1.7.5. Stress and Intonation

The stress patterns in Received Pronunciation and General American English are generally the same. One of well-known differences is the pronunciation of words ending in -ary, -ery, -ory. In Received Pronunciation they contain a single stressed syllable, in General American English the stress is on the first syllable and in addition the stress falls on the last but one syllable, e.g.:

RP GenAm

'stationary

'secretary

'dormitory

'library

'statio"nary

'secre"tary

'dormi"tory

'li"brary

The number of individual words carry stress on different syllable, e.g.:

RP GenAm

'ballet bal'let

'detail de'tail

'garage ga'rage

'resume resu'me

Intonation of RP and GenAm functions according to the same principle. The intonation of Received Pronunciation is often characterized as more varied and that of General American English is flatter. Received Pronunciation uses more frequently sharp jumps downwards but has more gradual rises. In lengthy sentences General American English will repeat the overall contour leaving the final rise or fall until the very end. Received Pronunciation in contrast draws out the rise and fall in small increments from stressed syllables to stressed syllables. General American English has usually falling intonation in why-questions while Received Pronunciation frequently uses an alternative pattern with the low rise at the end. Yes-no questions have a rapid rise in General American English, they remain high and finish with the further small rise.