LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology
1. Strong and weak syllables: stress and rhythm
Week 4: Stress, rhythm and weak forms T. Kamiyama, Université de Marne-la-Vallée 2007-2008
Demonstration • Listen to the sentences:
Strong and weak syllables
• Mark the stress pattern with O (strong) and o (weak): • 1. OoOoOo • 2. OooOooOoo • What differences can you find between strong and weak syllables? 18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
4
Doesn’t Oscar listen?
18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
• • • •
LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
Hurry and give it to Jonathan.
5
18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
Strong syllables are …
Strong and weak syllables
1. Longer (greater duration) 2. Stronger (greater intensity) 3. Pitch (melody) change 4. Vowel quality: the vowel has a “clearer” (not “obscure”) quality.
• Strong and weak syllables tend to alternate: • OoOoOo
18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
6
• But it is not always the case: • O O O
7
18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
8
Strong and weak syllables: examples
Strong and weak syllables: examples 1.
1.
2.
2.
3. 3. 18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
4. LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
9
Hancock (2003) 18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
• Stressed (strong) syllables tend to occur at relatively regular intervals, irrespective of the number of unstressed (weak) syllables between them.
1. 2.
• The foot is a unit which begins with a stressed syllable and includes all following unstressed syllables up to (but not including) the following stressed syllable. LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
10
Foot: examples
Foot
18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
3. 11
18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
12
Foot: examples 1. Rhythm: stress-timing and syllable-timing
2. 3. 4. Hancock (2003) 18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
13
Stress-timing and syllable-timing
Rhythm
• In English, stressed (strong) syllables tend to occur at relatively regular intervals, irrespective of the number of unstressed (weak) syllables between them. -> Stress-timed rhythm
• The notion of rhythm involves some noticeable event happening at regular intervals of time.
• In French, all syllables tend to be pronounced at regular intervals (except the last one in the rhythm group). -> Syllables-timed rhythm
• One can detect the rhythm of heart-beat, of a flashing light or of a piece of music.
18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
15
18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
16
Groupes rythmiques
• Le rythme des syllabes du groupe est très régulier jusqu!’à la fin du groupe.
• La dernière syllabe du groupe rythmique est différente des autres : elle est plus longue. 18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
Seule, la dernière syllabe du groupe est plus longue. 17
18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
18
In a single word, pronounced in isolation Word stress
• When there is only one syllable (monosyllabic words): you cannot compare • When there more than one syllable (polysyllabic words): one syllable is necessarily stronger than its neighbours. -> “stressed syllable” 18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
20
In a single word, pronounced in isolation
Reminder: Strong (stressed) syllables are …
• When there more than one syllable (polysyllabic words): one syllable is necessarily stronger than its neighbours. -> “stressed syllable”
• • • •
1. Longer (greater duration) 2. Stronger (greater intensity) 3. Pitch (melody) change 4. Vowel quality: the vowel has a “clearer” (not “obscure”) quality.
Examples: Harvard banana
18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
21
18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
• In longer words, there may be more than one stressed-syllables. Example: “international” OoO(o)o
• “Harvard” Oo : the stress (word stress) falls on the first syllable. • “banana” oOo : the stress (word stress) falls on the second syllable.
• But one of them (usually the last one) is stronger than the other(s): OoO(o)o (-> primary stress and secondary stress)
• /!h"#v$d/ /b$!n"#n$/: the (primary) word stress is represented by /!/ placed before the stressed syllable. LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
22
Word stress
Word stress
18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
The secondary stress is represented by /"/: /%&nt$!næ'nl/ 23
18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
24
In a sentence • What we have seen on word stress applies to words pronounced in isolation.
Stress beyond the word: in a sentence
• What happens if the words are pronounced together in a sentence? • Are all words equally stressed? 18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
26
Demonstration • Listen to the sentences:
• Not only unstressed syllables of polysyllabic words (e.g. /t#!de&/)
• 1. OoOoOo: every “word” (“doesn’t” “Oscar” “listen”) has Oo pattern.
• but also some monosyllabic words (“and” “it” “to”) are pronounced weak, with a weak vowel.
• 2. OooOooOoo: “hurry” Oo, “give” O, and “Jonathan” Ooo have a strong syllable, but “and” “it” “to” are pronounced weak in the sentence.
• This is often the case for many function (grammatical) words (as opposed to content words, or lexical words).
18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
27
18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
28
Function words and content words?
• Function words • Content words (lexical (grammatical words): words): nouns, adjectives, pronouns, articles, most verbs, most adverbs). auxiliary verbs, modal verbs, prepositions, • Open class words (not conjunctions, some possible to know the exact adverbs. number of nouns in a • Closed class words (the language, for example. number is limited; New words may be readily basically, you cannot formed) invent new function words) cf. Some content words may become function words in language change ("go": movement, future or intention "be going to") 29
18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
• Not only unstressed syllables of polysyllabic words (e.g. /t#!de&/) • but also some monosyllabic words (“and” “it” “to”) are pronounced weak, with a weak vowel. • Some of these words sound clearly different when pronounced weak (e.g. in the example sentence) and when pronounced strong (e.g. in isolation). 18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
30
Strong form and weak form 2. Strong form and weak form
• Many function words have a strong form and a weak form (weak-form words). • Examples:
18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
32
Strong form and weak form: two questions • 1. In what contexts are strong and weak forms used?
2.1. Strong and weak forms: contexts
• 2. What does weak-form words sound like?
18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
33
When is the strong form used? 1. Position in the sentence
When is the strong form used? 2. Contrast
• For many weak-form words, when they occur at the end of a sentence. N.B. In this case, the ‘strong’ form is not necessarily stressed.
• Examples:
/k$n/
/kæn/
/fr$m/
/fr(m/
• Examples:
• Many weak-form words never occur at the end of a sentence, e.g. “the” “your”. • Some words (particularly personal pronouns) do occur in their weak forms in final position. 18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
• When a weak-form word is being contrasted with another word.
35
/fr(m/ /tu#/
• A similar case is what we might call a coordinated use of prepositions: • ‘I travel to and from London a lot’ /tu#/ /fr(m/ • ‘A work of and about literature’ /(v/ 18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
36
When is the strong form used? 3. Emphasis
When is the strong form used? 4. Citation, quotation
• When a weak-form word is given stress for the purpose of emphasis.
• When a weak-form word is being “cited” or “quoted”.
• Example:
• Examples: • ‘You shouldn’t put “and” at the end of a sentence’
• ‘You must give me more time’
18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
/m)st/
LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
/ænd/
37
18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
38
Strong form $i%
2.2. Common weak-form words
• Example: Strong form e&
• Examples: 18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
Roach (1991), Kelly (2000)40
LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
Strong form ænd
Strong form $æt
• Example: Strong form b't
Strong form $æn
• Example:
18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
• Example: Roach (1991), Kelly (2000)41
LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
Question • In the following sentence, which occurrences of ‘that’ are pronounced in its strong form /*æt/, and which of them in its weak form /*$t/? • That that that that man wrote was wrong. • That “that” that that man wrote was wrong. • /*æt *æt *$t *æt/ 18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
43
18/02/2008 T. Kamiyama
Roach (1991), Kelly (2000)42
LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 4
