1. Stress Kuiper and Allan Chapter 6.3

2. Stress Speakers perceive some syllables to be more prominent than others. A number of factors contribute: –length –loudness –pitch –quality

3. Exercise Look at the following polysyllabic words. Find the syllable with the greatest stress and any other stressed syllables. industrial obligation explanation

4. Degrees of stress Any word spoken in isolation has a syllable with primary (heavy) stress. Other syllables may have lesser degrees of stress. Some syllable are unstressed.

5. Notation for stress Primary stress can be marked by a raised vertical mark at the beginning of the syllable. Secondary stress by a low vertical mark at the beginning of the syllable. –«expl´»nation Unstressed syllables have no mark.

6. Stress in connected speech Stress patterns give rhythm to connected speech. –Some words are commonly unstressed in connected speech. function words like the, a, and, for etc. In English the approximate period between primary stressed syllables is equal. –stress timed rhythm –cf syllable timing,e.g. French

7. Unstressing and vowel weakening When a syllable becomes unstressed in connected speech the vowel quality often changes. –derive vs derivation Some vowels are elided under reduced stress giving rise to syllabic consonants. –lessen > [lesn] –pedal > [pedl]

8. Rhythm and metre Some traditional forms in poetry have metre. Metre is a rhythmic template of stressed syllables to a line. Two aspects: –the number of stressed syllables to a line –the sequence of stressed to unstressed syllables

9. Traditional metre line lengths: –dimeter –trimeter –tetrameter –pentameter –hexameter

10. Traditional metre stress sequences: –iamb ´»loun –trochee »lounli˘ –anapaest Int´»si˘d –dactyl »ter´bl

11. Rhythm and metre No good poem’s rhythm totally adheres to its metre (otherwise it would be rhythmically boring). Shakespeare uses iambic pentameter but it is hard to find a single line whose rhythm absolutely follows that metre.

12. Example Metre: Now 'is the 'winter 'of our 'discon'tent made 'glorious 'summer 'by this 'sun of 'York. Rhythm: 'Now is the 'winter of our 'discon'tent 'made 'glorious 'summer by this 'sun of 'York.