Chapter 6 Sentence stress have seen that every word of two or more syllables, when said alone, has a stress on one lables. This is called word-stress connected speech we do not hear a stress on every word Some words lose their stresses, especially when we talk quickly, other words keep their stresses and these stressed syllables form what is called sentence-stress Sentence-stress has two main functions. Its first function is to indicate the important words in the sentence(from the point of view of grammar, meaning or the speakers attitude). For example I could hardly believe my eyes /ai ked 'ha dli bi'li v mai 'aiz/ In this sentence the words"hardly,"believe"and"eyes"are stressed because they are Important in meaning. The second function of sentence-stress is to serve as the basis for the rhythmical structure of the sentence. The rhythm of English speech is formed by the recurrence of stresses syllables at more or less regular intervals of time and by the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables Under the influence of the latter peculiarity of rhythm of English speech, important words in meaning which are usually stressed may be pronounced without sentence-stress. For example Very good. Not very good /veri 'gud/ /'not veri gud/ Words which are usually stressed in English unemphatic speech belong to content words(sk ial), namely, nouns, adjectives, numerals, principal verbs, adverbs, demonstrative, interrogative, emphasizing pronouns and the absolute form of the possessive pronouns Those which are usually unstressed in English unemphatic speech are form words, namely, auxiliary and modal verbs, verb to be, monosyllabic prepositions, monosyl labic conjunctions and articles, personal pronouns, possessive pronouns(except absolute ones: mine hers ..) reflexive pronouns are usually unstressed Examples: I am ' reading a 'very 'interesting novel Who was that on the phone? You must ' do it your'self wenty is e'nough Dress yourself more neatly The 'book that I have just 'read is ' here Note: nuclear fall or nuclear rise is also a kind of sentence-stress. For this see part three Intonation However, it is necessary to point out that any word in a sentence may be logically stressed if it implies special emphasis or contrast. Examples We heard John'talking(plain statement of fact)Chapter 6 Sentence Stress We have seen that every word of two or more syllables, when said alone, has a stress on one of its syllables. This is called word-stress. But in connected speech we do not hear a stress on every word. Some words lose their stresses, especially when we talk quickly, other words keep their stresses and these stressed syllables form what is called sentence-stress. Sentence-stress has two main functions: Its first function is to indicate the important words in the sentence (from the point of view of grammar, meaning or the speaker’s attitude). For example: I could hardly believe my eyes. /ai kәd 'ha:dli bi'li:v mai 'aiz/ In this sentence the words “hardly”, “believe” and “eyes” are stressed because they are important in meaning. The second function of sentence-stress is to serve as the basis for the rhythmical structure of the sentence. The rhythm of English speech is formed by the recurrence of stresses syllables at more or less regular intervals of time and by the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables. Under the influence of the latter peculiarity of rhythm of English speech, important words in meaning which are usually stressed may be pronounced without sentence-stress. For example: Very good. Not very good /'veri 'gud/ /'nɔt veri 'gud/ Words which are usually stressed in English unemphatic speech belong to content words(实 词), namely, nouns, adjectives, numerals, principal verbs, adverbs, demonstrative, interrogative, emphasizing pronouns and the absolute form of the possessive pronouns. Those which are usually unstressed in English unemphatic speech are form words, namely, auxiliary and modal verbs, verb to be, monosyllabic prepositions, monosyllabic conjunctions and articles, personal pronouns, possessive pronouns (except absolute ones: mine hers ….), reflexive pronouns are usually unstressed. Examples: I am 'reading a 'very 'interesting 'novel. 'Who was 'that on the 'phone? You must 'do it your'self. 'Twenty is e'nough. 'Dress yourself more 'neatly They 'help each other. The 'book that I have 'just 'read is 'here. Note: nuclear fall or nuclear rise is also a kind of sentence-stress. For this see Part Three “Intonation”. However, it is necessary to point out that any word in a sentence may be logically stressed if it implies special emphasis or contrast. Examples: We 'heard 'John 'talking. (plain statement of fact)