More About Stress-Timing in English
In the last post, we discovered that English is a stress-timed language. That means that speakers will stress certain words, and minimize, or reduce, others. If you learn how to do this, your English will sound more natural! English ears are trained to hear these stresses, and you will be able to understand English speakers better if you train your ears to hear them, too.
Here’s How It Works
You know that individual words have stressed syllables.
CA-len-dar
Ba-NA-na
Pho-TO-gra-phy
Individual words in sentences are stressed in the same way. English speakers stress the most important words in a sentence – nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Other words are not stressed, and tend to be pronounced quickly and quietly. Pronouns, articles, modal verbs, and prepositions are examples of words that are usually reduced. Listen to this audio as you read the sentences. I’ve underlined the words that receive stress.
Cats chase mice.
Cats will chase mice.
The cat will chase the mouse.
Do you see how the sentences all take the same time to say, even though there are more words in the last sentence? That’s because I have reduced the words “the” and “will” so that my sentence keeps the same rhythm. You can barely hear them. But a native English listener will know they are there.
Now listen to these words with adjectives and adverbs.
The brown cat will chase the mouse.
It will chase the white mouse.
It will quickly chase the white mouse to the hole.
The “Rhythm” of English
Notice how nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs are all stressed. And the time between each stressed word is the same! This pattern of stressing important words and reducing, or minimizing unimportant words is what gives English a sort of “drumbeat” rhythm.
Test Your Understanding
Here’s a short passage from John chapter 5, verses 1-6. I’m going to write it with only the words that would be stressed when you speak. See if you can understand what is happening!
things feast Jews, Jesus up Jerusalem Jerusalem sheep gate pool called Hebrew “Bethesda” five porches these lay great multitude those sick blind lame paralyzed waiting moving water angel down certain times pool stirred up water Whoever stepped in first stirring water healed whatever disease had certain man there sick thirty-eight years Jesus saw lying knew sick long time asked want made well?”
You may be familiar with this story of how Jesus healed the man at the Pool of Bethesda. However, even without all of the articles, prepositions, and helping verbs, you can still understand what is happening, right? That’s the way English speakers speak. Content words are stressed, and structural words are reduced. Listen now to the entire passage:
After these things, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem by the sheep gate, there is a pool, which is called in Hebrew, “Bethesda”, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, or paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water; for an angel went down at certain times into the pool and stirred up the water. Whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease he had. A certain man was there who had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had been sick for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to be made well?”
Now You Try
Listen to this passage several times and repeat it. Practice stressing the important words as you speak. Do some more listening and repeating of spoken English and become familiar with the way words are stressed in a sentence.
I hope this has helped you understand more about stress in English! In next week’s post, we’ll take a closer look at what happens to the pronunciation of words that are not stressed. Here’s a hint – it has a lot to do with the schwa sound!
Leave a comment below and let me know what you think. Thanks for spending time learning English with me today!
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