THE SYLLABLES &

STRESS
SAHRA SEVKA SYABILA
SAHRA SEVKA SYABILA
MAHARANI TANIA PUTRI
MAHARANI TANIA PUTRI
IKA KOMALASARI
IKA KOMALASARI
 A. WHAT IS SYLLABLES ?

Syllables is a unit of sound which includes a vowel sound.

All words have at least one syllable.

A syllable is a unit of speech.

 A syllable has one vowel sound

( and only one vowel sound ) and one or more

consonant sounds.
Example :
Word Number of Syllables

• Break - fast 2

• Ba - na - na 3

• To - mor - row 3

• U - ni – ver – si - ty 5
 B. What’s the connection between syllables and
stress?

Think about the word

Banana : Ba - na - na

( has three syllables )

Do you pronounce all the syllables all the same?

Bah – nah – nah ?

One syllable is stronger

ba - NA - na

(this is stress)
 Some examples of Syllable Stress

1. One Syllable - Stressed 2. Two Syllable - First Syllable

All one syllable words have the stress on Stressed
the one syllable. The intonation should
go down
GO  PRET - ty
TALK  PIC - ture
SING  CEN - ter
WELL
 Some examples of Syllable Stress

3. Two Syllable - Second Syllable 4. Three Syllable - First Syllable

Stressed Stressed
 en - JOY  EN - ergy
 a - HEAD  O - perate
 a - LLOW  OR - ganize
 Some examples of Syllable Stress

5. Three Syllable - Second Syllable 6. Three Syllable - Third Syllable

Stressed Stressed
 con - SI - der  per - son - NEL
 in - He - rit  em - ploy - EE
 in - JUS - tice  vo - lunt - EER
 Some examples of Syllable Stress

7. Four Syllable - Second Syllable 8. Four Syllable - Third Syllable

Stressed Stressed
 cer - TI - fi - cate  repu - TA - tion
 e - VA - po - rate  distri - BU - tion
 mo - DER - ni - ty  poli - TI - cian
 C. How to pronounce Stress ?

If you want to communicate clearly in English, it is

important to emphasize the correct syllable in every word.
This is called “ word stress “, which means pronouncing
one syllable of a multi-lingual word with a greater
emphasis (stress) than the other syllables in the word.
 Three things to pronounce stress correctly

 One : The stressed syllable should be louder

 Two : The stressed syllable should be a little higher
 Three: The stressed syllable should be a little longer in
time
 Look at four more words you saw before :

• Breakfast : Break- fast

• Banana : Ba- na- na
• Tomorrow : To- mor- row
• University : U- ni- ver- si- ty
 D. Rules Of Word Stress In English

• A word can only have one stress.

• Only vowels are stressed, not consonants. The vowels in English are a, e, i, o,
and u. The consonants are all the other letters.
• One syllable - stressed
All one syllable words have the stress on the one syllable. The intonation should
go down.
Examples : EAT, DRINK, SIGN, WELL
Next …

• Stress on first syllable

a. Most 2 - yllable nouns have stress on first syllable
Examples : TAble, WAter, PEOple

b. Most 2 - syllable adjectives have stress on first syllable

Examples : CLEVer, HAPpy, PRETty, HANDsome,
Next …
• Stress on last syllable
Most 2-syllable verbs have stress on last syllable
Examples : deCIDE, beGIN, conduct

• Words ending in consonants and in -y

If there is a word that ends in a consonant or in a -y, then the first syllable gets the
stress.
Examples : RARity , OPtimal , GRAdient, CONtainer
Next …

• Stress which determine verb or noun of the same words.

a. Nouns are on the first syllable
Examples: MISmatch, TRANSplant, TORment, addict

b. Verbs are on the second syllable

Examples: inSULT, misMATCH, reWRITE, transPLANT
Next …

• Words ending in er, -or, -ly

For words ending with the suffixes -er, -or, or -ly, the stress is placed on the first
syllable.
Examples : DIRect/DIRector ,
ORder/ORderly ,
MANage/MANager
Next …

• Words having dual role

In the case of words which can be used as either a noun or verb, the noun will tend
to be stressed on the first syllable and the verb on the last syllable.
Examples : IMport(n),
INcrease(n),
imPORT(v),
inCREASE(v)
Next …

• Word stress for compound words

a) Compound Noun
A compound noun is a noun made out of two nouns in order to form one word. In
a compound noun, the first word usually takes on the stress.
Examples : Picture
Minute
Money
Next …

b) Compound Adjectives
A compound adjective is an adjective composed of at least two words. Often,
hyphens are used in compound adjectives. In compound adjectives, the stress is
placed within the second word.

Examples : Happy

Yellow

Useful
Next …

c) Compound Verbs
A compound verb is when a subject has two or more verbs. The stress is on the
second or on the last part.
Examples : Decide

Forget

Explain

Arrive
Next …

d) Noun + compound nouns

Noun + compound Nouns are two word compound nouns. In noun + compound
noun, the stress is on the first word.
Examples : AIRplane mechanic,
PROject manager,
BOARDroom member,
BLACKbird, GREENhouse
Next …

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

a. Words ending in -cy, -ty, -phyand, –gy
Example : deMOcracy, dependaBIlity, phoTOgraphy

b. Words ending in –al

Example : CRItical,
geoLOGical
Reference
• Atkinson-King, K. (1973). Children’s acquisition of phonological stress contrasts. Los Angeles Working Papers in
Phonetics 25, University of California.

• Barber, Ch.The English Language: A Historical Introduction. Cambridge University Press, 2000

• Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D. & Goodwin, J. (1996). Teaching pronunciation: A reference for teachers of English to
speakers of other languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

• Checklin, M. (2012). http://www.tesol.org.au/files/files/267_martin_checklin.pdf

• Essberger,J. (1998) http://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/word-stress-rules.htm

• Jones, D.(1986). The pronunciation of English. Cambridge. Univeresity of cambridge.

• Kenworthy, J. (1989). Teaching English Pronunciation. Longman.

• Scarborough, R., Keating, P., Mattys, S., Cho, T. & Alwan, A. (2009). Optical phonetics and visual perception of lexical
and phrasal stress in English. Language and Speech 52(2/3), pp. 135-75.
THANK YOU