Syllable and Stress

Syllable is one unit of sound in English. Syllables join consonants and vowels to form words.
Syllables can have more than one letter; however, a syllable cannot have more than one sound.
Syllables can have more than one consonant and more than one vowel, as well. However, the
consonant(s) and vowel(s) that create the syllable cannot make more than one sound.

Kind of syllable

1. Monosyllabic

Monosyllabic is the words have one syllable

Example:

Cold- /kəʊld/

Rain - /reɪn/

2. Disyllabic Words

Dyssilabic word is a word which consists of two syllables.

Example:

Today - /təˈdeɪ/

Table - /ˈteɪ.bəl/

3. Polysyllabic

Polysyllabic is words have many syllables

 Example:

Fantastic - /fænˈtæs.tɪk/

Wonderful - /ˈwʌn.dɚ.fəl/

Stress is when a word has more than one syllable, a single syllable within the word is given more
emphasis than any of the other syllables.

Stress on first syllable

Example:

Present /ˈprez.ənt/

Table /ˈteɪ.bəl/

Stress on last syllable

Example:

Decide /dɪˈsaɪd/

Begin /bɪˈɡɪn/

Stressed syllable

When a word has more than one syllable, a single syllable within the word is given more
emphasis than any of the other syllables. That syllable is considered to be the stressed syllable.
The vowel sound of the stressed syllable is emphasized by being pronounced longer, louder, and
often at a higher pitch than the surrounding syllables. Vowel sounds of stressed syllables are
more likely to be phonetic (pronounced as the spelling would suggest). The symbol / ˈ/ is used to
represent the stressed syllable of a multi-syllable word.

Example:

Unstressed syllables

Within a multi-syllable word, an unstressed syllable is frequently located next to a stressed

syllable. Often, this vowel sound is not phonetic (not pronounced the way it is spelled), and is
instead pronounced with a quick, neutral vowel sound called schwa. Because schwa is a function
of syllable stress and not spelling, schwa can have almost any spelling.

Example: