Vowel reader - Chapter 8

Question 1

English is a language with a certain rhythm. Sometimes described as ‘tum-te-tum’what is the technical word for this?

Answer 1

A stress-timed rhythm; an alernation of weak and strong stresses

Question 2

What does it mean if a language is stress-timed? (2 things)

Answer 2

(1) the stresses in a sentence fall at roughly regular intervals to create a certain rhythm of speech
(2) some syllables are longer and more prominent, other syllables are shortened/‘weakened’ to fit the rhythm

Question 3

What effect does a stress-timed language have?

Answer 3

The important syllables or words are made more obvious and important than
the unimportant ones.
Which syllables or words are made important is entirely up to the speaker and depends on the message they want to get across.

Question 4

General rule for all stress-timed languages…

Answer 4

In a stress-timed language, the stressed syllables are said at approximately regular intervals to create the rhythm of the sentence. The unstressed syllables are shortened to fit this rhythm.

Question 5

What are lexical words?

Answer 5

Often ‘nouns’, considered the important words of the sentence. These words are usually stressed!

Question 6

What do lexical words function as?

Answer 6

Elements that create sentence stress. (Indication)

Question 7

What is word stress?

Answer 7

Greater force applied to words to create stress. These should be placed in the appropriate position

Question 8

What are the ‘unimportant words’ in a sentence called?

Answer 8

One syllable words are usually called grammatical words. Examples are: the, but,and, she