Pinyin
Logical stress in a sentence.
In a sentence, the information or content that the speaker focuses on is usually stressed. This is called logical stress or emphatic stress.
For example:
A：谁在房间学习汉语呢？Shéi zài fángjiān xuéxí Hànyǔ ne?
B：他在房间学习汉语呢。Tā zài fángjiān xuéxí Hànyǔ ne.
A：他在哪儿学习汉语呢？Tā zài nǎr xuéxí Hànyǔ ne?
B：他在房间学习汉语呢。Tā zài fángjiān xuéxí Hànyǔ ne.
In the first group，in the answer 他在房间学习汉语呢，the logical stress is on the word“他”，because it is answering who“谁”.
And in the second group，the logical stress of the answer is on the word“房间”，他在房间学习汉语呢。it is answering where“在哪儿”.
So the same sentence may emphasise different point when the position of the logical stress differs.
- 他在房间学习汉语呢。Emphasise It’s him who is studying Chinese in the room，not other people.
- 他在房间学习汉语呢。He is studying Chinese in the room rather than in the classroom or other places.
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