Which term is used to describe the pattern in which content words with greater semantic value receive stress in English, with stress patterns differing from some Romance languages?

• A. Tone
• B. Pragmatics
• C. Pragmatic competence
• D. Intonation; Stress

Answer: (D)

The pattern shows how English uses stress to highlight meaning by giving more prominence to content words (nouns, main verbs, adjectives, adverbs) while function words stay lighter. This is a feature of prosody—the rhythm and pitch of speech—and it works together with intonation, the rising and falling pitch across a phrase or sentence, to convey meaning and emphasis. The term that best captures this is intonation; stress, because it names the specific emphasis on semantically loaded words within that broader prosodic system. Tone is about pitch distinctions used in some languages to change meaning, which isn’t the same pattern here, and pragmatics or pragmatic competence relate to language use and context rather than pronunciation patterns.