Editing English language (section)

=== Stress, rhythm and intonation ===
{{See also|Stress and vowel reduction in English|Intonation in English}}

[[stress (linguistics)|Stress]] plays an important role in English. Certain [[syllable]]s are stressed, while others are unstressed. Stress is a combination of duration, intensity, vowel quality, and sometimes changes in pitch. Stressed syllables are pronounced longer and louder than unstressed syllables, and vowels in unstressed syllables are frequently [[vowel reduction|reduced]] while vowels in stressed syllables are not.{{sfn|International Phonetic Association|1999|page=42}} Some words, primarily short function words but also some modal verbs such as ''can'', have [[weak and strong forms in English|weak and strong forms]] depending on whether they occur in stressed or non-stressed position within a sentence.

Stress in English is [[phoneme|phonemic]], and some pairs of words are distinguished by stress. For instance, the word ''contract'' is stressed on the first syllable ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|ɒ|n|t|r|æ|k|t}} {{respell|KON|trakt}}) when used as a noun, but on the last syllable ({{IPAc-en|k|ə|n|ˈ|t|r|æ|k|t}} {{respell|kən|TRAKT|'}}) for most meanings (for example, "reduce in size") when used as a verb.{{sfn|Oxford Learner's Dictionary|2015|loc=Entry "contract"}}{{sfn|Merriam Webster|2015|loc=Entry "contract"}}{{sfn|Macquarie Dictionary|2015|loc=Entry "contract"}} Here stress is connected to [[vowel reduction]]: in the noun "contract" the first syllable is stressed and has the unreduced vowel {{IPA|/ɒ/}}, but in the verb "contract" the first syllable is unstressed and its vowel is reduced to {{IPA|/ə/}}. Stress is also used to distinguish between words and phrases, so that a compound word receives a single stress unit, but the corresponding phrase has two: e.g. ''a burnout'' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|ɜːr|n|aʊ|t}}) versus ''to burn out'' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|ɜːr|n|_|ˈ|aʊ|t}}), and ''a hotdog'' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|ɒ|t|d|ɒ|g}}) versus ''a hot dog'' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|ɒ|t|_|ˈ|d|ɒ|g}}).{{sfn|Brinton|Brinton|2010|page=66}}

In terms of [[rhythm]], English is generally described as a [[stress-timed]] language, meaning that the amount of time between stressed syllables tends to be equal.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sentence stress |url=https://esol.britishcouncil.org/content/teachers/staff-room/teaching-articles/sentence-stress |website=ESOL Nexus |publisher=British Council |access-date=24 November 2019 |archive-date=3 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191203092723/https://esol.britishcouncil.org/content/teachers/staff-room/teaching-articles/sentence-stress |url-status=live }}</ref> Stressed syllables are pronounced longer, but unstressed syllables (syllables between stresses) are shortened. Vowels in unstressed syllables are shortened as well, and vowel shortening causes changes in [[vowel quality]]: [[vowel reduction]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lunden |first1=Anya |title=Duration, vowel quality, and the rhythmic pattern of English |journal=Laboratory Phonology |volume=8 |pages=27 |doi=10.5334/labphon.37 |year=2017 |doi-access=free }}</ref>