A stress given to a certain word is called stress

For other uses, see Stress.

Primary stress
ˈ◌
IPA Number	501
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ˈ
Unicode (hex)	U+02C8

Secondary stress
ˌ◌
IPA Number	502
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	​ˌ
Unicode (hex)	U+02CC

In linguistics, and particularly phonology, stress or accent is the relative emphasis or prominence given to a certain syllable in a word or to a certain word in a phrase or sentence. That emphasis is typically caused by such properties as increased loudness and vowel length, full articulation of the vowel, and changes in tone.^[1][2] The terms stress and accent are often used synonymously in that context but are sometimes distinguished. For example, when emphasis is produced through pitch alone, it is called pitch accent, and when produced through length alone, it is called quantitative accent.^[3] When caused by a combination of various intensified properties, it is called stress accent or dynamic accent; English uses what is called variable stress accent.

Since stress can be realised through a wide range of phonetic properties, such as loudness, vowel length, and pitch (which are also used for other linguistic functions), it is difficult to define stress solely phonetically.

The stress placed on syllables within words is called word stress. Some languages have fixed stress, meaning that the stress on virtually any multisyllable word falls on a particular syllable, such as the penultimate (e.g. Polish) or the first (e.g. Finnish). Other languages, like English and Russian, have lexical stress, where the position of stress in a word is not predictable in that way but lexically encoded. Sometimes more than one level of stress, such as primary stress and secondary stress, may be identified.

Stress is not necessarily a feature of all languages: some, such as French and Mandarin, are sometimes analyzed as lacking lexical stress entirely.

The stress placed on words within sentences is called sentence stress or prosodic stress. That is one of the three components of prosody, along with rhythm and intonation. It includes phrasal stress (the default emphasis of certain words within phrases or clauses), and contrastive stress (used to highlight an item, a word or part of a word, that is given particular focus).

Phonetic realization[edit]

There are various ways in which stress manifests itself in the speech stream, and they depend to some extent on which language is being spoken. Stressed syllables are often louder than non-stressed syllables, and they may have a higher or lower pitch. They may also sometimes be pronounced longer. There are sometimes differences in place or manner of articulation. In particular, vowels in unstressed syllables may have a more central (or «neutral») articulation, and those in stressed syllables have a more peripheral articulation. Stress may be realized to varying degrees on different words in a sentence; sometimes, the difference is minimal between the acoustic signals of stressed and those of unstressed syllables.

Those particular distinguishing features of stress, or types of prominence in which particular features are dominant, are sometimes referred to as particular types of accent: dynamic accent in the case of loudness, pitch accent in the case of pitch (although that term usually has more specialized meanings), quantitative accent in the case of length,^[3] and qualitative accent in the case of differences in articulation. They can be compared to the various types of accent in music theory. In some contexts, the term stress or stress accent specifically means dynamic accent (or as an antonym to pitch accent in its various meanings).

A prominent syllable or word is said to be accented or tonic; the latter term does not imply that it carries phonemic tone. Other syllables or words are said to be unaccented or atonic. Syllables are frequently said to be in pretonic or post-tonic position, and certain phonological rules apply specifically to such positions. For instance, in American English, /t/ and /d/ are flapped in post-tonic position.

In Mandarin Chinese, which is a tonal language, stressed syllables have been found to have tones that are realized with a relatively large swing in fundamental frequency, and unstressed syllables typically have smaller swings.^[4] (See also Stress in Standard Chinese.)

Stressed syllables are often perceived as being more forceful than non-stressed syllables.

Word stress[edit]

Word stress, or sometimes lexical stress, is the stress placed on a given syllable in a word. The position of word stress in a word may depend on certain general rules applicable in the language or dialect in question, but in other languages, it must be learned for each word, as it is largely unpredictable. In some cases, classes of words in a language differ in their stress properties; for example, loanwords into a language with fixed stress may preserve stress placement from the source language, or the special pattern for Turkish placenames.

Non-phonemic stress[edit]

In some languages, the placement of stress can be determined by rules. It is thus not a phonemic property of the word, because it can always be predicted by applying the rules.

Languages in which the position of the stress can usually be predicted by a simple rule are said to have fixed stress. For example, in Czech, Finnish, Icelandic, Hungarian and Latvian, the stress almost always comes on the first syllable of a word. In Armenian the stress is on the last syllable of a word.^[5] In Quechua, Esperanto, and Polish, the stress is almost always on the penult (second-last syllable). In Macedonian, it is on the antepenult (third-last syllable).

Other languages have stress placed on different syllables but in a predictable way, as in Classical Arabic and Latin, where stress is conditioned by the structure of particular syllables. They are said to have a regular stress rule.

Statements about the position of stress are sometimes affected by the fact that when a word is spoken in isolation, prosodic factors (see below) come into play, which do not apply when the word is spoken normally within a sentence. French words are sometimes said to be stressed on the final syllable, but that can be attributed to the prosodic stress that is placed on the last syllable (unless it is a schwa, when stress is placed on the second-last syllable) of any string of words in that language. Thus, it is on the last syllable of a word analyzed in isolation. The situation is similar in Standard Chinese. French (some authors add Chinese^[6]) can be considered to have no real lexical stress.

Phonemic stress[edit]

With some exceptions above, languages such as Germanic languages, Romance languages, the East and South Slavic languages, Lithuanian, as well as others, in which the position of stress in a word is not fully predictable, are said to have phonemic stress. Stress in these languages is usually truly lexical and must be memorized as part of the pronunciation of an individual word. In some languages, such as Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, Lakota and, to some extent, Italian, stress is even represented in writing using diacritical marks, for example in the Spanish words célebre and celebré. Sometimes, stress is fixed for all forms of a particular word, or it can fall on different syllables in different inflections of the same word.

In such languages with phonemic stress, the position of stress can serve to distinguish otherwise identical words. For example, the English words insight () and incite () are distinguished in pronunciation only by the fact that the stress falls on the first syllable in the former and on the second syllable in the latter. Examples from other languages include German Tenor ([ˈteːnoːɐ̯] «gist of message» vs. [teˈnoːɐ̯] «tenor voice»); and Italian ancora ([ˈaŋkora] «anchor» vs. [aŋˈkoːra] «more, still, yet, again»).

In many languages with lexical stress, it is connected with alternations in vowels and/or consonants, which means that vowel quality differs by whether vowels are stressed or unstressed. There may also be limitations on certain phonemes in the language in which stress determines whether they are allowed to occur in a particular syllable or not. That is the case with most examples in English and occurs systematically in Russian, such as за́мок ([ˈzamək], «castle») vs. замо́к ([zɐˈmok], «lock»); and in Portuguese, such as the triplet sábia ([ˈsaβjɐ], «wise woman»), sabia ([sɐˈβiɐ], «knew»), sabiá ([sɐˈβja], «thrush»).

Dialects of the same language may have different stress placement. For instance, the English word laboratory is stressed on the second syllable in British English (labóratory often pronounced «labóratry», the second o being silent), but the first syllable in American English, with a secondary stress on the «tor» syllable (láboratory often pronounced «lábratory»). The Spanish word video is stressed on the first syllable in Spain (vídeo) but on the second syllable in the Americas (video). The Portuguese words for Madagascar and the continent Oceania are stressed on the third syllable in European Portuguese (Madagáscar and Oceânia), but on the fourth syllable in Brazilian Portuguese (Madagascar and Oceania).

Compounds[edit]

With very few exceptions, English compound words are stressed on their first component. Even the exceptions, such as mankínd,^[7] are instead often stressed on the first component by some people or in some kinds of English.^[8] The same components as those of a compound word are sometimes used in a descriptive phrase with a different meaning and with stress on both words, but that descriptive phrase is then not usually considered a compound: bláck bírd (any bird that is black) and bláckbird (a specific bird species) and páper bág (a bag made of paper) and páper bag (very rarely used for a bag for carrying newspapers but is often also used for a bag made of paper).^[9]

Levels of stress[edit]

Some languages are described as having both primary stress and secondary stress. A syllable with secondary stress is stressed relative to unstressed syllables but not as strongly as a syllable with primary stress : for example, saloon and cartoon both have the main stress on the last syllable, but whereas cartoon also has a secondary stress on the first syllable, saloon does not. As with primary stress, the position of secondary stress may be more or less predictable depending on language. In English, it is not fully predictable, but the different secondary stress of the words organization and accumulation (on the first and second syllable, respectively) is predictable due to the same stress of the verbs órganize and accúmulate. In some analyses, for example the one found in Chomsky and Halle’s The Sound Pattern of English, English has been described as having four levels of stress: primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary, but the treatments often disagree with one another.

Peter Ladefoged and other phoneticians have noted that it is possible to describe English with only one degree of stress, as long as prosody is recognized and unstressed syllables are phonemically distinguished for vowel reduction.^[10] They find that the multiple levels posited for English, whether primary–secondary or primary–secondary–tertiary, are not phonetic stress (let alone phonemic), and that the supposed secondary/tertiary stress is not characterized by the increase in respiratory activity associated with primary/secondary stress in English and other languages. (For further detail see Stress and vowel reduction in English.)

Prosodic stress[edit]

Extra stress
ˈˈ◌

Prosodic stress, or sentence stress, refers to stress patterns that apply at a higher level than the individual word – namely within a prosodic unit. It may involve a certain natural stress pattern characteristic of a given language, but may also involve the placing of emphasis on particular words because of their relative importance (contrastive stress).

An example of a natural prosodic stress pattern is that described for French above; stress is placed on the final syllable of a string of words (or if that is a schwa, the next-to-final syllable). A similar pattern is found in English (see § Levels of stress above): the traditional distinction between (lexical) primary and secondary stress is replaced partly by a prosodic rule stating that the final stressed syllable in a phrase is given additional stress. (A word spoken alone becomes such a phrase, hence such prosodic stress may appear to be lexical if the pronunciation of words is analyzed in a standalone context rather than within phrases.)

Another type of prosodic stress pattern is quantity sensitivity – in some languages additional stress tends to be placed on syllables that are longer (moraically heavy).

Prosodic stress is also often used pragmatically to emphasize (focus attention on) particular words or the ideas associated with them. Doing this can change or clarify the meaning of a sentence; for example:

As in the examples above, stress is normally transcribed as italics in printed text or underlining in handwriting.

In English, stress is most dramatically realized on focused or accented words. For instance, consider the dialogue

In it, the stress-related acoustic differences between the syllables of «tomorrow» would be small compared to the differences between the syllables of «dinner«, the emphasized word. In these emphasized words, stressed syllables such as «din» in «dinner» are louder and longer.^[11][12][13] They may also have a different fundamental frequency, or other properties.

The main stress within a sentence, often found on the last stressed word, is called the nuclear stress.^[14]

Stress and vowel reduction[edit]

In many languages, such as Russian and English, vowel reduction may occur when a vowel changes from a stressed to an unstressed position. In English, unstressed vowels may reduce to schwa-like vowels, though the details vary with dialect (see stress and vowel reduction in English). The effect may be dependent on lexical stress (for example, the unstressed first syllable of the word photographer contains a schwa , whereas the stressed first syllable of photograph does not /ˈfoʊtəˌgræf -grɑːf/), or on prosodic stress (for example, the word of is pronounced with a schwa when it is unstressed within a sentence, but not when it is stressed).

Many other languages, such as Finnish and the mainstream dialects of Spanish, do not have unstressed vowel reduction; in these languages vowels in unstressed syllables have nearly the same quality as those in stressed syllables.

Stress and rhythm[edit]

Some languages, such as English, are said to be stress-timed languages; that is, stressed syllables appear at a roughly constant rate and non-stressed syllables are shortened to accommodate that, which contrasts with languages that have syllable timing (e.g. Spanish) or mora timing (e.g. Japanese), whose syllables or moras are spoken at a roughly constant rate regardless of stress. For details, see isochrony.

Historical effects[edit]

It is common for stressed and unstressed syllables to behave differently as a language evolves. For example, in the Romance languages, the original Latin short vowels /e/ and /o/ have often become diphthongs when stressed. Since stress takes part in verb conjugation, that has produced verbs with vowel alternation in the Romance languages. For example, the Spanish verb volver (to return, come back) has the form volví in the past tense but vuelvo in the present tense (see Spanish irregular verbs). Italian shows the same phenomenon but with /o/ alternating with /uo/ instead. That behavior is not confined to verbs; note for example Spanish viento «wind» from Latin ventum, or Italian fuoco «fire» from Latin focum. There are also examples in French, though they are less systematic : viens from Latin venio where the first syllabe was stressed, vs venir from Latin venire where the main stress was on the penultimate syllable.

Stress «deafness»[edit]

An operational definition of word stress may be provided by the stress «deafness» paradigm.^[15][16] The idea is that if listeners perform poorly on reproducing the presentation order of series of stimuli that minimally differ in the position of phonetic prominence (e.g. [númi]/[numí]), the language does not have word stress. The task involves a reproduction of the order of stimuli as a sequence of key strokes, whereby key «1» is associated with one stress location (e.g. [númi]) and key «2» with the other (e.g. [numí]). A trial may be from 2 to 6 stimuli in length. Thus, the order [númi-númi-numí-númi] is to be reproduced as «1121». It was found that listeners whose native language was French performed significantly worse than Spanish listeners in reproducing the stress patterns by key strokes. The explanation is that Spanish has lexically contrastive stress, as evidenced by the minimal pairs like tópo («mole») and topó («[he/she/it] met»), while in French, stress does not convey lexical information and there is no equivalent of stress minimal pairs as in Spanish.

An important case of stress «deafness» relates to Persian.^[16] The language has generally been described as having contrastive word stress or accent as evidenced by numerous stem and stem-clitic minimal pairs such as /mɒhi/ [mɒ.hí] («fish») and /mɒh-i/ [mɒ́.hi] («some month»). The authors argue that the reason that Persian listeners are stress «deaf» is that their accent locations arise postlexically. Persian thus lacks stress in the strict sense.

Stress «deafness» has been studied for a number of languages, such as Polish^[17] or French learners of Spanish.^[18]

Spelling and notation for stress[edit]

The orthographies of some languages include devices for indicating the position of lexical stress. Some examples are listed below:

• In Modern Greek, all polysyllables are written with an acute accent (´) over the vowel of the stressed syllable. (The acute accent is also used on some monosyllables in order to distinguish homographs, as in η (‘the’) and ή (‘or’); here the stress of the two words is the same.)
• In Spanish orthography, stress may be written explicitly with a single acute accent on a vowel. Stressed antepenultimate syllables are always written with that accent mark, as in árabe. If the last syllable is stressed, the accent mark is used if the word ends in the letters n, s, or a vowel, as in está. If the penultimate syllable is stressed, the accent is used if the word ends in any other letter, as in cárcel. That is, if a word is written without an accent mark, the stress is on the penult if the last letter is a vowel, n, or s, but on the final syllable if the word ends in any other letter. However, as in Greek, the acute accent is also used for some words to distinguish various syntactical uses (e.g. té ‘tea’ vs. te a form of the pronoun tú ‘you’; dónde ‘where’ as a pronoun or wh-complement, donde ‘where’ as an adverb). For more information, see Stress in Spanish.
• In Portuguese, stress is sometimes indicated explicitly with an acute accent (for i, u, and open a, e, o), or circumflex (for close a, e, o). The orthography has an extensive set of rules that describe the placement of diacritics, based on the position of the stressed syllable and the surrounding letters.
• In Italian, the grave accent is needed in words ending with an accented vowel, e.g. città, ‘city’, and in some monosyllabic words that might otherwise be confused with other words, like là (‘there’) and la (‘the’). It is optional for it to be written on any vowel if there is a possibility of misunderstanding, such as condomìni (‘condominiums’) and condòmini (‘joint owners’). See Italian alphabet § Diacritics. (In this particular case, a frequent one in which diacritics present themselves, the difference of accents is caused by the fall of the second «i» from Latin in Italian, typical of the genitive, in the first noun (con/domìnìi/, meaning «of the owner»); while the second was derived from the nominative (con/dòmini/, meaning simply «owners»).

Though not part of normal orthography, a number of devices exist that are used by linguists and others to indicate the position of stress (and syllabification in some cases) when it is desirable to do so. Some of these are listed here.

• Most commonly, the stress mark is placed before the beginning of the stressed syllable, where a syllable is definable. However, it is occasionally placed immediately before the vowel.^[19] In the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), primary stress is indicated by a high vertical line (primary stress mark: ˈ) before the stressed element, secondary stress by a low vertical line (secondary stress mark: ˌ). For example, [sɪˌlæbəfɪˈkeɪʃən] or /sɪˌlæbəfɪˈkeɪʃən/. Extra stress can be indicated by doubling the symbol: ˈˈ◌.
• Linguists frequently mark primary stress with an acute accent over the vowel, and secondary stress by a grave accent. Example: [sɪlæ̀bəfɪkéɪʃən] or /sɪlæ̀bəfɪkéɪʃən/. That has the advantage of not requiring a decision about syllable boundaries.
• In English dictionaries that show pronunciation by respelling, stress is typically marked with a prime mark placed after the stressed syllable: /si-lab′-ə-fi-kay′-shən/.
• In ad hoc pronunciation guides, stress is often indicated using a combination of bold text and capital letters. For example, si-lab-if-i-KAY-shun or si-LAB-if-i-KAY-shun
• In Russian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian dictionaries, stress is indicated with marks called znaki udareniya (знаки ударения, ‘stress marks’). Primary stress is indicated with an acute accent (´) on a syllable’s vowel (example: вимовля́ння).^[20][21] Secondary stress may be unmarked or marked with a grave accent: о̀колозе́мный. If the acute accent sign is unavailable for technical reasons, stress can be marked by making the vowel capitalized or italic.^[22] In general texts, stress marks are rare, typically used either when required for disambiguation of homographs (compare в больши́х количествах ‘in great quantities’, and в бо́льших количествах ‘in greater quantities’), or in rare words and names that are likely to be mispronounced. Materials for foreign learners may have stress marks throughout the text.^[20]
• In Dutch, ad hoc indication of stress is usually marked by an acute accent on the vowel (or, in the case of a diphthong or double vowel, the first two vowels) of the stressed syllable. Compare achterúítgang (‘deterioration’) and áchteruitgang (‘rear exit’).
• In Biblical Hebrew, a complex system of cantillation marks is used to mark stress, as well as verse syntax and the melody according to which the verse is chanted in ceremonial Bible reading. In Modern Hebrew, there is no standardized way to mark the stress. Most often, the cantillation mark oleh (part of oleh ve-yored), which looks like a left-pointing arrow above the consonant of the stressed syllable, for example ב֫וקר bóqer (‘morning’) as opposed to בוק֫ר boqér (‘cowboy’). That mark is usually used in books by the Academy of the Hebrew Language and is available on the standard Hebrew keyboard at AltGr-6. In some books, other marks, such as meteg, are used.^[23]

See also[edit]

• Accent (poetry)
• Accent (music)
• Foot (prosody)
• Initial-stress-derived noun
• Pitch accent (intonation)
• Rhythm
• Syllable weight

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• «Feet and Metrical Stress», The Cambridge Handbook of Phonology
• «Word stress in English: Six Basic Rules», Linguapress
• Word Stress Rules: A Guide to Word and Sentence Stress Rules for English Learners and Teachers, based on affixation

In
linguistics, stress
is
the relative emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a
word. It comprises five features:

It is l-o-n-g-e-r –
com-p-u-ter

It is LOUDER — comPUTer

It has a change in pitch from
the syllables coming before and afterwards. The pitch of a stressed
syllable is usually higher.

It is said more clearly. The
vowel sound is purer. Compare the first and last vowel sounds with
the stressed sound.

It uses larger facial
movements. Look in the mirror when you say the word. Look at your jaw
and lips in particular.

Degrees of word stress

English is
commonly believed to have three levels of stress – primary
stress
(in stressed syllable), secondary
stress (in half-stressed syllables), and weak (in unstressed
syllables).

The mark
(`) is used to indicate primary stress, secondary stress is marked by
(,).
A large group of polysyllabic simple words nave both primary and
secondary word stresses, eg ,conver`sation.

Position of the word stress

Word stress in English as well
as in Ukrainian is free, in the sense that the primary stress is not
tied to any particular syllable in all the words. But it always falls
on a particular syllable of any given word. The position of the word
stress is the product of its historical development.

Some ‘rules’ of word
stress

There are patterns in word
stress in English but, as a rule (!), it is dangerous to say there
are fixed rules. Exceptions can usually be found.

Here are some general
tendencies for word stress in English:

1. In a
monosyllabic
word
(a word that consists of a single syllable like cat) and most
disyllabic
words
(a word consisting of two syllables like monkey) the stress falls on
the initial syllable, eg `apple, `table, `happy (the exceptions are
ho`tel, la`goon).

2. In most
polysyllabic
words
stress falls on the third syllable from the end of the word, e.g.
`family, `cinema.

This stress pattern is
especially typical of polysyllabic words with suffixes:

—
ify classify, terrify, humidify, personify, solidify

—
ate operate, exaggerate, associate, integrate, certificate

—
ize apologize, criticize, recognize, computerize

—
logy biology, sociology, anthropology, psychology

—
graphy / grapher autobiography, photography, geographer

—
logist biologist

But exceptions are usually
found.

The stress falls on the second
syllable from the end of the word before the following suffixes:

—
ial memorial, financial, artificial, essential

—
ual visual, unusual, intellectual, individual

—
ian Canadian, vegetarian, pedestrian, politician

—
sion explosion, occasion, conclusion, permission

—
tion definition, production, situation, qualification

—
ient ancient, sufficient, efficient, deficient, proficient

—
cious delicious, conscious, suspicious, judicious

—
tious ambitious, cautious, superstitious, conscientious

—
ic academic, energetic, fantastic, terrific, realistic

—
ary secretary, necessary, contemporary, vocabulary

—
ous dangerous, mysterious, spontaneous, simultaneous

—
ible edible, flexible, incredible, impossible

—
ity ability, necessity, publicity, possibility, humidity

—
meter kilometer, parameter, speedometer, thermometer

The stress falls on the final
syllable by the following suffixes:

—
ee employee, refugee, trainee, referee

—
eer engineer, career, volunteer

— ese Chinese, Japanese,
Portuguese

— ique unique, antique,
technique

3. There are many two-syllable
words in English whose meaning and class change with a change in
stress. The word present, for example is a two-syllable word. If we
stress the first syllable, it is a noun (gift) or an adjective
(opposite of absent). But if we stress the second syllable, it
becomes a verb (to offer).

More examples:

Noun	Verb	Example
record present conduct suspect desert	record present conduct suspect desert	The bank recorded a new record yesterday. He presented his wife with a beautiful present. They’re conducting a study into his conduct. The suspect was suspected of robbing the bank. The desert is so dry that it is usually deserted

4. Most
words of more that four syllables have two stresses: primary
and secondary.
The primary stress usually falls either on the third or second
syllable from the end.

In words
with the primary stress on the third syllable the secondary stress
usually falls on the first syllable, eg ,deco`ration.

If the
primary stress falls on the fourth or fifth syllable the secondary
stress is very commonly on the second syllable: ar,ticu`lation,
ex,perimen`tation.

Consequently
the position of the secondary stress is often that of the primary
stress in the original word, i.e. in the word from which the
derivative word is formed: ‘possible
— possi`bility, ap`preciate — ap,preci`ation.

5. Some
English words have two
primary stresses,
the second being the nuclear one.

The
following groups of words have two primary stresses:

(a)
polysyllables with separable prefixes haying a distinct meaning of
their own:

—
negative prefixes un-, dis-. non-, in- (and its variants ir-. il-,
im), eg: ,un’able,
,un’known,
,unem’phatic,
,unpre’pared,
,disap’pear,
,discon`nect,
,disbe’lief,
,non’smoker,
,non’final,
,non’union,
,incon’venient,
,in`artistic,
,in’accurate,
,il`literate,
,il’legal,
,imma’terial,
,ir`regular,
,ir`responsible.

re-
(meaning repetition), eg: ,re’wi’ie,
,re`organize,
,reu’nite

mis-
(meaning wrong), eg: ,misunder’stand,
,mis’print,
,mis’count

pre-
(meaning ‘before’, ‘earlier’), eg: ,pre’paid,
,pre-‘war,
,prehis’toric

ex-
(meaning ‘former’), eg: ,ex-‘minister,
,ex-‘champion,
,ex-‘husband

under-,
sub-
(meaning ‘subordinate’), eg: ,under`charge,
,under`secretary,
,sub`conscious,
,subdi`vide

inter-
(meaning ‘among’), eg: ,inter`course,
,inter`change,
,inter`view

— some
other rarely used prefixes like
anti-, vice», ultra-, out-,
eg antifascist,
vice-president, ultra-fashionable, outspread.

Note that
very
common words with these prefixes

sometimes lose the stress on
the prefix in everyday usage, eg; un’usual,
im’possibie, mis’take; the
stress on the prefix is also lost in words which are not used without
these prefixes, eg dis’
courage
(v), dis’dain.

(b)
numerals from 13 to 19 including (otherwise in oral speech they might
be easily mixed with such numerals as 30, 40,
50…
90).

(c)
compound numerals, eg ‘twenty-‘
three.

(d)
compound adjectives,
eg: ‘well-‘known,
‘absent-‘minded, ‘kind-‘hearted.

(e)
compound verbs consisting of a verb followed by a post-position or a
preposition-like adverb which changes the primary meaning of the verb
and as a result of it becomes very important and obtains a strong
stress, eg to ‘give
‘in, to ‘put ‘on, to ‘take ‘off, to ‘try ‘on.

6.
Word
stress in compounds (words composed of separable root morphemes)
depends on the semantic weight of the elements. When the first
element determines, restricts the second one or introduces some
contrast it is stressed while the second element of the compound
remains unstressed though the stressed vowel of the second element
retains its qualitative and quantitative prominence.

This is the
case with the majority of compound nouns. They are usually
single-stressed, eg: ‘reading-room,
‘writing-table, apple-tree, ‘suitcase, ‘raincoat, ‘music-hall,
‘blackboard, ‘fountain-pen, ‘deadline,
‘classroom,
‘software,
‘typewriter,
‘policeman,
‘airplane,
‘bus
station, ‘air
conditioner, ‘sports
car, ‘credit
card, ‘stock
market, ‘Great
wall.

This type
of word stress in compound nouns differentiates compounds from word
combinations in which every word has a stress, compare:

‘blackbird — дрозд ‘blackboard — классная доска ‘goldfish — золотая рыбка ‘strong-box — сейф

‘black ‘bird — черная птица ‘black ‘board — черная доска ‘gold ‘fish — рыба золотого цвета ‘strong ‘box — крепкий ящик

Double-stressed
compound nouns are comparatively rare. In such compounds both
elements are equally important, eg ‘gas-‘stove,
‘gas-‘ring, ‘absent-‘mindedness, ‘ice-‘cream.

Compound
adjectives have generally two stresses for both elements are equally
significant in them, eg: ‘clean-‘shaven,
‘well-‘bred, ‘bare-‘footed, ‘broad-‘shouldered; ‘first-‘class,
‘home-‘made, ‘bad-‘tempered, ‘good-‘natured, ‘absent-‘minded,
‘clean-‘shaven, ‘close-‘shaded, ‘old-‘fashioned.

Compound
adjectives with only one stress on the first element occur when the
second element is semantically weak, and add little meaning to the
first element, eg ‘spring-like,
‘childlike, ‘oval-shaped, ‘square-shaped, ‘yellowish-looking,
‘bottle-shaped, ‘heavy- looking.

Compound
verbs have stresses on both elements as they are of equal semantic
significance, but more strongly on the second word, eg ‘give
‘in — ‘give ‘out, ‘turn ‘on — ‘turn ‘out.

Their noun equivalents have
stress on the first part, compare:

Noun:	Verb:
Here’s the ‘printout. She’s a ‘dropout. Where’s the ‘checkout counter? There was a ‘holdup at the bank. This clearly is a ‘setup.	He ,printed it ‘out. She ,dropped ‘out. Can I c,heck it ‘out? ,Hold up your ‘hand. I’ll ,set ‘up a meeting for you

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In linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a word, or to certain words in a phrase or sentence. The term is also used for similar patterns of phonetic prominence inside syllables. The word accent is sometimes also used with this sense.

Phonetic realisation[]

The ways stress manifests itself in the speech stream are highly language-dependent. In some languages, stressed syllables have a higher or lower pitch than non-stressed syllablesTemplate:Ndash so-called pitch accent (or musical accent). In other languages, they may bear either higher or lower pitch than surrounding syllables (a pitch excursion), depending on the sentence type. There are also dynamic accent (loudness), qualitative accent (Place or manner of articulation, e.g. reduction), and quantitative accent (length, known in music theory as agogic accent). Stress may be characterized by more than one of these characteristics. Further, stress may be realized to varying degrees on different words in a sentence; sometimes the difference between the acoustic signals of stressed and unstressed syllables may be minimal.

In English, stress is most dramatically realized on focussed or accented words. For instance, consider the dialogue

«Is it brunch tomorrow?»

«No, it’s dinner tomorrow.»

In it, the stress-related acoustic differences between the syllables of «tomorrow» would be small compared to the differences between the syllables of «dinner«, the emphasized word. In these emphasized words, stressed syllables such as «din» in «dinner» are louder and longer.^[1][2][3] They may also have a different fundamental frequency, or other properties. Unstressed syllables typically have a vowel which is closer to a neutral position (the schwa), while stressed vowels are more fully realized. In contrast, stressed and unstressed vowels in Spanish share the same quality—unlike English, the language has no reduced vowels.

(Much literature emphasizes the importance of pitch changes and pitch motions on stressed syllables, but experimental support for this idea is weak. Nevertheless, most experiments do not directly address the pitch of speech, which is a subjective perceived quantity. Experiments typically measure the speech fundamental frequency, which is objectively
measurable, and strongly correlated with pitch, but not quite the same thing.)

Stress can also be put on any word in a sentence to make a possible several sentences:

I didn’t take the test yesterday. (Somebody else did.)
I didn’t take the test yesterday. (I did not take it.)
I didn’t take the test yesterday. (I did something else with it.)
I didn’t take the test yesterday. (I took a different one.)
I didn’t take the test yesterday. (I took something else.)
I didn’t take the test yesterday. (I took it some other day.)

The possibilities for stress in tone languages is an area of ongoing research, but stress-like patterns have been observed in Mandarin Chinese.^[4] They are realized as alternations between syllables where the tones are carefully realised with a relatively large swing in fundamental frequency, and syllables where they are realized «sloppily» with typically a small swing.

Stressed syllables are often perceived as being more forceful than non-stressed syllables. Research has shown, however, that although dynamic stress is accompanied by greater respiratory force, it does not mean a more forceful articulation in the vocal tract.

Placement, rhythm, and metrical feet[]

• quantity-sensitivity
• rhythm
  • trochaic (quantity-sensitive: ‘LL, ‘H; quantity-insensitive: ‘σσ)
  • iambic (L’L, L’H, ‘H)
• demarcative function (fixed word edge)
• culminativity (lexical words have single stress)
• binary vs ternary

Some languages have fixed stress. That is, stress is placed always on a given syllable, as in Finnish and Hungarian (stress always on the first syllable) or Quechua and Polish (stress always on the penult: one syllable before the last) or on third syllable counting backwards (the antepenult), as in Slav-Macedonian (see: |Stress in Slav-Macedonian language). Other languages have stress placed on different syllables but in a predictable way, as in Classical Arabic and Latin (where stress is conditioned by the structure of the penultimate syllable). They are said to have a regular stress rule.

French words are sometimes said to be stressed on the final syllable, but actually French has no word stress at all. Rather, it has a prosody whereby the final or next-to-final syllable of a string of words is stressed. This string may be equivalent to a clause or a phrase. However, when a word is said alone, it receives the full prosody and therefore the stress as well.

There are also languages like English, Italian, Russian and Spanish, where stress is (at least partly) unpredictable. Rather, it is lexical: it comes as part of the word and must be memorized, although orthography can make stress unambiguous for a reader, as is the case in Spanish and Portuguese. In such languages, otherwise homophonous words may differ only by the position of the stress (e.g. incite and insight in English), and therefore it is possible to use stress as a grammatical device.

English does this to some extent with noun-verb pairs such as a récord vs. to recórd, where the verb is stressed on the last syllable and the related noun is stressed on the first; record also hyphenates differently: a réc-ord vs. to re-córd. The German language does this with certain prefixesTemplate:Ndash for example úm-schrei-ben (to rewrite) vs. um-schréi-ben (to paraphrase, outline)Template:Ndash and in Russian this phenomenon often occurs with different cases of certain nouns (земли́/zemli (genitive case of the Earth, land or soil) and зе́мли (soils or landsTemplate:Ndash plural form)).

It is common for dialects to differ in their stress placement for some words. For example, in British English, the word «laboratory» is pronounced with primary stress on the second syllable, while American English stresses the first.

Some speakers make quite complex semantic distinctions in English using secondary stress. For instance, between «paper BAG» as in a bag made of paper, and «PAPer bag» as in a bag for carrying newspapers.

Main article: Secondary stress

‘Primary’ and ‘secondary’ stress are distinguished in some languages. English is commonly believed to have two levels of stress, as in the words cóunterfòil ˈkaʊntəɾˌfɔɪl and còunterintélligence ˌkaʊntəɾ.ɪnˈtɛlɪdʒəns, and in some treatments has even been described as having four levels, primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary, but these treatments often disagree with each other. It is possible to describe English with only one degree of stress, as long as unstressed syllables may occur without vowel reduction.

Stress and vowel reduction[]

In many languages, such as Russian and English, vowel reduction may occur when a vowel changes from a stressed to an unstressed position. In English, many unstressed vowels reduce to schwa-like vowels, though the details vary with dialect. Other languages, such as Finnish, have no unstressed vowel reduction.

Historical effects of stress[]

It is common for stressed and unstressed syllables to behave differently as a language evolves. For example, in the Romance languages, the original Latin short vowels [/e/] and [/o/] have generally become diphthongs when stressed. Since stress takes part in verb conjugation, this has produced verbs with vowel alternation in the Romance languages. For example, the Spanish verb volver has the form volví in the past tense but vuelvo in the present tense (see Spanish irregular verbs). Italian shows the same phenomenon but with [/o/] alternating with [/uo/] instead. This behaviour is not confined to verbs; for example, Spanish viento «wind», from Latin ventum.

Timing[]

Template:Further
English is a stress-timed language; that is, stressed syllables appear at a roughly constant rate, and non-stressed syllables are shortened to accommodate this. Other languages have syllable timing (e.g. Spanish) or mora timing (e.g. Japanese), where syllables or moras are spoken at a roughly constant rate regardless of stress.

Notation[]

Different systems exist for indicating syllabification and stress.

• In IPA, primary stress is indicated by a high vertical line before the syllable, secondary stress by a low vertical line. Example: sɪˌlæbəfɪˈkeɪʃən or [/sɪˌlæbəfɪˈkeɪʃən/].
• In English dictionaries that show pronunciation by respelling, stress is typically marked with a prime mark placed after the stressed syllable: /si-lab′-ə-fi-kay′-shən/.
• In ad hoc pronunciation guides, stress is often indicated using a combination of bold text and capital letters. Example: si-lab-if-i-KAY-shun or si-LAB-if-i-KAY-shun
• In Russian and Ukrainian dictionaries, stress is indicated with an acute accent (´) on a syllable’s vowel (example: вимовля́ння) or, in other editions, an apostrophe^[5] just after it (example: гла’сная). Stressing is rare in general texts, but is still used when necessary: compare за́мок (castle) and замо́к (lock).
• In Dutch, ad hoc indication of stress is usually marked by an acute accent on the vowel (or, in the case of a diphthong, the first two vowels) of the stressed syllable. Compare achterúítgang (deterioration) and áchteruitgang (back exit).
• In Modern Greek, all polysyllables are written with an acute accent over the vowel in the stressed syllable. (The acute accent is also used to distinguish some monosyllables in order to distinguish homographs (e.g., η («the») and ή («or»)); here the stress of the two words is the same).
• In Portuguese, stress is sometimes indicated explicitly with an acute accent (for i, u, and open a, e, o), or circumflex (for close a, e, o). In diphthongs, when marked, the semivowel (or the semivowels) never receives the accent mark. Stress is not marked with diacritics when it can be otherwise predicted from spelling: it is marked only on uncommon pronunciation of pattern of letters.
• In Spanish orthography, stress may be written explicitly with a single acute accent on a vowel. Stressed antepenultimate syllables are always written with this accent mark, as in árabe. If the last syllable is stressed, the accent mark is used if the word ends in the letters n, s, or a vowel, as in está. If the penultimate syllable is stressed, the accent is used if the word ends in any other letter, as in cárcel. That is, if a word is written without an accent mark, the stress is on the penult if the last letter is a vowel, n, or s, but on the final syllable if the word ends in any other letter. However as in Greek, the acute accent is also used for some words to distinguish various syntactical uses (e.g. té «tea» vs. te a form of the pronoun tú; dónde «where» as a pronoun or wh-complement, donde «where» as an adverb).

See also[]

• Accent (poetry)
• Accent (music)
• Antepenult
• Enunciation
• Initial-stress-derived noun
• Penult
• Pitch accent
• Phonology
• Secondary stress
• Syllable
• Timing
• Vowel reduction
• Weak form and strong form

Notes[]

External links[]

• Feet and Metrical Stress (The Cambridge Handbook of Phonology)

Template:Suprasegmentals

ar:نبر
bn:শ্বাসাঘাত
br:Taol-mouezh
bg:Ударение
ca:Accent prosòdic
cv:Ударени
cs:Přízvuk
cy:Acen
da:Accent (tryk)
de:Akzent (Linguistik)
et:Rõhk (keeleteadus)
el:Τόνος (γραφή)
es:Acento prosódico
eo:Akcento
fa:تکیه (زبان‌شناسی)
fr:Accent tonique
gl:Acento prosódico
ia:Accento (linguistica)
os:Цавд
it:Accento (linguistica)
he:הטעמה
kk:Екпін
la:Accentus
lt:Kirtis
nl:Klemtoon
ja:強勢
nn:Fonologisk trykk
pl:Akcent wyrazowy
pt:Acento tônico
ru:Ударение
scn:Accentu
sk:Prízvuk
fi:Sanapaino
sv:Betoning
uk:Наголос
fiu-vro:Rasõhus (keeletiidüs)
zh:重音

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PRONUNCIATION OF WORD STRESS

GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF WORD STRESS

Word stress is a noun.

WHAT DOES WORD STRESS MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Definition of word stress in the English dictionary

The definition of word stress in the dictionary is the stress accent on the syllables of individual words either in a sentence or in isolation.

TRANSLATION OF WORD STRESS

Find out the translation of word stress to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «WORD STRESS»

The term «word stress» is regularly used and occupies the 100.334 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.

Principal search tendencies and common uses of word stress

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «WORD STRESS» OVER TIME

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «WORD STRESS»

Discover the use of word stress in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to word stress and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.

4 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «WORD STRESS»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term word stress is used in the context of the following news items.

REFERENCE

« EDUCALINGO. Word stress [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/word-stress>. Apr 2023 ».

What is word stress?

Word stress, also called lexical stress, is the emphasis a speaker places on a specific syllable in a multi-syllable word.

Word stress is especially hard for non-native speakers to master. While there are a few conventions and general rules governing which syllable is stressed in a word based on its spelling alone, these conventions are often unreliable.

Before we look at these conventions and their exceptions, let’s discuss how we can indicate syllables and word stress in writing.

Indicating syllables in writing

In this section, we’ll be using different symbols to indicate syllable division in words. For the normal spelling of words, we’ll be using a symbol known as an interpunct ( · ) (also called a midpoint, middle dot, or centered dot). For example, the word application would appear as app·li·ca·tion.

When the pronunciation of a word is transcribed using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), there are three different symbols we use. For syllables that receive the primary stress, we use a short vertical line above and immediately before the syllable being emphasized ( ˈ ); for secondary stress, we use the same vertical line, but it appears below and before the syllable ( ˌ ); and, while this guide usually does not mark them in IPA transcriptions, we will indicate unstressed syllables in this section with periods. Using application as an example again, its pronunciation would be transcribed in IPA as /ˌæp.lɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/.

Written syllables vs. spoken syllables

The syllable breakdowns in the written “dictionary” form of words are often divided slightly differently compared to the phonetic “spoken” form used in IPA transcriptions.

Specifically, the written form divides syllables according to established syllable “types,” based on spelling patterns such as double consonants, short vowels contained within two consonants, and vowel digraphs. The spoken form, on the other hand, divides syllables according to the phonetic pronunciation of the word, and the difference between these two can sometime lead to syllable breakdowns that don’t look like they correspond to one another. For example, the word learning is divided in the dictionary as learn·ing, but it is divided as /ˈlɜr.nɪŋ/ in IPA transcription—the placement of the first N is not the same.

Because this part of the guide is more concerned with the phonetic placement of word stress rather than the technical breakdown of syllables (as found in dictionary entries), the examples we use will try to match the written form as closely as possible to the spoken form. Looking at the learning example again, we would divide the syllables as lear·ning to match its IPA transcription. Just be aware that these will often be slightly different to what one may find in a dictionary. For more technical information on how syllables are formed and divided within words, check out the chapter on Syllables.

Primary vs. secondary stress

Every word has one syllable that receives a primary stress—that is, it is vocally emphasized more than any other syllable. Some longer words also have a secondary stress, which is more emphatic than the unstressed syllables but not as strong as the primary stress. (Some words can even have more than one secondary stress.)

Let’s look at some examples, with the primary stress in bold and the secondary stress in italics:

• ab·sen·tee (/ˌæb.sənˈti/)
• cem·e·ter·y (/ˈsɛm.ɪˌtɛr.i/)
• dis·be·lief (/ˌdɪs.bɪˈlif/)
• in·for·ma·tion (/ˌɪn fərˈmeɪ ʃən/)
• labo·ra·tor·y (/ˈlæb.rəˌtɔr.i/; the initial O is usually silent)
• mil·i·tar·y (/ˈmɪl.ɪˌtɛr.i/)
• or·din·ar·y (/ˈɔr.dənˌɛr.i/)
• sec·re·tar·y (/ˈsɛk.rɪˌtɛr.i/)
• tem·po·rar·y (/ˈtɛm.pəˌrɛr.i/)
• un·a·pol·o·get·ic (/ˌʌn.əˌpɑl.əˈʤɛt.ɪk/)

Unfortunately, secondary stress is extremely unpredictable. Primary stress, on the other hand, can often be predicted according to a few different conventions.

Determining word stress

There are only two consistent, reliable rules about word stress in English:

• 1. Only the vowel sound within a syllable is stressed; stress is not applied to consonant sounds.

• 2. Any given word, even one with many syllables, will only have one syllable that receives the primary stress in speech. Some longer words also receive a secondary stress, which we’ll look at more closely further on. (By definition, single-syllable words only ever have a single stress, though certain function words can be unstressed altogether, which we’ll discuss later.)

However, determining which syllable is emphasized in a given word is not always straightforward, as a word’s spelling is usually not enough on its own to let us know the appropriate stress. There are a few general conventions that can help make this easier to determine, but there are many exceptions and anomalies for each.

Determining stress based on word type

One common pronunciation convention many guides provide is that nouns and adjectives with two or more syllables will have stress placed on the first syllable, while verbs and prepositions tend to have their stress on the second syllable. While there are many examples that support this convention, it is also very problematic because there are many exceptions that contradict it.

Let’s look at some examples that support or contradict this convention.

Nouns and adjectives will have stress on the first syllable

Nouns

Adjectives

app·le (/ˈæp.əl/) bott·le (/ˈbɑt.əl/) busi·ness (/ˈbɪz.nɪs/; the I is silent) cherr·y (/ˈʧɛr.i/) cli·mate (/ˈklaɪ.mɪt/) crit·ic (/ˈkrɪt.ɪk/) dia·mond (/ˈdaɪ.mənd/) el·e·phant (/ˈɛl.ə.fənt/) en·ve·lope (/ˈɛnvəˌloʊp/) fam·i·ly (/ˈfæm.ə.li/) In·ter·net (/ˈɪn.tərˌnɛt/) knowl·edge (/ˈnɑl.ɪʤ/) mu·sic (/ˈmju.zɪk/) pa·per (/ˈpeɪ.pər/) sam·ple (/ˈsæm.pəl/) satch·el (/ˈsætʃ.əl/) ta·ble (/ˈteɪ.bəl/) tel·e·phone (/ˈtɛl.əˌfoʊn /) ton·ic (/ˈtɑn.ɪk/) win·dow (/ˈwɪn.doʊ/)

clev·er (/ˈklɛv.ər/) comm·on (/ˈkɑm.ən/) diff·i·cult (/ˈdɪf.ɪˌkʌlt/) fa·vor·ite (/ˈfeɪ.vər.ɪt/) fem·i·nine (/ˈfɛm.ə.nɪn/) funn·y (/ˈfʌn.i/) happ·y (/ˈhæp.i/) hon·est (/ɑn.ɪst/) litt·le (/ˈlɪt.əl/) mas·cu·line (/ˈmæs.kju.lɪn/) narr·ow (/ˈnær.oʊ/) or·ange (/ˈɔr.ɪnʤ/) pleas·ant (/ˈplɛz.ənt/) pre·tty (/ˈprɪ.ti/) pur·ple (/ˈpɜr.pəl/) qui·et (/ˈkwaɪ.ət/) sim·ple (/ˈsɪm.pəl/) sub·tle (/ˈsʌt.əl/) trick·y (/ˈtrɪk.i/) ug·ly (/ˈʌg.li/)

As we said already, though, there are many exceptions to this convention for both nouns and adjectives. Let’s look at some examples:

Nouns	Adjectives
ba·na·na (/bə.ˈnæ.na/) ca·nal (/kə.ˈnæl/) com·put·er (/kəm.ˈpju.tər/) de·fence (/dɪ.ˈfɛns/) des·sert (/dɪ.ˈzɜrt/) di·sease (/dɪ.ˈziz/) ex·tent (/ɪk.ˈstɛnt/) ho·tel (/hoʊ.ˈtɛl/) ma·chine (/mə.ˈʃin/) pi·a·no (/pi.ˈæ.noʊ/) po·ta·to (/pə.ˈteɪˌtoʊ/) re·ceipt (/rɪ.ˈsit/) re·venge (/rɪ.ˈvɛnʤ/) suc·cess (/sɪk.ˈsɛs/)	a·live (/ə.ˈlaɪv/) a·noth·er (/əˈnʌð.ər/) com·plete (/kəm.ˈplit/) dis·tinct (/dɪsˈtinkt/) e·nough (/ɪ.ˈnʌf/) ex·pen·sive (/ɪk.ˈspɛn.sɪv/) ex·tinct (/ɪk.ˈtiŋkt/) i·ni·tial (/ɪ.ˈnɪ.ʃəl/) in·tense (/ɪn.ˈtɛns/) po·lite (/pəˈlaɪt/) re·pet·i·tive (/rɪ.ˈpɛt.ɪ.tɪv/) un·think·a·ble (/ʌnˈθɪŋk.ə.bəl/)

Verbs and prepositions will have stress on the second syllable

Verbs	Prepositions
a·pply (/əˈplaɪ/) be·come (/bɪˈkʌm/) com·pare (/kəmˈpɛr/) di·scuss (/dɪˈskʌs/) ex·plain (/ɪkˈspleɪn/) ful·fil (/fʊlˈfɪl/) in·crease (/ɪnˈkris/) ha·rass (/həˈræs/) la·ment (/ləˈmɛnt/) ne·glect (/nɪˈglɛkt/) pre·vent (/prɪˈvɛnt/) qua·dru·ple (/kwɑˈdru.pəl/) re·ply (/rɪˈplaɪ/) suc·ceed (/səkˈsid/) tra·verse (/trəˈvɜrs/) un·furl (/ʌnˈfɜrl/) with·hold (/wɪθˈhoʊld/)	a·bout (/əˈbaʊt/) a·cross (/əˈkrɔs/) a·long (/əˈlɔŋ/) a·mong (/əˈmʌŋ/) a·round (/əˈraʊnd/) be·hind (/bɪˈhaɪnd/) be·low (/bɪˈloʊ/) be·side (/bɪˈsaɪd/) be·tween (/bɪˈtwin/) de·spite (/dɪˈspaɪt/) ex·cept (/ɪkˈsɛpt/) in·side (/ˌɪnˈsaɪd/) out·side (/ˌaʊtˈsaɪd/) un·til (/ʌnˈtɪl/) u·pon (/əˈpɑn/) with·in (/wɪðˈɪn/) with·out (/wɪðˈaʊt/)

As with nouns and adjectives, there are a huge number of exceptions that have primary stress placed on the first or third syllable. In fact, almost every verb beginning with G, H, J, K, L, and M has its primary stress placed on the first syllable, rather than the second.

Let’s look at a few examples:

Verbs

Prepositions

ar·gue (/ˈɑr.gju/) beck·on (/ˈbɛk.ən/) can·cel (/ˈkæn.səl/) dom·i·nate (/ˈdɑm.əˌneɪt/) en·ter·tain (/ˌɛn.tərˈteɪn/) fas·ten (/ˈfæs.ən/) gam·ble (/ˈgæm.bəl/) hin·der (/ˈhɪn.dər/) i·so·late (/ˈaɪ.səˌleɪt/) jin·gle (/ˈʤɪŋ.gəl/) kin·dle (/ˈkɪn.dəl/) leng·then (/ˈlɛŋk.θən/) man·age (/ˈmæn.ɪʤ/) nour·ish (/ˈnɜr.ɪʃ/) or·ga·nize (/ˈɔr.gəˌnaɪz/) per·ish (/ˈpɛr.ɪʃ/) qua·ver (/ˈkweɪ.vər/) ram·ble (/ˈræm.bəl/) sa·vor (/ˈseɪ.vər/) threat·en (/ˈθrɛt.ən/) un·der·stand (/ˌʌn.dərˈstænd/) van·ish (/ˈvæn.ɪʃ/) wan·der (/ˈwɑn.dər/) yo·del (/ˈjoʊd.əl/)

af·ter (/ˈæf.tər/) dur·ing (/ˈdʊr.ɪŋ/) in·to (/ˈɪn.tu/) on·to (/ˈɑn.tu/) un·der (/ˈʌn.dər/)

Initial-stress-derived nouns

As we saw previously, we commonly place stress on the first syllable of a noun. When a word can operate as either a noun or a verb, we often differentiate the meanings by shifting the stress from the second syllable to the first (or initial) syllable—in other words, these nouns are derived from verbs according to their initial stress.

Let’s look at a few examples of such words that change in pronunciation when functioning as nouns or verbs:

Word	Noun	Verb
contest	con·test (/ˈkɑn.tɛst/) Meaning: “a game, competition, or struggle for victory, superiority, a prize, etc.”	con·test (/kənˈtɛst/) Meaning: “to dispute, contend with, call into question, or fight against”
desert	des·ert (/ˈdɛz.ərt/) Meaning: “a place where few things can grow or live, especially due to an absence of water”	de·sert (/dɪˈzɜrt/) Meaning: “to abandon, forsake, or run away from”
increase	in·crease (/ˈɪn.kris/) Meaning: “the act or process of growing larger or becoming greater”	in·crease (/ɪnˈkris/) Meaning: “to grow larger or become greater (in size, amount, strength, etc.)”
object	ob·ject (/ˈɑb.ʤɛkt/) Meaning: “any material thing that is visible or tangible”	ob·ject (/əbˈʤɛkt/) Meaning: “to present an argument in opposition (to something)”
permit	per·mit (/ˈpɜr.mɪt/) Meaning: “an authoritative or official certificate of permission; license”	per·mit (/pərˈmɪt/) Meaning: «to allow to do something»
present	pres·ent (/ˈprɛz.ənt/) Meaning: “the time occurring at this instant” or “a gift”	pre·sent (/prɪˈzɛnt/) Meaning: “to give, introduce, offer, or furnish”
project	proj·ect (/ˈprɑʤ.ɛkt/) Meaning: “a particular plan, task, assignment, or undertaking”	pro·ject (/prəˈʤɛkt/) Meaning: “to estimate, plan, or calculate” or “to throw or thrust forward”
rebel	reb·el (/ˈrɛb.əl/) Meaning: “a person who revolts against a government or other authority”	re·bel (/rɪˈbɛl/) Meaning: “to revolt or act in defiance of authority”
record	rec·ord (/ˈrɛk.ərd/) Meaning: “information or knowledge preserved in writing or the like” or “something on which sound or images have been recorded for subsequent reproduction”	re·cord (/rəˈkɔrd/) Meaning: “to set down in writing or the like”
refuse	ref·use (/ˈrɛf.juz/) Meaning: “something discarded or thrown away as trash”	re·fuse (/rɪˈfjuz/) Meaning: “to decline or express unwillingness to do something”
subject	sub·ject (/ˈsʌb.ʤɛkt/) Meaning: “that which is the focus of a thought, discussion, lesson, investigation, etc.”	sub·ject (/səbˈʤɛkt/) Meaning: “to bring under control, domination, authority”

Although this pattern is very common in English, it is by no means a rule; there are just as many words that function as both nouns and verbs but that have no difference in pronunciation. For instance:

Word	Noun	Verb
amount	a·mount (/əˈmaʊnt/)	a·mount (/əˈmaʊnt/)
answer	an·swer (/ˈæn.sər/)	an·swer (/ˈæn.sər/)
attack	a·ttack (/əˈtæk/)	a·ttack (/əˈtæk/)
challenge	chall·enge (/ˈtʃæl.ɪnʤ/)	chall·enge (/ˈtʃæl.ɪnʤ/)
contact	con·tact (/ˈkɑn.tækt/)	con·tact (/ˈkɑn.tækt/)
control	con·trol (/kənˈtroʊl/)	con·trol (/kənˈtroʊl/)
forecast	fore·cast (/ˈfɔrˌkæst/)	fore·cast (/ˈfɔrˌkæst/)
monitor	mon·i·tor (/ˈmɑn.ɪ.tər/)	mon·i·tor (/ˈmɑn.ɪ.tər/)
pepper	pep·per (/ˈpɛp.ər/)	pep·per (/ˈpɛp.ər/)
report	re·port (/rɪˈpɔrt/)	re·port (/rɪˈpɔrt/)
respect	re·spect (/rɪˈspɛkt/)	re·spect (/rɪˈspɛkt/)
support	su·pport (/səˈpɔrt/)	su·pport (/səˈpɔrt/)
witness	wit·ness (/ˈwɪt.nɪs/)	wit·ness (/ˈwɪt.nɪs/)
worry	worr·y (/ˈwɜr.i/)	worr·y (/ˈwɜr.i/)

Word stress in compound words

Compound nouns and compound verbs typically create pronunciation patterns that help us determine which of their syllables will have the primary stress. Compound adjectives, on the other hand, are most often pronounced as two separate words, with each receiving its own primary stress, so we won’t be looking at them here.

We’ll also briefly look at reflexive pronouns. Although these aren’t technically compounds, they have a similarly predictable stress pattern.

Compound nouns

A compound noun is a noun consisting of two or more words working together as a single unit to name a person, place, or thing. Compound nouns are usually made up of two nouns or an adjective and a noun, but other combinations are also possible, as well.

In single-word compound nouns, whether they are conjoined by a hyphen or are simply one word, stress is almost always placed on the first syllable. For example:

• back·pack (/ˈbækˌpæk/)
• bath·room (/ˈbæθˌrum/)
• draw·back (/ˈdrɔˌbæk/)
• check-in (/ˈtʃɛkˌɪn/)
• foot·ball (/ˈfʊtˌbɔl/)
• hand·bag (/ˈhændˌbæɡ/)
• green·house (/ˈgrinˌhaʊs/)
• hair·cut (/ˈhɛrˌkʌt/)
• log·in (/ˈsʌn.ɪnˌlɔ/)
• mo·tor·cy·cle (/ˈmoʊ.tərˌsaɪ kəl/)
• on·look·er (/ˈɑnˌlʊkər/)
• pas·ser·by (/ˈpæs.ərˌbaɪ/)
• son-in-law (/ˈsʌn.ɪnˌlɔ/)
• ta·ble·cloth (/ˈteɪ.bəlˌklɔθ/)
• wall·pa·per (/ˈwɔlˌpeɪ.pər/)
• web·site (/ˈwɛbˌsaɪt/)

One notable exception to this convention is the word af·ter·noon, which has its primary stress on the third syllable: /ˌæf.tərˈnun/.

Single-word compound verbs

The term “compound verb” can refer to a few different things: phrasal verbs, which consist of a verb paired with a specific preposition or particle to create a new, unique meaning; prepositional verbs, in which a preposition connects a noun to a verb; combinations with auxiliary verbs, which form tense and aspect; and single-word compounds, in which a verb is combined with a noun, preposition, or another verb to create a new word. For the first three types of compound verbs, each word is stressed individually, but single-word compounds have a unique pronunciation pattern that we can predict.

For most single-word compound verbs, stress will be on the first syllable. However, if the first element of the compound is a two-syllable preposition, stress will be placed on the second element. For example:

• air-con·dit·ion (/ˈeɪr.kənˌdɪʃ.ən/)
• ba·by·sit (/ˈbeɪ.biˌsɪt/)
• cop·y·ed·it (/ˈkɑ.piˌɛd.ɪt/)
• day·dream (/ˈdeɪˌdrim/)
• down·load (/ˈdaʊnˌloʊd/)
• ice-skate (/ˈaɪsˌskeɪt/)
• jay·walk (/ˈʤeɪˌwɔk/)
• kick-start (/ˈkɪkˌstɑrt/)
• o·ver·heat (/ˌoʊ.vərˈhit/)
• proof·read (/ˈprufˌrid/)
• stir-fry (/ˈstɜrˌfraɪ/)
• test-drive (/ˈtɛstˌdraɪv/)
• un·der·cook (/ˌʌndərˈkʊk/)
• wa·ter·proof (/ˈwɔ.tərˌpruf/)

Reflexive Pronouns

Reflexive pronouns are not technically compounds (“-self” and “-selves” are suffixes that attach to a base pronoun), but they look and behave similarly. In these words, -self/-selves receives the primary stress.

• my·self (/maɪˈsɛlf/)
• her·self (/hərˈsɛlf/)
• him·self (/hɪmˈsɛlf/)
• it·self (/ɪtˈsɛlf/)
• one·self (/wʌnˈsɛlf/)
• your·self (/jərˈsɛlf/)
• your·selves (/jərˈsɛlvz/)
• them·selves (/ðəmˈsɛlvz/)

Word stress dictated by suffixes

While the stress in many words is very difficult to predict, certain suffixes and other word endings will reliably dictate where stress should be applied within the word. This can be especially useful for determining the pronunciation of longer words. (There are still some exceptions, but much fewer than for the other conventions we’ve seen.)

For the suffixes we’ll look at, primary stress is either placed on the suffix itself, one syllable before the suffix, or two syllables before the suffix. Finally, we’ll look at some suffixes that don’t affect a word’s pronunciation at all.

Stress is placed on the suffix itself

“-ee,” “-eer,” and “-ese”

These three suffixes all sound similar, but they have different functions: “-ee” indicates someone who benefits from or is the recipient of the action of a verb; “-eer” indicates someone who is concerned with or engaged in a certain action; and “-ese” is attached to place names to describe languages, characteristics of certain nationalities, or (when attached to non-place names) traits or styles of particular fields or professions.

For example:

-ee	-eer	-ese
ab·sen·tee (/ˌæbsənˈti/) a·tten·dee (/əˌtɛnˈdi/) de·tai·nee (/dɪˈteɪˈni/) in·ter·view·ee (/ɪnˌtər.vyuˈi/) li·cen·see (/ˌlaɪ.sənˈsi/) mort·ga·gee (/ˌmɔr.gəˈʤi/) pa·ro·lee (/pə.roʊˈli/) ref·e·ree (/ˌrɛf.əˈri/) ref·u·gee (/ˌrɛf.jʊˈʤi/) trai·nee (/treɪˈni/) warr·an·tee (/ˌwɔr.ənˈti/)	auc·tio·neer (/ˌɔk.ʃəˈnɪər/) com·man·deer (/ˌkɑ.mənˈdɪər/) dom·i·neer (/ˌdɑm.ɪˈnɪər/) en·gi·neer (/ˌɛn.ʤɪˈnɪər/) moun·tai·neer (/ˌmaʊn.tɪˈnɪər/) prof·i·teer (/ˌprɑf.ɪˈtɪər/) pupp·e·teer (/ˌpʌp.ɪˈtɪər/) rack·e·teer (/ˌræk.ɪˈtɪər/) vol·un·teer (/ˌvɑl.ɪnˈtɪər/)	Chi·nese (/tʃaɪˈniz/) Jap·a·nese (/ˌʤæp.əˈniz/) jour·na·lese (/ˌʤɜr.nəˈliz/) Leb·a·nese (/ˌlɛb.əˈniz/) le·ga·lese (/ˌli.gəˈliz/) Mal·tese (/ˌmɔlˈtiz/) Por·tu·guese (/ˌpɔr.tʃəˈgiz/) Si·a·mese (/ˌsaɪ.əˈmiz/) Tai·wa·nese (/ˌtaɪ.wɑˈniz/) Vi·et·na·mese (/viˌɛt.nɑˈmiz/)

(The word employee usually follows this same pattern, but it is one of a few words that has its primary stress on different syllables depending on dialect and personal preference.)

Some other words that feature the “-ee” ending also follow the same pattern, even though they are not formed from another base word. For instance:

• chim·pan·zee (/ˌtʃɪm.pænˈzi/)
• guar·an·tee (/ˌgær.ənˈti/)
• jam·bo·ree (/ˌʤæm.bəˈri/)
• ru·pee (/ru.ˈpi/)

Be careful, though, because other words don’t follow the pattern. For example:

• ap·o·gee (/ˈæp.əˌʤi/)
• co·ffee (/ˈkɔ.fi/)
• co·mmit·tee (/kəˈmɪt.i/)
• kedg·e·ree (/ˈkɛʤ.əˌri/)
• te·pee (/ˈti.pi/)

“-ology”

This suffix is used to denote fields of scientific study or discourse; sets of ideas, beliefs, or principles; or bodies of texts or writings. Primary stress is placed on the syllable in which “-ol-” appears. For example:

• a·strol·o·gy (/əˈstrɑl.ə.ʤi/)
• bi·ol·o·gy (/baɪˈɑl.ə.ʤi/)
• car·di·ol·o·gy (/ˌkɑr.diˈɑl.ə.ʤi/)
• e·col·o·gy (/ɪˈkɑl.ə.ʤi/)
• ge·ol·o·gy (/ʤiˈɑl.ə.ʤi/)
• i·de·ol·o·gy (/ˌaɪ.diˈɑl.ə.ʤi/)
• lex·i·col·o·gy (/ˌlɛk.sɪˈkɑl.ə.ʤi/)
• meth·o ·dol·o·gy (/ˌmɛθ.əˈdɑl.ə.ʤi/)
• neu·rol·o·gy (/nʊˈrɑl.ə.ʤi/)
• psy·chol·o·gy (/saɪˈkɑl.ə.ʤi/)
• ra·di·ol·o·gy (/reɪ.diˈɑl.ə.ʤi/)
• so·ci·ol·o·gy (/ˌsoʊ.siˈɑl.ə.ʤi/)
• tech·nol·o·gy (/tɛkˈnɑl.ə.ʤi/)
• u·rol·o·gy (/jʊˈrɑl.ə.ʤi/)
• zo·ol·o·gy (/zuˈɑl.ə.ʤi/)

“-osis”

This suffix is used to form the names of diseases, conditions, and other medical processes. Stress is placed on the syllable in which “-o-” appears

• ac·i·do·sis (/ˌæs.ɪˈdoʊ.sɪs/)
• cir·rho·sis (/sɪˈroʊ.sɪs/)
• di·ag·no·sis (/ˌdaɪ.əgˈnoʊ.sɪs/)
• en·do·me·tri·o·sis (/ˌɛn.doʊˌmi.triˈoʊ.sɪs/)
• fib·ro·sis (/faɪˈbroʊ.sɪs/)
• hyp·no·sis (/hɪpˈnoʊ.sɪs/)
• mi·to·sis (/maɪˈtoʊ.sɪs/)
• ne·cro·sis (/nəˈkroʊ.sɪs/)
• os·te·o·po·ro·sis (/ˌɑs.ti.oʊ.pəˈroʊ.sɪs/)
• prog·no·sis (/prɑgˈnoʊ.sɪs/)
• sym·bi·o·sis (/ˌsɪm.biˈoʊ.sɪs/)
• tu·ber·cu·lo·sis (/tʊˌbɜr.kjəˈloʊ.sɪs/)

Stress is placed on syllable immediately before the suffix

“-eous” and -“ious”

These two suffixes are both used to form adjectives meaning “having, characterized by, or full of,” most often attaching to base nouns.

In many cases, the E and I are pronounced individually, but for many other words they are silent, instead serving to mark a change in pronunciation for the previous consonant. For example:

-eous

-ious

ad·van·ta·geous (/ˌæd vənˈteɪ.ʤəs/) boun·te·ous (/ˈbaʊn.ti.əs/) cou·ra·geous (/kəˈreɪ.ʤəs/) dis·cour·te·ous (/dɪsˈkɜr.ti.əs/) ex·tra·ne·ous (/ɪkˈstreɪ.ni.əs/) gas·e·ous (/ˈgæs.i.əs/) hid·e·ous (/ˈhɪd.i.əs/) ig·ne·ous (/ˈɪg.ni.əs/) misc·e·lla·ne·ous (/ˌmɪs.əˈleɪ.ni.əs/) nau·seous (/ˈnɔ.ʃəs/) out·ra·geous (/aʊtˈreɪ.ʤəs/) pit·e·ous (/ˈpɪt.i.əs/) righ·teous (/ˈraɪ.tʃəs/) si·mul·ta·ne·ous (/ˌsaɪ.məlˈteɪ.ni.əs/) vi·tre·ous (/ˈvɪ.tri.əs/)

am·phib·i·ous (/æmˈfɪb.i.əs/) bo·da·cious (/boʊˈdeɪ.ʃəs/) con·ta·gious (/kənˈteɪ.ʤəs/) du·bi·ous (/ˈdu.bi.əs/) ex·pe·diti·ous (/ˌɛk spɪˈdɪʃ.əs/) fa·ce·tious (/fəˈsi.ʃəs/) gre·gar·i·ous (/grɪˈgɛər.i.əs/) hi·lar·i·ous (/hɪˈlɛr.i.əs/) im·per·vi·ous (/ɪmˈpɜr.vi.əs/) ju·dici·ous (/ʤuˈdɪʃ.əs/) la·bor·i·ous (/ləˈbɔr.i.əs/) my·ster·i·ous (/mɪˈstɪr.i əs/) ne·far·i·ous (/nɪˈfɛr.i.əs/) ob·vi·ous (/ˈɑb.vi.əs/) pro·digi·ous (/prəˈdɪʤ.əs/) re·bell·ious (/rɪˈbɛl.jəs/) su·per·sti·tious (/ˌsu.pərˈstɪ.ʃəs/) te·na·cious (/teˈneɪ.ʃəs/) up·roar·i·ous (/ʌpˈrɔr.i.əs/) vi·car·i·ous (/vaɪˈkɛər.i.əs/)

“-ia”

This suffix is used to create nouns, either denoting a disease or a condition or quality.

In most words, the I is pronounced individually. In other words, it becomes silent and indicates a change in the pronunciation of the previous consonant. (In a handful of words, I blends with a previous vowel sound that is stressed before the final A.)

For example:

• ac·a·de·mi·a (/ˌæk.əˈdi.mi.ə/)
• bac·ter·i·a (/bæk.ˈtɪər.i.ə/)
• cat·a·to·ni·a (/ˌkæt.əˈtoʊ.ni.ə/)
• de·men·tia (/dɪˈmɛn.ʃə/)
• en·cy·clo·pe·di·a (/ɛnˌsaɪ.kləˈpi.di.ə/)
• fan·ta·sia (/fænˈteɪ.ʒə/)
• hy·po·ther·mi·a (ˌhaɪ.pəˈθɜr.mi.ə/)
• in·som·ni·a (/ɪnˈsɑm.ni.ə/)
• leu·ke·mi·a (/luˈki.mi.ə/)
• mem·or·a·bil·i·a (/ˌmɛm.ər.əˈbɪl.i.ə/)
• no·stal·gia (/nɑˈstæl.ʤə/)
• par·a·noi·a (/ˌpær.əˈnɔɪ.ə/)
• re·ga·li·a (/rɪˈgeɪ.li.ə/)
• su·bur·bi·a (/səˈbɜr.bi.ə/)
• tri·vi·a (/ˈtrɪ.vi.ə/)
• u·to·pi·a (/juˈtoʊ.pi.ə/)
• xen·o·pho·bi·a (/ˌzɛn.əˈfoʊ.bi.ə/)

“-ial”

The suffix “-ial” is used to form adjectives from nouns, meaning “of, characterized by, connected with, or relating to.” Like “-ia,” I is either pronounced individually or else becomes silent and changes the pronunciation of the previous consonant. For example:

• ad·ver·bi·al (/ædˈvɜr.bi.əl/)
• bac·ter·i·al (/bækˈtɪr.i.əl/)
• con·fi·den·tial (/ˌkɑn.fɪˈdɛn.ʃəl/)
• def·e·ren·tial (/ˌdɛf.əˈrɛn.ʃəl/)
• ed·i·tor·i·al (/ˌɛd.ɪˈtɔr.i.əl/)
• fa·mil·i·al (/fəˈmɪl.jəl/)
• gla·cial (/ˈgleɪ.ʃəl/)
• in·flu·en·tial (/ˌɪn.fluˈɛn.ʃəl/)
• ju·di·cial (/ʤuˈdɪʃ.əl/)
• me·mor· i·al (/məˈmɔr.i.əl/)
• o·ffici·al (/əˈfɪʃ.əl/)
• pro·ver·bi·al (/prəˈvɜr.bi.əl/)
• ref·e·ren·tial (/ˌrɛf.əˈrɛn.ʃəl/)
• su·per·fi·cial (/ˌsu.pərˈfɪʃ.əl/)
• terr·i·tor·i·al (/ˌtɛr.ɪˈtɔr.i.əl/)
• ve·stig·i·al (/vɛˈstɪʤ.i.əl/)

“-ic” and “-ical”

These two suffixes form adjectives from the nouns to which they attach. For both, the primary stress is placed on the syllable immediately before “-ic-.” For example:

-ic

-ical

a·tom·ic (/əˈtɑm.ɪk) bur·eau·crat·ic (/ˌbjʊər.əˈkræt.ɪk) cha·ot·ic (/keɪˈɑt.ɪk/) dem·o·crat·ic (/ˌdɛm.əˈkræt.ɪk/) en·er·get·ic (/ˌɛn.ərˈʤɛt.ɪk/) for·mu·la·ic (/ˌfɔr.mjəˈleɪ.ɪk/) ge·net·ic (/ʤəˈnɛt.ɪk/) hyp·not·ic (/hɪpˈnɑt.ɪk/) i·con·ic (/aɪˈkɑn.ɪk/) ki·net·ic (/kəˈnɛt.ɪk/) la·con·ic (/leɪˈkɑn.ɪk/) mag·net·ic (/mægˈnɛt.ɪk/) no·stal·gic (/nəˈstæl.ʤɪk) opp·or·tu·nis·tic (/ˌɑp.ər.tuˈnɪs.tɪk/) pe·ri·od·ic (/ˌpɪər.iˈɑd.ɪk/) re·a·lis·tic (/ˌri.əˈlɪs.tɪk/) sym·pa·thet·ic (/ˌsɪm.pəˈθɛt.ɪk/) ti·tan·ic (taɪˈtæn.ɪk/) ul·tra·son·ic (/ˌʌl.trəsɑn.ɪk/) vol·can·ic (/vɑlˈkæn.ɪk/)

an·a·tom·i·cal (/ˌæn.əˈtɑm.ɪ.kəl) bi·o·log·i·cal (/ˌbaɪ.əˈlɑʤ.ɪ.kəl/) chron·o·log·i·cal (/ˌkrɑn.əˈlɑʤ.ɪ.kəl/) di·a·bol·i·cal (/ˌdaɪ.əˈbɑl.ɪ.kəl/) e·lec·tri·cal (/ɪˈlɛk.trɪ.kəl/) far·ci·cal (/ˈfɑr.sɪ.kəl/) ge·o·graph·i·cal (/ʤi.əˈgræf.ɪ.kəl/) his·tor·i·cal (/hɪˈstɔr.ɪ.kəl/) in·e·ffec·tu·al (/ˌɪn.ɪˈfɛk.tʃu.əl/) lack·a·dai·si·cal (/ˌlæk.əˈdeɪ.zɪ.kəl/) mu·si·cal (/ˈmju.zɪ.kəl/) nau·ti·cal (/ˈnɔ.tɪ.kəl/) op·ti·cal (/ˈɑp.tɪ.kəl/) par·a·dox·i·cal (/pær.əˈdɑks.ɪ.kəl/) psy·cho·an·a·lyt·i·cal (/ˌsaɪ.koʊ.æn.əˈlɪt.ɪ.kəl/) rhe·tor·i·cal (/rɪˈtɔr.ɪ.kəl/) sy·mmet·ri·cal (/sɪˈmɛt.rɪ.kəl/) ty·ran·ni·cal (/tɪˈræn.ɪ.kəl/) um·bil·i·cal (/ʌmˈbɪl.ɪ.kəl/) ver·ti·cal (/ˈvɜr.tɪ.kəl/) whim·si·cal (/ˈwɪm.zɪ.kəl/) zo·o·log·i·cal (ˌzoʊ.əˈlɑʤ.ɪ.kəl/)

While this pattern of pronunciation is very reliable, there are a few words (mostly nouns) ending in “-ic” that go against it:

• a·rith·me·tic* (/əˈrɪθ.mə.tɪk/)
• her·e·tic (/ˈhɛr.ɪ.tɪk/)
• lu·na·tic (/ˈlu.nə.tɪk/)
• pol·i·tics (/ˈpɑl.ɪ.tɪks/)
• rhet·o·ric (/ˈrɛt.ə.rɪk/)

(*This pronunciation is used when arithmetic is a noun. As an adjective, it is pronounced a·rith·me·tic [/ˌæ.rɪθˈmɛ.tɪk/].)

“-ify”

This suffix is used to form verbs, most often from existing nouns or adjectives. While the primary stress is placed immediately before “-i-,” the second syllable of the suffix, “-fy,” also receives a secondary stress. For instance:

• a·cid·i·fy (/əˈsɪd.əˌfaɪ/)
• be·at·i·fy (/biˈæt.əˌfaɪ/)
• class·i·fy (/ˈklæs.əˌfaɪ/)
• dig·ni·fy (/ˈdɪg.nəˌfaɪ/)
• e·lec·tri·fy (/ɪˈlɛk.trəˌfaɪ/)
• fal·si·fy (/ˈfɔlsə.faɪ/)
• horr·i·fy (/ˈhɔr.əˌfaɪ/)
• i·den·ti·fy (/aɪˈdɛn.təˌfaɪ/)
• mag·ni·fy (/ˈmægnəˌfaɪ/)
• no·ti·fy (/ˈnoʊ.təˌfaɪ/)
• ob·jec·ti·fy (/əbˈʤɛk.təˌfaɪ/)
• per·son·i·fy (/pərˈsɑn.əˌfaɪ/)
• rat·i·fy (/ˈræt.əˌfaɪ/)
• so·lid·i·fy (/səˈlɪd.əˌfaɪ/)
• tes·ti·fy (/ˈtɛs.təˌfaɪ/)
• ver·i·fy (/ˈvɛr.əˌfaɪ/)

“-ity”

This suffix is the opposite of “-ic(al)”—that is, it is used to create nouns from adjectives. The I is pronounced in an individual syllable, with the word’s primary stress occurring immediately before it. For instance:

• a·bil·i·ty (/əˈbɪl.ɪ.ti/)
• ba·nal·i·ty (/bəˈnæl.ɪ.ti/)
• ce·leb·ri·ty (/səˈlɛb.rɪ.ti/)
• dis·par·i·ty (/dɪˈspær.ɪ.ti/)
• e·qual·i·ty (/əˈkwɑl.ɪ.ti/)
• func·tion·al·i·ty (/ˌfʌŋk.ʃənˈæl.ɪ.tɪ/)
• gen·e·ros·i·ty (/ˌʤɛn.əˈrɑs.ɪ.ti/)
• hu·mid·i·ty (/hjuˈmɪd.ɪ.ti/)
• i·niq·ui·ty (/ɪˈnɪk.wɪ.ti/)
• jo·vi·al·i·ty (/ʤoʊ.vi.ˈæl.ɪ.ti/)
• le·gal·i·ty (/liˈgæl.ɪ.ti/)
• ma·jor·i·ty (/məˈʤoʊr.ɪ.ti/)
• nor·mal·i·ty (/noʊrˈmæl.ɪ.ti/)
• ob·scur·i·ty (/əbˈskʊər.ɪ.ti/)
• prac·ti·cal·i·ty (/præk.tɪˈkæl.ɪ.ti/)
• qual·i·ty (/ˈkwɑl.ɪ.ti/)
• rec·i·proc·i·ty (/ˌrɛs.əˈprɑs.ɪ.ti/)
• scar·ci·ty (/ˈskɛr.sɪ.ti/)
• tech·ni·cal·i·ty (/ˌtɛk.nɪˈkæl.ɪ.ti/)
• u·na·nim·i·ty (/ˌju.nəˈnɪm.ɪ.ti/)
• ve·loc·i·ty (/vəˈlɑs.ɪ.ti/)

“-tion” and “-sion”

These two syllables are used to create nouns, especially from verbs to describe an instance of that action. Depending on the word, the /ʃ/ or /tʃ/ sounds made by “-tion” and the /ʃ/ or /ʒ/ sounds made by “-sion” will be part of the stressed syllable or the final unstressed syllable. For example:

-tion

-sion

au·diti·on (/ɔˈdɪʃ.ən/) bi·sec·tion (/baɪˈsɛk.ʃən/) can·ce·lla·tion (/ˌkæn.sɪˈleɪ.ʃən/) di·screti· on (/dɪˈskrɛʃ.ən/) ex·haus·tion (/ɪgˈzɔs.tʃən/) flo·ta·tion (/floʊˈteɪ.ʃən/) grad·u·a·tion (/ˌgræʤ.uˈeɪ.ʃən/) hos·pi·tal·i·za·tion (/ˌhɑs.pɪ.təl.ɪˈzeɪʃ.ən/) ig·ni·tion (/ɪgˈnɪʃ.ən/) jur·is·dic·tion (/ˌʤʊər.ɪsˈdɪk.ʃən/) lo·co·mo·tion (/ˌloʊ.kəˈmoʊ,ʃən/) mod·i·fi·ca·tion (/ˌmɑd.ə.fɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/) nom·i·na·tion (/ˌnɑm.əˈneɪ.ʃən/) ob·struc·tion (/əbˈstrʌk.ʃən/) pros·e·cu·tion (/ˌprɑs.ɪˈkyu.ʃən/) re·a·li·za·tion (/ˌri.ə.ləˈzeɪ.ʃən/) se·cre·tion (/sɪˈkri.ʃən/) tra·diti·on (/trəˈdɪʃ.ən/) u·ni·fi·ca·tion (/ˌju.nə.fɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/) vi·bra·tion (/vaɪˈbreɪ.ʃən/)

a·bra·sion (/əˈbreɪ.ʒən) a·ver·sion (/əˈvɜr.ʒən/) co·llisi·on (/kəˈlɪʒ.ən/) com·pul·sion (/kəmˈpʌl.ʃən/) di·ffu·sion (/dɪˈfju.ʒən/) di·men·sion (/dɪˈmɛn.ʃən/) e·ro·sion (/ɪˈroʊ.ʒən/) fu·sion (/ˈfju.ʒən/) i·llu·sion (/ɪˈlu.ʒən/) in·va·sion (/ɪnˈveɪ.ʒən/) man·sion (/ˈmæn.ʃən/) ob·sessi·on (/əbˈsɛʃ.ən/) o·cca·sion (/əˈkeɪ.ʒən/) per·cussi·on (/pərˈkʌʃ.ən/) pro·pul·sion (/prəˈpʌl.ʃən) re·missi·on (/rɪˈmɪʃ.ən/) sub·ver·sion (/səbˈvɜr.ʒən/) su·spen·sion (/səˈspɛn.ʃən/) trans·fu·sion (/trænsˈfju.ʒən/) ver·sion (/ˈvɜr.ʒən/)

The word television is an exception to this rule, and in most dialects it has the primary stress placed on the first syllable: /ˈtɛl.əˌvɪʒ.ən/.

Stress applied two syllables before the suffix

“-ate”

This suffix is most often used to create verbs, but it can also form adjectives and nouns. In words with three or more syllables, the primary stress is placed two syllables before the suffix. For example:

• ac·cen·tu·ate (/ækˈsɛn.tʃuˌeɪt/))
• bar·bit·ur·ate (/bɑrˈbɪtʃ.ər.ɪt/)
• co·llab·o·rate (/kəˈlæb.əˌreɪt/)
• diff·e·ren·ti·ate (/ˌdɪf.əˈrɛn.ʃiˌeɪt/)
• e·nu.me·rate (/ɪˈnu.məˌreɪt/)
• fa·cil·i·tate (/fəˈsɪl.ɪˌteɪt/)
• ge·stic·u·late (/ʤɛˈstɪk.jəˌleɪt/)
• hu·mil·i·ate (/hjuˈmɪl.iˌeɪt/)
• in·ad·e·quate (/ɪnˈæd.ɪ.kwɪt/)
• le·git·i·mate (/lɪˈʤɪt.əˌmɪt/)
• ma·tric·u·late (/məˈtrɪk.jəˌleɪt/)
• ne·cess·i·tate (/nəˈsɛs.ɪˌteɪt/)
• o·blit·e·rate (/əˈblɪt.əˌreɪt/)
• par·tic·i·pate (/pɑrˈtɪs.ɪ.ɪt/)
• re·frig·er·ate (/rɪˈfrɪʤ.əˌreɪt/)
• stip·u·late (/ˈstɪp.jəˌleɪt/)
• tri·an·gu·late (/traɪˈæŋ.gjə.leɪt/)
• un·for·tu·nate (/ʌnˈfɔr.tʃə.nɪt/)
• ver·te·brate (/ˈvɜr.tə.brɪt/)

“-cy”

This suffix attaches to adjectives or nouns to form nouns referring to “state, condition, or quality,” or “rank or office.” For example:

• a·dja·cen·cy (/əˈʤeɪ.sən.si/)
• a·gen·cy (/ˈeɪ.ʤən.si/)
• bank·rupt·cy (/ˈbæŋk.rʌpt.si/)
• com·pla·cen·cy (/kəmˈpleɪ.sən.si/)
• de·moc·ra·cy (/dɪˈmɑk.rə.si/)
• ex·pec·tan·cy (/ɪkˈspɛk.tən.si/)
• flam·boy·an·cy (/flæmˈbɔɪ.ən.si/)
• fre·quen·cy (/ˈfri.kwən.si/)
• in·sur·gen·cy (/ɪnˈsɜr.ʤən.si/)
• in·fan·cy (/ ˈɪnfən.si/)
• lieu·ten·an·cy (/luˈtɛn.ən.si/)
• ma·lig·nan·cy (/məˈlɪg.nən.si/)
• pro·fici·en·cy (/prəˈfɪʃ.ən.si/)
• re·dun·dan·cy (/rɪˈdʌn.dən.si/)
• su·prem·a·cy (/səˈprɛm.ə.si/)
• trans·par·en·cy (/trænsˈpɛər.ən.si/)
• va·can·cy (/ˈveɪ.kən.si/)

Unlike some of the other suffixes we’ve looked at so far, this one has a number of exceptions. For these, the primary stress is placed three syllables before the suffix:

• ac·cur·a·cy (/ˈæk.jər.ə.si/)
• can·di·da·cy (/ˈkæn.dɪ.də.si/)
• com·pe·ten·cy (/ˈkɑm.pɪ.tən.si/)
• del·i·ca·cy (/ˈdɛl.ɪ.kə.si/)
• ex·trav·a·gan·cy (/ɪkˈstræv.ə.gən.si/)
• im·me·di·a·cy (/ɪˈmi.di.ə.si/)
• in·ti·ma·cy (/ˈɪn.tɪ.mə.sɪ/)
• lit·er·a·cy (/ˈlɪt.ər.ə.sɪ/)
• le·git·i·ma·cy (/lɪˈʤɪt.ə.mə.si/)
• occ·u·pan·cy (/ˈɑk.jə.pən.si/)
• pres·i·den·cy (/ˈprɛz.ɪ.dən.si/)
• rel·e·van·cy (/ˈrɛl.ɪ.vən.si/)
• surr·o·ga·cy (/ˈsɜr.ə.gə.si/)

Unfortunately, there are no patterns in these words to let us know that their primary stress will be in a different place; we just have to memorize them.

“-phy”

This ending is actually a part of other suffixes, most often “-graphy,” but also “-trophy” and “-sophy.” The primary stress in the word will appear immediately before the “-gra-,” “-tro-,” and “-so-” parts of the words. For example:

• a·tro·phy (/ˈæ.trə.fi/)
• bib·li·og·ra·phy (/ˌbɪb.liˈɑg.rə.fi/)
• cal·lig·ra·phy (/kəˈlɪg.rə.fi/)
• dis·cog·ra·phy (/dɪsˈkɑɡ.rə.fi/)
• eth·nog·ra·phy (/ɛθˈnɑg.rə.fi/)
• fil·mog·ra·phy (/fɪlˈmɑɡ.rə.fi/)
• ge·og·ra·phy (/ʤiˈɑɡ.rə.fi/)
• i·co·nog·ra·phy (/ˌaɪ.kəˈnɑg.rə.fi/)
• or·thog·ra·phy (/ɔrˈθɑg.rə.fi/)
• phi·los·o·phy (/fɪˈlɑs.ə.fi/)
• pho·tog·ra·phy (/fəˈtɑg.rə.fi/)
• ra·di·og·ra·phy (/ˌreɪ.dɪˈɑɡ.rə.fɪ/)
• so·nog·ra·phy (/səˈnɑg.rə.fi/)
• the·os·o·phy (/θɪˈɑs.ə.fi/)
• ty·pog·ra·phy (/taɪˈpɑg.rə.fi/)

Suffixes that don’t affect word stress

While many suffixes dictate which syllable is stressed in a word, there are others that usually do not affect the stress of the base word at all. Let’s look at some examples of these (just note that this isn’t an exhaustive list):

“-age”	“-ish”*	“-hood”	“-less”	“-ness”	“-ous”
an·chor·age brok·er·age cov·er·age e·quip·age her·mit·age lev·er·age or·phan·age me·ter·age pa·tron·age sew·er·age vic·ar·age	am·a·teur·ish ba·by·ish car·toon·ish dev·il·ish fe·ver·ish hea·then·ish og·re·ish pur·pl·ish tick·l·ish va·ga·bond·ish yell·ow·ish	a·dult·hood broth·er·hood fath·er·hood like·li·hood moth·er·hood neigh·bor·hood par·ent·hood sis·ter·hood vic·tim·hood wo·man·hood	ar·mor·less bo·di·less col·or·less di·rec·tion·less e·mo·tion·less feath·er·less hu·mor·less lim·it·less mean·ing·less o·dor·less pen·ni·less re·gard·less struc·ture·less tick·et·less vi·bra·tion·less win·dow·less	ad·ven·tur·ous·ness bash·ful·ness com·pet·i·tive·ness de·ceit·ful·ness e·ffec·tive·ness fa·ce·tious·ness glo·ri·ous·ness hid·e·ous·ness il·lust·ri·ous·ness jag·ged·ness king·li·ness li·ti·gious·ness mean·ing·ful·ness nerv·ous·ness o·blique·ness per·sua·sive·ness quea·si·ness re·morse·less·ness sub·ver·sive·ness to·geth·er·ness u·biq·ui·tous·ness venge·ful·ness war·i·ness youth·ful·ness zeal·ous·ness	an·al·o·gous blas·phe·mous can·cer·ous dan·ger·ous fi·brous glam·or·ous li·bel·ous mu·ti·nous o·dor·ous per·il·ous ran·cor·ous scan·dal·ous treach·er·ous val·or·ous

Inflectional suffixes (suffixes that form plurals, change verb tense, create comparative ajectives and adverbs, etc.) do not affect word stress either. Let’s look at a few examples:

• a·maze→a·maz·ing (creates the present participle / gerund)
• blank·et→blank·et·ed (creates the past tense)
• com·pro·mise→com·pro·mis·es (creates the third-person singular form)
• drows·y→drows·i·er (creates the comparative form)
• hap·py→hap·pi·est (creates the superlative form)
• re·sponse→re·spons·es (creates the plural form)

*“-ish” at the end of verbs

The examples of the suffix “-ish” that we looked at previously were all adjectives formed from various parts of speech (usually nouns). However, “-ish” can also appear naturally at the end of verbs—that is, it doesn’t attach to existing base words, but is rather the result of the word’s evolution in English. For these verbs, primary stress always occurs on the syllable immediately before “-ish.” For example:

• a·ston·ish (/əˈstɑn.ɪʃ/)
• bran·dish (/ˈbræn.dɪʃ/)
• cher·ish (/ˈtʃɛr.ɪʃ/)
• de·mol·ish (/dɪˈmɑl.ɪʃ/)
• ex·tin·guish (/ɪkˈstɪŋ.gwɪʃ/)
• fur·nish (/ˈfɜr.nɪʃ/)
• gar·nish (/ˈgɑr.nɪʃ/)
• im·pove·rish (/ɪmˈpɑv.rɪʃ/; the E is silent)
• lan·guish (/ˈlæŋ.gwɪʃ/)
• nour·ish (/ˈnɜr.ɪʃ/)
• pub·lish (/ˈpʌb.lɪʃ/)
• re·plen·ish (/rɪˈplɛn.ɪʃ/)
• tar·nish (/ˈtɑr.nɪʃ/)

Unstressed Words (Function Words)

We discussed earlier how words have at least one primary stress centered around a vowel sound; however, this is not always the case. This is because English consists of two types of words: content words and function words.

Content words (also known as lexical words) communicate a distinct lexical meaning within a particular context—that is, they express the specific content of what we’re talking about at a given time. These include nouns, adjective, adverbs, and most verbs. Content words will always have at least one syllable that is emphasized in a sentence, so if a content word only has a single syllable, it will always be stressed.

Function words (also known as structure words) primarily serve to complete the syntax and grammatical nuance of a sentence. These include pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, articles, determiners, and auxiliary verbs. In contrast to content words, single-syllable function words are commonly (but not always) unstressed in a sentence—since they are not providing lexical meaning integral to the sentence, we often “skip over” them vocally. Take the following sentence:

• “Bobby wants to walk to the playground.”

The particle to, the preposition to, and the definitive article the are all said without (or without much) stress. The content words (Bobby, wants, walk, and playground), on the other hand, each have at least one syllable that is emphasized.

Let’s look at some single-syllable function words that can either be stressed or unstressed in a given sentence:

Function Word	Stressed	Unstressed
a	/eɪ/	/ə/
an	/æn/	/ən/
am	/æm/	/əm/
are	/ɑr/	/ər/
be	/bi/	/bɪ/
can	/kæn/	/kən/
could	/kʊd/	/kəd/
do	/du/	/dʊ/ or /də/
have	/hæv/	/həv/
of	/ʌv/ or /ɑv/	/əv/ or /ə/
or	/ɔr/	/ər/
should	/ʃʊd/	/ʃəd/
the	/ði/	/ðə/ or /ðɪ/
to	/tu/	/tə/
was	/wɑz/	/wəz/
were	/wɜr/	/wər/
would	/wʊd/	/wəd/

Words with multiple pronunciations

It is not uncommon for English words to have more than one pronunciation even when there is no change in meaning, especially between different regional dialects. This difference usually occurs in the pronunciation of certain vowel or consonant sounds, but it can also affect which syllable in the word receives the primary stress.

For example:

Word	Pronunciation 1	Pronunciation 2
address (noun)	a·ddress /əˈdrɛs/	add·ress /ˈæd.rɛs/
adult	a·dult /əˈdʌlt/	ad·ult /ˈæd.ʌlt/
advertisement	ad·ver·tise·ment /ˌæd.vərˈtaɪz.mənt/ (AmE)	ad·ver·tise·ment /ædˈvɜr.tɪz.mənt/ (BrE)
applicable	app·li·ca·ble /ˈæp.lɪ.kə.bəl/	a·ppli·ca·ble /əˈplɪ.kə.bəl/
café	ca·fé /kæˈfeɪ/ (AmE)	ca·fé /ˈkæˈfeɪ/ (BrE)
Caribbean	Car·i·bbe·an /ˌkær.əˈbi.ən/	Ca·ribb·e·an /kəˈrɪb.i.ən/
chauffeur	chau·ffeur /ˈʃoʊ.fər/	chau·ffeur /ʃoʊˈfɜr/
composite	com·pos·ite /kəmˈpɑz.ɪt/ (AmE)	com·pos·ite /ˈkɑm.pəz.ɪt/ (BrE)
controversy	con·tro·ver·sy /ˈkɑn.trəˌvɜr.si/	con·trov·er·sy /kənˈtrɑv.er.si/ (BrE)
employee	em·ploy·ee /ɛmˈplɔɪ.i/	em·ploy·ee /ɛm.plɔɪˈi/
fiancé(e)	fi·an·cé(e) /ˌfi.ɑnˈseɪ/	fi·an·cé(e) /fiˈɑn.seɪ/
garage	ga·rage /gəˈrɑʒ/ (AmE)	gar·age /ˈgær.ɑʒ/ (BrE)
kilometer	ki·lom·e·ter /kɪˈlɑm.ɪ.tər/	kil·o·me·ter /ˈkɪl.əˌmi.tər/
lingerie	lin·ge·rie /ˌlɑn.ʒəˈreɪ/ (AmE)	lin·ge·rie /ˈlæn.ʒə.ri/ (BrE)
preferable	pref·er·a·ble /ˈprɛf.ər.ə.bəl/	pre·fer·a·ble /prɪˈfɜr.ər.ə.bəl/
transference	trans·fer·ence /trænsˈfɜr.əns/	trans·fer·ence /ˈtræns.fər.əns/

Unfortunately, there’s no way to predict when a word will have different stress patterns, as they are often the result of variations in regional dialects, rather than the origin of the words themselves. If you hear someone pronounce a word with an intonation you haven’t heard before, check a reliable dictionary to see what is the most common pronunciation.