Written Exercises

Unit 6

Beyond the Segment: Stress and Intonation

Unit 6 – Exercise 1

Place the stress on the following words with suffixes; find the (possible) correlate root:

refugee fundamental beautiful aimless piglet acidity
Chinese disquette agreement failure confirming anxiety

refuˈgee > refuge fundaˈmental > fundament ˈbeautiful > beauty ˈaimless > aim ˈpiglet > pig aˈcidity > acid
Chiˈnese > China disˈquette > disc aˈgreement > agree ˈfailure > fail conˈfirming > confirm anˈxiety > anxious

Unit 6 – Exercise 2

Place primary and secondary stresses on the following compounds; justify your answer:

German measles swimming costume thirty-four paper hankie
bathroom window pushchair Easter holiday first class
inverted comma London Tower first world apple pie

German ˈmeasles: The first element denotes location.
ˈswimming costume: The first element indicates the function of the second.
thirty-ˈfour: The first element is a numeral.
paper ˈhankie: The first element includes the ingredient the second element is made of.
bathroom ˈwindow: The first element denotes a part of a building.
pushchair: Verb plus noun combination.
Easter ˈholiday: The first element denotes time.
first ˈclass: The first element denotes positioning.
inverted ˈcomma: The first element is a participial adjective.
London ˈTower: The first element includes location.
first ˈworld: The first element denotes positioning.
apple ˈpie: The first element includes the ingredient the second element is made of.

Unit 6 – Exercise 3

Stress the relevant syllables in the following constructions with phrasal verbs:

1. He checked out he didn’t check out he checked out at four
2. They got back they haven’t got back they got back yesterday
3. She passed out the girl passed out she passed out in church
4. Make up a story make a story up make it up
5. Put off the trip put the trip off put it off
6. Sort out the problem sort the problem out sort it out

  1. He ˈchecked ˈout / he ˈdidn’t check ˈout / he ˈchecked out at ˈfour
  2. They ˈgot ˈback / they ˈhaven’t got ˈback / they ˈgot back ˈyesterday
  3. She ˈpassed ˈout / the ˈgirl passed ˈout / she ˈpassed out in ˈchurch
  4. ˈmake up a ˈstory / ˈmake a ˈstory up / ˈmake it ˈup
  5. ˈput off the ˈtrip / ˈput the ˈtrip off / ˈput it ˈoff
  6. ˈsort out the ˈproblem / ˈsort the ˈproblem out / ˈsort it ˈout

Unit 6 – Exercise 4

Place prosodic stress on all the possible syllables in the following utterances. Explain your choices.

  1. The supermarket was full.
  2. I landed in Manchester airport.
  3. They live in Manchester.
  4. I’ve been to so many places.
  5. A: What’s your address? B: 7 Victoria Street; sorry, Victoria Lane.
  6. Hold on! He’s coming back!

  1. The ˈsupermarket was ˈfull.
  2. I ˈlanded in ˈManchester ˈairport.
  3. They ˈlive in Manˈchester.
  4. I’ve been to so ˈmany places.
  5. A: What’s your aˈddress? B: 7 Vicˈtoria Street; sorry, Victoria ˈLane.
  6. ˈHold ˈon! He’s ˈcoming ˈback!

Unit 6 – Exercise 5

5. Place nuclear stresses in the following utterances, so that the implications are those stated in brackets.

  1. Send it to me this time ! (not to my mother)
  2. Will you go with her tomorrow? (because I can´t)
  3. Speak to him ! (don’t just text him)
  4. He is not coming tomorrow (he’s expected two days later)
  5. I don’t want one! (please don’t insist)

  1. Send it to me this time! (not to my mother)
  2. Will you go with her tomorrow? (I can´t)
  3. Speak to him ! (don’t just text him)
  4. He is not coming tomorrow(he’s expected two days later)
  5. I don’t want one!(please don’t insist)

Unit 6 – Exercise 6

Place intonation boundaries where appropriate, using single and double bars; punctuation is not given. ∣ :

  1. Publicis and Omnicom two of the world's biggest ad firms scrap plans to create the world's biggest advertising company
  2. The most impressive images this week from science tech and health include the birth of the Universe edible scorpions and a bear with a slipped disc
  3. When they were all gone the nurses cleared the room
  4. John can you give me a hand
  5. John can you give me a hand please
  6. However after they were examined everyone agreed in the end

  1. Publicis and Omnicom ∣ two of the world's biggest ad firms ∣ scrap plans to create the world's biggest advertising company ∣∣
  2. The most impressive images this week from science ∣ tech ∣ and health ∣ include the birth of the Universe edible scorpions ∣ and a bear with a slipped disc ∣∣
  3. When they were all gone ∣ the nurses cleared the room ∣∣
  4. John ∣ can you give me a hand ∣∣
  5. John ∣ can you give me a hand ∣ please ∣∣
  6. However ∣ after they were examined ∣ everyone agreed in the end ∣∣

Unit 6 – Exercise 7

The following English words all have Spanish cognates. Write their broad transcription paying special attention to correct stress placement.

combinatory interesting
concurrence personalised
creative pessimistic
detailed picturesque
distinguish pioneer
elaborate processing
fortuitous tendency
identifiable variable

Now pay attention to the suffixes used to form these words and reflect on the role they play in stress placement. Have any of them caused the stress to change position? Do any suffixes carry primary stress themselves?

combinatory /kəmˈbaɪnətəri/
concurrence /kəŋˈkʌrəns/
creative /kriˈeɪtɪv/
detailed /ˈdiːteɪld/
/dɪˈteɪld/
distinguish /dɪsˈtɪŋɡwɪʃ/
elaborate /ɪˈlæbəreɪt/
fortuitous /fɔːˈtjuːɪtəs/
identifiable /aɪˈdentɪfaɪəbl̩/
/aɪˌdentɪˈfaɪəbl̩/
interesting /ˈɪntrəstɪŋ/
personalised /ˈpɜːsənəlaɪzd/
pessimistic /ˌpesɪˈmɪstɪc/
Different primary stress position in pessimist.
picturesque /ˌpɪkʧərˈesk/
Different primary stress position in picture.
Primary stress on the suffix.
pioneer /ˌpaɪəˈnɪə/
Primary stress on the suffix.
processing /ˈprəʊsəsɪŋ/
tendency /ˈtendənsi/
variable /ˈveəriəbl̩/

Second revised edition

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