Second year LMD Phonetics Lecturer: Dr.

Chelli
Lecture No. 5
Word Stress
Complex words

Complex words are of two types: words made from the basic stem word with an addition of an affix, and
compound words which are made of two or more words.

* Affixes have one of the three possibilities effects on word stress (Peter Roach, 1991, p.96):
 The affix itself receives the primary stress: semicircle
 The word is stressed just as if the affix was not there ( the affix is neutral, it does not affect
stress), e.g. un, ing, al …
 The stress remains on the stem, but shifts to another syllable ( ic, ation…)

1. Suffixes carrying primary stress

ain (for verbs only): ascertain ette: cigarette
ee: refugee, absentee, employee, interviewee esque: picturesque, arabesque
eer: volunteer, cashier el: personnel
ese: Chinese, Japanese, portugese ique: unique, antique

2. Suffixes that do not affect stress placement (neutral)

able: comfortable, remarkable less: power, powerless
age: anchorage ly: happy, happily
al: actual, refusal, arrival ment: employ, employment
en: northen, widen un: unhappy, unpleasant
ful: wonderful, ous: danger, dangerous
ing: amaze, amazing fy: glory, glorify
ish: devil, devilish wise: other, otherwise
like: birdlike y: funny, windy

3. Suffixes that influence stress in the stem

* Primary stress on the last syllable of the stem (or the penultimate syllable, the syllable preceding
the suffix)/ Transcribe some of the words below:
eous: advantageous ible: flexible, impossible
graphy: photography logy: psychology, physiology
ial: commercial, financial ion: perfection, interaction
ual: intellectual ious: injurious, furious
ian: politician ty: complexity,objectivity
ient: efficient, sufficient ive: attractive, collective
ic: energetic, academic meter: parameter, kilometer

*when the suffixes: ant, ance and ary are attached to monosyllabic stems, the stress falls on the
stem.

* When the stem contains two syllables or more, stress placement is governed by the same rules of
simple words/ Transcribe the words below:
e.g., important ambulance military secretary

* When the suffixes: ate, ize are added to the stem, the stress falls on the second syllable before the
suffix/ Transcribe the words below:
operate exaggerate recognize
criticise apologize associate

* Some exceptions
Coffee, committee, pedigree, omelette, palette, politics, catholic, rhetoric, choleric, Arabic