26
Stress and its importance (continued)
Textbook: pp. 50–52
GoalLearn to tell sentence stress and intonation apart, and word intonation from sentence intonation.
New words
sentence stress · gap urg‘usiintonation · ohangstronger pronunciation · kuchli talaffuztongue twister · tez aytish
Explanation
When saying a sentence, the speaker pronounces one word more strongly than the others to draw attention to it — this is sentence stress. It differs from word stress: word stress falls on a syllable within one word, while sentence stress falls on a whole word of the sentence. The word said more strongly is the one the meaning is aimed at. In speech, the rising and falling of the voice, pauses and speed make intonation; it lets us hear a sentence as a question, a command or a statement.
Worked examples
Singlim bugun maktabga bordi. If «singlim» is stressed, it means my sister, and nobody else, went.
Singlim bugun maktabga bordi. If «bugun» is stressed, it stresses today, not yesterday or tomorrow.
Class activity
Read one sentence three times, stressing a different word each time, and let your partner guess which idea is emphasized.
Practice
1
In «Akam kitob o‘qiyapti», what is emphasized if «kitob» is stressed?
That my brother is reading a book, and not something else.
2
What is sentence stress?
The stronger pronunciation of one word relative to the others.
3
What is the difference between word stress and sentence stress?
Word stress falls on a syllable; sentence stress falls on a whole word.
4
What do the rising and falling of the voice create?
Intonation.