The other consonants

Pre-initial consonant Initial consonant

 Ex: sting /stɪŋ/ => 2 onsets. /s/: pre-initial; /t/: initial

Consonants + /l, r, w, j/

Initial consonant Post-initial consonant

 Ex: play /pleɪ/ => 2 onsets. /p/: initial; /l/: post-initial

 If there is no final consonant => zero coda
 Ex: pay /peɪ/
 When there is one consonant after the vowel => final consonant

CODA STRUCTURE:

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 Two/more final consonants => final cluster

Pre-final consonant Final consonant Post-final consonant(s)

/m, n, ŋ, l, s/ /s, z, t, d, θ/

Coda(s)
Word Transcription
Pre-final Final Post-final

Helped /hɛlpt/ /l/ /p/ /t/

Fifths /fɪfθs/ - /f/ /θ/ , /s/

Prompts /prɒmpts/ /m/ /p/ /t/ , /s/

WRAP-UP:
The maximum phonological structure of the English syllable:

Post- Post-final Post-final Post-final

Pre-initial Initial VOWEL Pre-final Final
initial 1 3 3

ONSET CODA

CHAPTER 7: THE NATURE OF STRESS

1. THE NATURE OF STRESS

 Stress could be described as the relative strength of a syllable
 All stressed syllables have one characteristic in common, and that is prominence
 Stressed syllables are recognized as stressed because they are more prominent than
unstressed syllables
 4 factors:
P Stressed syllable is louder than unstressed syllables
P Stressed syllable is longer
P Stressed syllable is high – pitched
P A syllable is prominent if it contains a vowel which is different in quality from
neighboring vowels

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LEVEL OF STRESS:

(1) PRIMARY STRESS:

 The strongest emphasis in a word of 2/more syllables when it is spoken

 Primary stress is marked ‘ in the dictionary
 Ex: fantastic /fænˈtæstɪk/ => the primary stress is on the 2nd syllable

(2) SECONDARY STRESS:

 The degree of stress weaker than a primary accent placed on a syllable in the pronunciation
of a word
 The mark (,) used to indicate secondary stress
 Ex: photographic /ˌfəʊtəˈɡræfɪk/ => the secondary stress is on the 1st syllable, and the
primary stress is on the 3rd syllable

(3) UNSTRESSED

 The absence of any recognizable amount of prominence

 Ex: poetic /pəʊˈɛtɪk/ => the 1st and the 3rd syllable are unstressed

WRAP-UP:
 Stressed syllables are more prominent than unstressed syllables
 3 levels of stress: primary stress, secondary stress, and unstressed

2. STRESS ON SIMPLE WORDS

2-SYLLABLED SIMPLE WORDS

(1) Verb: stress on the 2nd syllable

Noun: stress on the 1st syllable

 Ex: Record (v) /rɪˈkɔːd/ Record (n) /ˈrɛkɔːd/

(2) Schwa: unstressed

 Ex: enter /ˈɛntə/

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(3) The final syllable is unstressed if it contains /əʊ/

 Ex: follow /ˈfɒləʊ/

(4) Most 2-syllable adjectives, stress on the 1st syllable

 Ex: clever /ˈklɛvə/

3-SYLLABLED SIMPLE VERBS

(1) If the final syllable is strong, it has primary stress

 Ex: entertain /ˌɛntəˈteɪn/

 Resurrect /ˌrɛzᵊrˈɛkt/

(2) If the final syllable is weak, stress is placed on the preceding / the 2nd syllable

 Ex: encounter /ɪnˈkaʊntə/

 Determine /dɪˈtɜːmɪn/

(3) If both the 2nd and 3rd syllables are weak, stress on the 1st syllable

 Ex: parody /ˈpærədi/

 Monitor /ˈmɒnɪtə/

3-SYLLABLED SIMPLE NOUNS

(1) The stress is on the 1st syllable unless it is weak

 Ex: quantity /ˈkwɒntəti/

(2) If the 1st syllable is weak, the stress is on the next/ the following/ the 2nd syllable

 Ex: potato /pəˈteɪtəʊ/

(3) If the final syllable is strong, that syllable will NOT usually receive the main stress

 Ex: intellect /ˈɪntᵊlɛkt/

3-SYLLABLED SIMPLE ADJECTIVES

Have the same rules of stress placement with Nouns

Ex: opportune /ˈɒpəʧuːn/

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3. STRESS ON COMPLEX WORDS
Complex word = Prefix + a base + Suffix

Ex: disagreement => Prefix: dis- ; Base: agree ; Suffix: -ment

4. STRESS ON COMPOUND WORDS

 Word 1 + Word 2 = Compound word
 Ex: clock + wise = clockwise
 Arm + chair = armchair

(1) PRIMARY STRESS IS ON THE 1 ST ELEMENT

‘ Noun 1 Noun 2 Compound

suit case ‘suitcase

Back pack ‘backpack

(2) PRIMARY STRESS IS ON THE 2 ND ELEMENT

Adj element ‘ word-ed

,bad- ‘tempered

,heavy- ‘handed

Number ‘ word

,three- ‘wheeler

,second- ‘class

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COMPOUNDS FUNCTIONING AS ADVERBS

 ,North – ‘East
 ,down’stream

COMPOUNDS FUNCTIONING AS ADVERBS AND HAVE AN ADVERBIAL FIRST ELEMENT

 ,down’grade
 ,ill-‘treat

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