Different word stress patterns

English Syllables and Stress Patterns

Syllables and stress are two of the main areas of spoken language. Pronouncing words with the stress on the correct syllables will help you improve your spoken English, make your sentences easier to understand and help you sound more like a native speaker.

English syllables are stress-timed. English is classed as a ‘stress-based’ language, which means the meanings of words can be altered significantly by a change in word stress and sentence stress. This is why it is important to learn how to use word stress in English and develop an understanding of sentence stress and English stress patterns.

 

The English language is heavily stressed with each word divided into syllables. Here are some examples of English words with different numbers of syllables. These sets of words are followed by a series of examples using the correct stress placement:

Words with one syllable 

The, cold, quite, bed, add, start, hope, clean, trade, green, chair, cat, sign, pea, wish, drive, plant, square, give, wait, law, off, hear, trough, eat, rough, trout, shine, watch, for, out, catch, flight, rain, speech, crab, lion, knot, fixed, slope, reach, trade, light, moon, wash, trend, balm, walk, sew, joke, tribe, brooch

Words with two syllables

Party, special, today, quiet, orange, partner, table, demand, power, retrieve, doctor, engine, diet, transcribe, contain, cabbage, mountain, humour, defend, spatial, special, greedy, exchange, manage, carpet, although, trophy, insist, tremble, balloon, healthy, shower, verbal, business, mortgage, fashion, hover, butcher, magic, broken

Words with three syllables

Fantastic, energy, expensive, wonderful, laughable, badminton, idiot, celery, beautiful, aggression, computer, journalist, horrify, gravity, temptation, dieting, trampoline, industry, financial, distinguished, however, tremendous, justify, inflation, creation, injustice, energise, glittering, tangible, mentalise, laughable, dialect, crustacean, origin

Words with four syllables

Understanding, indecisive, conversation, realistic, moisturising, American, psychology, gregarious, independence, affordable, memorandum, controversial, superior, gymnasium, entrepreneur, traditional, transformation, remembering, establishment, vegetation, affectionate, acupuncture, invertebrate

Words with five syllables

Organisation, uncontrollable, inspirational, misunderstanding, conversational, opinionated, biological, subordination, determination, sensationalist, refrigerator, haberdashery, hospitality, conservatory, procrastination, disobedience, electrifying, consideration, apologetic, particularly, compartmentalise, hypochondria

Words with six syllables

Responsibility, idiosyncratic, discriminatory, invisibility, capitalisation, extraterrestrial, reliability, autobiography, unimaginable, characteristically, superiority, antibacterial, disciplinarian, environmentalist, materialism, biodiversity, criminalisation, imaginatively, disobediently

Words with seven syllables

Industrialisation, multiculturalism, interdisciplinary, radioactivity, unidentifiable, environmentalism, individuality, vegetarianism, unsatisfactorily, electrocardiogram

English Stress Patterns

When thinking about syllables and stress in English, usually we find that one syllable of a word is stressed more than the others. There are always one or more stressed syllables within a word and this special stress placement helps words and sentences develop their own rhythm.

Syllables and stress patterns in English help to create the sounds, pronunciations and rhythms that we hear all around us.

Word Stress in English

We come to recognise these English syllables and stress patterns in conversations in real life interactions and on the radio and television. Using the correct stressed syllables within a word is an important part of speech and understanding.

Pronouncing words with the right word stress will make your language sound more natural to native speakers. Here are some words from the previous lists with the stressed syllable in bold:

Two syllable words stress patterns:

Quiet, party, special, today, orange, partner, table, demand, power, retrieve, engine,  diet, greedy, exchange, manage, carpet, although, relax, comfort

Three syllable words stress patterns:

Fantastic, energy, expensive, aggresion, wonderful, laughable, badminton, celery, temptation, trampoline,  industry, dintinguished, financial, however, tremendous, library

 

Four syllable words stress patterns:

Understanding, indecisive, conversation, realistic, moisturising, American, psychology, independence, entrepreneur, transformation, fascinating, comfortable

Five syllable words stress patterns:

Uncontrollable, inspirational, misunderstanding, conversational, opinionated, biological, alphabetical, subordination, refrigerator, haberdashery, hospitality

Six syllable words stress patterns:

Responsibility, idiosyncratic, invisibility, capitalisation, discriminatory or discriminatory, antibacterial, superiority, autobiography, materialism, biodiversity, criminalisation, imaginatively,

Seven syllable words stress patterns:

Industrialisation, multiculturalism, interdisciplinary, radioactivity, unidentifiable, environmentalism, individuality, vegetarianism, unsatisfactorily, electrocardiogram

Syllables and Stress Patterns in English Speech

Using clear syllables and stress patterns is an important part of speech. The correct word stress in English is crucial for understanding a word quickly and accurately.

Even if you cannot hear a word well and are not familiar with the context, you can often still work out what the word is, simply from listening to which syllable is stressed.

In the same way, if a learner pronounces a word differently from the accepted norm, it can be hard for a native speaker to understand the word. The word or sentence might be grammatically correct, but if they have used the wrong (or an unexpected) stress pattern or the wrong stressed syllables, it could make it unintelligible to a native.

Learning a language is all about communication and being able to make yourself understood. This is why syllables and stress patterns in spoken English are so important.

 

English Word Stress Rules

Here are some general rules about word stress in English:

• Only vowel sounds are stressed (a,e,i,o,u).

• A general rule is that for two syllable words, nouns and adjectives have the stress on the first syllable, but verbs have the stress on the second syllable.

For example: table (noun), special (adjective), demand (verb).

• Words ending in ‘ic’, ‘tion’ or ‘sion’ always place their stress on the penultimate (second to last) syllable. (e.g. supersonic, Atlantic, dedication, attention, transformation, comprehension).

• Words ending in ‘cy’, ‘ty’, ‘gy’ and ‘al’ always place their stress on the third from last syllable. (e.g. accountancy, sincerity, chronology, inspirational, hypothetical).

• Words ending in ‘sm’ with 3 or fewer syllables have their stress on the first syllable (e.g. prism, schism, autism, botulism, sarcasm) unless they are extensions of a stem word. This is often the case with words ending ‘ism’.

• Words ending in ‘ism’ tend to follow the stress rule for the stem word with the ‘ism’ tagged onto the end (e.g. cannibal = cannibalism, expression = expressionism, feminist = feminism, opportunist = opportunism).

• Words ending in ‘sm’ with 4 or more syllables tend to have their stress on the second syllable (e.g. enthusiasm, metabolism).

Words ending in ‘ous’

• Words ending in ‘ous’ with 2 syllables have their stress on the first syllable (e.g. monstrous, pious, anxious, pompous, zealous, conscious, famous, gracious, gorgeous, jealous, joyous).

• English words ending in ‘ous’ with 4 syllables usually have their stress on the second syllable (e.g. gregarious, anonymous, superfluous, androgynous, carnivorous, tempestuous, luxurious, hilarious, continuous, conspicuous). There are some exceptions using different stressed syllables, such as sacrilegious, which stresses the 3rd syllable.

Words ending in ‘ous’ with 3 or more syllables do not always follow a set stress pattern. Here are some common English words with 3 syllables ending in ‘ous’ and their stress placement:

Words ending in ‘ous’ with stress on first syllable

fabulous, frivolous, glamorous, calculus, dubious, envious, scandalous, serious, tenuous, chivalrous, dangerous, furious

Words ending in ‘ous’ with stress on second syllable

enormous, audacious, facetious, disastrous, ficticious, horrendous, contagious, ambitious, courageous

Stress can changing the meaning of a word

Remember, where we place the stress in English can change the meaning of a word. This can lead to some funny misunderstandings – and some frustrating conversations!

Words that have the same spelling but a different pronunciation and meaning are called heteronyms. Here are a few examples of words where the stressed syllable changes the meaning of the word:

• Object

The word ‘object’ is an example of an English word that can change meaning depending on which syllable is stressed. When the word is pronounced ‘object’ (with a stress on the first syllable) the word is a noun meaning an ‘item’, ‘purpose’ or ‘person/thing that is the focus’ of a sentence.

For example:

• • She handed the lady a rectangular object made of metal
  • He was the object of the dog’s affection
  • The ring was an object of high value
  • The object of the interview was to find the best candidate for the job
  • The object was small and shiny – it could have been a diamond ring!

But if the same word is pronounced ‘object‘ (with the stress on the second syllable) the word is now a verb, meaning ‘to disagree with’ something or someone.

For example:

• • They object to his constant lateness
  • The man objected to the size of his neighbour’s new conservatory
  • She strongly objects to being called a liar
  • We object to the buildings being demolished
  • No one objected to the proposal for more traffic lights

• Present

When the word ‘present’ is pronounced ‘present’ (with the stress on the first syllable) the word is a noun meaning ‘a gift’ or an adjective meaning ‘here / not absent’.

For example:

• • She handed him a beautifully wrapped present
  • The book was a present from their grandparents
  • Everyone was present at the meeting

But when the word is pronounced ‘present’ (with the stress on the second syllable) the word is now a verb meaning ‘to introduce’ something or someone, ‘to show’ or ‘to bring to one’s attention’. It can also be used when talking about presenting a TV or radio show (i.e. to be a ‘presenter’).

For example:

• • May I present Charlotte Smith, our new store manager
  • Bruce Forsyth used to present ‘Strictly Come Dancing’
  • I’d like to present my research on the breeding habits of frogs
  • They presented the glittering trophy to the winner
  • She was presented with the Oscar
  • This new situation presents a problem

• Project

Another example of an English word changing meaning depending on where you place the stress is the word ‘project’. This can be the noun when the stressed syllable is at the start – ‘project’ (a task).

For example:

• • They started work on the research project immediately
  • She looked forward to her next project – repainting the house
  • He enjoyed writing restaurant reviews – it was his current passion project

However, this word becomes a verb when the stressed syllables moves to the end – ‘to project‘ (to throw/launch, to protrude, to cause an image to appear on a surface, or to come across/make an impression).

For example:

• • The object was projected into the air at high velocity
  • The film will be projected onto the screen
  • The chimney projects 3 metres from the roof
  • She always projects herself with confidence

Stress patterns in compound words 

Compound words are single words made up of two distinct parts. They are sometimes hyphenated. Here are examples of stress patterns in compound words in English:

• Compound nouns have the stress on the first part: e.g. sugarcane, beetroot, henhouse, tripwire, lighthouse, newspaper, porthole, roundabout, willpower

• Compound adjectives and verbs have the stress on the second part:
  e.g. wholehearted, green-fingered, old-fashioned, to understand, to inform, to short-change, to overtake

English sentence stress 

Once you understand word stress in English, you need to think about sentence stress. This means deciding which words to stress as part of the sentence as a whole. Stressed syllables can create a distinctive, rhythmic pattern within a sentence. This is how English stress patterns are related to the rhythm of English and help create the ‘music’ of a language.

English speakers tend to put stress on the most important words in a sentence in order to draw the listener’s attention to them. The most important words are the words that are necessary for the meaning of the sentence. Sentence stress is just as important as word stress for clarity. For example:

‘The cat sat on the mat while eating its favourite food’

The most important words here are: ‘cat’, ‘mat’, ‘eating’ and ‘food’. Even if you only hear those words, you would still be able to understand what is happening in the sentence simply from hearing which words are stressed.

Clearly, it is the nouns and verbs that are the most important parts of the sentence, as these are the ‘content words’ that help with meaning. Content words are usually stressed.

 

The adjectives, adverbs and conjunctions all add flavour to the sentence, but they are not absolutely necessary to understand the meaning. These ‘helper’ words are usually unstressed.

In our example sentence: ‘The cat sat on the mat while eating its favourite food’, we have already used the word ‘cat’ so we do not need to emphasise the word ‘its’ (or ‘he/she’ if you want to give the cat a gender), because we already know who is eating the food (i.e. the cat).

English word stress within a sentence

Stress patterns affect words and sentences in English.

The stress on a word (the word stress) is the emphasis placed on that word. In the sentence below, “I never said he ate your chocolate”, the stressed word will change the meaning or implication of the sentence:

Stressing the first word ‘I’ implies that I (the speaker) never said it. It might be true or it might not be true – the point is, I never said it – someone else did.

Stressing the second word ‘never’ emphasises that I never said it. There was never an occasion when I said it (whether it is true or not).

Stressing the third word ‘said’ means that I never said it. He might have eaten your chocolate, but I didn’t say it. I might have thought it, but I never said it out loud (I may only have implied it).

Stressing the fourth word ‘he’ means I didn’t say it was him that ate your chocolate, only that someone did.

Stressing the fifth word ‘ate’ means I didn’t say he had eaten it. Perhaps he took it and threw it away or did something else with it.

 

Stressing the sixth word ‘your’ means it wasn’t your chocolate he ate –  it could have been someone else’s chocolate.

Stressing the seventh word ‘chocolate’ emphases that it was not your chocolate he ate – he ate something else belonging to you.

So the sentence stress in English makes all the difference to the meaning of the whole sentence. The stressed word in the sentence is the one we should pay the most attention to.

Stress placement affects the whole understanding of the English language. This issue is strongly related to the rhythm of English. Getting the right word stress, sentence stress and rhythm leads to the perfect communication of your intended message.

Stressed Vowel Sounds and Weak Vowels in English

The necessary words in an English sentence are stressed more by increasing the length and clarity of the vowel sound.

In contrast, the unnecessary words are stressed less by using a shorter and less clear vowel sound. This is called a ‘weak’ vowel sound.

In fact, sometimes the vowel sound is almost inaudible. For example, the letter ‘a’ in English is often reduced to a muffled ‘uh’ sound. Grammarians call this a ‘shwa’ or /ə/.

You can hear this ‘weak’ vowel sound at the start of the words ‘about’ and ‘attack’ and at the end of the word ‘banana’. They can sound like ‘ubout’, ‘uttack’ and ‘bananuh’ when spoken by a native English speaker. The article ‘a’ as a single word is also unstressed and reduced in this way to a weak ‘uh’ sound.

 

For example: ‘Is there a shop nearby?’ sounds like ‘Is there-uh shop nearby?’ This shwa can also be heard in other instances, such as in the word ‘and’ when it is used in a sentence. For example: ‘This book is for me and you’ can sound sound like ‘This book is for me un(d) you’.

The reason for this weak stress pattern in English is to help the rhythm and speed of speech. Using this weak ‘uh’ sound for the vowel ‘a’ helps the speaker get ready for the next stressed syllable by keeping the mouth and lips in a neutral position.

To pronounce the ‘a’ more clearly would require a greater opening of the mouth, which would slow the speaker down.

As English is a stress-timed language, the regular stresses are vital for the rhythm of the language, so the vowel sounds of unstressed words in English often get ‘lost’.

In contrast, syllable-timed languages (such as Spanish) tend to work in the opposite way, stressing the vowel sounds strongly, while the consonants get ‘lost’.

Click on the highlighted text to learn more about how English word stress and sentence stress relates to the rhythm of English and intonation in English.

 

What do you think about syllables and stress in English?

Do you find the syllables and stress patterns a difficult part of learning a new language?

Have you had any funny misunderstandings from stressing the wrong syllable in English? We’d love to hear your stories!

Are there any English words or sentences with odd stressed syllables or difficult stress patterns that you would like advice on?

Can you think of good way to remember or practise correct English word stress and sentence stress?

Do you have any ideas to help EFL students improve their understanding of syllables and stress?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments box.

 

English words have certain patterns of stress which you should observe strictly if you want to be understood. The best way to learn English stress is to listen to audio materials and to repeat them after the speaker. The links on the entrance pages of the sections Phonetics, Phrases, and Vocabulary lead to the sites that offer useful listening materials, including sounds, syllables, words, sentences, and conversations. An overview of typical English patterns of word stress in this material will help you to recognize and understand word stress when you work with listening materials. It will also be helpful to listen to examples of word stress in Listening for Word Stress (AmE) in the section Phonetics.

Note: Main stressed syllable in the word is indicated by capital letters in this material, for example, LEMon. In words with two stresses, capital letters with a stress mark before them show the syllable with primary stress, and small letters with a stress mark before them show the syllable with secondary stress, for example, ‘eco’NOMics.

General guidelines on word stress

Generally, common English nouns, adjectives, and adverbs are more often stressed on the first syllable than on any other syllable. Verbs with prefixes are usually stressed on the second syllable, i.e., on the first syllable of the root after the prefix. English words can’t have two unstressed syllables at the beginning of the word; one of these syllables will be stressed. If a word has four or more syllables, there are usually two stresses in it: primary stress (strong stress) and secondary stress (weak stress). Also, secondary stress may be present (in addition to primary stress) in shorter words in the syllable in which the vowel sound remains long and strong.

Prefixes are often stressed in nouns and less often in verbs. Suffixes at the end of the word are rarely stressed, except for a few noun, adjective, and verb suffixes that are usually stressed: rooMETTE, ‘ciga’RETTE / ‘CIGa’rette, Chi’NESE, ‘SIGni’fy, ‘ORga’nize, ‘DECo’rate. In longer derivative words, stress may fall on a suffix or prefix according to typical patterns of word stress. Endings are not stressed.

Stress in derivatives

Stress in a derivative may remain the same as in the word from which it was derived, or it may change in a certain way. When nouns are formed from verbs, or verbs are formed from nouns, the following patterns of stress often occur.

The same stress:

deNY (verb) – deNIal (noun)

ofFEND (verb) – ofFENCE (noun)

reVIEW (noun) – reVIEW (verb)

PREview (noun) – PREview (verb)

HOSpital (noun) – HOSpitalize (verb)

Shift of stress:

preSENT (verb) – PRESent (noun)

reFER (verb) – REFerence (noun)

exTRACT (verb) – EXtract (noun)

inCREASE (verb) – INcrease (noun)

OBject (noun) – obJECT (verb)

Other parts of speech derived from nouns and verbs have the following typical patterns of stress.

Adjectives are usually stressed on the first syllable or repeat the stress of the nouns from which they were derived: fate (noun) – FATal (adj.); COLor (noun) – COLorful (adj.). But stress may change in longer derivative adjectives: METal (noun) – meTALlic (adj.); ATHlete (noun) – athLETic (adj.); geOLogy (noun) – ‘geo’LOGical (adj.); ARgument (noun) – ‘argu’MENtative (adj.).

Adverbs are usually stressed on the first syllable or repeat the stress of the adjectives from which they were derived: ANgry – ANgrily; WONderful – WONderfully; FOOLish – FOOLishly; athLETic – athLETically.

Gerunds and participles repeat the stress of the verbs from which they were formed: forGET – forGETting – forGOTten; CANcel – CANceling – CANceled; ‘ORga’nize – ‘ORga’nizing – ORganized.

Typical patterns of stress

Let’s look at typical examples of stress in English words. Main factors that influence stress are the number of syllables in the word, and whether the word is a noun, an adjective, or a verb.

ONE-SYLLABLE WORDS

One-syllable nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are stressed on the vowel sound in the word. Note that a diphthong is one complex vowel sound that forms only one syllable. A diphthong is stressed on its first main component.

book, cat, rain, boat, crow, chair

read, burn, touch, choose, laugh, hear

new, bright, large, short, clear, loud

late, fast, soon, now

TWO-SYLLABLE WORDS

Two-syllable nouns

Two-syllable nouns are usually stressed on the first syllable.

TEACHer, STUDent, CARpet, LESson

REgion, ILLness, STATEment, CITy

CONvict, INcrease, INstinct, OBject

PERmit, PRESent, PROject, SYMbol

Nouns may be stressed on the last syllable if there is a long vowel sound or a diphthong in it. Words of foreign origin (especially words of French origin) may be stressed on the last syllable.

trainEE, caREER, deLAY, conCERN

poLICE, hoTEL, beRET, rooMETTE

Two-syllable adjectives

Two-syllable adjectives are usually stressed on the first syllable.

FUNny, LOCal, USEful

FOOLish, NATive, CAREless

Some adjectives are stressed on the last syllable if there is a long vowel sound or a diphthong in it.

abSURD, comPLETE, exTREME, moROSE

If there is a prefix in an adjective, stress often falls on the first syllable of the root after the prefix.

inSANE, imMUNE, enGAged

unWELL, unKNOWN

Two-syllable verbs

Two-syllable verbs are usually stressed on the second syllable, especially if the first syllable is a prefix.

adMIT, apPLY, beGIN, beLIEVE

comBINE, conFIRM, deNY, deSERVE

disLIKE, misPLACE, exPLAIN

forBID, forGET, igNORE, inVITE

oBEY, ocCUR, perMIT, prePARE

proPOSE, purSUE, reCEIVE, rePLY

supPLY, surPRISE, unDO, unLOCK

But there are many verbs that are stressed on the first syllable.

HAPpen, CANcel, PRACtice

ANswer, OFfer, MENtion

FOLlow, BORrow, PUNish

THREE-SYLLABLE WORDS

Three-syllable nouns

Three-syllable nouns are usually stressed on the first syllable.

POLitics, GOVernment, GENeral

INterest, GRADuate, CONfidence

But many nouns, especially those derived from verbs with prefixes, have stress on the second syllable.

apPROVal, conFUSion, conSUMer

corRECTness, eLECtion, diRECtor

Some nouns have primary stress on the last syllable if there is a long vowel sound or a diphthong in it.

‘engi’NEER, ‘refu’GEE

Three-syllable adjectives

Three-syllable adjectives are usually stressed on the first syllable.

GENeral, DELicate, EXcellent

WONderful, FAVorite, CURious

Some adjectives have one more stress on the last syllable if there is a long vowel or a diphthong in it.

‘OBso’lete / ‘obso’LETE

‘Vietna’MESE, ‘Portu’GUESE

Some adjectives do not repeat the stress of the noun from which they were derived and are stressed on the second syllable.

geNERic, symBOLic, inSTINCtive

Three-syllable verbs

Three-syllable verbs often have primary stress on the first syllable (even if it is a prefix) and secondary stress on the last syllable (which is often a verb suffix).

‘ORga’nize, ‘MODer’nize

‘SIGni’fy, ‘SPECi’fy

‘COMpen’sate, ‘DECo’rate

‘COMpli’ment, ‘CONsti’tute

But many verbs, especially those with prefixes, have stress on the second syllable.

conTINue, conSIDer, reMEMber

If the prefix consists of two syllables, its first syllable usually gets secondary stress.

‘under’STAND, ‘decom’POSE

‘contra’DICT, ‘corre’SPOND

FOUR OR MORE SYLLABLES

Long nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs usually have two stresses: primary stress and secondary stress. But there are some long words with only one stress. There are four patterns of stress in long words.

Only one stress: on the first syllable

Nouns:

ACcuracy, DELicacy

Adjectives:

INteresting

Only one stress: on the second syllable

Nouns:

inTOLerance, geOMetry, aMERica

simPLICity, moBILity, teLEpathy

acCOMpaniment

Adjectives:

sigNIFicant, mysTErious, traDItional

inTOLerable, unREAsonable, noTOrious

Verbs:

acCOMpany

Two stresses: on the first and third syllable

This is a very common stress pattern in long words in English.

Nouns:

‘eco’NOMics, ‘infor’MAtion

‘consti’TUtion, ‘repe’TItion

‘coloni’ZAtion, ‘multipli’CAtion

Adjectives:

‘aca’DEMic, ‘geo’METrical

‘inter’NAtional, ‘cosmo’POLitan

‘capita’LIStic, ‘conver’SAtional

‘PAtro’nizing

Two stresses: on the second and fourth syllable

Nouns:

con’side’RAtion

in’vesti’GAtion

con’tinu’Ation

Adjectives:

ex’peri’MENtal

in’compre’HENsible

Verbs:

i’DENti’fy, in’TENsi’fy

in’TOXi’cate, ac’CUmu’late

com’MERcia’lize, a’POLo’gize.

Ударение в слове

Английские слова имеют определённые модели ударения, которые нужно строго соблюдать, если вы хотите, чтобы вас понимали. Лучший способ изучить английское ударение – слушать аудиоматериалы и повторять их за диктором. Ссылки на входных страницах разделов Phonetics, Phrases и Vocabulary ведут на сайты, которые предлагают полезные материалы для прослушивания, включая звуки, слоги, слова, предложения и разговоры. Краткий обзор типичных английских моделей ударения в данном материале поможет вам узнавать и понимать ударение в словах, когда вы работаете с материалами для прослушивания. Также будет полезно прослушать примеры ударения в материале для прослушивания Listening for Word Stress (AmE) в разделе Phonetics.

Примечание: Главный ударный слог в слове указан заглавными буквами в данном материале, например, LEMon. В словах с двумя ударениями, заглавные буквы со значком ударения перед ними показывают слог с главным ударением, а маленькие буквы со значком ударения перед ними показывают слог с второстепенным ударением, например, ‘eco’NOMics.

Общие рекомендации по ударению в словах

В целом, употребительные английские существительные, прилагательные и наречия чаще ударяются на первом слоге, чем на любом другом слоге. Глаголы с приставками обычно имеют ударение на втором слоге, т.е. на первом слоге корня после приставки. Английские слова не могут иметь два неударных слога в начале слова; один из этих слогов будет ударным. Если в слове четыре или более слогов, то в нём обычно два ударения: главное ударение (сильное ударение) и второстепенное ударение (слабое ударение). Также, второстепенное ударение может присутствовать (в дополнение к главному ударению) в более коротких словах в слоге, в котором гласный звук остается долгим и сильным.

Приставки часто ударные в существительных и реже в глаголах. Суффиксы в конце слова редко ударные, за исключением нескольких суффиксов существительных, прилагательных и глаголов, которые обычно ударные: rooMETTE, ‘ciga’RETTE / ‘CIGa’rette, Chi’NESE, ‘SIGni’fy, ‘ORga’nize, ‘DECo’rate. В более длинных производных словах ударение может падать на приставку или суффикс согласно типичным моделям ударения в слове. Окончания не ударные.

Ударение в производных словах

Ударение в производном слове может остаться таким же, как в слове, от которого оно образовано, или оно может измениться определённым образом. Когда существительные образуются от глаголов, или глаголы образуются от существительных, часто возникают следующие модели ударения.

Одинаковое ударение:

deNY (глагол) – deNIal (существительное)

ofFEND (глагол) – ofFENCE (существительное)

reVIEW (сущ.) – reVIEW (глагол)

PREview (сущ.) – PREview (глагол)

HOSpital (сущ.) – HOSpitalize (глагол)

Смещение ударения:

preSENT (глагол) – PRESent (существительное)

reFER (глагол) – REFerence (сущ.)

exTRACT (глагол) – EXtract (сущ.)

inCREASE (глагол) – INcrease (сущ.)

OBject (сущ.) – obJECT (глагол)

Другие части речи, образованные от существительных и глаголов, имеют следующие типичные модели ударения.

Прилагательные обычно ударные на первом слоге или повторяют ударение существительных, от которых они были образованы: fate (сущ.) – FATal (прилаг.); COLor (сущ.) – COLorful (прилаг.). Но ударение может меняться в более длинных производных прилагательных: METal (сущ.) – meTALlic (прилаг.); ATHlete (сущ.) – athLETic (прилаг.); geOLogy (сущ.) – ‘geo’LOGical (прилаг.); ARgument (сущ.) – ‘argu’MENtative (прилаг.).

Наречия обычно ударные на первом слоге или повторяют ударение прилагательных, от которых они были образованы: ANgry – ANgrily; WONderful – WONderfully; FOOLish – FOOLishly; athLETic – athLETically.

Герундий и причастия повторяют ударение глаголов, от которых они были образованы: forGET (забывать) – forGETting – forGOTten; CANcel (отменять) – CANceling – CANceled; ‘ORga’nize (организовать) – ‘ORga’nizing – ORganized.

Типичные модели ударения

Давайте посмотрим на типичные примеры ударения в английских словах. Главные факторы, которые влияют на ударение – количество слогов в слове и является ли это слово существительным, прилагательным или глаголом.

ОДНОСЛОЖНЫЕ СЛОВА

Односложные существительные, глаголы, прилагательные и наречия имеют ударение на гласном звуке в слове. Обратите внимание, что дифтонг – это один сложный гласный звук, который образует только один слог. Дифтонг имеет ударение на своём первом главном компоненте.

книга, кот, дождь, лодка, ворона, стул

читать, гореть, трогать, выбрать, смеяться, слышать

новый, яркий, большой, короткий, ясный, громкий

поздний / поздно, быстрый / быстро, скоро, сейчас

ДВУСЛОЖНЫЕ СЛОВА

Двусложные существительные

Существительные из двух слогов обычно ударные на первом слоге.

учитель, студент, ковер, урок

район, болезнь, утверждение, город

осужденный, увеличение, инстинкт, предмет

пропуск, подарок, проект, символ

Существительные могут иметь ударение на последнем слоге, если в нём долгий гласный звук или дифтонг. Слова иностранного происхождения (особенно слова французского происхождения) могут иметь ударение на последнем слоге.

стажер, карьера, задержка, забота

полиция, гостиница, берет, одноместное купе

Двусложные прилагательные

Прилагательные из двух слогов обычно ударные на первом слоге.

смешной, местный, полезный

глупый, родной, беззаботный

Некоторые двусложные прилагательные могут иметь ударение на последнем слоге, если в нём долгий гласный звук или дифтонг.

абсурдный, полный, крайний, угрюмый

Если в прилагательном есть приставка, то ударение часто падает на первый слог корня после приставки.

безумный, имеющий иммунитет, занятый

нездоровый, неизвестный

Двусложные глаголы

Глаголы из двух слогов обычно ударные на втором слоге, особенно если первый слог – приставка.

допускать, применять, начинать, верить

соединять, подтвердить, отрицать, заслуживать

не любить, положить не на место, объяснять

запрещать, забывать, игнорировать, приглашать

подчиняться, возникать, разрешать, подготовить

предлагать, преследовать, получать, ответить

снабжать, удивлять, аннулировать, отпереть

Но есть много глаголов, которые имеют ударение на первом слоге.

случаться, отменить, практиковать

отвечать, предлагать, упоминать

следовать, заимствовать, наказывать

ТРЕХСЛОЖНЫЕ СЛОВА

Трехсложные существительные

Существительные из трёх слогов обычно имеют ударение на первом слоге.

политика, правительство, генерал

интерес, выпускник, уверенность

Но многие существительные, особенно образованные от глаголов с приставками, имеют ударение на втором слоге.

одобрение, замешательство, потребитель

правильность, избрание, директор

Некоторые существительные могут иметь главное ударение на последнем слоге, если в нём долгий гласный звук или дифтонг.

инженер, беженец

Трехсложные прилагательные

Прилагательные из трёх слогов обычно имеют ударение на первом слоге.

общий, деликатный, превосходный

чудесный, любимый, любопытный

Некоторые трёхсложные прилагательные имеют ещё одно ударение на последнем слоге, если в нём долгий гласный звук или дифтонг.

вышедший из употребления

вьетнамский, португальский

Некоторые прилагательные не повторяют ударение существительного, от которого они были образованы, и ударяются на втором слоге.

видовой, символический, инстинктивный

Трехсложные глаголы

Глаголы из трёх слогов часто имеют главное ударение на первом слоге (даже если это приставка) и второстепенное ударение на последнем слоге (который часто глагольный суффикс).

организовать, модернизировать

означать, уточнять

компенсировать, украшать

делать комплимент, составлять

Но многие глаголы, особенно те, которые с приставками, имеют ударение на втором слоге.

продолжать, рассмотреть, помнить

Если приставка состоит из двух слогов, её первый слог обычно получает второстепенное ударение.

понимать, разлагаться

противоречить, соответствовать

ЧЕТЫРЕ ИЛИ БОЛЕЕ СЛОГОВ

Длинные существительные, прилагательные, глаголы и наречия обычно имеют два ударения: главное и второстепенное ударение. Но есть некоторые длинные слова только с одним ударением. В длинных словах четыре модели ударения.

Только одно ударение: на первом слоге

Существительные:

точность, утончённость

Прилагательные:

интересный

Только одно ударение: на втором слоге

Существительные:

нетерпимость, геометрия, Америка

простота, мобильность, телепатия

аккомпанемент

Прилагательные:

значительный, таинственный, традиционный

невыносимый, неразумный, печально известный

Глаголы:

сопровождать

Два ударения: на первом и третьем слоге

Это очень распространённая модель ударения в длинных словах в английском языке.

Существительные:

экономика, информация

конституция, повторение

колонизация, умножение

Прилагательные:

академический, геометрический

международный, космополитический

капиталистический, разговорный

покровительственный

Два ударения: на втором и четвертом слоге

Существительные:

рассмотрение

расследование

продолжение

Прилагательные:

экспериментальный

непонятный / непостижимый

Глаголы:

идентифицировать, усиливать

опьянять, накапливать

превращать в источник прибыли, извиняться.

In
almost all languages, there is a variation in the relative prominence
of syllables. The prominence of syllables is referred to as stress.
It is a function of pitch, duration/length/loudness, and quality. In
different languages one of the factors is usually more significant
than the others. Depending upon which factor is the principal one in
giving prominence to a syllable, word stress in languages may be of
different types. 1. If special prominence is achieved through the
increased loudness (i.e. intensity of articulation), such word stress
is termed DYNAMIC. 2. If special prominence in a stressed syllable
is achieved mainly through the change of pitch, such type of word
stress is MUSICAL, or TONIC. 3. QUANTITATIVE stress is when
prominence is achieved through the changes in the quantity of vowels,
i.e. their duration. 4. QUALITATIVE stress is when the stressed
vowel is made prominent due to its clear and distinct character.

There
are languages which do not have word stress, such as Evenk, or
Kalmyk, but many languages combine various types of words stress.
Russian displays qualitative, quantitative and dynamic features.
Word stress in Ancient Greek used to be tonic, but is characterized
as dynamic in Modern Greek. Scandinavian languages make use of both
dynamic and tonic stresses in more or less equal degree. Oriental
languages like Chinese, Japanese, Korean are tonic In English
prominence is achieved due to increased duration, loudness and higher
pitch, i.e. quantitative, tonic and dynamic stressing.

Some
languages have fixed stress, associated with a certain syllable in a
word. In Finnish, Czech, Latvian stress always falls on the first
syllable, in Turkish – on the final syllable of the root form, in
French – on the final syllable in the word. In English, Russian
stress placement is free in that different words can have different
stress pattern. .Any word with more than one syllable has a word
stress. The stress pattern of a word reflects the distribution of
prominence among its syllables. In words that have one stress, the
latter is called ‘primary
stress’.
In longerwords, it is possible to pick out a second, weaker stressed
syllable that bears secondary
stress
notated as low mark. Two main tendencies determine the place and
different degrees of word stress in English: the RECESSIVE tendency
and the RHYTHMIC tendency. The oldest of the English word
accentuation tendencies is the RECESSIVE
tendency, characteristic of all Germanic languages. It originally
consisted in placing the word stress on the initial syllable of
nouns, adjectives, and verbs and on the root syllable of words which
belonged to other parts of speech and had a prefix. The recessive
accent in Modern English is of two types: UNRESTRICTED and RESTRICTED
(by an unstressed prefix). UNRESTRICTED recessive accent falls on the
first (root) syllable, as in words FATHER, MOTHER, HUSBAND.
RESTRICTED recessive accent falls on the second (root) syllable of
native English words with a prefix which has lost its meaning: AMONG,
BECOME, FORGET, INDEED. Under the influence of the native English
tendency to unrestricted recessive stress, all the disyllabic and
trisyllabic words borrowed from French until the 15^th
century underwent ‘accentual assimilation’: the original accent
on the final syllable of loan words and gradually shifted to the
beginning: COLOUR, MARRIAGE, REASON< etc. In Chaucer’s poems we
find such free accentual variants as ‘REASON and REA’SON. Loan
words with prefixes which have no particular meaning now also have
restricted recessive stress: CON’DUCT, DE’PEND, SUR’PRISE.

The
RHYTHMIC
tendency can be accounted for the presence in English of a great
number of monosyllabic words, some of which are stressed (notional)
words, others are not (form words). Such phenomenon has created the
English rhythm, consisting of alternating stressed and unstressed
syllables This tendency has caused the appearance in borrowed
polysyllabic words of a secondary stress on the syllable separated
from the word-final principal stress by an unstressed syllable. The
words began to be pronounced in isolation on the model of short
phrases in which a stressed syllable alternated with an unstressed
one. Thus the word ‘RADICAL originally had a stress on the final
syllable – RADI’CAL- but later it received the recessive stress
on the initial syllable, while the final stress was still retained.
The result of it was the typically English alternation of a stressed
syllable with an unstressed one. For some time this and similar words
had two stresses but gradually the word-final stress began to weaken
and disappeared. Thus in tri-syllabic words there remained only one
strong stress on the third syllable from the end of the word. The
tendency to stress the third syllable from the end was extended to
four-syllable words as well, and this stress is called RHYTHMICAL.
Strictly speaking, the stress in such words as RADICAL, FAMILY,
CINEMA, is rhythmical only in its origin, because in Modern English
there is no alternation of a stressed syllable with an unstressed one
in these words. The stress here is called HYSTORICALLY RHYTHMICAL In
Modern English there is also GENINELY RHYTHMICAL stress. This is the
secondary stress on the second PRETONIC syllable in words like
PRO,NUNCI’ATION, E,XAMI’NATION, RE,LIA’BILITY, etc. There is
also a RETENTIVE tendency which consists in the retention of the
stress of the parent word in the derivatives. More commonly it is
kept in the parent word as a secondary accent, e.g., ‘PERSON –
‘PERSONAL – ,PERSO’NALITY.

The
SEMANTIC factor can also condition the place and the degree of
stress. The meaningful prefixes UN-, MIS-, EX-, UDNER-, etc,
(UNKNOWN, EXWIFE, UNDERESTIMATE), or semantically more important part
of a compound word get more prominence: BUTTONHOLE, TONGUETWISTER.

THE
STRESS PATTERN OF ENGLISH WORDS. TENDENCIES

In
almost all languages, there is a variation in the relative prominence
of syllables. The prominence of syllables is referred to as stress.
It is a function of pitch, duration/length/loudness, and quality. In
different languages one of the factors is usually more significant
than the others. Depending upon which factor is the principal one in
giving prominence to a syllable, word stress in languages may be of
different types. 1. If special prominence is achieved through the
increased loudness (i.e. intensity of articulation), such word stress
is termed DYNAMIC. 2. If special prominence in a stressed syllable
is achieved mainly through the change of pitch, such type of word
stress is MUSICAL, or TONIC. 3. QUANTITATIVE stress is when
prominence is achieved through the changes in the quantity of vowels,
i.e. their duration. 4. QUALITATIVE stress is when the stressed
vowel is made prominent due to its clear and distinct character.

There
are languages which do not have word stress, such as Evenk, or
Kalmyk, but many languages combine various types of words stress.
Russian displays qualitative, quantitative and dynamic features.
Word stress in Ancient Greek used to be tonic, but is characterized
as dynamic in Modern Greek. Scandinavian languages make use of both
dynamic and tonic stresses in more or less equal degree. Oriental
languages like Chinese, Japanese, Korean are tonic In English
prominence is achieved due to increased duration, loudness and higher
pitch, i.e. quantitative, tonic and dynamic stressing.

Some
languages have fixed stress, associated with a certain syllable in a
word. In Finnish, Czech, Latvian stress always falls on the first
syllable, in Turkish – on the final syllable of the root form, in
French – on the final syllable in the word. In English, Russian
stress placement is free in that different words can have different
stress pattern. .

Any
word with more than one syllable has a word stress. The stress
pattern of a word reflects the distribution of

prominence
among its syllables. In words that have one stress, the latter is
called ‘primary
stress’.
In longer

words,
it is possible to pick out a second, weaker stressed syllable that
bears secondary
stress
notated as low

mark.

Two
main tendencies determine the place and different degrees of word
stress in English: the RECESSIVE tendency and the RHYTHMIC tendency.

The
oldest of the English word accentuation tendencies is the RECESSIVE
tendency, characteristic of all Germanic languages. It originally
consisted in placing the word stress on the initial syllable of
nouns, adjectives, and verbs and on the root syllable of words which
belonged to other parts of speech and had a prefix. The recessive
accent in Modern English is of two types: UNRESTRICTED and RESTRICTED
(by an unstressed prefix). UNRESTRICTED recessive accent falls on the
first (root) syllable, as in words FATHER, MOTHER, HUSBAND.
RESTRICTED recessive accent falls on the second (root) syllable of
native English words with a prefix which has lost its meaning: AMONG,
BECOME, FORGET, INDEED. Under the influence of the native English
tendency to unrestricted recessive stress, all the disyllabic and
trisyllabic words borrowed from French until the 15^th
century underwent ‘accentual assimilation’: the original accent
on the final syllable of loan words and gradually shifted to the
beginning: COLOUR, MARRIAGE, REASON< etc. In Chaucer’s poems we
find such free accentual variants as ‘REASON and REA’SON. Loan
words with prefixes which have no particular meaning now also have
restricted recessive stress: CON’DUCT, DE’PEND, SUR’PRISE.

The
RHYTHMIC
tendency can be accounted for the presence in English of a great
number of monosyllabic words, some of which are stressed (notional)
words, others are not (form words). Such phenomenon has created the
English rhythm, consisting of alternating stressed and unstressed
syllables This tendency has caused the appearance in borrowed
polysyllabic words of a secondary stress on the syllable separated
from the word-final principal stress by an unstressed syllable. The
words began to be pronounced in isolation on the model of short
phrases in which a stressed syllable alternated with an unstressed
one. Thus the word ‘RADICAL originally had a stress on the final
syllable – RADI’CAL- but later it received the recessive stress
on the initial syllable, while the final stress was still retained.
The result of it was the typically English alternation of a stressed
syllable with an unstressed one. For some time this and similar words
had two stresses but gradually the word-final stress began to weaken
and disappeared. Thus in tri-syllabic words there remained only one
strong stress on the third syllable from the end of the word. The
tendency to stress the third syllable from the end was extended to
four-syllable words as well, and this stress is called RHYTHMICAL.
Strictly speaking, the stress in such words as RADICAL, FAMILY,
CINEMA, is rhythmical only in its origin, because in Modern English
there is no alternation of a stressed syllable with an unstressed one
in these words. The stress here is called HYSTORICALLY RHYTHMICAL In
Modern English there is also GENINELY RHYTHMICAL stress. This is the
secondary stress on the second PRETONIC syllable in words like
PRO,NUNCI’ATION, E,XAMI’NATION, RE,LIA’BILITY, etc. There is
also a RETENTIVE tendency which consists in the retention of the
stress of the parent word in the derivatives. More commonly it is
kept in the parent word as a secondary accent, e.g., ‘PERSON –
‘PERSONAL – ,PERSO’NALITY.

The
SEMANTIC factor can also condition the place and the degree of
stress. The meaningful prefixes UN-, MIS-, EX-, UDNER-, etc,
(UNKNOWN, EXWIFE, UNDERESTIMATE), or semantically more important part
of a compound word get more prominence: BUTTONHOLE, TONGUETWISTER

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Stress is extremely important in English.  Using the wrong stress can make it difficult, or impossible, for native speakers to understand you. While it takes time and effort to master stress patterns, here are 3  word stress patterns that are easy to learn and use. The stressed syllable should be said louder, held longer, and have a higher ptich.  Try to recognize these patterns when you listen to native speakers. Practice using them in your daily speech.

1.  Compound nouns – stress the first syllable

A compound is two words that together make one noun. Practice stressing the first syllable in the below compounds. Break your speech into short phrases with the slash marks.

• I play basketball / on the playground / with my grandmother / every weekend.
• The team members / used their cell phones / to join the conference call.

2.  Two-syllable nouns and verbs – opposite stress

• 2-syllable nouns stress the 1st syllable: office, table, kitchen, paper
• 2-syllable verbs stress the 2nd syllable: decide, reply, invent, agree

Be careful! The same word with different stress can have different meaning!

• This project will help us project a better image
• Please conduct an investigation into his conduct.

3.  Phrasal verbs – stress the preposition

Phrasal verbs are very common in English, so their stress pattern is good to know. A phrasal verb is  a verb and a preposition that together create one verb. (Examples: hang up, carry out, call off.) In a phrasal verb, both the verb and the preposition must be in the same phrase.

.

• She turned down /the job.  Phrasal verb
• She turned /down the street.  Verb + preposition

• I want to think over /the offer.   Phrasal verb
• I want to think/ over the weekend.  Verb + preposition

English lexical stress patterns

English words can have the main stress on the final or pre-final syllable, or three or four syllables from the end. We will refer to the stressed syllables with the following simplified terms like “-1” and “-2” and so on.

term	description	! examples
[-1]	final syllable stress	cheese, baguette, vinaigrette
[-2]	pre-final stress	pizza, banana, mozzarella
[-3]	stress on third syllable from end	hamburger, barbecue
[-4]	stress on fourth syllable from end	pumpernickel

1 Anglo-Saxon patterns

These patterns usually work for bisyllabic (two-syllable), trisyllabic (three-syllable words), and of course, monosyllabic (single syllable words) from Old English, or over half of common English words with 1-3 syllables. They also work on common, shorter words from Latin (those that came into English long ago).

Some words have neutral suffixes – these are suffixes that do not affect the stress; for purposes of locating stress, they are like “0” syllables in the stress system.

[-1] stress	verbs	inflame, engulf require, decide, desert
[-2] stress	nouns, adjectives	climate, knowledge flippant, spacious
[-2] stress + neutral suffix	noun & adj. suffixes -er, -ly, -ery	manager, carpenter orderly, dastardly bakery, adultery

2 Latin patterns

This set of patterns is more common in more academic and technical words, which mostly came from Latin^[1]. The [-2] or [-3] syllable is usually stressed, depending on which syllable is heavier, e.g., because it has a long vowel, or ends with two consonants (but deciding which syllable is heavier is linguistically tricky and complex, so do not try to analyze this too much). Generally, if a [-2] syllable has a long vowel or is heavier, it tends to be stressed; otherwise, if the [-2] is a lighter syllable, the [-3] syllable is stressed. The [-3] stress can apply to Latin prefixes (pre-, con-, etc.)

[-2] stress	[-2] is heavier	thesis, structure, neurosis, silicosis
[-3] stress	[-2] is a light syllable	antithesis, anagram, cognitive, decadent, accident, incident, exercise, prejudice, confident, complicate, indicate

As mentioned, evaluating whether the [-2] is light or lighter is tricky, and sometimes the pattern will seem unclear (unless you know Latin, and linguistic theories of stress placement), e.g.: consíder, envísage.

Some neutral Latin and Greek suffixes act like “0” syllables, that is, it is as if you ignore these suffixes, and locate the stress on the [-2]/[-3] syllable of the original base word.

[-2] stress (base)	-ist, -ism, -ize	anarchist, anarchism, socialist, socialism, socialize determinist, determinism,
[-3] stress (base)	-ist, -ism, -ize	cannibalism, cannibalize, republicanist

This also seems to work for Latin / Anglo-Saxon suffixes like these.

-able, -ible	addable, habitable, terrible, abominable
-al	optimal, minimal

2.1 Special Latin suffixes

A few common Latin suffixes force the stress into [-2] or [-3] position. First, here are some simpler suffix patterns.

[-2] stress	-ic, -ics, -(os)is	graphic, ecstatic, democratic, comic, Atlantic, iconic, endoscope, microscopic, photographic, pediatrics, neurosis, neurotic
[-3] stress	-y, -al	democracy, alacrity, uncertainty, oddity, rarity, community, commodity, iconicity, endoscopy, microscopy, photography, radiology, geography, critical, logical

We have an i-stem pattern consisting of (1) the -ion suffix (as in ‘nation’), and (2) suffixes beginning with <i> ; these are essentially variants of suffixes without the i-stem, e.g.: -ous → -ious. Similarly, we also have e-stem and u-stem suffixes, which are counterparts of stemless suffixes, e.g, -ous → eous, -ous → -uos. Sometimes the stem vowel is pronounced as a separate syllable (e.g., ‘lineal, sensuous’) and sometimes not, especially with the i-stems (‘spacious, nation’). In all cases, the main stress is on the syllable before the suffix. This is actually an easy pattern to learn, as the main stress is reliably found on the syllable before the prefix in at least 99% of all cases^[2].

[-1] stress pattern	[-1] of base word, e.g.:
i-stems
-ion	nation, vision, degradation, implication, incision
-ium, -ia	media, bacteria, bacterium
-ior	exterior, behavior
-ian, -ial	meridian, quotidian, musician, radial, spatial, interstitial, differential
-ious	egregious, devious, prestigious
-iant/-ient, -iance/-ience, -iancy/-ency, etc.	radiant, luminescent, sufficient, radiance, luminescence, deviancy, sufficiency
e-stems
u-stems
-ual	sensual, residual
-uous	continuous, sensuous, assiduous
, -uant, -uance	continuant, pursuant, pursuance
-ul+, etc.	modular, molecular

3 French [-1] pattern

Many words borrowed from modern French have [-1] stress, as the French language in general follows this pattern. This includes some common word endings in French-English words^[3].

[-1] stress	-ade, -é, -ee, -ese, -que, -ette, -oon	lemonade, resumé, fiancé, fiancée, employee, guarantee, puppeteer, Siamese, picturesque, towelette, baguette, buffoon, macaroon
	other French words	garage, Renaissance, savoir-faire, noblesse-oblige

4 Greek [-3/-4] patterns

This is less common, and shows up mainly in medical terms, other technical terms, metric prefixes, and a few other prefixes. If a [-3] has a longer vowel or a heavier syllable, it is stressed; otherwise, the [-4] is stressed. However, some prefixes can have their own stress. Not all words from Greek follow this pattern, as some were latinized to [-3] stress patterns.

[-4] stress	metric prefixes	milliliter, kilonewton, kilopascal, microtesla
	other prefixes	television
[-3/-4] stress	names	[-3]: Herodotus, Aristophenes [-4]: Anaximander
other Greek words	[-4]: carcinogen

5 Compound word patterns

In most compound nouns, the first word has primary stress, and is more stressed than the others. This includes compounds formed from two or more nouns, or from an adjective plus a noun. For compounds, it does not matter if they are written as one word or separately. See also: Compound & phrasal stress.

2 nouns	keyboard, coffee shop, hard drive
noun + adj.	the White House, the Blue House, greenhouse
3 nouns	hard drive recovery, computer repairman
4+ nouns	motherboard manufacturing process

A number of specialized patterns exist for specialized meanings.

Type	Stress pattern	Examples
Compound verbs & adjectives	Often the second or last word is stressed	old-fashioned reverse engineer
Compound nouns derived from phrasal verbs	Prepositional element is stressed	overflow, uptake
Material nouns as modifiers	In some cases, the first noun indicating a material is not really part of the compound, but is used more like an adjective, and does not receive the main stress	gold(en) ring wood(en) crate
Personal names	The family name receives the main stress	Barack Obama Moon Jae-in
Abbreviations	The last letter of an abbreviation is often stressed	FBI, CIA, UN
Names of streets & buildings	The last word is usually stressed (except for generic nouns)	Lincoln Avenue Elm Drive Lincoln Hall, Elm Theater
Generic nouns in street, building, organization names	When the nouns street, building, organization, society, etc. are the final elements of compound names for such items, they are generic in those contexts and often unstressed, and a more important word in the phrase has the main stress.	Lincoln Building Lincoln Street Canadian Linguistics Association Canadian Linguistics Society Canadian Linguistics Organization

---

It is also important to
note that syllables are different from letters. For example, “come” has four
letters but one syllable. On the other hand, «Sunday» has six letters
but two syllables.

There are different types
of stress. Before you proceed, make sure you read it up using the links below.
It will aid your understanding of this article.

The meaning and types of stress. Episode 1

The meaning and types of stress. Episode 2

Features of a stressed
syllable

Stressed syllables
possess similar feature which enables us to identify them. According to Roach
(2004), «…all stressed syllables have one characteristic in common, and
this is prominence.» Four main factors make a stressed
syllable prominent:

1. Loudness

Loudness is an important
factor in determining the stressed syllable of a word. When pronouncing a word,
the syllable that is louder than the others is heard as stressed. In other
words, for hearers and listeners, stressed syllables are perceived as louder
than unstressed syllables.

2. Length

A stressed syllable is
usually longer than the other syllables in a word. Roach (2004) asserted that
«If one of the syllables in a word is made longer than the others, there
is quite a strong tendency for that syllable to be heard as stressed»(p.
94).

As regards this,
Umera-Okeke (2015, p. 125) asserted that «Syllables containing long vowels
are viewed as more prominent than those with short vowels.»

3. Pitch

Pitch is the extent of
vibration of the vocal cords when producing the syllables of a word. In a word,
a syllable is heard as stressed if it is said with a high pitch unlike the
other syllables. Umera-Okeke (2015) opined that «when there is a pitch
change on a syllable, that syllable is seen as being more prominent» (pp.
125 — 126). For example, in the word «Pandemonium», the primary
stress is on the third syllable, «mo», since there is a pitch change
on that syllable.

4. Quality

The quality of a sound in
a syllable determines whether or not that syllable is stressed. That is to say
that «a syllable of a sound will tend to be prominent if it contains a
vowel that is different in quality from the neighbouring vowels» (Roach,
2004, p. 94). Vowels are very important in determining the stressed syllable of
a word. Therefore, one needs to pay attention to the type of vowel a syllable
contains. Within vowels, open vowels are more prominent; thus, a syllable
containing an open vowel is most likely to be stressed.

When next you pronounce a
word, take note of these aforementioned features. It is also important to state
that, of all these factors, loudness and length are
more important in determining the stressed syllable of an English word.

Let’s
look at some rules that will enable you identify the stressed syllable of word.

RULES THAT WILL ENABLE
YOU IDENTIFY THE STRESSED SYLLABLE OF A WORD

1. Monosyllabic words,
such as come, go, sit etc., are
usually stressed since they can’t be divided into different syllables.

2. Numbers that end in
«ty» are stressed on the first syllable while numbers that end in
«teen» have their stress on the second syllable. For example,
«sixty» has its stress on first syllable (SIXty) while
«sixteen» has its stress on the second syllable (sixTEEN).

3. Most bisyllabic nouns
and adjectives are usually stressed on the first syllable.

Examples: BAS-tard, PRE-tty,
CLE-ver, DOC-tor, STU-dent etc.

However, there is an
exception to this rule, and you have to learn these words by heart:
ho-TEL,  ex-TREME, con-CISE etc.

4. Bisyllabic verbs and
prepositions are usually stressed on the second syllable. Examples:
be-LOW, a-BOUT, a-BOVE, be-TWEEN, a-SIDE, pre-SENT, re-PLY, ex-PORT etc.

5. Some words in English
language function as both nouns and verbs. When such words function as noun,
the stress is usually on the first syllable, and as verbs, the stress is usually on
the second syllable.

Examples:

i. PRE-sent (a gift)
vs. pre-SENT (to give something formally to someone).

ii. RE-fuse (garbage) vs.
re-FUSE (to decline).

iii. SU-spect (someone
who the police believe may have committed a crime) vs. su-SPECT (to believe
that something is true, especially something bad).

However, this is not
always the case. For example, the word «respect» has its primary
stress on the second syllable both when it’s a verb and a noun.

6. Six syllable words
ending in «tion» are usually stressed on their fifth syllable. Examples:
per-so-ni-fi-CA-tion, ca-pi-ta-li-SA-tion, i-ni-tia-li-SA-tion etc.

7. Three syllable words
ending in «ly» often have their stress on the first syllable. Examples:
OR-der-ly, QUI-et-ly etc.

8. Words ending in
«ic», «sion» and «tion» are usually stressed on
the second-to-last syllable. In this case, you are to count the syllables backward
in order to get the second-to-last syllable. Examples: cre-A-tion, com-MI-ssion, au-THEN-tic etc. However, there are times when you need to count the syllable forward in order to get the second-to-last syllable. Examples: pho-to-GRA-phic, a-ccom-mo-DA-tion, ex-CUR-sion etc.

9. Words ending in
«cy», «phy», «al», «ty» and
«gy» are usually on the third-to-last syllable. You should also the
count the syllables backward to get the third syllable. Examples: de-MO-cra-cy,
pho-TO-gra-phy, CLI-ni-cal, a-TRO-si-ty, psy-CHO-lo-gy etc.

10. Most
compound nouns (a word made up of two or more nouns) have their stress on the
first noun. Examples: PLAYground, BLACKboard, FOOTball, KEYboard
etc.

BONUS
Compound
verbs (a verb made up of two or more words) and compound adjectives (an
adjective that is made up of two or more adjectives, which are linked together
by a hyphen) usually have their stress on the second word or syllable.

Examples:

outRIDE (compound verb).

outSHINE (compound verb).

old-FA-shioned (compound
adjective).

In sum, the
identification of the stressed syllables of English words is not an easy task; it is a process that requires a lot of practice and repetition as there are many
rules and exceptions. For native speakers, this wouldn’t be a problem, but for
non-native speakers of the language, the reverse is always the case. 
Therefore, the latter should immerse themselves in the enlightening dew of word
stress through constant practice in order to be fortified. Should there be any
problem while going through this process, don’t hesitate to make reference to
this page.

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Описание презентации по отдельным слайдам:

• 

  1 слайд

  Word stress in English

• 

  2 слайд

  Nature of word stress
  The sequence of syllables in the word is not pronounced identically.
  The syllable or syllables which are uttered with more prominence than the other syllables of the word are said to be stressed or accented.

• 

  3 слайд

  Accentual structure of the word or its stress pattern
  the correlation of varying prominences of syllables in a word

• 

  4 слайд

  Definition of stress
  is different by different authors:
  an increase of energy, accompanied by an increase of expiratory and articulatory activity (B.A. Bogoroditsky).
  the degree of force, which is accompanied by a strong force of exhalation and gives an impression of loudness (D. Jones).

• 

  5 слайд

  Definition of stress
  stress is connected with the force of breath (H. Sweet).
  the effect of prominence is achieved by any or all of four factors: force, tone, length and vowel colour (A.C. Gimson).

• 

  6 слайд

  The dynamic stress implies greater force with which the syllable is pronounced.
  ↓ ↓
  articulation of the stressed syllable → greater muscular energy is produced by the speaker.

• 

  7 слайд

  Stress in different languages
  English, German, French, Russian → possess predominantly dynamic word stress.
  In Scandinavian languages the word stress is considered to be both dynamic and musical. For instance, in Swedish, the word komma (comma) is distinguished from the word komma (come) by a difference in tones.
  The musical (or tonic) word stress is observed in Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese.

• 

  8 слайд

  Types of word stress
  special prominence in a stressed syllable is achieved mainly through the intensity of articulation → dynamic, or force stress.
  special prominence in a stressed syllable is achieved mainly through the change of pitch, or musical tone → musical, or tonic.

• 

  9 слайд

  Types of word stress
  special prominence in a stressed syllable is achieved through the changes in the quantity of the vowels, which are longer in the stressed syllables than in the unstressed ones quantitative.
  changes in the quality of the vowel under stress → qualitative

• 

  10 слайд

  English word stress or accent is a complex phenomenon
  traditionally defined as dynamic, but the special prominence of the stressed syllables is manifested also through the changes in the vowel quantity, consonant and vowel quality and pitch of the voice.
  ↓ ↓

• 

  11 слайд

  English word stress
  is marked by the variations in
  force,
  pitch,
  quantity,
  quality.

• 

  12 слайд

  contract [‘kσntrækt], to contract [kən’trækt]
  in the stressed syllable:
  the force is greater, which is connected with more energetic articulation;
  the pitch of voice is higher, which is connected with stronger tenseness of the vocal cords and the walls of the resonance chamber;

• 

  13 слайд

  contract [‘kσntrækt], to contract [kən’trækt]
  the quantity of the vowel [æ] in [kən’trækt] is greater, the vowel becomes longer;
  the quality of the vowel [æ] in the stressed syllable is different from the quality of this vowel in the unstressed position, in which it is more narrow than [æ].

• 

  14 слайд

  Three groups of words with identical spelling
  A.C.Gimson
  words represent different parts of speech which are opposed by means of shifting of the stress.

• 

  15 слайд

  First group
  A small group of words where the noun is differentiated from a verb by the opposition of the accentual pattern of the word alone
  increase [‘ınkri:s] – [ın’kri:s]
  insult [‘ınsʌlt] – [ın’sʌlt]

• 

  16 слайд

  Second group
  The shifting of the stress which means the change of the accentual pattern of the word may be or may not be accompanied by the reduction of the vowel in the unstressed syllable of the verbs
  transport [‘trænspo:t] – [træns’po:t] or [trǝns’po:t]
  torment [‘to:ment] – [to:’ment] or [tǝ’ment]

• 

  17 слайд

  Third group
  The largest group manifests the change of their accentual pattern together with the qualitative reduction of the unstressed vowel
  combine [‘kombaın] – [kǝm’baın]
  conduct [‘kondʌkt] – [kǝn’dʌkt]

• 

  18 слайд

  A terminological confusion
  heaviness, sound pressure, force, power, strength, intensity, amplitude, prominence, emphasis, accent, stress → are used synonymously by most writers
  ↓ ↓
  drawback of any theory of stress based on production of speech → gives a partial explanation, does not analyze on the perceptive level.

• 

  19 слайд

  On the acoustic level
  the counterpart of force is the intensity of the vibrations of the vocal cords of the speaker which is perceived by the listener as loudness
  → the greater energy is associated by the listener with greater loudness.
  The acoustic counterparts of voice pitch and length are frequency and duration respectively.

• 

  20 слайд

  Russian accentual structure English accentual structure

• 

  21 слайд

  The stressed syllables → the most prominent syllables
  the notions «stressed» and «prominent» should not be used synonymically (G.P. Torsuev)
  The effect of prominence is created by some phonetic features of sounds which have nothing to do with word or sentence stress.

• 

  22 слайд

  Sounds of speech have different degrees of sonority
  Vowels are more sonorous than consonants.
  Open vowels are more sonorous than close ones.
  → inner quality of vowels
  → not directly connected with the accentual structure of words but with other articulatory characteristics
  → it contributes to the effect of prominence.

• 

  23 слайд

  Historical (traditional) length of vowels
  also adds to the effect of prominence but is not connected with the word stress
  ↓ ↓
  prominence in speech is a broader term than stress

• 

  24 слайд

  Stress difficulties peculiar to the accentual structure
  are connected with the vowel special and inherent prominence.
  In identical positions the intensity of English vowels is different.
  The highest in intensity is [a:], then go [о:, з:, i:, u:, æ, σ, e, υ, ı].

• 

  25 слайд

  Peculiarities of sounds in accented syllables
  [ə] is never stressed
  [i, e, υ] tend to occur in unstressed syllables
  Syllables with the syllabic [l, m, n] are never stressed
  Unstressed diphthongs may partially lose their glide quality.
  In stressed syllables English stops have complete closure, fricatives have full friction, and features of fortis/lenis distinction are clearly defined.

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