Changes in the semantic or syntactic structures of sentences often result in corresponding changes in the linguistic stress contours. In the present study, two sentences were systematically varied from their declarative form to the three following forms: the command form, the YES/NO question form, and the WH-question form. These sentences were read when imbedded in a paragraph context. The recorded sentences were presented to listeners who perceptually rated the amount of linguistic stress on each syllable. These perceptual judgments were then modeled via an analysis of the general linguistic stress pattern. In spite of the different sentence structures, the results showed that all four forms of linguistic stress can be described by a general model composed of anticipatory and recency effects centered around local apexes. These local apexes are primarily the verbs in command sentences, the last content words in YES/NO questions, and the WH-word in WH-questions. In all forms except the YES/NO questions, the apexes appeared always at the position of their associated words even under semantic or syntactic changes. For the YES/NO question forms, the last content words were always stressed.