Ho chi minh university of pedagogy english department

II.1.6. Fall + Fall

• 
  It's a bit TOO good to be true / ISN'T it?
  

• 
  Ann said she'd help as much as she COULD / NATUrally.
  

• 
  She's 28 years OLD / and lives in GiPPSland.
  

There are languages like English, Italian, Russian and Spanish, where stress is (at least partly) unpredictable. In such languages, otherwise homophonous words may differ only by the position of the stress (e.g. incite and insight in English), and therefore it is possible to use stress as a grammatical device.

At the clausal level, normally, words that carry higher information content in the utterance are given higher stress than those carrying lower input (information) and those that are predictable in the context. It is generally the case that one word is stressed more than any other since it possesses the highest information content for the discourse utterance, that is, it informs the hearer most. The group of words described above are largely from what is called 'content' words as opposed to 'function' words. Content words are nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs while function words are articles, prepositions, conjunctions, and modal auxiliaries. Furthermore, it is content words that are polysyllabic, not function words. This classification conforms to grammatical considerations. The classification we present here from a suprasegmental viewpoint, that is on the basis of being stressed or not, is slightly different from that of grammar. Consider the following:

Some speakers make quite complex semantic distinctions in English using secondary stress. For instance, between "paper BAG" as in a bag made of paper, and "PAPer bag" as in a bag for carrying newspapers.

'Primary' and 'secondary' stress are distinguished in some languages. English is commonly believed to have two levels of stress, as in the words cóunterfòil [ˈkaʊntərˌfɔɪl] and còunterintélligence [ˌkaʊntər.ɪnˈtɛlɪdʒəns], and in some treatments has even been described as having four levels, primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary, but these treatments often disagree with each other. It is possible to describe English with only one degree of stress, as long as unstressed syllables may occur without vowel reduction.

In English, stress is most dramatically realized on focused or accented words. For instance, consider the dialogue:

"Is it brunch tomorrow?"

"No, it's dinner tomorrow."

In it, the stress-related acoustic differences between the syllables of "tomorrow" would be small compared to the differences between the syllables of "dinner", the emphasized word. In these emphasized words, stressed syllables such as "din" in "dinner" are louder and longer. They may also have a different fundamental frequency, or other properties. Unstressed syllables typically have a vowel which is closer to a neutral position (the schwa), while stressed vowels are more fully realized. In contrast, stressed and unstressed vowels in Spanish share the same quality—unlike English, the language has no reduced vowels.

Stress can also be put on any word in a sentence to make a possible several sentences, for example:

The possibilities for stress in tone languages are an area of ongoing research, but stress-like patterns have been observed in Mandarin Chinese. They are realized as alternations between syllables where the tones are carefully realized with a relatively large swing in fundamental frequency, and syllables where they are realized "sloppily" with typically a small swing.

Stressed syllables are often perceived as being more forceful than non-stressed syllables. Research has shown, however, that although dynamic stress is accompanied by greater respiratory force, it does not mean a more forceful articulation in the vocal tract.

This section addresses the notion of stress in words as perceived in connected speech. In addition, the existence and discovery of tonic stress is discussed, and the major types of stress are explicated. Four major types of stress are identified:

An intonation unit almost always has one peak of stress, which is called 'tonic stress', or 'nucleus'. Because stress applies to syllables, the syllable that receives the tonic stress is called 'tonic syllable'. The term tonic stress is usually preferred to refer to this kind of stress in referring, proclaiming, and reporting utterances. Tonic stress is almost always found in a content word in utterance final position. Consider the following, in which the tonic syllable is underlined:

• 
  I'm going.
  
• 
  I'm going to London.
  
• 
  I'm going to London for a holiday.
  

• 
  I'm going to London for HOliday.
  

One reason to move the tonic stress from its utterance final position is to assign an emphasis to a content word, which is usually a modal auxiliary, an intensifier, an adverb, etc. Compare the following examples. The first two examples are adapted from. Roach (1983, p. 144).

- It was very BOring. (unmarked)
- It was VEry boring. (emphatic)
+ You mustn't talk so LOUDly. (unmarked)
+ You MUSTN'T talk so loudly. (emphatic)

Some intensifying adverbs and modifiers (or their derivatives) that are emphatic by nature are (Leech & Svartvik, 1975, p. 135): indeed, utterly, absolute, terrific, tremendous, awfully, terribly, great, grand, really, definitely, truly, literally, extremely, surely, completely, barely, entirely, very (adverb), very (adjective), quite, too, enough, pretty, far, especially, alone, only, own, -self.

In contrastive contexts, the stress pattern is quite different from the emphatic and non-emphatic stresses in that any lexical item in an utterance can receive the tonic stress provided that the contrastively stressed item can be contrastable in that universe of speech. No distinction exists between content and function words regarding this. The contrasted item receives the tonic stress provided that it is contrastive with some lexical element (notion) in the stimulus utterance. Syllables that are normally stressed in the utterance almost always get the same treatment they do in non-emphatic contexts. Consider the following examples:

a) Do you like this one or THAT one?
b) I like THIS one.

Many other larger contrastive contexts (dialogues) can be found or worked out, or even selected from literary works for a study of contrastive stress. Consider the following examples:

• 
  She played the piano yesterday. (It was her who...)
  
• 
  She played the piano yesterday. (She only played (not. harmed) ...)
  
• 
  She played the piano yesterday. (It was the piano that...)
  
• 
  She played the piano yesterday. (It was yesterday...)
  

In a response given to a wh-question, the information supplied, naturally enough, is stressed,. That is, it is pronounced with more breath force, since it is more prominent against a background given information in the question. The concept of new information is much clearer to students of English in responses to wh-questions than in declarative statements. Therefore, it is best to start with teaching the stressing of the new information supplied to questions with a question word:

a) What's your NAME
b) My name's GEORGE.

a) Where are you FROM?

a) Where do you LIVE

a) When does the school term END

a) What do you DO

• 
  George
  
• 
  Wales
  
• 
  in Bonn
  
• 
  in May
  

a) What's your name?

The 'new' information in this response is 'George.' The part referring to his name is given in the question, so it may be omitted.

Regarding the significance of new information declarative statements, Ladefoged (1982, p. 100) states:

'In general, new information is more likely to receive a tonic accent than material that has already been mentioned. The topic of a sentence is less likely to receive the tonic accent than the comment that is made on the topic.'

Based on detailed descriptions of Vietnamese and English prosodic facts mentioned above, we can have a contrastive view of them in terms of tones, intonation and stress. Then, it can shed a light on language learning and translation.

One of the phonetic typological differences between Vietnamese and English is that Vietnamese is a tonal language in which the pitch levels are used to distinguish words while English is a non-tonal language. In other words, it is tones that make Vietnamese a unique language. Tones are typical features of Vietnamese and some similar tonal languages such as Chinese and Thai. In contrast, English, Russian, French and some other Indo-European languages are not tonal languages and the function of tone is much more difficult to define than in a tone language. That is a reason why most of the foreigners find Vietnamese a difficult language in writing and speaking. Similarly, Vietnamese people usually make mistakes of some English words’ pronunciation. However, knowing the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese can help learners study these two languages easily and effectively. I once read the collection of short stories “Tớ là Dâu” (“I am Strawberry) by Mr. Joe, a Canadian well-known in Vietnam for his blog writing style in Vietnamese. It is hard to believe that a foreigner who has just been living in Vietnam for three years can speak and write Vietnamese as correctly and fluently as a native Vietnamese. I am really impressed by his humorous writing style as well as the way he uses Vietnamese. In one of his entries, he wrote: “Mọi đường nét của âm thanh đều biến dạng. Tiếng Việt là ngôn ngữ hẻo lánh. Đã thế lại rất oái ăm, bởi nó có đến sáu thanh. Chỉ nhầm một tí là đi một dặm.” (“Every tone has different shapes. Vietnamese is an isolated language. Awkwardly, it has six tones. A miss is as good as a mile.”) Underlying his entries is his careful selection of each Vietnamese word and his appreciation towards Vietnamese. However, not many Vietnamese people nowadays can preserve the traditional beauty of our language. Teen languages or chat languages have been invading our conventional language in specific and our traditional culture in general. Contrasting different languages is at first to have a deeper understanding of our own language, to treasure it, to use it appropriately and to keep its pure beauty intact, then to have strategies for the acquisition of other languages.

Additionally, in English, as in many other European languages, the intonation may function as the only means of distinguishing various types of sentences, for example: He is coming. versus He is coming? In Vietnamese, in contrast, intonation is rarely used as a way to form questions. On one hand, if an assertive statement ends in a word with the high-rising tone, the voice should be raised at the end of the sentence, for example: Hôm nay trời nóng lắm. (It is really hot today.) On the other hand, if a question ends in a word with the low-falling tone, the voice should be lowered at the end of the question, for example: Hôm nay trời nóng lắm à? (Is it really hot today?) In many European languages, like English, the pitch of voice in an assertive statement is usually dropped at the end. In Vietnamese, the meanings of the sentences Ông ấy đi tu. (He has become a Buddhist monk.) and Ông ấy đi tù. (He has been sent to prison.) are completely different. Thus, learners’ attention should be drawn to the fact that the Vietnamese language uses certain grammatical patterns for assertive, negative and interrogative forms. Intonation in Vietnamese is strictly restricted by the tones.

Last but not least, the key difference lies in the fact that Vietnamese is a syllable-timed language in which the rhythm appears to be fairly even, which each syllable giving the impression of having about the same duration and force as any other. English, in contrast, is a stress-timed language in which stressed syllables recur at intervals. In other words, stress is an essential feature of word identity in English (Kenworthy, 1987, p. 18). It, meanwhile, plays an insignificant role in Vietnamese. That is a reason why we cannot translate a Vietnamese poem into an English version in a perfect way. The difficulties for the translation lie in the fact that if we translate word for word, we may not keep the original content of the poem or that if we translate according to its meaning, the translated version may lack the natural rhythm of the original one. Take the Tale of Kieu by Nguyen Du as an example:

Trăm năm trong cõi người ta,

Chữ tài chữ mệnh khéo là ghét nhau.

Trải qua một cuộc bể dâu,

Những điều trông thấy mà đau đớn lòng.

Lạ gì bỉ sắc tư phong,

Trời xanh quen thói má hồng đánh ghen.

“Truyện Kiều” – Nguyễn Du

There have been a lot of translated versions for the stanza above. One of them is:

Within the span of hundred years of human existence,

what a bitter struggle is waged between genius and destiny!

How many harrowing events have occurred while mulberries cover the conquered sea!

Rich in beauty, unlucky in life!

Strange indeed, but little wonder,

since casting hatred upon rosy cheeks is a habit of the Blue Sky.

Translation from Lê Xuân Thuy – “Kim Vân Kiều” (page 19), Second Edition, 1968

Though this translated version can express the full idea of the original poem, it cannot reach the Vietnamese rimming style.

Vladislav Zhukov's version (2004), however, can reproduce the same rhyme schemeof the original without missing its meaning:

Were full five-score the years allotted to born man,

Thus, in order to have a successful translation, we should take into consideration the distinguished phonetic features of each language such as tonal and rhythm system.

In conclusion, prosodic facts - parts of suprasegmental phonology, together with segmental phonologic phonemes, play a key role in the formation of languages in general. Specifically, a contrastive analysis of prosodic facts in Vietnamese and English help us have some informative ideas about their descriptions and functions. Therefore, we can apply them in our process of acquiring new languages and studying our own language. I hope this paper, to a certain extent, can be useful for your language teaching and learning.

Reference list

Le, Q.T. (2004). Nghien cuu doi chieu cac ngon ngu. Hanoi: National University Publishing House.

Mai, N.C., Vu, D.N., & Hoang, T.P. (2007). Co so ngon ngu hoc va tieng Viet. Ho Chi Minh City: Education Publishing House.

Ngo, B. N. (2002). The Vietnamese Language Learning Framework. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

Roach, P. (2000). English Phonetics and Phonology. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Pham, A.H. (2003). Vietnamese tone: A new analysis. New York, NY: Roudedge.

Jannedy, S. (2007). Prosodic focus in Vietnamese. Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

Oatlamoe, G.S.S. (2001). Sound system in Vietnamese. Retrieved from http://www.de-han.org/vietnam/chuliau/lunsoat/sound/4.htm

Celik, M. (2001). Teaching English Intonation to EFL/ESL Students. Retrieved from http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Celik-Intonation.html

Ruelle, J. (2007). To la Dau. Ho Chi Minh City: Kim Dong Publishing House.