Stress is an emphasis on one of the syllables in a word. It can also fall on a whole word, phrase, word in a sentence to strengthen the semantic load.
Stress What for?
In each language, there are different rules for setting stress. English is no exception. And each language is different from the other in the rules for setting accents. For example, in French the stress always falls on the last syllable, and, for example, in Latin it is placed on the second or third from the end. In Polish, it falls on the penultimate syllable. This is all called fixed stress. But it’s important to know that there are also unfixed accents in words. A vivid example of this is our native Russian language, which has a number of features of the stress setting. Therefore, training is very difficult for foreigners. After all, our native language is complex in its grammar of accent.
Let's return to accentology in Russian. Accents can fall on absolutely any syllable in a word. There is no special rule for emphasizing words in Russian, as, for example, in Latin. But there are some points that you can rely on when studying. Stress in Russian can distinguish one word from another, it can be the same in the same root words, but at the same time it can be different. Russian is so complicated that even native speakers themselves are not always aware of how to pronounce a particular word correctly .
But the question arises: "Why do we need this stress at all?" Everything is extremely simple! After all, it allows a person to understand and distinguish words in a violent stream of speech.
Accent in English
As for the stress in the words of the English language, there are also a number of rules and features here. For a competent statement of stresses in English, you need to clearly understand the system of dividing words into syllables. It is important to note that in this regard, the English language is very similar to Russian, because they both have free stress. This can be quite difficult for a foreigner.
To facilitate the task of learning English, a person must clearly know:
- stress
- syllable type (closed or open).
As in Russian, English words have open and closed syllables, and identifying them is a fairly easy task. After all, open syllables end in a vowel, and closed syllables in a consonant.
In general, there are two most important rules:
- One word can contain only one main stress! Of course, you can find more than one accent in the English word. But it will always contain the main emphasis and only then the secondary ones, which are weaker than the first and are found in very long words.
- Emphasis in English, as in any other, falls on a vowel or vowel sound! Of course, there are exceptions to the rules, but their number is very small.
It is important to note that in English, some vocabulary elements can be hit more often or less. For example, such a part of a word as a prefix in a noun is stressed more often than a prefix in a verb. There are also suffixes, which are usually stressed. We offer a list of them:
Accent Rules in English
When mastering grammar, it should be remembered that this section is important in colloquial speech and less significant when working with texts. There are a number of rules for stressing English. Adhering to them, you can correctly put emphasis on words. This is incredibly important when mastering a foreign language. So the rules are:
- In a letter, emphasis is placed on the third syllable from the end. Here is an example of the word: abIlity, university, socIology, etc.
- In words of French origin, the stress will remain unchanged. For example, the words: hotEl, guitAr. These words retain their French accent.
- Accent can be put after prefixes. For example, a-lone, be-fore, o-mit, under-stand.
It is important to note that some suffixes can have a certain effect on the setting of stresses. For example, -ry tends to push the stress on the fourth syllable from the end of the word. Vivid examples are the words: ORdinary voCAbulary.
Or the -ic suffix usually contains an accent. For example, draMAtic symBOlic.
Derivative stresses
In derivative words, the stress can remain the same as in the original word, but at the same time it can change. For example, when creating a noun from a verb or vice versa, the stress often remains unchanged. For example, the noun "deNIal", having transformed into the verb "deNY", retains its original stress. But in derivative words a situation is possible when the stress is shifted. For example, the noun "OBject", having transformed into the verb "obJEct", shifts the emphasis on the second syllable from the end of the word.
Emphasis on the first, second syllables
In English, the stress falls on the first syllable in the following cases:
- Almost all nouns and adjectives that have two syllables receive emphasis on the first.
- The emphasis on the second syllable is almost all the verbs, which include the same two in total.
Accent
The word stress in English is an emphasis on the syllable in the vocabulary. Long units may contain two stresses: the main and the secondary (it is also often called side).
When learning new words, it is important to remember the main emphasis. And you need to be aware that even in cognate words, stress can change. The perception of your speech by other people depends on how you learn this topic, because accentology helps to divide a set of letters into understandable phrases.
About Phrasal Accent
Phrasal stress in English is the pronunciation of individual words more emotionally than the rest, which are called unstressed.
As a rule, in English, the shock words are:
- nouns;
- verbs (semantic);
- adjectives;
- demonstrative pronouns;
- interrogative pronouns;
- adverbs
- numerals.
Usually unstressed are: personal pronouns, articles, conjunctions, auxiliary verbs, prepositions.
We can say that the phrasal accent is in the same functions as the verbal one. It is divided into two types: centralized and decentralized.
A centralized view is the center of a word or many words on which the speaker focuses. With a decentralized type, the speaker emphasizes the whole sentence. This highlights not a specific word, but the whole phrase.
Phrase Accent Degrees in Words
In English, it is customary to distinguish three degrees of phrasal stress, which include the following:
- The main thing. Gets the greatest accent.
- Minor. Gets less stressed.
- Weak Gets an even less powerful accent.
As a rule, the more important the word, the stronger the speaker should distinguish it during oral speech.
About logical stress
But it is important to note that if necessary, the speaker, of course, has the right to emphasize any word, even if it is on the list of unstressed ones.
Firstly, it must be said that intonation plays a huge role in English speech. The function of intonation is to convey the tone of the phrase spoken by the speaker. This is the main difference between Russian and English. After all, Russian intonation is perceived as boring and flat. And the English contains the pace of speech, logical pauses and, of course, tone.
As already mentioned, the logical stress in the English language is intentionally allocated words for emotional coloring. In speech, there is an increase and decrease in intonation. It is important to note that there are also mixed ones to give oral speech a special brightness and saturation.