한국 대학생에서 나타나는 영어문장강세 유형과 오류

English Sentence Stress Patterns in Korean College Students

  Although "sentence stress" in English takes a very important role in its daily conversations and communication, Korean students are not familiar with its concept. It is partly because they are used to the phonological system of their own language, Korean, which is syllabled-timed, and partly because they are not exposed to actual practices for speaking English, which is stress-timed. This paper is a case study of English sentence stress patterns realized in Korean college students with a main focus on their errors and inconsistencies, in order to prove that understanding sentence stress is a very basic and critical step toward a proper level of communication between English speakers. The case study tells us that most Korean students do not have a proper understanding of English sentence stress, and that they make errors which can be easily found in most speakers of syllable-timed language, such as inconsistent stress assignments, improper placements of pauses, and poor understanding of rhythmic structure of English. However, when a student has been exposed to enough practices for speaking, he or she is likely to give a proper sentence stress pattern as expected.