Word Stress & English Vowels - TESOL Community

Fine Tune Your Accent
Session 1:
Word Stress & English Vowels
Colleen Meyers & Elena Stetsenko
meyer002@umn.edu and stets002@umn.edu

Welcome!
This afternoon’s objectives:
• To identify the basic components of word
stress in US English
• To introduce the most important rules for
word stress
• To produce this pattern in controlled
exercises

Meaning
1. What’s in the desert Sand.
2. What’s in the dessert Sugar.

Meaning: Answer
1. What’s in the desert Sand.
2. What’s in the dessert Sugar.

Stress: Components
• What do you actually do to indicate the
stress
The vowel in the stressed ‘syllable’ (beat,
usually having a vowel) is:
– Longer (in duration)
– Louder (in volume)
– Higher (in pitch)
– Clearer (in articulation)

Stress: Components
• Let’s take a look using PRAAT
(pronunciation software):
http://www.praatlanguagelab.com/wo
rdstresstwo.htm -
(Word Stress, Lesson 2, page 4)

Stress: Unstressed syllable
• Now, what do you notice happens in the
UNSTRESSED syllables
The vowel is:
– Short
– Soft
– Low (in pitch)
– Unclear (in articulation)

Question:
• What is the most common vowel in
English
– [ae] as in apple
– [ə] as in but
– [iy] as in eat
– [a] as in father
Why

Answer
• What is the most common vowel in
English
– [ae] as in apple
– [ə] as in but
– [iy] as in eat
– [a] as in father
Why unstressed syllables

Practice I: Vowel Length
& Clarity
• Do Exercise 1 in pairs.

Practice II: Pitch Movement
• Do Exercise 2 in pairs.

Word Stress: Rules
• Most common suffixes
• One syllable before the suffix:
– -ic, -ical
– -tion, -sion, etc.
– -ity
• Two syllables before the suffix:
– -ate

Practice III: Suffix Rules
• Practice Exercise 3 in pairs.

Rules: Parts of Speech
• Two-syllable Words
• Compound Words
– Compound nouns
– Compound verbs
– Two-word verbs (phrasal verbs)
• Noun-Verb Pairs

Practice IV: Parts of Speech
• Do Exercise 4 in pairs.

Resources: Websites
• See handout.

Consultations
• If you’d like individualized consultations
with a language specialist, contact the
Center for Teaching & Learning:
• http://www1.umn.edu/ohr/teachlearn/co
nsultations/consultations/index.html

Summary
• Vowels in stressed
syllables are:
• Vowels in
unstressed
syllables are:
– Long
– Clear
– High
– Loud
– Short
– Unclear
– Low
– Soft

Workshop Evaluations
Thank you!

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