Stress in Speech Providing Meaning Through Emphasis

In phonetics, stress is the degree of emphasis given a sound or syllable in speech, also called lexical stress or word stress. Unlike some other languages, English has variable (or flexible) stress. This means that stress patterns can help distinguish the meanings of two words or phrases that otherwise appear to be the same. For example, in the phrase every white house, the words white and house  receive roughly equal stress; however, when we refer to the official home of the American president, the White House, the word White is usually stressed more heavily than House. These variations in stress account for the complexity of the English language, especially to those learning it as a second language. However, in all languages stress is used to make words more understandable on the word level and is especially apparent in the pronunciation of individual words and their parts. Observations on Stress in Speech Stress can be used to provide emphasis, but more often than not it is used to provide meaning to words in general and can be either associated word stress on the word, phrase or sentence levels. Word-level stress, as Harold T. Edwards says in Applied Phonetics: The Sounds of American English, is influenced by the context and content of the stress to inform meaning. He uses the example of two stresses of the word record to illustrate this point: For example,  Were going to  record  a  record, the two similar words are stressed differently so that the first  record  is stressed on the second syllable (vowel reduction in the first syllable also assists in helping us to assign stress to the second syllable), whereas the second  record  is stressed on the first syllable (with vowel reduction in the second syllable). All words of more than one syllable have a prominent or stressed syllable. If we pronounce a word with appropriate stress, people will understand us; if we use the wrong stress placement, we run the risk of being misunderstood. On the other hand, Edwards continues, phrase or sentence level stress is utilized in order to provide emphasis on a certain element of a given point, wherein phonetic stress focuses the audiences attention on what is most important in the message. Lexical Diffusion When linguistic changes occur through the gradual, varied use of a word or phrase in one region, especially as it relates to stressing words and phrases, a process known  as  lexical diffusion occurs; this is especially apparent in words that are used as both nouns and verbs, wherein the stress is changed between the different usages. William OGrady writes in Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction that several such lexical diffusions  have occurred since the last half of the sixteenth century. Words such as convert, he says, which can be used as either a noun or verb, drastically changed during this time. Although the stress originally fell on the second syllable regardless of lexical category...three such words, rebel, outlaw, and record, came to be pronounced with the stress on the first syllable when used as nouns. Thousands of other examples of the same exist, though OGrady posits that not all have diffused through the entire English vocabulary. Still, words like report, mistake, and support give credence to this assumption, emphasizing the importance of stress in understanding spoken English. Sources Edwards, Harold T. Applied Phonetics: The Sounds of American English. 3rd edition, Delmar Cengage, December 16, 2002. OGrady, William. Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction.  John Archibald, Mark Aronoff, et al., Seventh edition, Bedford/St. Martins, January 27, 2017.

Checks And Balances Of Federal Government - 1185 Words

American Government Prof: David Powell August 3, 2014 Checks and Balances in Federal Government According to the Constitution of the state; the system of checks and balances are used in federal government to keep the government from getting too powerful in a single branch. For example, there is a separation of power in the United States that is set into three different branches so that government can function at its best. When power is overwhelmed and does not rest by the constitution of a single authority of a branch. They were divided into three separate branches and those branches are legislative, executive and judicial branch each of those constitutional branches play a significant role in laws of the United State of America. Main roles of branches †¢ Legislative branch: Is usually run by the United State congress; it is composed of the United State House of Representatives and the Senate that’s what helps that’s what helps buildup the United State congress. Their main role is to create laws for all citizens of the state to follow because it’s their right to do so. They also have the power and right to rejects presidential appointments and the authority to declare war based on the constitution. †¢ The Legislative Branch. The White House. The White House, n.d. Web. 03 Aug. 2014. †¢ Executive branch: Based on the constitution â€Å"the Executive Branch can veto bills from the Legislative Branch, but the Legislative Branch can override the veto.† This branch mostlyShow MoreRelatedChecks and Balances of the Three Branches of Federal Government516 Words   |  2 PagesChecks and Balances of the Three Branches of Federal Government Our government is divided into three branches. The Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of the United States government are all connected to each other yet each has its own duty and function to adhere to the Constitution. 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Alex and the Amazing Time Machine Free Essays

Thank goodness I made it back in one piece. I have my brother and the world is happy again. Especially since Carl and Little Davy have been sent to the beginning of time. We will write a custom essay sample on Alex and the Amazing Time Machine ? or any similar topic only for you Order Now First, I’d like to say that I have finally and successfully finished building my time machine but there’s a story behind that: Psycho gave me this booster for the time machine to finally get it running. When I got home, I was pretty excited because I was sure that it was going to work. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. I was so frustrated and fell asleep with Scout in my arms. That same night, forgot to turn off the machine. Sometime between that and waking up this morning, my dog Scout disappeared. I was really scared and nervous but I had to go to school. Later that day, my school had a field trip to the museum. In the museum, we saw these dioramas of early man and I kept seeing this dog that looked an awful lot like Scout. I realized it was Scout and at that point it hit me that she might have gotten into the machine while I was sleeping and went back in time and became known as a â€Å"thoropulis†. The explanation behind the â€Å"thoropulis† was that it seemed to have always been searching for something or someone. My guess is that she was trying to get home. As my class was learning more and more about this â€Å"thoropulis† it hit me that it could only mean that the time machine actually worked! I was so excited to get back home because this meant one thing: I could travel in time and save my brother! When my class and I got back to the bus from the museum, the same white van that Carl and Little Davy drive turned up at the museum. Todd and I became super nervous because there was only one explanation as to why they were there: they were after me! Todd quickly hatched up a plan to distract Carl and Little Davy. He had the class get out of the bus to shield me from view. From that point, I ran back home and rushed to my room to activate the time machine. By accident in panic, I set it two years in the future instead of setting it to six weeks in the past. Once I was zapped to the future, I found myself in my bedroom except things looked a little different and looked A LOT nicer. When I stepped outside the house to walk around town, I came upon a banner that said â€Å"Dalton Trumble Appreciation Day† . Wait what? There’s a holiday for my dad? It turned out he wrote a famous book called, â€Å"Alex and the Amazing Time Machine†. I stole one of the copies of the book from the future and brought it back to the past that way my father could actually write it. After that little adventure, it was time to save my brother Steven. I set the machine six weeks back in the past. After being zapped, I found myself in my bedroom again but this time I felt that there was a sense of cheeriness in the air that I hadn’t felt since Steven was taken. While I was on my way to the camp, I had to make sure that I wasn’t seen. The one place I could hide in was the trunk of my dad’s car. I hid there because this was the same day my family went to the camp retreat, which is where Steven was taken. It was such an uncomfortable ride being squished in the trunk. When the car stopped, I snuck out of the trunk when my family wasn’t looking and grabbed a sleeping bag before closing it quietly. I went to a shed to collect some supplies that might come in handy to camp out in the woods to collect some strength and rest for what might be a dangerous mission. The next morning, I caught my fish for breakfast and was ready to save my brother. My plan however didn’t really work out. I saw Steven had already been taken by Carl and was on my way to get him until Little Davy captured me. We were both put into the van and were asked a bunch of questions. Steven sat quietly but was clearly scared because he had no idea of what was going on. I ended up answering all of the questions but not entirely truthfully. Unfortunately, they could tell when I was lying and it looked like they were prepared for it too because each time that I lied, they forced me to eat a forkful of worms that they had collected. By the time I answered all of the questions, I had eaten almost half of the plate of worms. YUCK! Next thing I knew, Carl had me and Steven tied up to trees and he had a gun that shot people into a universe similar to ours except the universe he was going to shoot us to had no way of escaping. All of a sudden, Todd showed up with a metal baseball bat in hand. You could only imagine the shock I had when I saw him. Not to mention the relief! Todd went straight for Carl and knocked his knees out. At that exact moment the gun was fired and hit a set of leaves. After Carl was on the ground moaning, Todd went straight to Little Davy and hit him in the knees as well. Once he was on the ground moaning like a baby, Todd ran to us untied us from the tree. We quickly tied up Carl and Little Davy and I used my time machine to open a portal to the beginning of time and sent them there. I closed the portal immediately so there would be no escape. I looked at Steven and explained that I had enough love for the both of us. I told him this because he always felt unloved. He was really happy to hear this and I received a great, big hug from my brother, which was really nice. Afterwards, I told him to come up with a silly story to explain to our parents as to why he was missing. When he left, I thanked Todd for coming back and being there to help rescue my brother and me. It turned out that Todd found my time machine that I had left in the present in my room when I left to go to the past. A few weeks later, Todd went missing and I thought it was happening all over again! Next thing I knew, he materialized himself in my bedroom holding a dog. Guess who that dog was. Yep! It was Scout! I gave them both a really big hug and thanked Todd for rescuing my dog. How to cite Alex and the Amazing Time Machine ?, Essays