2019-08-06 Pronunciation: content and structure words

Greg Malivuk
gmalivuk@staffordhouse.com
http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - notes from all classes
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Homework: practice the rhythm and pronunciation of the poem
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In the poem, what parts of speech have stress? What kinds don’t?
yes: nouns, main verbs, adjectives, adverbs, negatives (“don’t”), (some “said”s)
no: prepositions, articles, auxiliary verbs, pronouns, conjunctions, (some “said”s)
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Listen to two versions of the same conversation. Can you tell what’s happening?
p. 61 shows both versions and the complete conversation
The first version (A) is missing 13 words, and the second (B) is missing 18. Why is the second one easier to understand?

Content words give the key information in a sentence and are usually pronounced with stronger stress.
Structure (or function) words give grammatical information (tense, preposition relations, etc.) and are usually unstressed.
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p. 62 describes types of content words, including two types we didn’t list above:
- wh- words and interjections
exercise 5A - Which syllables are stressed? Mark them on your paper.
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Where is the primary stress in these longer words?
circumlocution - o..0.
conviviality - .o.0.. (convivial - .0..)
cupidity - .0..
equanimity - o.0..
idiosyncratic - o...0.
parsimonious - ..0..
perspicacious - ..0.
sesquipedalian - o..0..
polysyllabic - o..0.
antidisestablishmenTARianism - Even if you can’t figure out the whole stress pattern, you can use the last two suffixes to locate the primary stress.
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- Secondary stress often alternates syllables (one with stress, the next without, the next with,...)
- Most prefixes and suffixes add a secondary stress.