منتديات الشروق أونلاين

What is Word Stress?
In English, we do not say each syllable with the same force or strength. In one word, we accentuate ONE syllable. We say one syllable very loudly (big, strong, important) and all the other syllables very quietly.
Let's take 3 words: photograph, photographer and photographic. Do they sound the same when spoken? No. Because we accentuate (stress) ONE syllable in each word. And it is not always the same syllable. So the shape of each word is different.
shape Total syllables Stressed syllable
PHO TO GRAPH
3 #1
PHO TO GRAPH ER 4 #2
PHO TO GRAPH IC 4 #3
This happens in ALL words with 2 or more syllables: TEACHer, JaPAN, CHINa, aBOVE, converSAtion, INteresting, imPORtant, deMAND, etCETera, etCETera, etCETera
The syllables that are not stressed are weak or small or quiet. Native speakers of English listen for the STRESSED syllables, not the weak syllables. If you use word stress in your speech, you will instantly and automatically improve your pronunciation and your comprehension.
Try to hear the stress in individual words each time you listen to English - on the radio, or in films for example. Your first step is to HEAR and recognise it. After that, you can USE it!
There are two very important rules about word stress:
1. One word, one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. So if you hear two stresses, you have heard two words, not one word.)
2. The stress is always on a vowel.
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Syllables
A syllable is a word, or part of a word, which contains a single vowel sound. It is a single unit of speech.

Each word contains one syllable, or more.

1 Syllable
Here are examples of words with a single syllable:

pen

man

pig

cup

hat

In English, a vowel sound can be made of more the one vowel letter.
So the following words have a single syllable as well:

feet

moon

cake

have

break

bought

All of these words contain only one vowel sound, and therefore a single syllable.

2 Syllables
A word can have more than one syllable. The following words are examples of words with two syllables. Here are examples of words with 2 syllables. The different syllables are shown on the right, and they are separated with a space.

garden: gar den

hotel: ho tel

consist: con sist

object: ob ject

focus: fo cus

3 Syllables
Examples of words with three syllables:

September: sep tem ber

department: de part ment

telephone: te le phone

camera: ca mer a

Saturday: sa tur day

hamburger: hum bur ger

vitamin: vi ta min

4 Syllables
Examples of words with four syllables:

kindergarten: kin der gar ten

information: in for ma tion

January: ja nu ar y

American: A mer i can

discovery: di sco ver y

That is not all, of course. There can be words with even more syllables. But you get the point, right?

Word Stress
When a word has more than one syllable, not all syllables are pronounced with the same degree of force. The syllable which is pronounced with greater force is called the stressed syllable. You can also call it the accented syllable. "Accent" in this case means "emphasis".

When speaking, it is important to put the stress on the correct syllable.
Otherwise, it would sound unnatural, and might even be difficult to understand!
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Here are some examples of the word stress of some common words (the stress part is bold):

water: wa ter

people: peo ple

television: tel e vi sion

together: to geth er

potato: po ta to

before: be fore

begin: be gin
These rules do not cover all the aspects of word stress in English; but they do cover the large majority of plurisyllabic words in the language.

The problem: should you say: difficult or difficult or difficult?
Here are the main principles that determine how words are stressed or accentuated in English.

A word is normally stressed on the first syllable, unless there is a reason to put the stress somewhere else.

The "reasons" are either suffixes (like -ity or -ion) or prefixes (like con-, dis-, ex- or in-).

If the suffix (ending) starts with the letters i or u this will affect the position of stress in a word.
Sample suffixes: -ion, -ual, -ial, -ient, -ious, -ior, -ic, -ity, etc.
The stress comes on the syllable before the suffix.
Examples: Atlantic, comic, sufficient, explanation, residual.
There are only a very few exceptions to this rule.

Other suffixes do not affect the stress of a word.
Sample suffixes: -al, -ous, -ly, -er, -ed, -ist, -ing, -ment
Examples: Permanent, permanently, develop, development

► Prefixes are not normally stressed in two-syllable words, except in some nouns or adjectives.
Examples: To ex'pand, to de'fend; but an 'expert, a report.
Bisyllabic nouns starting with a prefix need to be learned individually.

► Prefixes are usually stressed in three-syllable nouns and adjectives, but not always stressed in verbs.
Examples: 'Continent, 'incident, 'exercise;
to con'sider, to en'visage but to 'indicate
(All three syllable verbs ending in -ate are stressed on the first syllable).

Rule 3 takes priority over all others, notably when a "rule 3 ending" is followed by a "rule 4 ending",
Examples : perpetually, deliciously, conditional, conditioner, illusionist.
:16::16::16:What word stress is
When we stress syllables in words, we use a combination of different features. Experiment now with the word 'computer'. Say it out loud. Listen to yourself. The second syllable of the three is stressed. What are you doing so that the listener can hear that stress?

A stressed syllable combines five features:
It is l-o-n-g-e-r - com p-u-ter
It is LOUDER - comPUTer
It has a change in pitch from the syllables coming before and afterwards. The pitch of a stressed syllable is usually higher.
It is said more clearly -The vowel sound is purer. Compare the first and last vowel sounds with the stressed sound.
It uses larger facial movements - Look in the mirror when you say the word. Look at your jaw and lips in particular.

It is equally important to remember that the unstressed syllables of a word have the opposite features of a stressed syllable!

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

Here are some general tendencies for word stress in English:

Word Type of word Tendency
Exceptions
apple
table
happy

two-syllable nouns and adjectives
stress on the first syllable
O o
apple hotel
lagoon
suspect
import
insult words which can be used as both
nouns and verbs the noun has stress on the first syllable
O o
"You are the suspect!"
the verb has stress on the second syllable
o O
"I suspect you." respect
witness
hairbrush
football compound nouns fairly equally balanced but with stronger stress
on the first part
O o
hairbrush

How I help my students
Students can be alarmed when they meet words which are similar but have different stress patterns:

O o

equal

o O oo

equality

O o o

equalise

o o o O o

equalisation

A useful thing you can do is to help students see connections with other word families. Patterns can usually be found, for example:

O o final neutral

o O oo finality neutrality

O o o finalise neutralise

o o o O o finalisation neutralisation

There are some recognised differences in word stress which depend on the variety of English being used, for example:

o o O o Caribbean aluminium (British English)
o O o o Caribbean aluminum (American English)

These differences are noted in good learner dictionaries. If words like these come up in class, point them out to students. Ask if there are similar cases of differences in word stress in their own language - this will heighten awareness and interest.
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