Mastering English Pronunciation: Sounds and Stress
Rhythm in English Speech
English speech is rhythmical, exhibiting a stress-timed rhythm at regular intervals. The unit used to measure this rhythm is called a foot.
Types of Assimilation
- Progressive Assimilation: The preceding sound influences the following sound. For example, in regular past tense verbs:
- “Moved” (voiced ending)
- “Worked” (voiceless ending)
- Regressive Assimilation: The assimilated sound precedes and is affected by the conditioning sound. Examples include:
- “Grandpa” often becomes “Graenpa”
- “Pancake” often becomes “Paenkeik”
- “Have to” often becomes “Haeftə”
- “Has to” often becomes “Haestə”
- “Used to” often becomes “Justə”
- Coalescence: Sound A + Sound B = Sound C. Examples:
- This year /ʃ/
- Does your /ʒ/
- That your /tʃ/
- Would you /dʒ/
Elision (Deletion)
Elision is the dropping of sounds. Here are some common instances:
- Loss of /t/ when /nt/ is between vowels: “winter,” “Toronto,” “enter.”
- Loss of /t/ or /d/ when they occur second in a sequence of three consonants: “restless,” “exactly,” “hands.”
- Loss of final /t/ or /d/ when the following word begins with a consonant.
- Loss of unstressed medial vowel (schwa): “chocolate,” “every,” “evening,” “laboratory.”
- Loss of the first non-initial /r/: “February,” “governor,” “surprise.”
- Loss of final /v/ in “of” before words with initial consonants, due to reduction of schwa: “Lost of money,” “waste of time.”
- Loss of initial /h/ and /ð/: “Ask her,” “tell them.”
Linking
- Consonant to Vowel: “Send it” becomes /sendɪt/, “camp out.”
- Vowel to Vowel: A glide /j/ is added: “Be a sport” becomes /biːjəspɔːrt/.
- Simple Consonant Next to a Vowel: “Push up,” “come in.”
- When a Stop is Followed by Another Stop: “Hot dog,” “black dog.”
- Identical Consonants: “Keep practicing,” “less serious.”
Stress
Production (Speaker): The speaker uses more muscular energy for stressed syllables than for unstressed syllables.
Perception (Listener): Stressed syllables are recognized because they are more prominent. Prominence is characterized by:
- Loudness: Stressed syllables are louder.
- Length: Lengthening a syllable makes it sound stressed.
- Pitch: Pitch relates to the frequency of vocal cord vibration (high or low notes).
- Quality: A syllable is prominent if its vowel quality differs from neighboring vowels.
Stress Shift
Prominence can move to the secondary stressed syllable in a word when followed by a word with another prominent syllable, particularly when the first syllable of the following word is prominent.
Suffixes and Word Stress
- Some words maintain stress on the same syllable as the root: `danger – `dangerous.
- Some suffixes change the stressed syllable: `commerce – com`mercial.
Suffixes that usually don’t change stress:
-able, -age, -al, -er, -ful, -less, -ness, -ous, -ful. EXCEPTIONS: Medi`cinal – `preferable – agri`cultural.
Suffixes that usually receive the main stress:
-ee, -eer, -ette. refu`gee – engi`neer, ciga`rette. EXCEPTIONS: `omelette, `etiquette.
Main stress is usually on the syllable immediately before these suffixes:
-ial, -ic, -ion, -ive, -ity. `editor – edi`torial, `atmosphere – atmos`pheric.
Words ending in -ance, -ant, -ent, -ence, often have different stress placement from the root:
ig`nore – `ignorant, re`fer – `reference.
The suffix -ment: Usually doesn’t change the stress pattern: a`gree – a`greement, `govern – `government. EXCEPTION: `advertise – ad`vertisement.
Pronunciation of -tion and -sion
When a word ends in /t/ or /s/, and the suffix -ion is added:
- -TION is pronounced /tʃən/ after the letter ‘s’ (suggestion, digestion) and /ʃən/ after other letters (education, adaptation).
- -SION is pronounced /ʃən/ after a consonant (extension) and /ʒən/ after a vowel (decision, persuasion).
- -SSION is pronounced /ʃən/ (admission, expression).
Stress in Compound Nouns
A compound noun is a fixed expression made up of more than one word, functioning as a noun. They can be written as two words, hyphenated, or as one word.