Sentence stress and rhythm

Stress the words that matter and let the others go light. Lesson 19 of 58: Pronunciation, every level.

Content words and function words

In a sentence, the words that carry meaning (nouns, main verbs, adjectives, adverbs, negatives, question words) are stressed. The grammar words (a, the, of, to, and, can, is, was, for…) are quick and weak, often reduced to schwa.
English is stress-timed: the beats come at roughly equal intervals, and the weak words squeeze in between. “CATS EAT FISH” and “The CATS have been EATing the FISH” take nearly the same time.
I WANT to GO to the BEACH. (Three beats)
WHAT did you THINK of the FILM?
She CAN’T COME toMORrow. (Negatives are stressed)

Can: /kən/ (“I kn swim”) but CAN’T is full. To: /tə/. For: /fə/. And: /ən/ or just /n/ (“fish ’n’ chips”). Was: /wəz/. Of: /əv/. Using weak forms is not careless: full forms everywhere sound robotic and can even change meaning.
I can swim. (kn swim)
I can’t swim. (KAANT swim: full and stressed)
It was for my mother. (wuz fuh)

Moving the stress changes the message. “I didn’t say he stole the money”: stress I (somebody else said it), SAY (I implied it), HE (somebody else stole it), MONEY (he stole something else).
I didn’t say HE took it. (Somebody else did)
I didn’t say he TOOK it. (Maybe he borrowed it)
I said Tuesday, not THURSday. (Correcting)
Tip: “I can” and “I can’t” are told apart more by stress than by the t: “I kn GO” versus “I CAN’T GO”.

Tell somebody three things you can do and three you can’t, then correct three wrong “facts” about yourself (“I’m not from Delhi, I’m from MUMbai”).
I said “can” weak and “can’t” strong
I stressed the corrected word
My weak words were quick and light

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