When it Comes to Syllables, Stress is a Good Thing
Posted by Debbie Rose on February 16, 2011
"Why don't they understand me?"
As frustrating as studying a new language can be, it can be even more so for internationally trained professionals. Even with years of practice under their belts, immigrants may find that people just don’t understand what they are saying. This is compounded by the fact that these professionals have ideas worth being heard. Alas, after being asked time and time again to repeat herself, a newcomer might just decide to say as little as possible.
Understandable as this choice may be, it interferes with the further development of communication skills and the ability to perform many necessary tasks on the job.
ACCENT ON THE RIGHT SYLLABLE
All aspects of pronunciation affect comprehensibility; however, a major challenge for ESL speakers is syllable stress. When you read the sentence below, you’ll notice some of the syllables are stressed and others unstressed.
GOVernment CUTS can afFECT the eCOnomy.
In English, the way syllables are spoken creates much of the music of the language. Two things generally happen in a stressed syllable: the vowel is held longer and the pitch goes up as you can see in the word “economy” visually represented below.
CO-O-ON
e omy
Notice the raised pitch and lengthened vowel in the second syllable, “CO-O-ON”.
THREE MAJOR CHALLENGES
Good pronunciation courses such as Gandy’s Sounds of English address three major challenges facing internationally trained professionals:
- Remembering to pronounce all the syllables, e.g., “government” and not “garment”.
- Stressing the appropriate syllable, e.g, “eCOnomy” and not “ecoNOmy”
- Giving stressed syllables sufficient length, e.g., “cu-u-t” and not “ct”
With expert guidance and plenty of practice, English stress patterns begin to feel familiar and natural.
PRACTICAL POINTERS
Slowing down the rate of speech is an important first step in improving comprehensibility. Often I have heard ESL speakers say they intentionally speak quickly because they hope it will mask their errors and make them sound “more natural”. The opposite is true. Slowing down gives the speaker more time to clearly enunciate all his sounds and syllables and thereby reduces the number of off-target pronunciations. As well, it gives the listener time to take in and process what is being said.
If you find yourself among the thousands of newcomers who ask the question, “Why don’t they understand me?” here is a practical tip: Make a list of ten words that you feel you need to practise. Look up their pronunciation in a good dictionary and make note of the syllable that is to receive stress. Practise each word slowly so that you include all the syllables and – most importantly – take time to lengthen each stressed syllable. Who knows? You may soon realize stress can be a good thing!
Daniel said
It is hard for me to tell which syllable is supposed to be stressed, and even if I heard the word millions of times, more often than not, I forget to put the stress. I will try to be more mindful of the stress.
Rob Leonituk said
Daniel,
One trick for words that are challenging to remember where the stress goes is to categorize them. For example, phoTOGraphy, biOLogy, moNOtony…all have four syllables and all have the stress placed on the second syllable.
When you learn a new word, associate the stress pattern with a group of words you already know!
Rob
LiNG said
“Stressing the appropriate syllable” is the biggest challenge to me. There are some rules that I could follow to help my pronunciation; but still when a new word comes to me, I am confused about the stressing.
Debbie Rose said
Yes, Ling. How to say a new word is one of the greatest challenges in English since the spelling doesn’t help us in any way. Even English speakers won’t always know the stress pattern of a new name or word if they have only seen it in print. Check your dictionary to find out which syllable gets the most stress and then practise, practise, practise!
Yan said
Yeah, speak faster than normal is really a mistake that make the listeners misunderstanding the thing you are talking about.
Debbie Rose said
That’s true, Yan. And some speakers believe that speaking quickly is ‘normal’. Changing the priority from ‘trying to be like everyone else’ to ‘being understood’ is an important first step in overcoming challenges with pronunciation.