Word stress in english pronunciation

There are two very simple rules about word stress:

  1. One word has only one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. If you hear two stresses, you hear two words. Two stresses cannot be one word. It is true that there can be a «secondary» stress in some words. But a secondary stress is much smaller than the main [primary] stress, and is only used in long words.)
  2. We can only stress vowels, not consonants.

Here are some more, rather complicated, rules that can help you understand where to put the stress. But do not rely on them too much, because there are many exceptions. It is better to try to «feel» the music of the language and to add the stress naturally.

A. Stress on first syllable

rule examples

Most 2-syllable nouns

 
PRESent
EXport
CHIna
TAble

Most 2-syllable adjectives

 
PRESent
SLENder
CLEVer
HAPpy

B. Stress on last syllable

rule examples

Most 2-syllable verbs

 
preSENT
exPORT
deCIDE
beGIN

There are many two-syllable words in English whose meaning and class change with a change in stress. The word present, for example is a two-syllable word. If we stress the first syllable, it is a noun (gift) or an adjective (opposite of absent). But if we stress the second syllable, it becomes a verb (to offer). More examples: the words export, import, contract and object can all be nouns or verbs depending on whether the stress is on the first or second syllable.

C. Stress on penultimate syllable (penultimate = second from end)

rule examples

Words ending in -ic

 
GRAPHic
geoGRAPHic
geoLOGic

Words ending in -sion and -tion

 
teleVIsion
reveLAtion

For a few words, native English speakers don’t always «agree» on where to put the stress. For example, some people say teleVIsion and others say TELevision. Another example is: CONtroversy and conTROversy.

D. Stress on ante-penultimate syllable (ante-penultimate = third from end)

rule examples

Words ending in -cy, -ty, -phy and -gy

 
deMOcracy
dependaBIlity
phoTOgraphy
geOLogy

Words ending in -al

 
CRItical
geoLOGical

E. Compound words (words with two parts)

rule examples

For compound nouns, the stress is on the first part

 
BLACKbird
GREENhouse

For compound adjectives, the stress is on the second part

 
bad-TEMpered
old-FASHioned

For compound verbs, the stress is on the second part

 
underSTAND
overFLOW

Contributor: Josef Essberger

Updated: August 2020

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April 13, 2022

8 English Word Stress Rules to Promote Clear Communication

There should be a rhythm to English sentences—it shouldn’t sound flat, monotone (all in the same tone) and boring!

I know it sounds like an additional challenge, especially when speaking English is already difficult.

However, when you pronounce every bit of a word and sentence with the same pitch, volume and length, it might make it difficult for native speakers to understand you.

Contents

  • Why Word Stress Matters
  • What Is Word Stress?
    • Identifying syllables to understand word stress
    • Features of a stressed syllable
  • 8 Word Stress Rules to Improve Your English Pronunciation
    • 1. Nouns and adjectives with two syllables
    • 2. Verbs and prepositions with two syllables
    • 3. Words that are both a noun and a verb
    • 4. Three syllable words ending in “er” and “ly”
    • 5. Words ending in “ic,” “sion” and “tion”
    • 6. Words ending in “cy,” “ty,” “phy,” “gy” and “al”
    • 7. Compound nouns
    • 8. Compound adjectives and verbs
  • Resources to Perfect Your Word Stress Skills


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Why Word Stress Matters

In her head, this sentence was understandable to Saskia:

“Dessert is my favorite thing!”

But when she said this to a friend, a native English speaker, he looked confused and asked her:

“Why? It’s just sand and has no life. It could also be dangerous!”

Then it was Saskia’s turn to be puzzled.

Can you guess the source of the problem?

Well, the problem here is word stress. Saskia got the word (“dessert”—the sweet heavenly thing) right, but she said it with the emphasis in the wrong place and the word sounded like “desert”—a dry perilous place.

This is just one example of how important word stress is to improving your pronunciation and speaking English like a native speaker. Perhaps you don’t know much (or anything at all) about the stress in English words yet, but trust me, it’s the key to improving your communication skills, both with speaking to a native English speaker and listening to English.

Also, I’m not just telling you how important word stress is. This guide will take you through the basics of this pronunciation challenge and provide you with eight rules to start doing it right.

Learning word stress is a crucial part of becoming an advanced English learner.

In addition to word stress, it is important to learn the pronunciation of the English dialect you want to speak.

What Is Word Stress?

In English, the individual sounds of a word (i.e. syllables—which we’ll discuss in just a moment) aren’t pronounced with the same weight. One syllable receives more emphasis than the others.

For example, there are three syllables in the word “beautiful” /BEAU-ti-ful/ and the word stress falls on the first one /BEAU/. (Please note that in this guide, I’ll demonstrate the stress in a word by capitalizing all the letters that make up the syllable.)

Now that you have the definition of word stress, let’s dive deeper into syllables to comprehend word stress.

Identifying syllables to understand word stress

A syllable is a unit of pronunciation that has one vowel sound. A word might have one syllable (like “an” or “can”) or more, such as “po-lice” (two syllables), “com-pa-ny” (three syllables), “ne-ce-ssa-ry” (four syllables), etc.

Just for fun, do you know the English word with the most syllables?

The answer is “antidisestablishmentarianism.” (The opposition of the belief that there shouldn’t be an official church in a country.)

The word has 12 syllables!

Remember that syllables aren’t similar to letters. For example, “scratch” has seven letters but one syllable, while “umami” has five letters but three syllables. Whatever the word, pay attention to the vowels because one of them will be where you find the stress of a word.

Features of a stressed syllable

Now you know that you need to emphasize a particular vowel in a specific syllable of a word. However, you might still wonder exactly how to do so. Let’s take a look at a native speaker’s speech pattern.

When a native speaker stresses a syllable in a word, this is what they do:

  • Produce a longer vowel
  • Raise the pitch of the syllable to a higher level
  • Say the syllable louder
  • Pronounce it with clarity
  • Create a more distinctive facial movement

Don’t forget these five features next time you pronounce a word!

8 Word Stress Rules to Improve Your English Pronunciation

1. Nouns and adjectives with two syllables

The rule: When a noun (a word referring to a person, thing, place or abstract quality) or an adjective (a word that gives information about a noun) has two syllables, the stress is usually on the first syllable.

Examples:

table /TA-ble/

scissors /SCI-ssors/

pretty /PRE-tty/,

clever /CLE-ver/

Exceptions: Unfortunately, there are exceptions to this rule. It could be that a word was borrowed from another language or it could be totally random. You just have to learn these “outsiders” by heart. Here are three words you can start with:

hotel /ho-TEL/

extreme /ex-TREME/

concise /con-CISE/

2. Verbs and prepositions with two syllables

The rule: When a verb (a word referring to an action, event or state of being) or a preposition (a word that comes before a noun, pronoun or the “-ing” form of a verb, and shows its relation to another word or part of the sentence) has two syllables, the stress is usually on the second syllable.

Examples:

present /pre-SENT/

export /ex-PORT/

aside /a-SIDE/

between /be-TWEEN/

3. Words that are both a noun and a verb

The rule: Some words in English can be both a noun and a verb. In those cases, the noun has its word stress on the first syllable, and with the verb, the stress falls on the second syllable.

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll see that this rule is a derivation from the prior two sections and notice some of the same words. However, this is a separate section since those pairs of words are relatively common in English and they’re likely to cause misunderstanding due to the same spelling.

Examples:

present /PRE-sent/ (a gift) vs. present /pre-SENT/ (give something formally)

export /EX-port/ (the practice or business of selling goods to another country or an article that is exported) vs. export /ex-PORT/ (to sell goods to another country)

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

There are, however, exceptions to this rule. For example, the word “respect” has a stress on the second syllable both when it’s a verb and a noun.

4. Three syllable words ending in “er” and “ly”

The rule: Words that have three syllables and end in “-er” or “-ly” often have a stress on the first syllable.

Examples:

orderly /OR-der-ly/

quietly /QUI-et-ly/

manager /MA-na-ger/

5. Words ending in “ic,” “sion” and “tion”

The rule: When a word ends in “ic,” “sion” or “tion,” the stress is usually on the second-to-last syllable. You count syllables backwards and put a stress on the second one from the end.

Examples:

creation /cre-A-tion/

commission /com-MI-ssion/

photographic /pho-to-GRA-phic/

6. Words ending in “cy,” “ty,” “phy,” “gy” and “al”

The rule: When a word ends in “cy,” “ty,” “phy,” “gy” and “al,” the stress is often on the third to last syllable. Similarly, you count syllables backwards and put a stress on the third one from the end.

Examples:

democracy /de-MO-cra-cy/

photography /pho-TO-gra-phy/

logical /LO-gi-cal/

commodity /com-MO-di-ty/

psychology /psy-CHO-lo-gy/

7. Compound nouns

The rule: In most compound nouns (a noun made up of two or more existing words), the word stress is on the first noun.

Examples:

football /FOOT-ball/

keyboard /KEY-board/

8. Compound adjectives and verbs

The rule: In most compound adjectives (a single adjective made of more than one word and often linked with a hyphen) and compound verbs (a multi-word verb that functions as a single verb), the stress is on the second word.

Examples:

old-fashioned /old-FA-shioned/

understand /un-der–STAND/

Resources to Perfect Your Word Stress Skills

Here are some resources to learn about this important factor of English pronunciation:

  • Forvo — Forvo is definitely one of the more popular audio dictionaries on the market. Translations are provided if you type in a word in English, and a map is shown to give you audio clips of how people say the particular word in varying dialects. For your convenience, we’ve linked the words in the guide to this resource so you’ll be able to hear the pronunciation immediately.
  • Merriam-Webster — Merriam-Webster is a well-known dictionary and has high-quality definitions—all available offline. It lets you save favorites, has a word of the day and keeps track of recent searches you did. It’s also available as an app on both iOS and Android devices. Other dictionaries with pronunciation citations you can check out are MacMillan and Cambridge.
  • FluentU — FluentU is a language learning website and app that teaches with videos made by, and for, native English speakers. This means you can learn and get used to the sounds of the language in context. Each clip comes with interactive subtitles where you can click on a word to get its definition as well as information on pronunciation. You can also practice writing and speaking vocabulary with personalized quizzes.
  • English Club — English Club is a popular site for both English learners and teachers. It provides grammar lessons in small, easy-to-understand parts. There are also fun quizzes and games so you can practice the knowledge you learn. It’s entirely free. You can also find more word stress quizzes and exercises from Word Stress Rules and esl-lounge.

Constant practice will improve your stress pronunciation quickly and effectively! Soon, you can confidently apply what you learned to real conversations and sound like a true native speaker.

Mastering the subject of word stress isn’t easy, as there are many rules and exceptions. While native speakers do it naturally, English learners have to get there through a lot of practice and repetition.

These eight English speaking and word stress rules in this guide might seem a bit overwhelming but they work as references. Next time you hear a word or look something up in a dictionary, come back to these rules.

Make it a habit to be more aware of what you learn and soon you’ll perfect your pronunciation.


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can take anywhere.
Click here to get a copy. (Download)

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RULES OF WORD STRESS: Essential Guide for Improving
English Pronunciation

Learning the rules of word stress in English can be both fun and challenging. The English language, unlike any other language, has complicated rules especially when it comes to pronunciation particularly word stress.

For some people, learning the different rules of word stress is not quite a necessity but it is otherwise. Technically, not being able to correctly stress a particular word can result in a very unnatural and reprehensible rhythm of the English language.

For example, when you hear your friend saying BAnana or banaNA as opposed to saying banana sounds laughable and very unpleasant, right?

Generally, learning the rules of word stress in English can be a little stressful especially to those who are still new learners of the English language but learning the basic yet completely useful tips can surely hasten your progress in English.

How are syllables and word stress connected?

Where you put the stress on the word banana? Is it on the first, second, or third syllable?

Well, you got it right, neither banana nor banana is right. Because this fruit name which I think we all love is pronounced banana. /bəˈnæn.ə/

As you noticed, the stress of the word is in the second syllable, it’s in the middle.

By simply, considering the example word we have there, we can conclude that syllable and stress are related to each other in a sense that we out the stress of the word on the syllable. This sounds like a piece of very first-grader information but surprisingly, several people don’t know the true relationship between these two.

To segue, always remember that a syllable in English has only one vowel sound and one or more consonant sounds.

For example:

How many syllables are there in the word pen? There’s only 1.

The word pen has only 1 syllable

The word teacher has 2 syllables: tea-cher;

Afternoon has 3: Af-ter-noon;

Presentation has 4: Pre-sen-ta-tion

But how are syllables and stress connected?

Think about the word banana. Do you pronounce all the syllables the same? Do you say BA-NA-NA? Definitely NOT! We can hear that one syllable is stronger and more emphasized, right? ba-NA-na. That’s what we call WORD STRESS in English!

❌  BA- NA – NA

✔ ba – NA – na

Benefits of learning the rules of word stress

In linguistics,  STRESS is referred to as the relative emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a word, or certain words in a phrase or sentence. Stress is typically signaled by such properties as increased loudness and vowel length, full articulation of the vowel, and changes in pitch.

Pronouncing words with the correct stress can make a big difference to your English. Your English will immediately sound clearer and more natural.

The great news is that there are simple rules that will help you pronounce these words correctly when you use them in spoken English. Simple English rules!

Learning the rules word stress in English can greatly help you to sound more like a native English speaker. When you learn to properly stress the word will help you:

(1) To emphasize the words that need emphasis

(2) To be understood easily and quickly

(3) And also; it gives English its rhythm.

So, when we speak, we speak those words more clearly. They’re the important words, they must be heard for the sentence to be understood.

Moreover, if you use the wrong word stress in English, you could pronounce a completely different word than the one you mean to, and that can be pretty confusing to someone you are listening to.

And when you’re listening to a native English speaker, recognizing what words are stressed will help you understand the meaning more easily too.

Stress on the Content Words

Interestingly, we stressed syllables differently in English. In most times, those words which we stress when speaking have one thing in common: They are important for you will not get the complete thought of the sentence if you don’t hear them clearly. We call these types of words Content Words. They are nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, and negatives.

Now that you already know what a syllable and word stress are and how are they related, let’s get down to the business and learn the SIMPLE YET ESSENTIAL RULES of WORD STRESS in English!

The Essential Rules of Word Stress in English

Stress Rule for 2-syllable Nouns and Adjectives

To start today’s discussion, I got you a list of words to check on.

present
record
object
import
vibrant
happy
pretty
hungry

How many syllables are there in each word? Can you put the correct stress and pronounce them correctly?

Are you sure of that? Let’s find out the real deal!

Two-syllable adjectives

As you can see, the last four words in the list are two-syllable adjectives.

present
record
object
import
vibrant
happy
pretty
hungry

We say Vi-brant, Happy, Pretty, and Hungry. When you listen closely, you’ll hear that the stress of each two-syllable adjective is on the first syllable. (VI-brant, HA-ppy, PRE-tty, HUNG-ry.)

present
record
object
import
vibrant
happy
pretty
hungry

Two-syllable Nouns

On the other hand, the first four words we have on the list are nouns, but they’re also verbs.

present
record
object
import
vibrant
happy
pretty
hungry

And they’re pronounced differently depending on the type of word that they are. If these words are nouns, which syllable do you think must be stressed? First or second?

If your answer is on the FIRST SYLLABLE, spot on! Your answer is correct! The first syllable in a two-syllable noun receives the stress in the word.

Listen closely. PRE-sent… RE – cord…OB-ject...IM-port…

present
record
object
import
vibrant
happy
pretty
hungry

The first rule of Word Stress in English, always remember THIS.  Most 2-syllable nouns and adjectives have stress on the first syllable.

For 2-syllable Verbs

The next essential rule you need to remember has something to do with two-syllable verbs.

Now, let’s bring back the words in the first example we have earlier.

present
record
object
import

As previously mentioned, if the word is a two-syllable noun, the stress of the word is on the first syllable. Clearly, since these words only have two syllables, it is given that the stress is not on the FIRST syllable BUT the SECOND syllable.

As nouns, we say PRE-sent… RE – cord…OB– ject … IM-port…

However, as verbs, the stress of the word is transferred to the second syllable. Thus, we say pre – SENT… re – CORD… ob – JECT… im – PORT…

The SECOND RULE on WORD STRESS is this. Most 2-syllable verbs have stress on the second syllable.

present
record
object
import
suspect

Now, let’s check out these sentences containing the word comment. Can you apply the proper word stress and read the sentence correctly?

Please comment on this and drop the comment sheet in the comment box.

As you can see,  we have 3 comments in the sentence. Yes, they are the same but they function differently in the sentence. The first comment we have there is a verb. While the second and third comment function as an adjective that modifies the nouns “sheet” and “box”. What kind of sheet? A comment sheet. What kind of box? A comment box.

Easy, right?

Stress Rule for words ending in –tion and -sion

We are done talking about words containing two syllables but what about words that have 3 or more syllables? Or words with varying suffixes?

Let’s check out these words.

education
amalgamation
cooperation
decision
conclusion
vision

What suffix do you see in the examples above? Can you tell me where the stress in the following words?

You’re right, we have -tion and -sion. But did you know that there’s s a specific word stress rule with words ending in -tion and -sion regardless of how many syllables they contain?

For words ending with these suffixes, we put the stress on the second from the last syllable.

education
amalgamation
cooperation
decision
conclusion
vision

This is the THIRD RULE we have in word stress. Words ending in -sion and -tion have stress on the penultimate, that is in the 2nd from the last syllable.

For Words ending in -ety, -ity, ify, ical and –ive

Besides the suffixes -tion and -sion, another group of suffixes also follows a definite rule in word stress. These are the words ending in -ety, -ity, ify, ical and –ive.

Let’s take a look at our sample words.

society
sobriety
probability
identity
clarify
intensify
critical
clerical
decisive
intensive

Can you spot the suffixes we have in the words we have on the list?

We have -ety in Society and Sobriety;

-ity in Probability and Identity;

-ify in Clarify and Intensify;

-ical in Critical and Clerical;

And last, we have -ive in Decisive and Intensive.

Now, let’s consider the words we have below.

Society
Sobriety
Probability
Identity
Clarify
Intensify
Critical
Clerical
Decisive
Intensive

But on which syllable do we stress when we read words ending with these suffixes? First? Second? Third? Or fourth?

Notice that when I read the words, I emphasize the syllable before the suffixes -ety, -ity, ify, ical and -ive. As in soCIety, probaBIlity, claRIfy, CRItical and deCIsive.

The FOURTH RULE on WORD STRESS is this. Words ending in -ity, -ety, -ify, -ical, -ive have stress on the syllable immediately before these.

For Words ending in –ate

Another common rule we have in WORD STRESS is the rule that applies to the words ending in the suffix -ate.

Sometimes, non-native English speakers would put the stress on words ending in –ate on the last syllable. But do you think that’s right? Well, I bet may you are not that sure as well.

So, what is the stress rule to pronounce words ending in -ate?

The FIFTH RULE is THIS. Words ending in -ate are stressed on the antepenultimate, that is the 3rd from the last syllable.

Now, listen carefully while I pronounce the words correctly.

estimate
separate
conjugate
cultivate
dedicate

When we count in reverse, we can say:

mate – ti – ES = EStimate
rate – pa – SE = SEparate
gate – ju – CON = CONjugate
vate – ti – CUL = CULtivate
cate – di – DE = DEdicate

Again, the stress in on the antepenultimate or the third is FROM the last syllable.

The Rule for Nouns containing 3 or more syllables

Finally, the last essential rule there is about word stress is for most nouns containing 3 or more syllables.

My question to you is this: WHERE DO WE PUT THE STRESS on words, PARTICULARLY NOUNS containing 3 or more syllables, do you have any idea?

Well, the safest answer would be this: There is NO DEFINITE RULE.

IMPORTANT REMINDER: Unlike grammar, pronunciation sometimes has no definite rules because its nature is developing and changing.

I repeat, there is no definite rule because unlike grammar. That’s simply because it’s the nature of the English language – it’s complicated, it’s developing from time to time, and it’s constantly changing.

However, the SIXTH RULE will also be essential for you. And the rule is THIS. In SOME cases, most nouns containing 3 or more syllables often are stressed on the antepenultimate or the 3rd from the last syllable.

Example words with 3 or more syllables Nouns

Next time, you can read nouns containing 3 or more syllables like this.

Note: The colored syllable receives the stress in the word.

photography
democracy
photosynthesis
accident
metamorphosis
borderline
syllable

The Bottom line

Now, you might ask me, do I need to learn all these? Well, my honest would be this. If you want to bring your English communication skills to a whole new level, THIS IS A MUST. And I understand that spoken English can be quite challenging to master but trust me, what you will get if you start learning and practicing what you have learned is life-changing.

Regardless of how knowledgeable you are in grammar or how excellent you are in constructing sentences in English, if you don’t know how to distinguish and stress the words correctly, and then you become unclear to the people you are talking with because they may get something a little different from what you mean.

IMPORTANT REMINDER: If you don’t know how to distinguish and stress the words correctly, you become unclear to the people. And you don’t want that to happen. That is not the goal of why you are learning English. Also, you want people to understand you and what you’re trying to say.

So, if you want to sound like a native English speaker, you must learn THIS and practice what you have learned.

If you want to read about the tips on how to learn English fast, read THIS.

You can also read our article about the 8 ways to learn English Grammar easily. 

Источник

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.

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Wondering how to teach English pronunciation more effectively? Here are definitions, examples, techniques and activity ideas for the classroom that may boost your lessons and help your learners be more successful!

Word stress is the emphasis we place in a specific syllable of a word when pronouncing it. In English words that have more than one syllable, we usually don’t pronounce every syllable with the same weight, so each syllable in a word can be stressed or unstressed.

Stressed syllables are louder than the others — i.e. air comes out of our lungs with more power; but they might also be longer, or pronounced with higher or lower in pitch. Syllables that are not pronounced with such emphasis are usually referred to as unstressed syllables, and they are usually not pronounced as clearly as the others.

Some longer words may have more than one ‘strong syllables’, but one of them tends to stand out more than the other. They are referred to as primary and secondary stress, the former being the strongest.

Stress is usually represented in the phonemic chart and transcription by the symbol /ˈ/ placed before the stresses syllable. In words that have secondary stress, we include the symbol /ˌ/ before the appropriate syllable (e.g. everybody: /ˈev.riˌbɒd.i/).

Unlike sentence stress, that frequently changes position according to the speakers’ intention, word stress tends to be fairly invariable. As a result, even when we want to emphasise a word over all others in an utterance, we tend to stick to the usual word stress pattern, making the stressed syllable even longer, louder or more high-pitched.

Because of this relative invariability, mistakes in word stress may lead to more problems with intelligibility than other errors related to pronunciation, so it is crucial that students are made aware of how the word is usually pronounced. Luckily, the same regularity makes stress patterns fairly easy to teach, and it helps students recognise words with less effort.

Next time you’re teaching, consider using the tips below to include work on word stress in your lessons.

1) Draw students’ attention to word stress whenever you teach them a new word

Even though the English language does show some identifiable patterns and ‘rules’ when it comes to word stress, they tend to be rather abstract and might confuse rather than enlighten students. You may increase chances of internalisation of accurate pronunciation, however, if you deal with word stress as an essential characteristic of the new word when teaching it, just like meaning and spelling, for example.

Some patterns may be easier for students to cope with.

2) Make word stress visible

Not only can visual reference can be quite helpful to clarify the pronunciation of words, but it can also provide students with a model they can use to systematise or organise new vocabulary they learn in a more autonomous way.

Here are some examples of how you to illustrate word stress.

3) Correct mistakes in word stress often.

Given its generally invariable character, misplacing word stress may affect intelligibility (arguably, more so than mispronunciation of individual sounds in a word). Therefore, it is of really important that learners be not only taught, but also corrected when they misplace word stress.

Some useful techniques to correct mistakes related to word stress are:

  • Use one of the ways of recording stress above to draw students’ attention to the stress pattern and ask them to try it again.

  • Use different fingers to mark each syllable and point at the one that corresponds to the stressed one.

  • Say that the pronunciation of the word isn’t accurate and give the learner a second chance to get it right.

  • Tap on a surface or clap your hands in a way that illustrates the stress pattern (alternating stronger and weaker sounds).

  • Use drawings or different-sized objects to illustrate the appropriate stress patterns and ask the learner to try to produce it again.

4) Use playful activities to teach or practice pronunciation

Regardless of the age of the learner, activities that involve an element of fun can help lower learners’ affective filter, or anxiety levels, and increase opportunities for internatlisation.

The domino game below was designed for a vocabulary lesson in which pre-intermediate learners are being exposed to new lexis to describe professions and revisiting some occupations they already know.

Stage 1 — Lead-in

Students get in pairs and brainstorm jobs that are common now that weren’t common in the past.

Stage 2 — Language presentation and clarification

Meaning: Students analyse statements with the new lexis and match the highlighted words to definitions.

Example:

«I’m an intern now, but I want to keep working here after I graduate from Uni.

Definition: someone who is finishing their training for a job by getting practical experience.

Teacher than asks some CCQs to check students’ understanding.

Pronunciation: Teacher distributes dominoes and ask students to try to get rid of their pieces just as they would when playing regular dominoes. Instead of numbers, however, they are to match words with similar stress patterns.

Stages 3 and 4 — After this stage, students take part in controlled and less-controlled practice.

CLICK HERE to download a free PDF version of the domino.

CLICK HERE to donwload a blank PDF version of the domino, so you can use it in your lessons on any topic.

I hope this post has been useful to you! Let us know how you teach word stress and if you tried sny new things after reading this.

You can reach us at info@whatiselt.com or on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @whatiselt.

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See you next time!

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Word Stress Explanation and Exercise

Thomas Barwick/ Iconica/ Getty Images

Updated on January 17, 2019

When you are speaking English the words you stress can change the underlying meaning of a sentence.

An Example

Let’s take a look at the following sentence:

I don’t think he should get the job.

This simple sentence can have many levels of meaning based on the word you stress. Consider the meaning of the following sentences with the stressed word in bold. Read each sentence aloud and give a strong stress to the word in bold:

I don’t think he should get the job.
Meaning: Somebody else thinks he should get the job.

I don’t think he should get the job.
Meaning: It’s not true that I think he should get the job.

I don’t think he should get that job.
Meaning: That’s not really what I mean. OR I’m not sure he’ll get that job.

I don’t think he should get that job.
Meaning: Somebody else should get that job.

I don’t think he should get that job.
Meaning: In my opinion it’s wrong that he’s going to get that job.

I don’t think he should get that job.
Meaning: He should have to earn (be worthy of, work hard for) that job.

I don’t think he should get that job.
Meaning: He should get another job.

I don’t think he should get that job.
Meaning: Maybe he should get something else instead.

As you can see, there are many different ways this sentence can be understood. The important point to remember is that the true meaning of the sentence is also expressed through the stressed word or words.

An Excercise

Here is an exercise to help you develop the art of correct word stress. Take the following sentence:

I said she might consider a new haircut.

Say the sentence aloud using the stress word marked in bold. Once you have spoken the sentence a few times, match the sentence version to the meaning below. 

  1. I said she might consider a new haircut.
  2. I said she might consider a new haircut.
  3. I said she might consider a new haircut.
  4. I said she might consider a new haircut.
  5. I said she might consider a new haircut.
  6. I said she might consider a new haircut.
  7. I said she might consider a new haircut.
  • Not just a haircut.
  • It’s a possibility.
  • It was my idea.
  • Not something else.
  • Don’t you understand me?
  • Not another person.
  • She should think about it. it’s a good idea.

Exercise: Write out a number of sentences. Read each of them stressing a different word each time you read them. Notice how the meaning changes depending on which word you stress. Don’t be afraid to exaggerate the stress, in English we often use this device to add meaning to a sentence. It’s quite possible that when you think you are exaggerating, it will sound quite natural to native speakers.

Answers to the word stress exercise:

  1. I said she might consider a new haircut.
    It was my idea.
  2. I said she might consider a new haircut.
    Don’t you understand me?
  3. I said she might consider a new haircut.
    Not another person.
  4. I said she might consider a new haircut.
    It’s a possibility.
  5. I said she might consider a new haircut.
    She should think about it. it’s a good idea.
  6. I said she might consider a new haircut.
    Not just a haircut.
  7. I said she might consider a new haircut.
    Not something else.
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