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Word Stress (1)

Word stress in English is a highly complex phenomenon and no simple explanation


of this phenomenon will ever prove to be even reasonably satisfying, according to
Prof. Thakur.
But although the stresses are normally in a fixed position in a word, their position is
unpredictable in the sense that there is no single position where the primary stress of
the word can be expected to fall in English. For example, to count from left to right,
it may fall on the
1st syllable: 'family 4th syllable: fa mili'arity
2nd syllable: fa'miliar 5th syllable: nationali'zation
3rd syllable: natio'nality 6th syllable: industriali'zation
Thus, to a large extent, the stress pattern of each polysyllabic word has to be learned
separately, though we shall presently see that some valuable generalizations can be
made. We shall also see, that, with some classes of words, it is helpful and revelant
to count syllables from the end rather than from the beginning.

The rules formulated can be understood in two parts: rules of stress regarding two-
syllable words and rules of stress regarding words consisting of three or more
syllables. The main reason for dividing these rules into two parts is that two-
syllables words are mostly simple words (like enter, attract, money, and envy), i.e.,
words consisting of the root only, and words consisting of three or more syllables
are mostly complex words (like refugee, mountaineer, climatic, and economically)
i.e., larger words derived by adding affixes. As will be pointed later, there are
prefixes and suffixes that do not affect the stress pattern of the root but there are
others that do. The view taken for understanding the stress pattern of two-syllable
words should be understood in terms of the vowels, consonants, and consonant
clusters constituting those words, whereas the stress pattern of words consisting of

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more than two syllable should better be understood in terms of the prefixes and
suffixes used in the formation of those words.

Two-syllable Verbs
1) If the second syllable of a verb contains (i) a long vowel, (ii) a diphthong
other than /əʊ/, or (iii) a consonant cluster, the stress is on that second
syllable. The following are some examples of two-syllable verbs having a
long vowel in the second syllable.

ad'vance de'sert ag'ree


con'firm com'plete re'port
The following are some examples of two-syllable verbs having a diphthong in the
second syllable.
en'joy ob'tain dest'roy
ar'rive sur'prise ad'vise
Two-syllable verbs ending in the suffix – ate , are however, stressed in two
different ways in British and American English, however.

Br E Am E
dic'tate 'dictate
mig'rate 'migrate
vib'rate 'vibrate
The following are some examples of two-syllable verbs in which the second
syllable ends in a consonant cluster.
a'mend con'sent re'act
af'fix cor'rect ob'ject
se'lect at'tract de'mand
2) Negatively, this rule can be stated as follows:
2

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If the second syllable of a two-syllable verb (i) has only the short vowel /ə/
or /ɪ/ in it and (ii) has either no consonant or only a single consonant (as opposed
to a consonant cluster) at its end, the stress in that two-syllable verb is on the first
syllable.
'enter 'answer 'practice
'open 'murder 'equal
3) As was pointed out in the beginning, the vowel /ə/ in English is never
stressed. So, if a two-syllable verb has this weak vowel in its first syllable,
the stress is invariably on the second syllable even if the second syllable has
only the short vowel /ə/, /ɪ/ or /ɒ/ in it.

ad'dress con'fess fore'tell


op'press con'vince for'give
These two rules apply not only to verbs but also to adjectives.
'shabby 'nasty 'rapid
'even 'rowdy 'florid
This rule applies not only to two-syllable simple adjectives but also to two-syllable
adjectives formed by the process of derivation.
'dirty 'dusty 'lovely
Adjectives like 'honest and 'perfect are some of the exceptions to this rule in the
sense that the second syllable in these words remains unstressed in spite of having
a consonant cluster in it.
Two-syllable Nouns
Nouns follow a slightly different rule from verbs and adjectives. The
generalization that applies to a large number of two-syllable nouns is the
following:

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If the second syllable of a two-syllable noun has a weak vowel /ə/ or /ɪ/ in it, the
stress in that noun is on the first syllable. In all other cases, it is generally on the
second syllable.

Nouns of Type 1
'country 'culture 'mother
'husband 'money 'college
'product 'student 'taxi
Nouns of type 1 seem to be much larger in number than those of type 2.
Nouns of Type 2
a'larm a'ward re'ward
tech'nique bal'loon di'sease

i'dea i'deal re'lay


es'tate de'cay de'sign

ce'ment de'fence com'plaint


ef'fect at'tempt sus'pense
In the case of a number of two-syllable words, this phonological rule stress is
governed by considerations of grammar and so whether the stress is on the first
syllable or on the second depends on whether the word is to be used as a verb or
alternatively as a noun or an adjective. The following are some examples.
Noun/Adjective Verb
'absent ab'sent
'affix af'fix
'export ex'port
'progress prog'ress

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'desert de'sert
'insult in'sult
'object ob'ject
'perfect per'fect
'present pre'sent
'subject sub'ject
Prepositions, Conjunctions and Adverbial Particles
If a two-syllable preposition, conjunction or adverbial particle has the weak vowel
/ə/ or /ɪ/ in the first syllable but a diphthong, a long vowel or a short vowel other
than /ə/ or /ɪ/ in the second syllable, the stress in such words is invariably on the
second syllable.
a'lone a'bove a'mong
be'fore be'cause be'side

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