Stress

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The sounds of individual words, showing normal syllable stress, can be heard free over the
internet, using this address:
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/
You can insert the word you require, after the final slash.
Note: m-w, not m_w, where m-w stands for Merriam Webster.

Spoken English is rhythmic, like music and poetry, and that rhythm is based on pauses and
stress. The stress tells the listener which words are important. Most unstressed words are ignored
or discarded. If English is spoken without rhythm, the native speaker is forced to listen to every
word, which is boring, difficult and tiring. Thus rhythm is essential for good spoken English. For
rhythm we begin with stress.

Stress occurs when a sentence, word or syllable is pronounced louder and more clearly than
adjacent sentences, words or syllables.
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Three types of stress
In English there are three types of stress:

 syllable stress
when one syllable in a word is pronounced louder and more clearly than adjacent
syllables.
 word stress
when one word is pronounced louder and more clearly than adjacent words in a sentence.
 phrase, clause or sentence stress
when one phrase, clause or sentence is pronounced louder and more clearly than adjacent
phrases, clauses or sentences in a paragraph.

In case you are also using other books on pronunciation, note that other books consider only two
types of stress. What I call syllable stress because only the syllable is stressed, others call word
stress because they are looking at stress within a word.

Similarly what I call word stress because the whole word is stressed, others call sentence stress
because they are looking at the stress within the sentence.

They do not have a word for what I call sentence stress.

Phrase, clause or sentence stress occurs when the speaker seeks to draw attention to the most
important sentence in a long paragraph.
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Functions of stress
These three types of stress perform three different functions:

 syllable stress
defines the word and its function.
Because of syllable stress, the noun 'construct sounds differently to the verb con'struct.
Con'struct that. and That 'construct. are easily understood, but 'Construct that. and That
con'struct. are meaningless.
 word stress
determines the rhythm of the sentence.
 phrase, clause or sentence stress
enables the speaker to draw attention to the most important phrase or clause in a sentence,
or to the most important sentence in a long paragraph.
Phrase, clause and sentence stress helps to break the monotony of the voice in a long
 speech or talk.
It also helps the listener to separate and remember the more important aspects. Many
words in English are redundant, that is, the listener can ignore them. A native English
listener registers only the important words, and his mind reconstructs those words in a
simpler sentence. Foreign listeners take in every word, and so suffer word-overload. This
makes listening very difficult for the learner.

Students learning Business English, have reached at least an intermediate level of English. Such
students should be familiar with the principles of English syllable stress. For others we revise
and summarise syllable stress before entering the first lesson.

Words can be split into little parts called syllables.

"Can" has one syllable, can, but pronounced cun.
"Little" has 2 syllables, lit-tle, but pronounced li-tul.
"Syllable" has 3 syllables, syl-la-ble, but pronounced sil-le-bul.

Sometimes, in a long word, there are two stresses, but with one stronger than the other.
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Types of stressed words
To denote stress, we place an apostrophe before the syllable.
Types of words having stressed syllables are:

 nouns: 'gopher, 'ambulance, re'cidivist, exis'tentialism

 verbs: 'condone/con'done, 'distinguish, per'ambulate
 adjectives: 'handsome, 'trivial, perambu'latory
 adverbs: 'promptly, 'inadvertently or inad'vertently, 'efficiently or ef'ficiently

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Types of unstressed words
Types of words NOT usually having stressed syllables are:

 pronouns: I, you, s/he, we, they, one, some

 prepositions: at, in, to, up, ...
 articles: a, an, the

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Stress rules for syllables
Helpful guides are:

 2-syllable words are stressed on the first syllable.

except:
o When a verb has an identical form as a noun or adjective, then the verb is stressed
on the 2nd syllable. When in doubt, stress a verb on the 2nd syllable.
 3-syllable words are usually stressed on the first syllable.
 4 or more-syllable words are stressed on the 3rd syllable from the end.
 exceptions:
o verbs (see above)
o Most (Latin) prefixes are not stressed, except for the 'pre-' prefix.
o Because in English, not all syllables are pronounced, when the effective syllables
are reduced to 2 and 3, the stress obeys the first-syllable rule for 2- and 3-syllable
words.
o Adjectives, like nouns are usually stressed on the first sylable, but adjectives
identical to the past participle of verbs, are pronounced like verbs, with stress on
the second syllable.
 Most suffixes are unstressed, except:
 o the -tion suffixes:
 -ation
 -ition
 -otion
 -ution
o -ee
o -eer
 While a suffix changes 3-syllable into 4 or more, the word remains under the 3-syllable
rule (of having stress on the 1st syllable).
 Certain word-endings automatically come immediately after the stressed syllable:
o -ic, -ical, -ically
o -ial, -ially, -ual, -ually
o -ible, -ity, -ify
o -ious, -eous, -uous.
 The last letter of a group of initials is usually stressed.
 Where confusion may result because the listener might not notice a crucial prefix, that
prefix might be stressed; example: from un'rewarded to 'unrewarded.

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Examples of stress rules for syllables
Rule Examples

Verb Adjective
 2-syllable words are stressed on the first
Noun 'foment 'reddish
syllable.
'woman 'chastise 'pretty
except:
'carrot
o When a verb has an identical form
con'tract
as a noun or adjective, then the 'contract con'duct
verb is stressed on the 2nd 'conduct per'fect 'perfect
syllable. When in doubt, stress a ab'stract 'abstract
verb on the 2nd syllable.

Noun Verb Adjective

 3-syllable words are usually stressed on
'elephant em'bellish 'womanly
the first syllable.

womaniser
 4 or more-syllable words are stressed on
ami'triptyline pen'ultimate
the 3rd syllable from the end. per'ambulate
re'cidivist in'hibitive
circum'locution
 Exceptions:
o Those verbs which are identical to con'trast ab'stract em'bellish
a noun or adjectives, are
contrasted by stressing the second
syllable. pro'fessor in'corporate con'structive
o Most (Latin) prefixes are not
stressed, except for the 'pre-' 'womanise
prefix.
o Because in English, not all
syllables are pronounced, when
the effective syllables are reduced
to 2 and 3, the stress obeys the re'constituted
first-syllable rule for 2- and 3- de'leted
syllable words. un'requited
 Rule Examples
o Adjectives, like nouns are usually
stressed on the first syllable, but
adjectives identical to the past
participle of verbs, are pronounced
like verbs, with stress on the
second syllable.

 Most suffixes are unstressed, except:

o the -tion suffixes:
 -ation
corpor'ation
 -ition
ammu'nition
 -otion  
loco'motion
 -ution perambu'lation
antipol'lution
o -ee
book'keeping
o -eer engi'neering

 When a suffix changes a 3-syllable word

into 4 or more, the word remains under
the 3-syllable rule (of having stress on the    
'intellectualise
1st syllable).

 Certain word-endings automatically come

immediately after the stressed syllable:
o -ic, -ical, -ically
me'chanic me'chanically
o -ial, -ially, -ual, -ually me'chanical
ar'terial con'tinual(ly)
o -ible, -ity, -ify sub'stantially
irre'versible per'missible
o -ious, -eous, -uous. sponta'ne-ity
expe'ditious se'ditious

 The last letter in a group of initials is

AG'M CE'O IP'O
usually stressed.
AT'M DS'O OB'E
 Compound words are usually split into
their component words, one containig a
'semi-"trailer
primary stress while the other has a    
'band-"wagon
secondary stress.

 Chemical words are broken into

'propan-'theline
component words, with each component
following the above rules.    
'iso-'propyl-
Try: propantheline, isopropylarterenol
ar'terenol