Department of English SPOKEN ENGLISH

Faculty of Arts and Humanities –Ain Chock SEMESTER 1

Hassan II University Professor. M. EL-HAJJAMI
Casablanca, Morocco.
Academic Year: 2023-2024

Word stress
Stress is related to the syllables that make up words. In a word of two syllables, one syllable is pronounced
with more force, or loudness, than the other (for example, in „teacher‟, „above‟, „present‟, „record‟, the
underlined syllable is stressed).
What is a syllable?
A syllable is a part of a word that contains a single vowel sound, a diphthong or a triphthong, and that is
pronounced as a unit. So, for example, „look‟ has one syllable, and 'again' has two syllables. All words are
made from at least one syllable.
Monosyllabic words are those which have only one vowel sound; polysyllabic words have more than one. If
a syllable ends with a consonant, it is called a closed syllable. If a syllable ends with a vowel, it is called
an open syllable. Patterns of syllables can be shown with C and V (C for 'consonant', V for 'vowel'). Closed
syllables are often shown as CVC (such as hot), and open syllables as CV (such as low).
Certain consonant sequences in English are treated as indivisible by the native speakers of English when
they occur in the middle of a word. These are the sequences sC (C= any consonant). Cr, Cw, Cl and Cj. The
syllables in these words are divided with these sequences remaining intact. Thus the words request, betray,
secure, and applause have the following syllables: /rI.kwest/ (not rIk.west/, lbI.treI/ (not bIt.reI)
I. Some basic rules of word stress in English

There are two very simple rules about word stress:

One word has only one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses). If you hear two stresses, you hear two
words. Two stresses cannot be one word. It is true that there can be a "secondary" stress in some words, but
a secondary stress is much smaller than the main primary stress, and is only used in long words (see below).
We can only stress vowels, not consonants.

Here are some more rules that can help you understand where to put the stress. However, you should not
rely on them too much, because there are many exceptions. It is better to try to feel the music of the
language and to add the stress naturally.

NB. Stress is marked in different ways, usually a vertical dash (|) or a little sign (ˈ) /məˈlɑː.dɪk/, above and before
the syllable (underlining is used here instead).

1. Stress on the first syllable

Rule example

Most two-syllable nouns Present, Export, China, Table

Most two -syllable adjectives Present, Slender, Clever, Happy

2. Stress on last syllable

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 Rule example

Most two -syllable verbs to present, to export, to decide, to begin

There are many two-syllable words in English whose meaning and grammatical class change with a change
in stress. The word present, for example, is a noun or adjective when stress falls on the first syllable, but if
we stress the second syllable, it becomes a verb. More examples are: export, import, contract, object, and
record.

3. Stress on penultimate syllable (penultimate = second from end)

Rule example

Words ending in -ic pacific, geographic, geologic

Words ending in -sion and -tion transmission, revelation

4. Stress on ante-penultimate syllable (ante-penultimate = third from end)

Rule Example

Words ending in -cy, -ty, -phy and-gy democracy, dependability, photography, geology

Words ending in -al critical, geological

5. Compound words (words with two or more parts)

Rule Example

For compound nouns, the stress is on the first part blackbird, greenhouse

For compound adjectives, the stress is on the second element or Well-off, old-Fashioned
part of it

For compound verbs, the stress is on the second/last part to understand, to

overflow

II. Word stress and suffixation

In some cases, the addition of some derivational suffixes affects the stress pattern but this is not the case
with all suffixes.

1. Suffixes which do not affect the stress patterns

Suffix Example Suffix Examples Suffix Example Suffix

-able ad'vise/ad'visable -age 'orphan -ance ap'pear -er com'mand
re'ly 'cover dis'turb re'ceive

2
 -ess 'actor -full e'vent -ft 'terror -ize 'public
'waiter 'pocket 'crystal
-ly 'mother -ment ap'point -ness 'bitter -some 'burden
'even com'ence 'trouble

2. Suffixes that have the main interest on themselves

- eer e'lection / electio'neer

'profit / profi'teer
-esque 'picture / pictu'resque
'statue / statu'esque
-see 'address / addres'see
e'xamine / axami'nee
-ese Ja'pan / japa'nese

3. Suffixes that have main stress at a fixed distance from them

The main stress is on the syllable immediately preceding the suffix

Suffix Example Suffix Example Suffix Example

-ial 'confidence confi'dential -ian
'essence e'ssential
'industty in'dustrial
'office of„ficial
president presi'dential
-tion ap'ply appli'cation -ity
'civilize civili'zation
'decorate deco'ration
ex'amine exami'nation
'library Ii'brarian -ic / ical a'cademy aca'demic
'music mu'sician 'grammar gram'matical
pho'netics phone'tician 'patriot patri'otic
'sympathy sympa'thetic
'able
a'bility
Icurious .curi'osity
'equal e'quality
'generous Igene'rosity
'moral mo'ralit

For a few words, native English speakers do not always agree on where to put the stress. For example, some
people say television with stress on VI, and others say it with stress on TEL; another example is controversy,
where either the first or second syllable is stressed.
There are also differences in stress between British and American English. Let us consider the following
words (most of them are originally French words).

Exercises

I. Indicate the number of syllables in each of the following words, and show how you will divide each
word into syllables. Use phonetic transcription and mark syllable division with a dot at the bottom.

Word Number of syllables Syllable division

Work

Structure

Division

Recording

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 Introduction

Primary

Secondary

Cassette

II. Mark the stressed syllables in the following words. After you have checked your answers, say
each word with the correct stress pattern.
1) editorial 2) profession 3) learner 4) edition 5) clarify 6) usefulness 7) teacher
8) presentation 9) unrealistic l 0) intelligibility l l) situation I 2) educational 13) development 1 4) activity
15) practicality 16) availability

III. Listen and place the words in the box below into the correct columns according to their stress
patterns:

angle alive appeal beside awful bishop balloon carpet father commit foolish decide delete erase forbid
pardon involve English candle machine persuade lettuce release orphan revise survive sofa turtle

First syllable stressed Second syllable stressed

IV. Circle the word that contains a different stress pattern in each line (two-syllables)

1. palate passion parade pasta 4. canal candle canon candy

2. conquer corrupt confess convince 5. master mansion machine marriage
3. able anchor amaze anxious 6. police poker pocket ponder

V. Listen & circle the word in each line that contains a different stress pattern.

1. ignorant motivate nobody politely animal 4. reflection impressive malicious interested

2. inviting prevention relative eraser invested
persuasion 5. Africa Portugal Italy Jamaica Paraguay
3. passionate magazine Cantonese auctioneer 6. professor lecturer musician translator
afternoon consultant

VI. Listen to the words pronounced and place the stress on the appropriate syllable

politics kangaroo supporter afternoon happily Portuguese believer satisfied Japanese courageous underneath
clarify credible prevention quality seventeen tomorrow cigarette octopus energy annoying picturesque
amusement funeral adventure serviette recommend reaction ignorant wonderful abolish refugee volunteer
syllable consider

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 First syllable stress Second syllable stress Third syllable stress

„politics su‟pporter kanga‟roo

VII. Repeat the words in the box, Firstly as nouns then as verbs. Use one word from the box for
each pair of sentences below, marking the stress with < ˈ >

conduct import export incense permit research progress object decrease contrast refund
contract record present

a) Is there any known on the frequency of the schwa?

b) I have to Amazonian birds for my new book.
a) The people of West Sussex to the new power station.
b) The of this exercise is to understand verb/noun pairs.
a) Portugal will need to beat Poland to in the competition.
b) has been slow due to the terrible weather.
a) “Excuse me sir, may I see your resident‟s ?”
b) We can‟t you to bring this across the border.
a) Recent years have seen a large in crime.
b) If we expenditure, I think pro!ts will go up.
a) I don‟t want any more nonsense, just me with the facts.
b) Happy birthday Jane! Here‟s your .