English Pronunciation

Syllables

Syllables are combined by consonant + vowel + consonant, but there are various combinations such as:

• V only as in a
• C+V as in me
• V+C as in eat
• C+V+C as in bag

Each syllable contains only one vowel (monophthongs or diphthongs). Consonant clusters are the consequence of consonants with no vowel sound between them, such as in "text", "split", "spring".

Word stress

When a word has more than one syllable, one of them has the stress, which is more forceful or emphatic. It is indicated with 'Stress in a word is also indicated with o O o .... O o o .... o o O... When a syllable contains the SCHWA, it is never stressed. When a word has suffixes or prefixes, the stress is on the root word. The syllable before two consonants is usually stressed, as in "beginner" and "letter". In long words, we also have secondary stress, indicated with a comma in dictionaries.

Sentence stress

English is stress-timed. The stress goes on the word which carries the meaning. The alternation of stress and unstress causes alternation in which words? There are grammar words (prepositions, auxiliary verbs, conjunctions, pronouns, determiners) and content words (nouns, adjectives, adverbs, main verbs). In a neutral situation, content words are stressed while grammar words are not, but not necessarily every content word is stressed. Nouns and verbs are more important and more stressed. In open compounds, the stress is usually on the first word.