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Sentence stress is a greater prominence of words, which are made more prominent in an intonation group. The special prominence of accented words is achieved through the greater force of utterance and changes in the direction of voice pitch, accompanied by changes in the quantity of the vowels under stress.
The difference between stress and accent is based on the fact that in the case of stress the dominant perceptual component is loudness, in the case of accent it is pitch. Degrees of stress in an utterance correlate with the pitch range system. Nuclear stress is the strongest – it carries the most important information. Non-nuclear stresses are subdivided into full and partial. Full stress occurs only in the head of an intonation group, partial stress occurs also in the prehead and tail.
Given below is the list of words that are usually stressed:
Nouns. Adjectives. Numerals. Interjections. Demonstrative pronouns. Emphatic pronouns. Possessive pronouns (absolute form). Interrogative pronouns. Indefinite pronouns: somebody, someone, something, anybody, anyone, anything (used as subject). Indefinite negative pronouns: no, none, no one, nobody, nothing. Indefinite pronouns some, any (expressing quality). Indefinite pronouns: all, each, every, other, either, both. Indefinite quantitative pronouns: much, many, a little, a few. Notional verbs. Auxiliary verbs (negative contracted forms). Two-word prepositions. Two-word conjunctions. Particles: only, also, too, even, just.
The words that are usually unstressed:
Personal pronouns. Reflexive pronouns. Reciprocal pronouns. Relative pronouns. Possessive pronouns (conjoint form). Indefinite pronouns: somebody, someone, something, anybody, anyone, anything (used as object). Indefinite pronouns some, any (when expressing quantity). Auxiliary verbs (affirmative form). One-word prepositions and conjunctions. Articles. Particles: there, to. Modal verbs (contracted forms and general questions are exceptions).
The meaning of the verbs may, should, must changes depending on whether they are stressed or unstressed, e.g. You ‘may go – possibility. You may ‘go – permission.
In comparing word-stress with sentence-stress, we see that their function is different. The function of word-stress is to mould the words by indicating the strongest syllable in a word. The function of sentence-stress is different and more complicated.
1. Sentence stress indicates the end of the syntagms by means of strengthening the last stress, by a definite pitch-pattern and frequently also by a pause.
2. Sentence-stress is used to indicate the important words in a syntagms (from the point of view of grammar, meaning or the speaker’s attitude).
In accordance with these functions of sentence-stress, we may distinguish three types of it: (1) syntagms stress (unemphatic or normal sentence-stress); (2) logical sentence-stress; (3) emphatic sentence-stress.
(1) Syntagm stress is used in unemphatic speech to break up connected speech into syntagms and to indicate the important words in syntagms.
(2) Logical stress is used to push into prominence a word or words in a syntagm that are important from the point of view of meaning or of the speaker’s attitude to the subject discussed.
(3) Emphatic stress is used to express the speaker’s emotions or to suggest to the listener some idea or some shade of meaning which is not expressed in words.
These functions of sentence-stress are accomplished in the English language by means of two main principles: the dynamic and the musical, as well as by two subsidiary principles: the qualitative and the quantitative.
The dynamic principle applies also to word-stress; however, sentence-stress makes use of the emphatic degree of stress which is expressed partly by pitch variations, partly by the following methods:
1. Glottal stop: It was “utterly im’possible! [it wəz ‘?∧təli im’p sibl].
2. Modifications of stress: “No! “Absolutely ‘nothing. “I m”possible!
3. Specially distinct articulation of words, syllable by syllable, as in “Absolutely! [“ǽb-so-“lu:-tli].
The activity of the musical principle is expressed (1) in the pitch-patterns that are used in final stressed elements of syntagms, and also (2) in the variations of pitch among the stressed elements within the same syntagm.
The quantitative principle, which plays a subsidiary role in English, mostly concerns consonants.
Consonants are frequently lengthened for the sake of emphasis, especially sonorants (except [w] and [j]: Marvellous! [‘m:a:vləs]; How late you are! [hau “l:eit jua:].
Even a voiceless consonant may be lengthened: It’s filthy! [its “f:ilθi].
As a rule, vowels are not subject to emphatic lengthening, especially short vowels. This peculiarity of English is a stumbling block to Russian learners, as vowel-lengthening is used freely in Russian for the purpose of creating emphasis.
Какой большой! [какой бал’шо:й]; Да ну! Не может быть! [да ну: н’е может бы:т’].
Russian are apt to introduce this method of creating emphasis into their English speech, as for example: How big he is! [hau ‘bi:g hi iz], [hau ‘b’i:g hi iz]; How late you are! [hau ‘le:it jua:].
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