This is called word stress

1. Word stress, its acoustic
   nature.

2. The
   linguistic function of a word stress.

3. Degree
   and position of a word stress.

-1-

The
sequence of syllables in the word is not pronounced identically. The
syllable or syllables which are pronounced with more prominence than
the other syllables of the word are said to be stressed or accented.
The correlation of varying prominences of syllables in a word is
understood as the accentual structure of the word.

According
to A.C. Gimson, the effect of prominence is achieved by any or all of
four factors: force, tone, length and vowel colour. The dynamic
stress implies greater force with which the syllable is pronounced.
In other words in the articulation of the stressed syllable greater
muscular energy is produced by the speaker. The European languages
such as English, German, French, Russian are believed to possess
predominantly dynamic word stress. In Scandinavian languages the word
stress is considered to be both dynamic and musical (e.g. in Swedish,
the word komma
(comma) is distinguished from the word komma
(come) by a difference in tones). The musical (tonic) word stress is
observed in Chinese, Japanese. It is effected by the variations of
the voice pitch in relation to neighbouring syllables. In Chinese the
sound sequence “chu” pronounced with the level tone means “pig”,
with the rising tone “bamboo”, and with the falling tone “to
live”.

It is fair
to mention that there is a terminological confusion in discussing the
nature of stress. According to D. Crystal, the terms “heaviness,
intensity, amplitude, prominence, emphasis, accent, stress” tend to
be used synonymously by most writers. The discrepancy in terminology
is largely due to the fact that there are 2 major views depending on
whether the productive or receptive aspects of stress are discussed.

The main
drawback with any theory of stress based on production of speech is
that it only gives a partial explanation of the phenomenon but does
not analyze it on the perceptive level.

Instrumental
investigations study the physical nature of word stress. 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. Thus the greater energy with which the
speaker articulates the stressed syllable in the word is associated
by the listener with greater loudness. The acoustic counterparts of
voice pitch and length are frequency and duration respectively. The
nature of word stress in Russian seems to differ from that in
English. The quantitative component plays a greater role in Russian
accentual structure than in English word accent. In the Russian
language of full formation and full length in unstressed positions,
they are always reduced. Therefore the vowels of full length are
unmistakably perceived as stressed. In English the quantitative
component of word stress is not of primary importance because of the
non-reduced vowels in the unstressed syllables which sometimes occur
in English words (e.g. “transport”, “architect”).

-2-

In discussing accentual
structure of English words we should turn now to the functional
aspect of word stress. In language the word stress performs 3
functions:

1. constitutive– word
   stress constitutes a word, it organizes the syllables of a word into
   a language unit. A word does not exist without the word stress. Thus
   the function is constitutive – sound continuum becomes a phrase
   when it is divided into units organized by word stress into words.

2. Word
   stress enables a person to identify a succession of syllables as a
   definite accentual pattern of a word. This function is known as
   identificatory (or
   recognitive).

3. Word
   stress alone is capable of differentiating the meaning of words or
   their forms, thus performing its distinctive
   function. The accentual patterns of
   words or the degrees of word stress and their positions form
   oppositions (“/import – im /port”, “/present – pre
   /sent”).

-3-

There are
actually as many degrees of word stress in a word as there are
syllables. The British linguists usually distinguish three degrees of
stress in the word. The primary stress is the strongest (e.g.
exami/nation), the secondary stress is the second strongest one (e.g.
ex,ami/nation). All the other degrees are termed “weak stress”.
Unstressed syllables are supposed to have weak stress. The American
scholars, B. Bloch and J. Trager, find 4 contrastive degrees
of word stress: locid, reduced locid, medial and weak.

In
Germanic languages the word stress originally fell on the initial
syllable or the second syllable, the root syllable in the English
words with prefixes. This tendency was called recessive. Most English
words of Anglo-Saxon origin as well as the French borrowings are
subjected to this recessive tendency.

Languages
are also differentiated according to the placement of word stress.
The traditional classification of languages concerning the place of
stress in a word is into those with a
fixed stress and a free stress. In
languages with a fixed stress the occurrence of the word stress is
limited to a particular syllable in a multisyllabic word. For
example, in French the stress falls on the last syllable of the word
(if pronounced in isolation), in Finnish and Czech it is fixed on the
first syllable.

Some
borrowed words retain their stress.

In languages with a free
stress its place is not confined to a specific position in the word.
The free placement of stress is exemplified in the English and
Russian languages

(e.g. E. appetite – begin –
examination

R.
озеро – погода
– молоко)

The word
stress in English as well as in Russian is not only free but it may
also be shifting performing semantic function of differentiating
lexical units, parts of speech, grammatical forms. It is worth noting
that in English word stress is used as a means of word-building (e.g.
/contrast – con/trast, /music – mu /sician).

Questions:

1. What
   features characterize word accent?

2. Identify
   the functions of word stress.

3. What
   are the types of word stress?

4. Do AmE and
   BE have any differences in the system of word stress? Give your
   examples.

Lecture 8. Intonation

1. Intonation.

2. The
   linguistic function of intonation.

3. The
   implications of a terminal tone.

4. Rhythm.

-1-

Intonation is a language
universal. There are no languages which are spoken as a monotone,
i.e. without any change of prosodic parametres. On perceptional level
intonation is a complex, a whole, formed by significant variations of
pitch, loudness and tempo closely related. Some linguists regard
speech timber as the fourth component of intonation. Though it
certainly conveys some shades of attitudinal or emotional meaning
there’s no reason to consider it alongside with the 3
prosodic components of intonation (pitch, loudness and tempo).
Nowadays the term “prosody” substitutes the term “intonation”.

On the acoustic level pitch
correlates with the fundamental frequency of the vibrations of the
vocal cords; loudness correlates with the amplitude of vibrations;
tempo is a correlate of time during which a speech unit lasts.

The auditory level is very
important for teachers of foreign languages. Each syllable of the
speech chain has a special pitch colouring. Some of the syllables
have significant moves of tone up and down. Each syllable bears a
definite amount of loudness. Pitch movements are inseparably
connected with loudness. Together with the tempo of speech they form
an intonation pattern which is the basic unit of intonation.

An intonation pattern contains
one nucleus and may contain other stressed or unstressed syllables
normally preceding or following the nucleus. The boundaries of an
intonation pattern may be marked by stops of phonation, that is
temporal pauses.

Intonation patterns serve to
actualize syntagms in oral speech. The syntagm
is a group of words which are semantically and syntactically
complete. In phonetics they are called intonation
groups. The
intonation group is a stretch of speech which may have the length of
the whole phrase. But the phrase often contains more than one
intonation group. The number of them depends on the length of phrase
and the degree of semantic impotence or emphasis given to various
parts of it. The position of intonation groups may affect the
meaning.

-2-

The communicative
function of
intonation is realized in various ways which can be grouped under
five – six general headings:

1. to
   structure the intonation content of a textual unit. So as to show
   which information is new or can not be taken for granted, as against
   information which the listener is assumed to possess or to be able
   to acquire from the context, that is given information;

2. to
   determine the speech function of a phrase, to indicate whether it is
   intended as a statement, question, etc;

3. to
   convey connotational meanings of attitude, such as surprise, etc. In
   the written form we are given only the lexics and the grammar;

4. to
   structure a text. Intonation is an organizing mechanism. It divides
   texts into smaller parts and on the other hand it integrates them
   forming a complete text;

5. to
   differentiate the meaning of textual units of the same phonetic
   structure and the same lexical composition (distinctive or
   phonological function);

6. to
   characterize a particular style or variety of oral speech which may
   be called a stylistic function.

-3-

Classification of intonation
patterns:

Different combinations of
pitch sections (pre-heads, heads and nuclei) may result in more than
one hundred pitch-and-stress patterns. But it is not necessary to
deal with all of them, because some patterns occur very rarely. So,
attention must be concentrated on the commonest ones:

1. The Low (Medium) Fall
   pitch-and-stress group

2. The
   High Fall group

3. Rise
   Fall group

4. The
   Low Rise group

5. The
   High Rise group

6. The
   Fall Rise group

7. The
   Rise-Fall-Rise group

8. The
   Mid-level group

No intonation pattern is used
exclusively with this or that sentence type. Some sentences are more
likely to be said with one intonation pattern than with any other. So
we can speak about “common intonation” for a particular type of
sentence.

1. Statements are most widely
   used with the Low Fall preceded by the Falling or the High level
   Head. They are final, complete and definite.

2. Commands,
   with the Low Fall are very powerful, intense, serious and strong.

3. Exclamations
   are very common with the High Fall.

-4-

We cannot fully describe
English intonation without reference to speech rhythm. Rhythm
seems to be a kind of framework of speech organization. Some
linguists consider it to be one of the components of intonation.

Rhythm is understood as
periodicity in time and space. We find it everywhere in life. Rhythm
as a linguistic notion is realized in lexical, syntactical and
prosodic means and mostly in their combinations.

In speech,
the type of rhythm depends on the language. Linguists divide
languages into two groups:

1. syllable-timed(French, Spanish);

2. stress-timed(English, German, Russian).

In a
syllable-timed language the speaker gives an approximately equal
amount of time to each syllable, whether the syllable is stressed or
unstressed.

In a
stress-timed language the rhythm is based on a larger unit, than
syllable. Though the amount of time given on each syllable varies
considerably, the total time of uttering each rhythmic unit is
practically unchanged. The stressed syllables of a rhythmic unit form
peaks of prominence. They tend to be pronounced at regular intervals
no matter how many unstressed syllables are located between every 2
stressed ones. Thus the distribution of time within the rhythmic unit
is unequal.

Speech
rhythm is traditionally defined as recurrence of stressed syllables
at more or less equal intervals of time in a speech continuum.

Questions:

1. Name
   the basic components of intonation.

2. What
   is the connection between pitch and tempo?

3. What
   for do we need different nuclear tones?

4. Which
   nuclei are the commonest?

Lecture
9. Territorial varieties of English pronunciation

1. Varieties
   of language.

2. English
   variants.

-1-

The
varieties of the language are conditioned by language communities
ranging from small groups to nations. National
language is the language of a nation,
the standard of its form, the language of a nation’s literature.
The literary spoken form has its national
pronunciation standard. A “standard”
may be defined as a socially accepted variety of a language
established by a codified norm of correctness. It is generally
accepted that for the “English English” it is “Received
Pronunciation” or RP; for the “American English” – “General
American pronunciation”; for the Australian English – “Educated
Australian”.

Though
every national variant of English has considerable differences in
pronunciation, lexics and grammar, they all have much in common which
gives us ground to speak of one and the same language – the English
language.

Every
national variety of the language falls into territorial
or regional dialects. Dialects are
distinguished from each other by differences in pronunciation,
grammar and vocabulary. When we refer to varieties in pronunciation
only, we use the word “accent”.

The social
differentiation of language is closely connected with the social
differentiation of society. Every language community, ranging from a
small group to a nation has its own social
dialect, and consequently, its own
social accent.

The
“language situation” may be spoken about in terms of the
horizontal and vertical differentiations of the language, the first
in accordance with the sphere of social activity, the second – with
its situational variability. Situational varieties of the language
are called functional dialects or functional styles and situational
pronunciation varieties – situational accents or phonostyles.

-2-

Nowadays
two main types of English are spoken in the English-speaking world:
English English and American English.

According to British
dialectologists (P. Trudgill, J. Hannah, A. Hughes and others) the
following variants of English are referred to the English-based
group: English English, Welsh English, Australian English, New
Zealand English; to the American-based group: United States English,
Canadian English.

Scottish English and Irish
English fall somewhere between the two being somewhat by themselves.

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Stress in phonetics, In linguistics , and particularly in phonology , emphasis or accent is the relative emphasis or prominence given to a particular syllable in a word or to a particular word in a phrase or sentence . This emphasis is usually caused by properties such as increased vowel volume and length, full vowel articulation , and changes in pitch. The terms emphasis and accentare often used synonymously in this context, but are sometimes differentiated. For example, when emphasis is produced only through tone, it is called pitch accent, and when produced only through length, it is called quantitative accent . ^[3] When caused by a combination of several intensified properties, it is termed accented or dynamic accent ; English uses what is called a variable stress accent .

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

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

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

The accent placed on words within sentences is called sentence accent or prosodic accent . This is one of the three components of prosody , along with rhythm and intonation . It includes phrasal stress (the standard emphasis of certain words in sentences or sentences ) and contrastive stress (used to highlight an item, a word, or part of a word, which is given a specific focus).

There are several ways in which stress manifests itself in the flow of speech, and this depends to some extent on which language is being spoken. Stressed syllables are often higher than unstressed syllables and may have a higher or lower pitch . Sometimes they can also be pronounced longer . Sometimes there are differences in the place or form of articulation – in particular, vowels in unstressed syllables may have a more central (or ” neutral “) tone.”) articulation, while those in stressed syllables have a more peripheral articulation. Tension can be perceived to varying degrees in different words in a sentence; sometimes the difference between the acoustic signals of stressed and unstressed syllables is minimal.

WORD STRESS

The first thing you need to do when checking the pronunciation of a word in the dictionary is to see which syllable is stressed. this is called word stress in English. Stress in phonetics

Not all languages ​​have stressed syllables and therefore many students tend to neglect this aspect and do not check it out. Some people naturally emphasize the last syllables, while others always emphasize the first. This is how our mother tongue can affect our English and it is a common mistake. This is the main reason why you are still speaking with a foreign accent! In English, however, word stress varies widely and contributes greatly to the understanding of a word.

It may even happen that, if we articulate a word incorrectly, but still emphasize the correct syllable, our interlocutor will understand us . Whereas, if we articulate too much and completely neglect the stress of words, it will make them difficult to understand.

In phonetics, the word stress is shown by this symbol (which looks like an apostrophe) : '. It is placed before the stressed syllable. Here are some examples of common words that students tend to mispronounce:

• ACtion /‘æk·ʃən/
• OPtion /ˈɑp·ʃən/
• SIlence /ˈsaɪ·ləns/
• diRECtion /dɪˈrɛk·ʃən/

In English, the word stress can sometimes be the only difference between a noun and a verb. Compare:

• RECord /ˈɹɛk·ɝd/ (like a world record)
• to reCORD /ɹɪˈkɔɹd/(make a recording of something)

We can see that the word stress has an impact not only on the intonation, power and length of a syllable, but also on its articulation. Stress in phonetics

The word stress can also be the only difference between an adjective and a verb:

• PERfect /ˈpɝ·fɪkt/= perfect, impeccable
• to perFECT /pɝˈfɛkt/= to make perfect

Because it is such an important topic in English pronunciation, we are preparing an entire article on the rules for the word stress.

Articulation

Breaking down a word to analyze each of its sounds is essential for learning to pronounce it well. Focus on sounds that don’t exist in your own language, as these will tend to be the most difficult. Discover our infographic of all American English sounds !

When we take the time to identify the sounds in English that don’t exist in our own language, it reduces the risk of making an embarrassing mistake! This can be the difference between asking for a bigCoke(the fizzy drink) and order a bigcock(penis).

For example, I was not aware of the existence of the so-called sound TH for years until I learned about the International Phonetic Alphabet (or the IPA). This means that I had spent about 8 years speaking English without even knowing all of its sounds… quite embarrassing, I know. But you can learn from my mistakes!

In short, the analysis of the sounds that make up words is a fundamental step in their studies. Let’s take an example with the word “thought /θɔt/“. Stress in phonetics

We can immediately see that the pronunciation of this word is very different from its spelling, so let’s take a closer look:

• We see that it is composed of three phonemes:
  • /θ/;
  • /ɔ/; and
  • /t/
  • while the GHit’s silent.
• Of all these, the one that does not exist in most languages ​​is“θ”!

This type of word-breaking exercise is called chunkingand is the basis for good learning. It allows you to understand how English is actually pronounced and to start speaking it with a better accent and, therefore, with more confidence.

So focus your efforts on these sounds, don’t be afraid to overdo it at first until you get used to it. Over time, it will become a habit and you will be able to pronounce even the most difficult words!

How to learn WORD STRESS?

 You can learn WORD STRESS in two ways.

The first is listening to the words. So when your teacher or a friend who knows English speaks a new word, pay attention to how the word is pronounced. Repeat the pronunciation of the word and this way you will naturally learn which syllable is stressed. Stress in phonetics

Another way for you to learn WORD STRESS is with the help of a dictionary. It may seem strange, but all the information you need about the pronunciation of a word is present in a good dictionary, whether physical or online.

SENTENCE STRESS 

Sentence stress is the term used to refer to the phenomenon in which a particular word is said more emphatically within a sentence.

This means that in English, a sentence is not spoken robotically, word for word, like the following example:

• Marcia didn’t buy the red dress.

If spoken mechanically the sentence is meaningless. It is empty, strange, tasteless. It is just a simple repetition of words in sequence.

In a natural chat, we can emphasize one word or another in the sentence and thus communicate different things. That is, depending on the word we emphasize, we will communicate an idea in a very different and clearer way.

In short, this thing of emphasizing a word in a sentence is what we call sentence stress .

Sentence Stress in Practice

Listen to the way each sentence below is said. See how this actually works in practice.

1. Marcia didn’t buy the red dress.
2. Marcia didn’t buy the red dress.
3. Marcia didn’t buy the red dress.
4. Marcia didn’t buy the red dress.
5. Marcia didn’t buy the red dress.
6. Marcia didn’t buy the red dress .

At each moment, the word spoken more intensely changes the meaning of the central idea being communicated:

1. I’m talking about Marcia. I’m not talking about Carol, Fátima or Patricia… I’m talking about Marcia.
2. What I’m saying is that she didn’t. She took the dress, looked at it, tried it on, but didn’t buy it.
3. She won the dress. She stole the dress. She found the dress on the street. Don’t even think she bought it, because that wasn’t it. She got the dress by other means. Stress in phonetics
4. It wasn’t the red dress she wanted so badly, but it was another red dress that was in the store.
5. There was no more red, so she bought the pink, the white, the blue, the black, the lilac, the yellow… Anyway, it was a dress of another color.
6. She bought the red miniskirt, the red shirt, the red top; but not the red dress.

That’s how it is in English. There’s no way to escape! The main word of the sentence – the one that carries the central meaning of what is being said – will always be said in a stronger, more intense, emphatic way.

Depending on the word being emphasized within the sentence, the meaning ( the idea expressed ) may change completely.

The importance of SENTENCE STRESS

You’ve certainly reached a point in your English learning where you’ve heard about sentence stress. This subject usually comes into play when we are studying the pronunciation of the English language . So, let’s understand what sentence stress is.

For starters, remember that when we learn an English word, we have to learn a number of things about it: meaning, usage in the proper context, pronunciation, spelling , etc. Stress in phonetics

We also have to learn how the word is pronounced correctly. This means learning what the stressed syllable of the word is.

This stressed syllable thing is known in English as word stress . The syllables in bold in the words below indicate which syllable is stressed in each of them:

• im by tant /ɪmˈpɔrtnt/
• po lice  /pəˈlis/
• com pu have /kəmˈpjutər/
• communication / kəˌmjunɪˈkeɪʃn /
• in teresting /ˈɪntrəstɪŋ/
• di fference /ˈdɪfrəns/
• Brazil / brəˈzɪl  /

Learning which syllable is stressed in a word is very important. So you will correctly pronounce the words you are learning. However, when learning English a much more important thing than learning word stress  is learning what we call  sentence stress .

This sentence stress is fundamental in communicating in English. This should be taught to entry-level students from the first day of class. After all, this helps us to develop listening and also to speak more clearly.

Written English vs Spoken English

When we see a written sentence we can understand what it means because of the words and grammatical structure used. But as far as sentence stress is concerned , we can’t say what it really means. Because, only listening to it in a natural context will we know what the person really wants to communicate. Let’s take the sentence below as an example:

• My older brother studied English years ago.

We can easily interpret the sentence as “ My older brother studied English years ago ”. However, in a real context depending on the word being emphasized the meaning will change.

To practice this, you can read the above sentence mechanically, without emotion, word for word. That way, you’ll notice that you’re not using any sentence stress .

Then you can read the same sentence emphasizing ( speaking more emphatically ) one word at a time. In addition, you can also imagine the meaning conveyed by emphasizing each word.

For example, read the sentence above emphasizing only the word “ my ”: MY older brother doesn’t study English . Then imagine what is actually being communicated by saying the sentence in this way: I am not referring to my brother, but to someone else’s brother.

In our previous post, we shared 12 great tips to help you improve your English pronunciation.  For tip number nine, Understanding Word Stress & Sentence Stress, we explained the importance of word stress rules for communicating effectively in English. In this post, we delve a little deeper into the subject.

What is Word Stress?

The stress placed on syllables within words is called word stress. In one word, we place emphasis on one syllable, while the other syllables are given less emphasis.

English words only have one stressed syllable. Whilst longer words can have a secondary stress, it is always a much lighter stress. It is also worth noting that we stress vowel sounds and not consonants.

In English we have variable stress where the position of the stress is unpredictable. This contrasts with some other languages – like Polish or Finnish – that have fixed stress where the stress on virtually any multi-syllable word falls on a particular syllable. Learn more here.

Where you place stress or emphasis within a word can affect the way in which it is pronounced and therefore its meaning. As a result, knowing which syllable within a word should be emphasised or stressed is very important for correct pronunciation. The reason for this is that placing stress on the wrong syllable within a word can completely change the meaning of a word.

Understanding The Importance of Word Stress

So, understanding the importance of word stress is vital if you want to improve your English pronunciation and speak English like a native English.

But if word stress is so important, exactly what are the rules that we need to follow?

As with so many aspects of the English language, there are many rules to learn. Then, to make things even more tricky, there are also many contradictions or exceptions to those rules. This can make learning English more challenging for some students.

To help you out, we have compiled some simple guidelines for learning the rules of word stress.  We don’t cover all aspects of English word stress rules but the points  we have mentioned will certainly get you started.

English Word Stress Rules

1. Word Stress For Two-Syllable Words

Two-Syllable Nouns

If the word is a two-syllable noun, we usually place the stress on the FIRST syllable.

Example: MONkey, TEAcher, DIStance, INsect, TAble,

Two-Syllable Adjectives

If the word is a two-syllable adjective,  as with two-syllable nouns, we usually place the stress on the FIRST syllable.

Examples: SIlent, BORing, LIttle, PURple, STUpid, CLEver, FRIEndly

Two Syllable Verbs

Conversely, if the word is a two-syllable verb we generally stress the SECOND syllable.

Examples: beGIN, surVIVE, aTTEND, coLLECT, preVENT

See more examples of verbs where the second syllable is stressed.

Two Syllable Prepositions

The SECOND syllable is also stressed if the word is a preposition.

Examples: aROUND, beFORE, beLOW, inSIDE, toWARDS (See more examples of prepositions with stress on second syllable)

2. Word Stress For Words That Are Both Nouns & Verbs

When a word can be both a noun and a verb, we stress the FIRST syllable for the noun and the SECOND syllable for the verb.

Examples:

1) The violent CONflict between the couple conFLICTS with their pacifistic beliefs.

2) The PREsents he preSENTS his wife never fail to disappoint her.

3) They will no doubt disCOUNT my suggestion for DIScounts on Chinese courses for the elderly.

Click here for some good examples with audio included:

As mentioned, there are always exceptions to the rules. That said, it’s fairly accurate to say that only around 20% of two-syllable words have their stress on the second syllable.

3. Word Stress For Words Ending in ‘er’ & ‘ly’.

If a word ends in either ‘er’ or ‘ly’, whether it’s a noun, an adjective or an adverb, the general rules is that the stress is placed on the first syllable.

Example:

ANgrily, PERfectly, SUddenly, HAppily,

FOReigner, GARdener, BARtender, MANager

BIgger, BEtter, FAtter

4. Words That Use The Suffix ade, ee, ese, ique, ette & oon

Stress the actual suffix of words (including the first consonant before the suffix) ending in -ade, -ee, -ese, -ique and -ette and -oon

Examples:

deCADE, inVADE,

ampuTEE, guaranTEE, aGREE,

ChiNESE, oBESE, legaLESE,

vinaigRETTE, kitcheNETTE, laundeRETTE,

anTIQUE, obLIQUE,

carTOON, baBOON

5. Simple Word Stress Rules For Suffixes

The rule changes for words with a number of other suffixes such as -ery, -ian, -ible, -able, i-al, -cian, -ic, -ish, -ics, -ion, -ious, -ia, and -ient. Instead of placing the emphasis on the actual suffix as illustrated in the examples above, we stress the syllable just before the suffix.

Examples:

-ery: CELery, SURgery, reCOVery
-ian: boHEMian, coMEdian, ciVILian, beauTICian
-ible: AUDible, adMISSible, SENSible
-able: aDAPTable, SUITable, CHANGEable
-ial: fiNANcial, artiFICial, oFFICial
-cian: maGIcian, opTIcian, beauTIcian
-ic: BAsic, draMAtic, characteRIStic
-ish: GARish, ENglish, unSELfish
-ics: dyNAMics, aeRObics, hypNOtics
-ion: VERsion, classifiCAtion, CAUtion
-ious: harMONious, PREvious, VARious, FURious
-ia: TRIVia, maLARia, multiMEdia
-ient: ANcient, NUtrient, suFICient
-osis: thromBOsis, psyCHOsis, osMOsis

A good way to remember some of the suffixes above is to use the rule for nearly all suffixes that start with an ‘i’ or a ‘u’. For example, the suffixes -ion, -ual, -uous, -ial, -ient, -ious, -iuor, ior, -ic, -ity.

Notice again  how we stress the syllable immediately before the suffix in the following examples:

diVERsion,

unUSual,

conTINuous,

amBIGuous,

FATuous,

SPAtial,

TRANSient,

LUSCious,

suPERior,

behaviour,

JUNior,

STOic,

linGUIStic,

photoGRAPHic

Note, some exceptions to this rule include words ending in -ism, -ist and -ize.

English Word Stress Videos




How Dictionaries Help With Word Stress

If you are unsure about where to place the stress in a word, you can always refer to an English dictionary.  All good dictionaries give the phonetic spelling of a word.

You can learn which syllable of a word is stressed by looking at the phonetic spelling. The stressed syllable is commonly shown with an apostrophe (‘) just before or just after the stressed syllable.

Unfortunately, dictionary creators never agreed on one system so you should refer to your dictionary’s (how to use this dictionary) notes to see which system they use.

Here’s an example from my dictionary that shows which syllable to stress by placing the apostrophe immediately BEFORE the stressed syllable:

photograph | ‘fəʊtəɡrɑːf

photographic | ˌfəʊtə’ɡrafɪk 

Using the system of capitalising the stressed syllable as in all of my examples above, these two dictionary examples look like this:

PHOtograph

photGRAPHic

Learn Word Stress With Practise & Experience

As previously mentioned, the list of rules above is by no means complete. However, it does explain where to place the primary emphasis on numerous English words.

If the thoughts of learning all these rules is overwhelming, do not be too discouraged.  Many English learners naturally assimilate to word stress rules simply by listening and practicing the language.

Probably the best way to learn is from experience.  Try to get a feel for the music of the language by listening carefully to spoken English.

Of course, if you would like some extra assistance with your English speaking skills, contact us to find out more about our English courses in Hong Kong.

Here’s a brief overview of our English courses. Click the image for more details.

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

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.