Accent

Accent
            The  word ‘Accent’ is used in two senses.
i)                    In the first sense, ‘accent’ may refer to prominence given to a syllable. It is also called Stress. The sign ‘ above a word means stress.
ii)                  In the second sense, ‘accent’ may refer to a particular way of pronouncing.


Accent in the sense of stress:
            Word stress which syllable (or syllables) in a word is stressed.
            Sentence stress shows which words in a sentence are stressed and which words are not.
Primary Stress and Secondary Stress:
            In a word, one syllable is stressed and the other syllables are unstressed.
            In long words and compound words, there  may be two stressed syllables. One is known as Primary Stress (with a vertical mark above the syllable) and the other is called Secondary Stress (with a vertical mark below the syllable): Season ticket, Second Class.
Accent in the sense of particular way of pronouncing:
Kinds of Accent:
i)                    Personal Accent: It refers to an individual way of speaking.
ii)                  Social Accent: It refers to the cultural and educational background of a speaker.
iii)                Regional Accent: It refers to the specific area in which certain sounds are heard.
Different accent s within a country:
            In Britain, for example, there are accents such as Scots, Cockney (in London) and Scouse (in Liverpool), and in the USA, the New York accent differs considerably from that commonly heard in Texas.
RP accent:
            / ɑːpɪː/ RP is an abbreviation for Received Pronunciation. It is the speech of the educated people of South East England including London and two Universities, Oxford and Cambridge.
            It is linked with courts, church and public schools. It is heard in BBC and in the everyday speech in the familiar of educated Southern English people.
            It is British English.To speak English, the best model is RP. RP is propagated by Daniel Jones’s English Pronouncing Dictionary.
World accents:
            There are also World Standard Accents such as British, American, Australian, Singaporean, or Indian.


Accentual Pattern of Words
Four Factors:
            There are four factors contributing to the accentual pattern of words:
i)                    Stress
ii)                  Pitch Change
iii)                Vowel Quality
iv)                Vowel Quantity.


Stress:
            It is the degree of force with which a syllable or a word is uttered. In a word, one syllable is stressed and the other syllables are unstressed. In a sentence, certain words are stressed and the others are unstressed.
            Stressed are spoken slowly but clearly. But unstressed words are spoken quickly but less clearly.
Pitch Variation:
            Pitch change is the most important single factor is determining stress. In English, high pitch tends to be  associated  with stronger stress.
            Pitch change occurs when one and the same word functions both as a noun / adj. (stress on first syllable) and as a Verb (stress on second syllable)
            In polysyllabic words, pitch change occurs in more than one syllable. When word is spoken is connected sentences, one syllable will have the greatest degree of prominence (Primary Stress). Another syllable will have the second highest degree of prominence.
Quality:
i)                    Vowels will be heard more prominently than consonants.
ii)                  Open vowels (when a syllable ends in a vowel) will be heard more prominently than close vowels (when a syllable ends in a consonant)
iii)               
The nasals / m/, / n/,
/ ŋ /, the lateral /l/ and the fricatives will be heard more prominently than the other.
iv)                The fricative will be heard more prominently than plosives /p/, / b/, / t/, / d/, / k/, / g/ and affricates / tʃ /, / dʒ /.
v)                  The phoneme /ə/ never occurs in stressed syllable.
vi)                The phoneme /ɪ/, / ʊ/ occur more in unstressed syllables than in stressed syllable.
Quantity (Duration):
            Vowels are shorter in unstressed than in stressed syllable. Long vowels are heard more prominently than the short vowels. Long vowels are diphthong will be heard prominently.

                                        Phonemic Transcription

   Points to remember:

            1. Enclose the phonemic symbol between two slashes: /p/
 
            2. No double consonants unless otherwise required by the rules of syllabification: hill /hil/
         
            3. No capital letters: Ram /ra:m/

            4. No ornamental curves: spelling           sound
                                                           

                                                            b                      /b/
           
            5. Know the rules of transcribing –s/-es plural endings and the third person present tenses singular verb
                       
                                                         - after voiceless sounds extent / tʃ , s, ʃ/=/-s/
                         -s / es                        after voice sounds   /dʒ  ,  z, ɜ/ = /- z/             
                              
                                                          After  / tʃ , s, ʃ, dʒ  ,  z, ɜ/= /-iz/


cups - /kʌps/   cats -/kæts/  books- /bʊks/   eats- /i:ts/

cubs - /kʌbz/   lads - /lædz/     bags - /bægz/ sings - /siŋz/

churches -  / tʃɜ:tʃiz/ judges - / dʒʌdʒiz/

6. Know the rules of syllabic consonants: /m/is syllabic after/s/ /z/ / θ / / ð /.

    It behaves like a syllable. prism  /prizm/     rhythm  /ri θ m/    


/n/ is syllabic after /t,d,s,z, ʃ, ʒ/. It behaves like a syallable.  mutton   /m^tn/  parson  /pa:sm/   nation   /neitn/   sudden   /s^dn/   vision   /viʒn/

/l/ is syllabic after plosives /p,t,k,b,d,g/. It behaves like a syllable.      Couple  /k^pl/   bottle  /bɔtl/    buckle  /b^kl/  double  /d^bl/   saddle    /sædl/    Bugle  /bju:gl/

  In phonetic transcription, syllabic consonants /l/ /m/ /n/ are represented by a single vertical line below the consonant concerned.

7. Know the rules of transcribing –ed endings of weak forms of past tense and past participle.                                      After voiced verbs:/-t/   
                                                     
                                         ed                                                    
                                                                        after voiced verbs:/-d/                                                      
                              
                                                                  
   
     walked      /wɔ:kt/   loved /l^vd/


 - /-tid/

                                                      
                          -ted
                        

                            -ded      /-did/            
                                                                               

                    Wanted    /wɒntid/    tent   /tendid/


8. No strong forms and weak forms
Know the rules of strong forms and weak forms:
          Use the strong form for contrast, contradiction and for emphasis
          The weak form is the most common form. In this lesson only weak forms are given. Strong forms can be learned later.
                                    
Articles
Word       strong             weak                            Example
               Form               form
       a            --                         /ə/                                             a book

       an          -                         /ən/                                         an egg       /ən’eg/

      the        _                    before vowels:/  ð i/                   the book/ ðə’buk /
                             before consonants:/ðə/                 the egg   /əi’eg/    

                                 Preposition
                         
   Word        strong           weak                           `          Example
                   Form             form
                   

    at                 -                       /ət/                                              at the scene /ət ð ə’si:n/ 

   for                -                       Before consonants /fə/              for the boy / fə ðə ’bɔi/
                  Before vowels /fər/                   for  Agra /fər a:grə/  

to                  -                       Before consonants : /tə /          I went to Chennai.
                                                                                               // aɪ went tə tʃenaɪ//
                                             Before Vowels /tʊ/               I like to eat.

                                                                                                //aɪ laɪk tʊ iːt//

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