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Topic: Word Stress. This is a lesson in four parts. In this first segment I explain what word stress is and why it's important. Levels: All levels.
- What is the general rule of stress on word
- Where is the stress on the names of 50 US states
How much have you traveled within your own country? I once took a job on a steamboat because I wanted to see of more of America. I have a drawing of that steamboat. For several months, I lived and worked on the steamboat. I traveled along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. I’ve got to see states I’ve never seen before. I traveled as far south as Louisiana, and I traveled as far north as Kentucky and Ohio. Now, one of my viewers asked me to share with you the correct pronunciation of the all 50 States and their capitals.
It’s an interesting request and I think we will have a useful lesson because by sharing the correct pronunciation of all 50 states and their capitals, we can talk about the importance of word stress.
So what do we mean by word stress? It means we’re going to stress part of the word, and to do that we need to do three basic things. We are going to make the stress part louder, longer and at a higher pitch. For example, let’s take the word steamboat. The first part of the word is the stressed part. So when we say steamboat, I want the first part to be louder and the second part to be softer. Let’s try that, steamboat. Now, we also need to make that first part longer, and then second part will be shorter. Let’s try that, s-t-e-a-m-boat. Now when you say the word, I want you to think about making the first part at a higher pitch. So our voice will be higher at the beginning, and lower in the second part, steamboat. Now, let’s put it all together, making the first part of the word louder, longer and at a higher pitch, s-t-e-a-m-boat. Get it? [see screen]
Let’s put the word in a sentence. Repeat after me. [see screen]
So why is word stress so important? Well, because if you put the stress on the wrong part of the word, you can be misunderstood. For example, if you tell any American that you have friends in Topeka, Kansas, they are going to look at you and ask what country is that in? What continent is that on? But if you move the stress to the correct place, and try again tell the Americans that you have friends in Topeka, Kansas, now they will understand. There is a state in mid-west, called Kansas, and the capital is Topeka. So you see the word stress can make the difference between being understood and not being understood.
So here we have the name of the capital and the state. Topeka, Kansas, and I have phonetic transcription of the correct and incorrect pronunciation. Phonetic transcriptions are the kinds of symbols you find in dictionaries. When we use the phonetic transcriptions, word stress is shown by this marks (‘). Here and here. So you can see that we stress the middle part of the word. Topeka and here the first part Kansas. It’s important to know where to put the stress because if it’s moved to the incorrect place, other vowel sounds change. For example, instead of te, you get tou. Instead of kaen, you might get kin or ken, so we do not say Topeka, Kansas, the correct pronunciation is Topeka Kansas. Get it?
Example
Do you have a passport? Now your turn, say the word PASSport.
Now, how do we know where to put the stress? There’s two ways. By looking in the dictionary and looking at the phonetic transcription, and they will show you which syllable is stressed or by listening how are people using the word. And as you listen, you will then learn how to use the word correctly yourself
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