stress and intonation WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?

Everybody needs to understand English stress and intonation. This is a good place to start.

[@senmr.3931]

Love your teaching style

[@basicamericanpronunciation7726]

Hi. That's such a nice comment. Thanks!

[@justksb9381]

That was a good lesson, thank you very much, teacher. God bless you 💙 🙏

[@basicamericanpronunciation7726]

I'm happy the lesson was helpful. Thanks for your nice comment!

[@gasaiyuno791]

Muchas gracias ❤

[@andryzamasolo414]

Very clear explanation

[@basicamericanpronunciation7726]

Thank you. That's nice to know.

[@kannanperiyasamy4506]

In your pronunciation of 'intonation' you stress on the second syllable. The right stress is on the third syllable.

[@basicamericanpronunciation7726]

Hi. In ton 'a tion has four syllables and stress is on the third syllable. I reviewed the video with another person. We both agreed that I correctly put stress on the third syllable. I'm not sure why you hear it differently. Thanks for watching.

[@basicamericanpronunciation7726]

Hi. There are three levels of word stress: primary, secondary, and tertiary (weakest). In 'intonation' they are in=tertiary, ton=secondary, a=primary, tion=tertiary. Perhaps you heard the secondary stress on 'ton' after the tertiary on 'in' and noticed a stress increase on the second syllable. Just my thoughts.

[@darkengine5931]

​@@basicamericanpronunciation7726I think perhaps the confusion is just because you put a little more relative accentuation on "to" than some English speakers I've heard (especially those who speak British English), pronouncing it almost like: >> ˌɪntoʊˈneɪʃən [in-tou-NA-tion] ... rather than: >> ˌɪntəˈneɪʃən. [in-to-NA-tion] I've heard many American speakers pronounce "tə" this way like "toʊ" as you do, but it might throw off people used to hearing it more like the British pronunciation. It was clear to my ears though that you still placed the primary accent on the third syllable and secondary accent on the first. I think the poster was just thrown off by the different, slightly-longer way you pronounced the "to" syllable.

[@basicamericanpronunciation7726]

Hi. 'A Pronouncing Dictionary of American English' by Merriam-Webster shows ɪn to 'ne ʃən, and that's the only pronunciation I've heard in the US. Usually we don't write oʊ for o. Even though there are two vowel sounds, the second vowel, ʊ, is too minimal for o to be considered a diphthong. It makes sense that outside the US people are often more familiar with British pronunciation. You are an astute listener. I enjoyed your comment.

[@darkengine5931]

@@basicamericanpronunciation7726 Thank you! I'm still a neophyte to phonetics in general, but I have learned to develop an ear for stressed syllables as a result of a lot of scansion of poetry and attempting to write some of my own. I could clearly hear that you stressed the third syllable correctly, although I hope you'll forgive me if I did a poor job of explaining what I think happened phonetically that threw off the original poster.