Word stress for speakers of Polish 1: Introduction

This is a short introduction to word stress with examples focused on some common difficulties experienced by native speakers of Polish.

English does not have strongly fixed word stress. Shorter nouns and adjectives are likely to be stressed on the first syllable, many short verbs are stressed on the last syllable, final stress is more likely in Latinate or French-derived words than Germanic ones, but it is difficult to generalise. By contrast, Polish word stress is fairly fixed on the penultimate (last but one) syllable, while some verb forms with suffixes and a number of foreign words are stressed on the antepenultimate (last but two) syllable. Numerous speakers of Polish do not, however, pronounce those exceptional words in the standard way but instead move the word stress to the penultimate syllable to the dismay of some prescriptivists and Polish language teachers.  

A major difference between English and Polish lies in the reduction of most unstressed English syllables to the schwa sound (more on which below), while Polish phonology does not have reduced vowels, just quieter, shorter versions of full vowels. Comparing the schwa sound to unstressed versions of the Polish /a/, /ɛ/ or /i/ should be, in my opinion, avoided in TEFL.

1. Many books use capital O and lowercase o to mark stressed and unstressed syllables, e.g. those by Cambridge University Press.

Poland, yellow Oo insist, believe oO

This is different from phonetic symbols, where a stroke at the top of the line is used to indicate that the next syllable is stressed.
/ˈpəʊlənd/, /ˈjeləʊ/, /ɪnˈsɪst/, /bɪˈliːv/

2. Some words have more than one stressed syllable. In those words there is a main stress (a stroke at the top of the line) and a secondary stress (a stroke at the bottom).

understand OoO, magazine OoO, photographic OoOo
/ˌʌndəˈstænd/, /ˌmægəˈziːn/, /ˌfəʊtəˈgræfɪk/

3. Stressed syllables are longer, somewhat louder and the pitch often goes up.
In unstressed syllables the most common sound is the schwa /ə/ or the front close vowel /ɪ/, even if the spelling suggests a full vowel.

nature Oo /'neɪtʃə/ the "ure" is not /uːr/ or /juːr/, but /ə/ (/ɚ/ in US English and other rhotic varieties).

4. Some unstressed syllables have syllabic consonants - according to some sources there is no real vowel there at all:
/l/ in double, battle, /n/ in station, fashion, /m/ rhythm, chasm Oo
/ˈdʌbl/, /ˈbætl/, /ˈsteɪʃn/, /ˈfæʃn/, /ˈrɪðm/, /ˈkæzm/

5. The most common traps for Polish speakers are words which are similar to Polish ones (cognate words) but with different stress patterns.

kalendarz oOo, dinozaur oOo, rakieta oOo, natura oOo, kultura oOo, lemoniada ooOo,
afrykański OoOo, polityka OoOo
calendar Ooo, dinosaur Ooo, rocket Oo, nature Oo, culture Oo, lemonade OoO /ˌleməˈneɪd/,
African Ooo, politics Ooo

6. Almost no Polish words have final syllable stress, which is why Polish speakers avoid it in English.

along, ago, begin, belong, bereave, between, Chinese, dessert, evade, fatigue, go on … oO

7. Some words are double traps: some Polish speakers may not believe the stress in an English word is analogical to that in a Polish word.

mechanik, komputer oOo / mechanic, computer oOo
Ameryka oOoo / America oOoo

As a result, many Polish learners of English are likely to say */'kɒmpjuːtə/ instead of /kəm'pjuːtə/, */'mekənɪk/ instead of /mɪ'kænɪk/, */ˌæmə'rɪkə/ or */ˌæmə'riːkə/ (or another version with additional errors such as Polish vowels) instead of /ə'merɪkə/.

8. The final point worth mentioning is the difference in word stress that occurs in British and American English:

adult, garage, ballet, café   British Oo, American oO

Devoicing of voiced consonants

Voice and voicelessness in English consonants can be a complicated topic. Describing the phonology of English has never been an objective of this blog, which is why in today's post I describe the basics which can be confusing to Polish students of English in particular and may also be similarly difficult to speakers of other languages where the devoicing of consonants works in a comparable way, e.g. other Slavic languages, German or Finnish.

English has a few pairs of voiced-voiceless consonants, namely /b/-/p/, /d/-/t/, /g/-/k/, /v/-/f/, /z/-/s/, /ð/-/θ/, /ʒ/-/ʃ/, /dʒ/-/tʃ/. All of these are separate phonemes, distinct categories in the English speaker's mind. In languages such as Polish in some environments (around voiceless consonants, at the end of a word) a voiced consonant clearly becomes a voiceless one: the word mewa 'seagull' has /v/ represented by the letter <w>, but the Genitive plural mew before a pause contains /f/, as does mewka, a diminutive form (a small or young seagull) with the sequence /fk/ represented by <wk>. The same could be said about /b/ in żaba 'frog' and /p/ in żab 'frog-Gen-pl' and żabka 'little frog'.

Now when we look at the English words bird and frog, we will see that they are not spelt phonemically the same as Bert and frock respectively. Even though the /d/ and /g/ are devoiced at the end of a word before a pause or a consonant (i.e. excluding the bird is, the frogs where /d/ and /g/ clearly remain), these are not the same as /t/ or /k/. What is the difference then and why do English speakers distinguish between these consonants?

The difference lies in two things: vowel length and fortis-lenis. Before a voiced consonant, even when devoiced, the vowel is a fraction of a second longer: a short vowel becomes relatively longer (but we do not use the length mark [ː] to indicate that) and a long vowel or diphthong becomes even slightly longer than it would be when followed by a voiceless sound. The fortis-lenis distinction is just a Latin way of naming the force or loudness with which consonants are produced. A voiceless consonant like /p/, /s/ or /f/ is pronounced somewhat more loudly than a devoiced version (allophone) of /b/, /z/ or /v/. 

In the 20th century linguists described devoicing in English as partial. These days, however, they tend to write about devoicing, though bearing in mind that a devoiced consonant does not sound identical to a voiceless one.

Devoicing matters in learning about the pronunciation of the Past Simple or past participle <-ed> as well as the Present Simple, plural or possessive (Saxon genitive) <-s>, <-es> and <-'s>. When a textbook mentions that /d/ or /z/ should be pronounced after a voiced consonant, semi-vowel or vowel, that does not mean no devoicing can occur - that depends on the environment, the surrounding sounds or pauses. The vowel length and fortis-lenis differences apply regardless.

As time goes by and pronunciation changes some new distinctions can appear and others can be lost. One good example is /ʍ/, the voiceless equivalent of /w/. Nowadays heard in the speech of some speakers of regional dialects in the UK and the USA, it was the recommended standard pronunciation of <wh> in words like what, when, where, whale, overwhelm and whence. These days the distinction is omitted e.g. in RP-based pronunciation textbooks and words like whales and Wales are treated as homophones.

The final remark is that what I know about the issue is based on studying British RP and occasionally learning about the American GA accent. Other rules may apply in Englishes spoken by native speakers, bilinguals or non-natives around the world.

I deliberately used no reference sources to create this post. Let me know in the comments if anything requires correction. I may be a linguist but I do not consider myself an expert on the theoretical side of phonology.

Calques from Polish 2

This is a continuation of an exercise I wrote in 2017. 

Ex. Correct the following sentences: they contain non-native phrases translated directly from Polish.

1. When you write an essay, you have to plan it in advance to make sure it has arms and legs.

2. Jane was tired and left the party in English. No one knew she was gone until the others started to leave.

3. I know nothing about philosophy. During Professor Jones's lecture on Hegel I sat as if I was at a Turkish sermon.

4. Jake's plans to move to Portugal and open a B&B are just castles from sand.

5. Before you make business with the Chinese, you need to know a few things about Chinese culture.

6. The secretary printed out the document and put a spinach on the pages.

7. Frank's a morning bird - he gets up at six even on Sundays.

8. It's worth to see this film.

9. I can't remember the last time I watched a tele-tournament.

10. Father tried to throw smoking last year but he started to smoke again after a week.

11. She always got high marks from her English exams.

12. I forgot my umbrella and got as wet as a hen.

13. The shopkeeper doubled and tripled to serve all the customers.

14. After the divorce the actor didn't have a penny at his soul.

15. You have to pay for the course from above.

Key

1. ... it makes sense. 2. ... left the party without saying goodbye. 3. ... Hegel I couldn't understand a word/a thing. / Professor Jones's lecture on Hegel was all Greek/double Dutch to me. 4. ... are just pie in the sky. 5. ... do business. 6. ... put a paper clip on the pages. 7. ... an early bird. 8. This film is worth seeing. 9. ... a game show/quiz show on TV. 10. ... to quit/give up smoking 11. ... high marks in 12. ... soaking wet. 13. The shopkeeper bent over backwards 14. ... the actor was broke/penniless. 15. ... pay for the course up front/in advance.

Polish words mistranslated into English: 1. mieć ręce i nogi, 2. wychodzić po angielsku, 3. siedzieć jak na tureckim kazaniu, 4. zamki na piasku, 5. robić interesy/biznes, 6. spinacz, 7. ranny ptaszek, 8. warto obejrzeć, 9. teleturniej, 10. rzucić palenie, 11. oceny z egzaminów, 12. zmoknąć jak kura, 13. dwoić się i troić, 14. nie mieć grosza przy duszy, 15. z góry

Minimal pairs: /n/ and /ŋ/

The velar nasal consonant /ŋ/ is often a challenge for Polish speakers despite the fact that it also exists in Polish. Here are some errors typical of Polish speakers of English:
A. pronouncing the "-ing" sequence (as either a suffix or just part of a larger morpheme) as [-ink] or [-ing] (sometimes [-ink]);
B. pronouncing the vowel preceding /ŋ/ as the Polish "ą" or "ę" (nasal vowels/diphthongs; here I prefer to avoid phonetic transcription of Polish sounds);
C. pronouncing /ŋ/ instead of /n/, e.g. 'Poland', 'and' with "ę" and /ŋ/ (see C. above);
D. mispronouncing "g" in words such as 'singer' vs 'finger'.

To create the exercises, I took a few words from Baker (2006).

Ex. 1 Look at the following words containing the consonant /n/ and find their counterparts containing the consonant /ŋ/.

ban, Dan, done, fan, kin, pin, ran, Ron, run, sin, thin, win, ton

Ex. 2 Look at the following words containing the consonant /ŋ/ and find their counterparts containing the consonants /ŋk/.

bang, bring, dung, king, ping, ring/wring, rang, sing, sting, thing, wing


KEY

1. bang, dang, dung, fang, king, ping, rang, wrong, rung/wrung, sing, thing, wing, tongue
2. bank, brink, dunk, kink, pink, rink, rank, sink, stink, think, wink

Baker, Ann. 2006. Ship or Sheep? An intermediate pronunciation course. 3rd ed. Cambridge: CUP.

Calques from Polish 1

Most Polish learners of English have heard of and laughed at Polish-English mistranslations written by amateurs or created on purpose. The former include Denmark from chicken (dania z kurczaka - chicken dishes), follow in oil (śledź w oleju - herring in oil) and cervical cancer (szyjki rakowe - crayfish), all found on menus across Poland. The latter are e.g. Thank you from the mountain (Dziękuję z góry - Thank you in advance) and Don't make a village (Nie rób wiochy - Don't embarrass yourself). Most calques of Polish phrases, idioms and collocations, however, may look and sound 'English enough' for the Polish learner and yet be absent from native English. Many of the following errors recur in my students' essays and test answers. The exercise also contains some instances of grammatical interference.

N.B. Sometimes a word or phrase that resembles a Polish one exists in English but is rare.

Polish - rare in English - more common in English
zrobić karierę - make a career (out of something) - succeed, go up in the world etc.
być analfabetą (noun) - be analphabetic (adj.) - be illiterate
gazeta - gazette (old-fashioned) - newspaper
boazeria - boiserie (narrower meaning) - (wood) panelling

The same works in the opposite direction: you can translate surprise as siurpryza but the present-day Polish word is niespodzianka.


Correct the following sentences.
0. My wife is very expensive to me. dear

1. Please apologise Henry for what you said about him.
2. Studying English grammar is not big philosophy.
3. What can you see on the picture?
4. He underlined the importance of helping the poor.
5. They told me to wait for Pam Jones, but I don't know how does she look like.
6. I can't stay up late - I've never been night Mark.
7. I don't care if they're getting divorced: not my circus, not my monkeys.
8. The teacher checked all the essays last night.
9. I went to my doctor on a control.
10. My dachshund is as stubborn as a donkey.
11. Don't lie me here - tell me the truth!
12. I was on Lithuania last summer, and my brother was on Ukraine.
13. The IC train to Poznań, through Gdańsk and Bydgoszcz, departs from Platform 3 at 11.45.
14. I love dogs. In contrast, my wife dislikes dogs and loves cats.
15. The reason of his absence is unknown.
16. If I wouldn't like you, I wouldn't have bought you flowers.
17. George looked at the clock on his wrist and realised he was late.
18. Now when we know why she resigned we can draw some conclusions.
19. Lem's novels have been translated onto many languages.
20. She presented X on the example of Y.

KEY
1. apologise to, 2. is not rocket science / brain surgery, 3. in the picture, 4. He emphasised, 5. what she looks like, 6. a night owl, 7. it's none of my business, 8. The teacher corrected, 9. to have a ckeck-up / for a check-up, 10. as a mule, 11. Don't lie to me (now), 12. in Lithuania, in Ukraine (also in Hungary, Belarus, Latvia, unlike in Polish, which uses the preposition na), 13. calling at (instead of through or via), 14. By contrast, 15. reason for, 16. If I didn't like you, 17. his watch and, 18. Now that, 19. translated into, 20. She exemplified X by means of Y.