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 / 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.
after
voiced verbs:/-d/
walked /wɔ:kt/ loved /l^vd/
-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//
