Stress-timed vs. syllable-timed languages | English Pronunciation

A video about the nature of stress-timed versus syllable-timed languages. In this video we will have a look at the feature that govern stress-timed languages such as English. Here, the main rule is: keep the same timing from one stressed syllable to the next! This means all the syllables in between have to be said faster and as a result we have weak forms and other things happening in connected speech. This is very different in syllable-timed languages in which syllables are usually more or less the same in length. Confused? Watch the video to find out more and see examples!
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:37 Syllable-timed languages
3:28 Stress-timed languages
7:04 Example for stress-timed languages
💛 Please like, share & subscribe! 💛
Video on The Phonemic Chart:
bit.ly/2N5134k
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Playlist English Sounds:
bit.ly/3rX13Sz
.
Playlist English Pronunciation:
bit.ly/2N8uum7
.
Minimal Pairs in English:
bit.ly/3u97CUh
.
Sentence Stress & Syllables in English:
bit.ly/3jPVF0X
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Connected Speech: Assimilation, Elision & Intrusion:
bit.ly/2OuekDM
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Stress-timed & Syllable-timed Languages:
bit.ly/3daDWQn
Has this video been helpful? Why not leave a comment below to let me know! I would love to hear from you 😊
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Music: www.bensound.com - Small Guitar
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#stresstimed
#syllabletimed
#pronunciation

Пікірлер: 104

  • @BillieEnglish
    @BillieEnglish3 жыл бұрын

    Hi guys! Would you like to improve your pronunciation? I have a recommendation for you! Now you can improve your English pronunciation with ELSA speak PRO, a clever pronunciation app using the latest artificial technology to help you become more fluent when speaking English. Only ten minutes a day can help make you a better communicator that people understand easily. To download ELSA speak PRO using my special discount, click here: @t 💛 You will receive a 20% discount on the ELSA speak PRO 1-year pack, and an 80% discount on the ELSA speak PRO lifetime pack through my page 💛 Watch my ELSA speak PRO app review here: @t For the free version to have a look round, click here: @t If you have followed my channel for a while and watched some of my videos, you know that I have a passion for helping students improve their pronunciation, so I was really excited when ELSA came to me, told me about their app and offered to partner up with me. I think their app is a fantastic tool that can really help anyone who would like to improve their pronunciation. ELSA trains you in a neutral American accent so you will be understood by everyone and can impress people with your smooth English! Disclosure: This post contains paid promotion by ELSA speak and contains an affiliate link to their app. I am provided with compensation for purchases made through the above link at no cost to you. All thoughts and opinions are my own and are not influenced by ELSA speak or other affiliates. My experience is my own, and your experience may be different. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Billie English possible!

  • @QuizmasterLaw

    @QuizmasterLaw

    2 жыл бұрын

    Congratulations, you've explained EXACTLY why Anglos have trouble with French even though it's at least 80% cognate and also why Anglos and Chinese can't make sense of each others' languages!

  • @marcrubin8844
    @marcrubin88442 жыл бұрын

    This explains why European Portuguese speakers can better understand a Spaniard but a Spaniard has a much harder time understanding European Portuguese. And this is also why European Portuguese sounds Russian to some people, and I heard that Modern Greek sounds Spanish to some people.

  • @larrytruelove8659
    @larrytruelove8659 Жыл бұрын

    My two year old grandson is learning to speak. While he is not clearly speaking very many words, his gibberish has the rhythm and feel of English already.

  • @BillieEnglish

    @BillieEnglish

    Жыл бұрын

    Hello Larry! Thank you for your comment and for watching my video 🙏😊 you made such a good point! I think if people just want to hear the rhythm and meoldy of English talking to toddlers who are just learning to speak is a great idea, even at that point it's very clear!

  • @TheMastermind729

    @TheMastermind729

    4 ай бұрын

    Wow Larry, how good is he at English now?

  • @larrytruelove8659

    @larrytruelove8659

    4 ай бұрын

    @@TheMastermind729 Sometimes he speaks clear sentences and sometimes he doesn’t. He was 3 in October and this is now January. He still doesn’t pronounce the R in grandpa. Consonant clusters typically come maybe a year later.

  • @Tony32
    @Tony32 Жыл бұрын

    European Portuguese is stressed timed and Brazilian Portuguese is syllable timed, as a Spanish native speaker I find Brazilian Portuguese easy to understand and European Portuguese almost unintelligible. Great video btw 👍

  • @annasilvestre2984

    @annasilvestre2984

    Жыл бұрын

    Is it? Because there’s a lot of vowel reduction in Brazilian portuguese, and we use many contractions relative to Spanish. For example, “voçê ja está aqui” is almost always shortened to “çê ja táqui”

  • @patieblue

    @patieblue

    2 ай бұрын

    @@annasilvestre2984but even if we use contractions, we still give the same amount of time to each syllable and if a sentece has more words or syllables, it will last a lot longer. Once I figured it out I started noticing that even the faster speaking person pronounces each syllable 😂

  • @comedycomedy-areyoureddy4390
    @comedycomedy-areyoureddy43902 жыл бұрын

    LOL from India. I was struggling for phonetics in English then found u on you tube. You have made understand about these very nicely.

  • @zhipengyao8776
    @zhipengyao87762 жыл бұрын

    beautifully explained making it easy to understand the features of stressed-timed langues. Thank you

  • @alexrediger2099
    @alexrediger20993 жыл бұрын

    Very useful. Thanks. I appreciate your visual for the timing

  • @tuoy.8302
    @tuoy.8302 Жыл бұрын

    Thanks Billie!! Your example is excellent! It helps me a great to know why English needs to use connected speech, elision or stress.!

  • @alexrediger2099
    @alexrediger20993 жыл бұрын

    Brilliant. I'm teaching my students this now, and will use your video. I'll probably even use it in my videos and trumpet your praises-- at RJK English.

  • @ax_akaloiy4625
    @ax_akaloiy4625 Жыл бұрын

    REALLY helpful!!! Many thanks 🥰

  • @evelynevidal9153
    @evelynevidal91532 жыл бұрын

    Perfect... So well explained ! Thank you! I have just discovered your channel and shall definitely use it and of course I shall use it with my students and recommend it to others!

  • @BillieEnglish

    @BillieEnglish

    2 жыл бұрын

    Glad it was helpful!

  • @eftitasusarani5865
    @eftitasusarani5865 Жыл бұрын

    You're an amazing teacher 👍🏻

  • @Folyoo
    @Folyoo3 ай бұрын

    Thank you. That's very clear and helpful.

  • @gokuljayakumar619
    @gokuljayakumar6193 жыл бұрын

    Thank you for the video and simple examples. Now, I'm clear about stress-timed and syllable-timed languages.

  • @BillieEnglish

    @BillieEnglish

    3 жыл бұрын

    Glad it was helpful!

  • @mamdouhyoussif8208
    @mamdouhyoussif82082 жыл бұрын

    Although I have just discovered your channel ..it is really great explanation..the way you are teaching is so simple for me as anon native speaker.hoping all the best and also waiting for new lessons as you nearly didn't release any new videos for along time did you? Go ahead

  • @wallyton
    @wallyton Жыл бұрын

    Excellent! Many thanks!

  • @nguyenthituongvi6175
    @nguyenthituongvi61752 ай бұрын

    Thanks so much. Very clear explanation 👍

  • @shyambaranwal727
    @shyambaranwal727 Жыл бұрын

    Great video Billie... you are simply amazing at explaining the nuances of the language 👌👌🙏🙏

  • @BillieEnglish

    @BillieEnglish

    Жыл бұрын

    Thank you! 😃

  • @RLLE-dl3oy
    @RLLE-dl3oy9 ай бұрын

    I grew up in East Germany. There are varieties here that are definitely not stress-timed. Even though the Franconians colonized the place (Saxony etc.) since the middle ages, prosody retained a lot of the slavonic substrate. That's also why most people in school totally phased out in school when there was talk of stress and metre in plays and poetry: High German is an upper-class construct from the 18-hundreds which has nothing to do with most people's speech far and wide 😅

  • @andresfelipemurillorestrep7141
    @andresfelipemurillorestrep71412 жыл бұрын

    Nice explanation! Thanks a lot for this video.

  • @ashanlasantha9797
    @ashanlasantha97978 ай бұрын

    Thank you I 'm really into this episode

  • @T3mas1
    @T3mas1 Жыл бұрын

    Amazing video! Thank you for that!

  • @mamdouhyoussif8208
    @mamdouhyoussif82082 жыл бұрын

    No thing said .more than awesome .brilliant. fantastic......thanks bunch foyour effort6

  • @Nori-wh3ux
    @Nori-wh3ux Жыл бұрын

    Thank you Billie for your brilliant presentation. Thanks to your yellow-and-green boxes explanation and comparing between the three syllables and the eight syllables, I really understand the difference between the stress-timed language and syllable-timed language. I'm a native Japanese speaker. Since I started living in Liverpool, I have felt as if residents are singing non-English songs although I think they speak English (or Scouse)! Also I have noticed that I tried to unconsciously take dictations from their individual words but it seems impossible.

  • @BillieEnglish

    @BillieEnglish

    Жыл бұрын

    hello Nori! Thank you for your comment. I am glad the video was helpful. Stay strong in Liverpool! That accent is hard and it takes a while to understand - even for me!! And I lived in Manchester for many years! ;-)

  • @daphventurer7475
    @daphventurer74752 жыл бұрын

    Well explained. Thank you.

  • @jacintamills4881
    @jacintamills4881 Жыл бұрын

    Your voice is so nice to listen to- and that was massively helpful- thank you.

  • @BillieEnglish

    @BillieEnglish

    Жыл бұрын

    You're welcome 😊

  • @oxmico
    @oxmico Жыл бұрын

    I live in Russia, I'm Ivorian. I like learning with you.❤️🙏🏽

  • @YasmeenKhar
    @YasmeenKhar6 ай бұрын

    Thanks for a good explanation❤❤❤

  • @madeleinemei-ling5625
    @madeleinemei-ling5625 Жыл бұрын

    This helped so much. These concepts came up in my speech science course but for the life of me I couldn’t understand it till I watched this video; thank you!!

  • @BillieEnglish

    @BillieEnglish

    Жыл бұрын

    I'm very happy to hear the video was helpful & I hope you aced your exam! 💯😊

  • @dainismichel
    @dainismichel Жыл бұрын

    Excellent lesson! Compliments from a fellow teacher :-)

  • @albacan
    @albacan Жыл бұрын

    You're good. Thank you

  • @nickquik
    @nickquik2 жыл бұрын

    I only speak one language, I had to watch this video twice to understand what you meant.😭😭 I was like "I don't say certain words faster than others"... I had to slow my speech down to get it. Lmaoooooooo

  • @haniyyahn
    @haniyyahn2 жыл бұрын

    Interesting. I suspect Parisian/European French is stress-timed. It reduces syllables. Also speakers of some of the Romance languages you mentioned often speak faster than English speakers. Maybe to get through all of the syllables.

  • @ahmetbaliandeleon431
    @ahmetbaliandeleon4313 жыл бұрын

    I was wondering, European Portuguese is a stressed timed language, how come Portuguese be a stressed timed language if it comes from latin and is bordered by a syllable timed language being spainish, spainish also has a lot of latin influence but it has more arabic influence than Portuguese, arabic is a stressed timed language. So how and why?

  • @sororYahya
    @sororYahya3 жыл бұрын

    Thank you 🙏

  • @aroundworldnews
    @aroundworldnews11 ай бұрын

    ❤ thank you

  • @afsarbabu2672
    @afsarbabu2672 Жыл бұрын

    Good n simple 😍

  • @peacejoy675
    @peacejoy6752 жыл бұрын

    A very useful analysis. Thanks

  • @BillieEnglish

    @BillieEnglish

    2 жыл бұрын

    Glad you liked it :-)

  • @solmazzalay475
    @solmazzalay4757 ай бұрын

    Great video, but I need the subtitles because it's easier for me to understand if I can read while listening

  • @hudahyali9190
    @hudahyali91903 жыл бұрын

    Thanks a lot🇮🇶

  • @jetuber
    @jetuber Жыл бұрын

    Nice. But I wish that you would have uttered two sentences of disparate lengths in a syllable-timed language to demonstrate the difference.

  • @ryanalexander5438
    @ryanalexander54382 жыл бұрын

    I like this video, however, I did a time trial and the sentences with more words did take a bit longer.

  • @amirahamdy9433
    @amirahamdy94332 жыл бұрын

    thank you

  • @jeffersonpaul785
    @jeffersonpaul785 Жыл бұрын

    ¡Ecxelente! ❤

  • @matheuspavan2336
    @matheuspavan23363 жыл бұрын

    Amazing lesson, keep up the great work. Btw, where are you from? Your accent is sooooo sweet, but I couldnt tell where it is from.

  • @BillieEnglish

    @BillieEnglish

    3 жыл бұрын

    Thank you - this comment brought a smile to my face :-) Glad to hear you liked the lesson. My accent is a bit of a special mix ... British & South African with a hint of German.

  • @matheuspavan2336

    @matheuspavan2336

    3 жыл бұрын

    That's super cool, it's super pleasant to hear your accent. I'm an english teacher and I will definitely recommend your channel to my students ;)

  • @BillieEnglish

    @BillieEnglish

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@matheuspavan2336 Well, so we are colleagues :-) Thank you for recommending my channel - I'd be very happy, if it helps your students!

  • @ramamonato5039
    @ramamonato5039 Жыл бұрын

    Standard Indonesian is also a syllable-timed language.

  • @mondarinvino107
    @mondarinvino1072 жыл бұрын

    I wish you gave a similar example with a stressed time language so that the differences could clearly be illustrated

  • @BillieEnglish

    @BillieEnglish

    2 жыл бұрын

    Thank you for this idea! I will try and do so in a future video :-)

  • @cosmosben6726
    @cosmosben6726 Жыл бұрын

    Very helpful. I have been feeling frustrated that I can't hear some words clearly when some native speakers speak. For example, when native speakers say "I must have eaten them aII.", they may not even pronounce the word "have", I can just guess there is a "have" via the word "eaten". Now I know I don't need to hear every word clearly. That is the characteristic of English.

  • @ruru1824

    @ruru1824

    Жыл бұрын

    “must’ve” is a contraction people use instead of “must have”! It’s less formal than something like “can’t” or “I’d” and you’d usually see it written out like that only in informal writing. native speakers also often write “must of”, which is a mistake based on the way “must have” is usually shortened in speech. must’ve is the correct way if you want to write it! the same applies to would have, which becomes would’ve, could have, could’ve, should have, should’ve, etc. people even say “can’t have” as “can’t’ve”, so *double* contracting lol. I’ve never seen anybody actually write the word “can’t’ve” even in informal writing, but it’ll pop up if you google it XD

  • @ruru1824

    @ruru1824

    Жыл бұрын

    edit except I can’t actually edit for some reason: I meant this more as information about how people speak rather than write! which I just realized didn’t come across well since I was focusing too much on how it was written in my comment haha. all of these apply most of the time in spoken language, so you should listen for them instead of “have”! Those contractions are just not something people write out very often though, in my experience at least. hope this makes sense hahaha

  • @cosmosben6726

    @cosmosben6726

    Жыл бұрын

    @@ruru1824 Thank you for your detailed reply! Very helpful!

  • @user-ex4dw6nl3r
    @user-ex4dw6nl3r Жыл бұрын

    thanks

  • @paulflute
    @paulflute3 жыл бұрын

    really clear.. really helpful.. Thank you. ;9)

  • @BillieEnglish

    @BillieEnglish

    3 жыл бұрын

    Great to hear!

  • @larrytruelove8659
    @larrytruelove8659 Жыл бұрын

    I’ve noticed videos of Spanish speakers accenting “significa” on the second syllable, like English does. My understanding is that the “fi” syllable is supposed to be accented in Spanish.

  • @sharonmuldrew5404
    @sharonmuldrew54042 жыл бұрын

    Note: Korean usually has final consonant lengthening in sentences, so it is stressed time for words, but not for sentences. e.g. Don't do that → 하지마 ! → Hajima → The more annoyed you are the more you can stress that final syllable of the sentence. You often hear girlfriends telling off their boyfriends like this: Hajimaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

  • @dorisojochenemi6704

    @dorisojochenemi6704

    2 жыл бұрын

    Lol.

  • @BillieEnglish

    @BillieEnglish

    2 жыл бұрын

    Thank you for sharing this interesting fact! I did not know that and would like to hear an example ;-)

  • @philllipkim564

    @philllipkim564

    Жыл бұрын

    As a native Korean, I know that some Korean pronounce last syllable longer that othe syllables. But I think it is due to individual differeces. No everyon is like that. Anyway, what is clear is that Korean is syllable-timed language, which is one of the reasons why it is difficult for Korean (maybe including Janpanese, Chinese, etc) to learn English. The bigger problem is that the volcalization process in Korean is totally different from in English. When the Korean pronouce the English words and sentences, we make different sounds from native English sounds. Therefore, it is difficult for us to recognize English sounds, so Korean can't accumulate native English sounds in our brains, which is why it is difficult for us to learn Englsh. So we can read and write English but it is really hard to listen and speak. If there is a research or knowledge on the difference in volcalization process between English and Asian speakeers. Please let us know. Thank you!

  • @mostafabahaa388
    @mostafabahaa3885 ай бұрын

    does that exactly mean each tone unit must take the same amount of time of the following tone unit during our conversation in english ?????

  • @adawiajabar3499
    @adawiajabar34993 жыл бұрын

    Thanks alot Can you explain for us The Deictic Shift Theory Please?

  • @BillieEnglish

    @BillieEnglish

    3 жыл бұрын

    Ohhh this is a bit tricky ... ok, I will have a look. Maybe in a future video!

  • @eduardodeoliveiramachado3291
    @eduardodeoliveiramachado32913 жыл бұрын

    I am brazilian. I think that native English speaker speaks very fast.

  • @nelsonricardo3729

    @nelsonricardo3729

    2 жыл бұрын

    How about speakers of European Portuguese?

  • @haniyyahn
    @haniyyahn2 жыл бұрын

    Re stress timing in French: People almost never say "Je ne sais pas" instead they say "Ch sais pas" and instead of "Je ne suis pas" "Chui pas" Countless other examples. Isn't that similar syllabic reduction as in English?

  • @BillieEnglish

    @BillieEnglish

    2 жыл бұрын

    French is a syllable-timed language unlike English which is stress-timed. Weak forms are usually a feature of stress-timed languages only. French does not really have vowel reduction but it can have linking between words (as in your example I believe). I hope this helps!

  • @dinopetropoulos9637
    @dinopetropoulos9637Ай бұрын

    Very interesting as always. I have a feeling that sometimes you sound just a little American. Could it be that one of your parents was American or that you spent some time in an American environment?

  • @BillieEnglish

    @BillieEnglish

    Ай бұрын

    I live in Barcelona and - weirdly! - am surrounded by Americans! I think they have made an impression on my accent, unintentionally so!

  • @doniaomail4160
    @doniaomail41603 жыл бұрын

    ❤❤❤

  • @user-tc1nl9hi9n
    @user-tc1nl9hi9n Жыл бұрын

    thanks it could not be clear more then that

  • @daviskd2680
    @daviskd26808 ай бұрын

    What about Portuguese ? Is it syllable timed or stress timed ?

  • @sarahfranco6802
    @sarahfranco68023 ай бұрын

    4:10, 5:50, 9:39

  • @aroundworldnews
    @aroundworldnews11 ай бұрын

    Arabic is also stressed tkme language

  • @hlaingminn
    @hlaingminn8 ай бұрын

    Thanks. You helped me a lot.

  • @douglasmarinho3653
    @douglasmarinho3653 Жыл бұрын

    It's because of this I can't hear function words when I'm watching TV or whatever in English haha

  • @Alejandro-ub8uc
    @Alejandro-ub8uc2 жыл бұрын

    Is Thai a stress-timed language?

  • @BillieEnglish

    @BillieEnglish

    Жыл бұрын

    Hello! I believe it is a stress-timed language - but I do not speak Thai and am not an expert on the language at all, so best do some more research on it!

  • @hoveringbandit8997
    @hoveringbandit89972 жыл бұрын

    What about the Indian language? I mean which Indian languages are stress timed and syllable timed? This may help the speakers who have Indian languages as their first language.

  • @BillieEnglish

    @BillieEnglish

    2 жыл бұрын

    Thank you for your question! I agree this would be good to know but my expertise is in English - I'm sorry! I don't know about all the languages spoken in India. I think Hindi is syllable-timed but I'm not sure about the many others. There is also a third category: mora-timed which I didn't discuss in the video.

  • @luciaghidoni4811
    @luciaghidoni48112 жыл бұрын

    I am from Italia

  • @chrisk5651
    @chrisk5651 Жыл бұрын

    All the examples of stress - time languages that you gave are Germanic languages except for 2 and all are Indo-European languages except for one.

  • @zahedalikhan8272
    @zahedalikhan82722 жыл бұрын

    Kamini

  • @mrridikilis
    @mrridikilis Жыл бұрын

    Your accent is throwing me for a loop. I hear Australian (perhaps even Kiwi), American, and British pronuncitiations in your speech. Is English NOT your native language??? (you could have fooled me!)

  • @mrridikilis

    @mrridikilis

    8 ай бұрын

    Ok, jetzt habe ich festgestellt, deine Muttersprache ist Deutsch?!? Habe ich recht? 😀

  • @afsarbabu2672
    @afsarbabu2672 Жыл бұрын

    Good n simple 😍