音节及句子重音

UnitEightStressedsyllables&Unstressedsyllables

Vowels(20)PureVowels(12)Diphthongs(8)Short

Vowels(7)LongVowels(5)/i//e//æ//ɔ//ʌ//u//ə//ɔ://i://a://u://ə:/

Review:Diphthongs/ei//ai//əu//au//iə/

/ɔi//ɛə/

/uə/Whatarestresses?HowmanyinEnglish?Canyounamethem?Warming-upQuestionsStressedsyllables&Unstressedsyllables

Everytimeyoudance,sing,orclapyourhandsyouemphasizeorstressparticularbeatsorsounds.Inspeech,stressmaybedefinedasthedegreeofintensityofloudnessplacedonasound;thatis,theamountofforceoneputsonasyllableor

wordto

giveitimportance.StressissuchanimportantfeatureofspokenEnglishthatitdeterminesnotonlytherhythmicflowofwords,butalsothequalityofthevowels.CorrectwordandsentencestressinspokenEnglishcanmeanthedifferencebetweengoodcommunicationandnocommunicationatall.Stressedsyllables&UnstressedsyllablesStressTypesThetermprimarystressreferstothestrongemphasisaspeakerputsonthemostimportantsyllableofaparticularword.Secondarystressreferstoalessstrongemphasisonthenextmostimportantsyllable.Zerostressreferstoanysyllablethatreceivesnostress,anditisalsocalledunstressedsyllable.Inotherwords,anunstressedsyllablereceivesnointensityorloudnessatall.ThefrequentoccurrenceofunstressedsyllableisoneofthefundamentalcharacteristicsofspokenEnglish,andtheonethatmostdistinguishesEnglishfromChinese.Astressedsyllablemaycontainanyoneofthevowelsoundsexcepttheschwa,butanyvowelexceptthediphthongs/au/and/ɔi/canbereducedto/ə/or/i/.InspokenEnglish,therearemanymoreunstressedsyllablesthantherearestressedsyllables.Thisexplainswhythetwovowels,/ə/and/i/,arethemostfrequentlyusedvowelsoundsinspokenEnglish.StressedSyllables

&

UnstressedSyllablesStressedsyllablesarestrongsyllables.Unstressedsyllablesareweaksyllables. Stressedsyllables:arelonghaveapitchchangehavefullvowelsounds. Unstressedsyllables:areshortoftenhaveareducedvowelsound.DifferenttypesofweaksyllablesTheschwaa--attend,character,again,ballad,necklace,workable,elephantar--particular,molar,monarchyate--intimate,accurateo--tomorrow,potato,carrotor--forget,ambassador,opportunitye--settlement,violet,postmener--perhaps,stronger,supermanu--autumn,support,ough--thorough,boroughous--gracious,callousAnyEnglishvowellettercanbepronouncedwiththeschwa/E

/allow afiremen epossible i /E

/command osupport uListeningExercisesListeningChecking(Page83)ListeningIdentifying(Page84)ListeningStressinCompoundNouns(Page85)ListeningWordstressforInformation(Page89)ListeningforInformation&Imitation(1)(P.93)ListeningforInformation&Imitation(2)(P.93)UnitNineStressedWords&UnstressedWordsinaSentence

Wehavemadesomegeneralobservationsregardingthelocationofstressinisolatedwords.Butsincespeechismadeupofwordsstrongtogether,wemustalsolookatthesewordsingroups,inphrases,orinsentencesinordertoobservewhathappenstothestresspattern.Sentencestressreferstothewordorwordsinasentencethat

receivea

strongaccent.Inmostsentencesyouwillfindaseriesofbothstressedandunstressedwords.Inasentence,Englishspeakersjointstressedandunstressedsyllablestogethersmoothly.Stressedsyllablesarelong,haveapitchchangeandhavefullvowelsoundswhileunstressedsyllablesareshortandoftenhaveareducedvowelsound.Areducedvowelsoundisashort,unclearvowelsound.Theshortvowelsoundinunstressedsyllablesisveryoftenthesound/ə/whichisthemost

commonofallsoundsinEnglish.

InanEnglishutterance,stressedwordsgiveinformationtothelistenerandunstressedwordsjointheinformationwordstogether.CorrectpronunciationofstressedandunstressedwordsisthusextremelyimportantforeffectivecommunicationinEnglish.InformationwordsandfunctionwordsSowecanseethatEnglishwordsaredividedintoinformationwordsandfunctionwords.Informationwordsareusuallynouns,verbs,adjectives,andadverbs.Theygiveinformationaboutwho,what,when,where,why,andhow.Theyexpressthemainideaorcontentofthephrasesorsentences.Theycarrythemessageandthereforeareusuallystressed.Unstressedwordsareusuallyfunctionwordslikearticles,pronouns,possessives,prepositions,auxiliaryverbs,andconjunctions.Thesewordsconnecttheinformationwordstoformgrammaticalsentences.

Ifyoustressallthewordsinanutterance,youmaysoundunpleasantorevencausemisunderstandingbecause:

1.Youaregivingtoomuchinformation,and

2.Englishspeakersusuallystressallwordsonlywhentheyareimpatientorangry.P.99Speaking–StressinCompoundNouns(2)Pairpractice:Workinpairs.StudentAsayssentence(a)or(b).StudentBsaysthematchinganswer.Payspecialattentiontothesentencestress.ListeningExercisesListeningChecking(P.97)ListeningIndentifying(P.97)ListeningWord