[General] Primary and secondary stress in a sentence.

[The apprentice]

Dear teachers and members:


I would like to know if the primary and secondary stress are correct in the sentence that follows:

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, BEYOND THE HEADLINES, EVERY CITY HAS A DARK SIDE.

/bɪˈhaɪnd ˈkləʊzd dɔːz/, /bɪˈjɒnd ðə ˈhɛdˌlaɪnz/, /ˈɛvrɪ ˈsɪtɪ hæz ə ˈdɑːk saɪd/

In the above sentence every word has its phonetics transcription individually, so in the following fonetics transcription I linked the sounds according to my concept.

/bɪˈhaɪnd ˈkləʊzˌdɔːz, bɪˈjɒnd ðəˈhɛdˌlaɪnz, ˈɛvrɪˌsɪtɪ ˈhæzəˈdɑːkˌsaɪd/

My OBSERVATIONS:

1) An adjectives must be pronounced along with the noun which modifies, putting the primary stress in the adjective and the secondary one in the noun, as in:

Closed doors, every city and dark side.

2) A noun and a preposition must be pronounced without any modification in its stress, unless the preposition is acting as a function word.

3) I find that some stress changes from a primary to a secondary one, and vice versa

/ˈɛvrɪ ˈsɪtɪ/ changed into /ˈɛvrɪˌsɪtɪ/

QUESTIONS:

a) Are there three thought groups in this sentence?

1) /behind closed doors/;

2) /beyond the headlines/;

3) /every city has a dark side/

b) Must all thought groups sounds be pronounced as one sound?

1) /behind closed doors/ : /bɪˈhaɪndˈkləʊzˌdɔːz/

2) /beyond the headlines/ : /bɪˈjɒndðəˈhɛdˌlaɪnz/

3) /every city has a dark side/ : /ˈɛvrɪˌsɪtɪˈhæzəˈdɑːkˌsaɪdˈdɑːkˌsaɪd/

c) Is there a glottal stop between the linking sound of the phoneme /K/ and /S/ in DARK SIDE?

/ˈdɑːk?ˌsaɪd/

I ask for your assistance and help in this matter.

 

[jutfrank]

I would answer:
a) yes
b) yes (if you mean 'one sound' as a continuous stream of speech)
c) no

 

[5jj]

/bɪˈhaɪnd ˈkləʊzd dɔːz/, /bɪˈjɒnd ðə ˈhɛdˌlaɪnz/, /ˈɛvrɪ ˈsɪtɪ hæz ə ˈdɑːk saɪd/

In the above sentence every word has its phonetics transcription individually,

It's phonemic rather than phonetic transcription. If you have transcribed the individual words, then you don't need the stress marks that I have underlined

.so in the following [STRIKE]fonetics [/STRIKE] phonemic transcription, I linked the sounds according to my concept.

/bɪˈhaɪnd ˈkləʊzˌdɔːz, bɪˈjɒnd ðəˈhɛdˌlaɪnz, ˈɛvrɪˌsɪtɪ ˈhæzəˈdɑːkˌsaɪd/

My OBSERVATIONS:

1) An adjective[STRIKE]s[/STRIKE] must be pronounced along with the noun which it modifies, putting the primary stress in the adjective and the secondary one in the noun, as in:

Closed doors, every city and dark side.

Not necessarily. This is generally true in a 'neutral' utterance, but if there is the slightest suggestion that you are talking of doors (as opposed to windows) or of cities (rather than villages), then the noun will bear the stress. As 'dark side' has become almost a fixed expression, the two words frequently receive almost equal stress.

2) A noun and a preposition must be pronounced without any modification in its stress, unless the preposition is acting as a function word.

I don't know what you mean by your first sentence. What mofication could there be? Prepositions are generallly regarded as function words. They are rarely stressed in a sentence unless their semantic content is important, as in "He hid the paper in the box, not under it".

3) I find that some stress changes from a primary to a secondary one, and vice versa

/ˈɛvrɪ ˈsɪtɪ/ changed into /ˈɛvrɪˌsɪtɪ/

OK, but it would be clearerr to say that when you put /ˈɛvrɪ/ and /ˈsɪtɪ/ together, they are pronouced. /ˈɛvrɪˌsɪtɪ/

 

[The apprentice]

Thank you 5jj:


1°) So other than prepositions, primary stress has more to do with how important a word is in a sentences.

He hid the paper in the box, not under it.

Where did he hide the paper?

In the box, not under it.

2°) Then the sentence above must be as follows:

Behind closed doors, beyond the headlines, every city has a dark side.

a) Behind what?

Closed doors; open doors.

b) Beyond what?

The headlines; The comments.

c) Every what?

City; County.

d) What does a every city have?

A dark side; a bad side.

Am I right in what I mean?


Regards.

 

[5jj]

1°) So other than prepositions, [STRIKE][STRIKE]primary[/STRIKE][/STRIKE] sentence stress has more to do with how important a word is in a sentences.

Only the speaker of an utterance knows which words are important to him/her.

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Where did he hide the paper?

In that sentence, every, the stressing of a word chnges the possible message conveyed. Here are some ideas about the thoughts in a speaker's head when one paerticular word is stressed.

Where - You have told me, but I find it hard to believe.
did - I have waited long enough for the answer.
he - He, not anybody else.
hide - Hide, not write.
the - The significant paper.
paper - Paper, not anything else.


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[The apprentice]

Excellent explanation 5jj:


This will significantly help in my pronunciation, but specially in my intonation.