INTRODUCTION
English phonology, like the phonology of any language, is made up of both segmental and non segmental phonemes. English non segmentals include accentuation, rhythm and intonation. These, like segmentals, affect shades of meaning and at times cause a break References down of understanding when not properly used.
3.1 Accentuation
Accentuation comprises stress, duration and prominence. Simply put, ‘stress is the prominence or emphasis given to certain syllables in words
THE STRUCTURE OF MODERN ENGLISH
when they are uttered’ (Udofot & Eshiett 1993: 34). Syllables given such prominence or emphasis are said to be stressed or accented. Duration, on the other hand, is the timing utilized in the articulation of a syllable as a result of the nature of the vowel length and syllable structure. For instance, long vowels appear longer in open syllables and shorter in closed syllables. The vowel sounds in the three words: fee, and feel are the same but because of the nature of the syllable the vowel /i: / sounds longer in fee than in feel because fee has an open syllable structure while feel has a closed syllable structure.
In pronouncing words, some syllables are given more attention and said with more force. These are called stressed or accented syllables. The sign [‘] is conventionally used to show such syllables. The sign is placed immediately before the syllables e.g. 'nation, e'leven, 'family, re'lation. Any English word of more than one syllable has at least one stress. In English, the stress pattern is fixed and should be learnt with the word.
3.2 Word Stress
In speech, words of one syllable e.g. ‘come’ are normally stressed when spoken in isolation. When they appear in a sentence, they may or may not be stressed. Words of two syllables have one primary stress which may occur at either the first or second syllable as for example in:
'blackboard
'teacher
'English
'easy
'very
a'way
im'prove
be'long
suc'cess
re'move
Note that in the examples above, the words in the first column have their primary stress on the first syllable. In the second column the words have their primary stress on the second syllable. There are no hard and fast rules as to where stress occurs in words. The stress disposition of a word is learnt with the word. There are, however, some English words of two syllables with the primary stress on both syllables. Here are some examples:
'down'stairs 'four'teen
Some English words of two syllables have stress on the first syllable when they are nouns or adjectives and on the second syllable when they function as verbs as in the following examples:
'present pre'sent
'record
'progress
'convert
'suspect
'protest
'increase
'conduct
'insult
'reject
re'cord
pro'gress
con'vert
sus'pect
pro'test
in'crease
con'duct
in'sult
re'ject
You need to take note of the fact that not every word of two syllables behave in this way. Only a couple of them exhibit this pattern of stress shift. Some Nigerian speakers of English over-generalize this rule and extend it to words like address, mistake which are pronounced with the stress on the second syllable for both nouns and verbs. Since stress in English cannot be shifted at will it is important to learn the stress pattern of a new word each time a new word is encountered.
In words of more than two syllables (polysyllabic words) only one primary stress is given. Some polysyllabic words can have one or more secondary stress in addition. It is important to note that prefixes and suffixes are hardly ever stressed. Your dictionary should help you to determine where the stress should occur. Examine the following:
'calculate
al'ready
edu'cation
'hospital
em'barrass
elec'tricity
'photogragh
in'evitable
eco'nomic
'injury
de'termine
advan'tageous
'absolute
con'gratulate
indivi'duality
Note that the secondary stress is marked with a stroke below the syllable on which it occurs.
3.3 Sentence Stress
When words are in company not all categories of words are stressed.
The types of words often stressed in a sentence are the content words:
nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and the demonstratives and negative markers. Pronouns, articles, auxiliary verbs, prepositions and conjunctions are not normally stressed except for emphasis. In the following examples only the categories of words specified above are given prominence:
She 'got him 'out of it.
I 'want a 'pen 'not a 'pencil.
Do you 'like ‘rice?
THE STRUCTURE OF MODERN ENGLISH
Note that in the first example the verb and the adverb are stressed. In the second example, the verb, the nouns and the negative marker only are stressed while in the last sentence the main verb and the noun are stressed. The other structural words in the sentence are not stressed.
3.4 Contrastive Stress
It has already been stated in the above section that only certain categories of words are given prominence in a sentence. It is however possible to stress any word (including those that normally should not be stressed) if a meaning is intended or when the speaker wants to call attention to a particular word. In this case the word that is stressed becomes the focus of attention. Examine the following:
'Unwana is my daughter (Not Ekaette). Unwana is 'my daughter (Not yours).
Unwana is my ‘daughter (Not a friend)
John lives in a 'white house (Not a blue one) 'John lives in a white house (Not Henry)
John 'lives in a white house (Not just staying there)
Note that only one word is given prominence in the above sentence because of the intended meaning of the speaker.
3.5 Rhythm
Stress and duration produce rhythm in English. According to Abercrombie (1967, p.6) the rhythm of language is produced by the manner in which stressed and unstressed syllables succeed each other. Languages can have stress-timed or syllable-timed rhythm. Languages with stress-timed rhythm are those whose utterances can be divided into feet which are isochronous (i.e. of equal length). The stressed syllables together with any number of unstressed syllables between the stressed ones form a rhythm group. English and German are examples of languages with stress-timed rhythm. The utterances of a syllable timed language, on the other hand, can be segmented into parts but the unit of segmentation is the syllable which can be stressed or unstressed. It is therefore the number of syllables that determine the duration of an utterance in a syllable timed language. Ibibio, Yoruba and French are examples of languages with a syllable timed rhythm. In the following illustration:
I 'want a 'pen (English – stress timed).
‘A ‘yin ‘e ‘ka ‘m ‘mi (Ibibio – syllable timed).
In the first (English) utterance, there are two feet each with a stressed syllable. It takes the same time to say I want as it takes to say a pen. In the second utterance (Ibibio) all the syllables are stressed and it takes the same time to say each one of them. The syllables are thus of equal length just as the feet in a stress timed language are of equal duration. That is the main difference between a stress timed and a syllable timed rhythm.
Rhythm in English is created by the tendency of stressed syllables to occur at roughly equal intervals of time. A stressed syllable together with any unstressed syllables that follow it, form a rhythm unit. In the utterance / ‘b。ut 。v ð。m 'left '3:li/ (both of them left early) each rhythm unit is pronounced with the same amount of time. Also, the stressed syllables take longer to say than the unstressed ones. Examine also the following utterance:
He 'works / in a 'shop/ in the 'market/ with his 'wife.
To achieve a proper rhythm, about the same time has to be spent in saying all the rhythm units. This implies hurrying over the unstressed syllables and spending more time in saying the stressed ones. Note that the stressed syllables are signalled to the hearer by means of pitch prominence. An utterance containing many content words – nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs has more accentuation than one having more structural words – pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions. It is the alternation between the prominence given to stressed syllables and lack of prominence of the stressed syllables which leads to hurrying over unaccented syllables that gives English its rhythm.
Also stressed syllables tend to have the same intervals of time between them even though the number of unstressed syllables may be different. If there are several unstressed syllables, the rhythm will be fast. If there are no unstressed syllables, the rhythm is slow because the stressed syllables are often spoken more slowly. Compare the rhythm of the following utterances:
I The 'boy/ 'jumped.
The 'lion/ es'caped.
The 'buffaloes/ 'stampeded.
II I 'read /the 'book
He 'looked/ at the 'newspaper
I 'took/ 'out the/ 'dictionary
III The 'man/ 'drove a/ 'car.
The 'headmaster/ was 'riding/ a 'bicycle.
The 'schoolchildren/ were 'listening/ to the 'radio.
Also, to maintain the natural rhythm, it is important not to speak the weak forms as if they were strong forms. The weak forms are hurried over while the strong forms are spoken with more energy and with longer duration.
3.6 Intonation
In natural languages, utterances are spoken with changes in the voice level or pitch. This tendency of the voice to rise and fall is called tone when it relates to a word and intonation when it relates to sentences or utterances of sentence status. A language that uses pitch on words is called a tone language while a language with pitch variation on sentences is called an intonational language.
These variations in pitch are usually significant. Variations in tone result in changes in the meaning of words while variations in intonation results in changes in the shades of meaning of the sentences concerned. The Ibibio word, oboŋ, for instance if said with different tones could mean a cane, a chief or a mosquito. This phenomenon also occurs in many Nigerian languages.
Similarly, in English, the expression ‘thank you’ if said with a falling tune shows gratitude but if said with a rising tune shows a casual acknowledgement of something not very important or some one whose duty it was to do a job for which he was thanked. If used in the wrong situation it could show impoliteness or ingratitude (O’Connor, 1977: 108)
Intonation Tunes
Intonation describes variations of pitch - the way the voice rises and falls when we speak (cf. Udofot and Eshiett: 1996: 44). English
Language has its own melody which results from these characteristic rises and falls at appropriate places. If this melody is lacking, the
utterance sounds monotonous. Most Nigerian languages (except Fulfulde) are tonal. That means that the voice rises and falls on words (not sentences or words of sentence status).
When English is spoken with tones of Nigerian languages it sounds funny to the native speaker. Also, much attitudinal meaning conveyed by intonation in English is lost. Apart from this, intonation has grammatical meaning too in English. A certain tune is used for a statement and another one used for a question and a request. Thus if one uses the tune used for a statement to make a request he may sound rude. According to O’Connor (1977: 108) the expression ‘Thank you’ spoken with a falling tune suggests genuine gratitude but when spoken with a rising tune only shows politeness or a routine. If one were to receive a favour and use the rising tune, one would be considered rude.
English has two basic tunes: Tune One, which is the falling tune and Tune Two, which is the rising tune. Tune One starts on a high note and falls on the last primary stressed syllable. It is used for statements (without implication) commands, questions which begin with question words and exclamations as in the following:
1. My brother bought a new car. (statement)
2. Sit down. ( command )
3. What is your name? (Wh-question)
4. What a pretty girl you are (Exclamation)
The rising tune is used for Yes/No questions, lists, mixed clauses and additional remarks, pitch contrast, keywords as in the following examples:
5. Will you go to church next Sunday?
She sweeps the floor, dusts the chairs cleans the louvres and washes clothes on Saturday
6. When he gets his salary, he goes to his village to see his family
7. Can I come in please, she asked politely.
8. My car is grey, not blue
9. You gave him your consent, didn’t you?
Note also that the falling tune starts on a high note and falls at the last stressed syllable and continues to fall while the rising tune starts on a low note and rises at the last stressed syllable and continues to rise.
SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE (SAE) 1
Pronounce the following words, noting which of the syllables are stressed:
enter
madam
belong
condone
given
success
calendar
mistake
salary
embarrass
communicate
university
participate
contribute
Now read the following sentences giving the correct stress: Did you see the aeroplane?
It must have rained all night.
I congratulate you on your recent promotion.
SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE (SAE) 2
Place stress marks at the appropriate places in the following:
What are you staring at?
I am looking at the car.
Can you swim?
Yes I can.
SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE (SAE) 3
Read the following passage with the appropriate stress and intonation:
“Great-grandmother” the girl called. “You have been sitting here for hours. Everybody is in the courtyard performing the marriage rites” . “Is that so, child?” Li asked weakly.
“It is even so, great-grandmother? Have you forgotten I am getting married today?”
“No, child, it is fresh in my mind’. Li replied, sleepily.
“Then come ancient one. Our husband swears you are the best wife,” the girl said mischievously. “Come let me show you off to my guests.”
She raised Li’s hand to her cheeks. With a shock Li observed how
withered her hands were. She removed her hands from the girl’s grip. “No child”. She shook her head sadly.
“This time it is your dream. Go and make the best of it. Don’t be like me. I spent my entire life dreaming, I forgot to live” .
(Adapted from Zaynab Alkali’s The Stillborn. pp. 103-104).
4.0 CONCLUSION
In this unit you studied the nonsegmental features of English, and focused on accentuation, rhythm and intonation. It is therefore, very clear that these non – segmental features of English play a significant role in accurate and intelligible communication in the Language. Their importance in spoken English can therefore, not be overemphasized.
5.0 SUMMARY
In this unit the following points have been made:
Every English word of more than one syllable carries a primary stress on one of the syllables.
Stress is the emphasis on a syllable which makes the syllable prominent and louder than the other syllables in the word or utterance.
Content words are often stressed in a sentence while structural words are often not stressed except for emphasis.
Rhythm is produced by the manner in which the stressed and unstressed syllables succeed each other.
Rhythm in English is created by the tendency of stressed syllables to occur at roughly equal intervals of time.
A stressed syllable together with any unstressed syllables that follow it form a rhythm unit.
The stressed syllables take longer to say than the unstressed ones. To achieve a proper rhythm, about the same time has to be spent in saying all the rhythm units. This implies hurrying over the unstressed syllables.
Intonation refers to the rise and fall of the voice during speech.
English has two basic intonation tunes: Tune One which is the falling tune and Tune Two which is the rising tune.
Tune One - the falling tune starts on a high note and falls on the last primary stressed syllable and is used for statements (without implication) commands, questions which begin with question words and exclamations.
Tune Two - the rising tune is used for Yes / No questions, lists, mixed clauses, additional remarks and for pitch contrast.
The falling tune starts on a high note and falls at the last stressed syllable and continues to fall while the rising tune starts on a low note and rises at the last stressed syllable and continues to rise.
6.0 TUTOR MARKED ASSIGNMENT (TMA)
1. Discuss and illustrate any two non segmental features and how they function in English.
7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READINGS
Gimson, A.C. (1980). An introduction to the pronunciation of English. London: Edward Arnold
Jones, D (1969). The pronunciation of English (9th edition) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
O’Connor, J. D. (1977). Better English Pronunciation. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
Roach, P. (1991). English phonetics and phonology.(second edition)
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Udofot, I. and Eshiett B. B. (1996) An Oral English Course for Schools and Colleges. Calabar: Bon Universals.
Udofot, I. and Ekpenyong , B. (2004). A Comprehensive English Course for Schoools and Colleges. Lagos:Quantum Co.Ltd.
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