Which of the words in the text are stressed and which are accented?
— Study the words in the two boxes below and divide them into two groups — the stressed words and the accented ones.
natives not
tended great
visitors sailors
intolerance explorers
others also
marked seaside holidays
physical inventors
appearance come
town subtly
illustrated decisive
urge aspects
microcosm history
less course
special religion
feeling England
sea navy
army
Empire
political
insularity
moat
separated
4.2.6. Study the cases of 'and', 'in' and 'that' which occur in the text in terms of stress.
— Pay special attention to their behaviour in the flow of speech, especially at the word-junctures.
— What is the basic peculiarity of the articulation that distinguishes the unstressed cases of 'and' and 'in' in the text?
— Do you know any other 'in' or 'that' in English apart from those you have come across in the text? Give examples.
4.2.7. Study the rhythm within every part of the text singled out by pauses.
a) Analyze the simple rhythm units into three groups — monobeats (M), trochees (T) and dactyls (D).
— Use the following as a model:
'Some English characteristics, upon which both natives and visitors have tended to agree, have to do with national psychology'.
Some English characteristics, upon which both
M T D T M D
natives and visitors have tended to agree, have
D+l D+l M T
to do with national psychology
T D+l_________D__________________
Note: Our analysis of simple rhythm-units is based on the pausation of the spoken text. In this case pausation is supported by punctuation in the printed text.
b) Explain the rule of English rhythm which is observed in the following cases:
more easily illustrated;
bring back its products;
not only great sailors;
in so many aspects;
by no means least;
the twenty-one miles of water.
— Why are 'easily', 'back', 'only', 'many', 'means' and '-one' phonetically degraded?
Study each of the prosodic contours in the text.
— Use the following analysis as a model:
Some English characteristics, upon which both natives and visitors have tended to agree, have to do with national psychology: egoism, self-confidence, intolerance of outsiders, ostentatious wealth, independence, social mobility, love of comfort, and a strong belief in private property.
The first sentence of the text consists of 10 contours. The first one is:
'Some English characteristics'
a) There are no accents here.
It is said with a High-Falling tone.
b) The contour is a typical case of the Descending Scale which relies on the three level-tones on the stressed syllables 'soon', 'Eng-', 'char-' and a low-rising tone on '-ris-'.
— Analyze each of the component contours of the text in a similar way.