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21. Word stress

• Word stress: more and less prominent syllables
- Words consisting of two or more syllables have one syllable under stress or emphasis
-- a syllable under stress is emphasised in three ways:
--- it is longer, it is louder, and it is at a higher pitch relative to the other syllables

• Word stress and vowel quality

- Stressed syllables always have strong vowels, that is, their vowels are fully articulated and not
modified. Unstressed syllables usually have weak vowels, that is, their vowels are reduced to / ə/
-- In the following words, only the stressed syllables – which appear underlined – have strong
vowels, while the others are reduced to /ə/
--- banana Canada drama about sofa perfect asleep
- The reduction of unstressed vowels to /ə/ can be perceived in the process of deriving a word from
another by means of a suffix. If, in deriving the new word, the stress moves from one syllable to
another, this affects the pronunciation of vowels: unstressed vowels are reduced to /ə/
-- example: atom /‘ætəm/ vs atomic /ə’t ɒ m ɪ k/
Practice
• Transcribe the following of words.
- banana / / Canada / / drama / / about / /
- sofa / / perfect / / asleep / /

• Transcribe the following pairs of words. (See how the vowel changes from strong to weak (and vice
versa), depending on where stress falls):
- pot / / potato / / Tom / / tomato / /
- man / / woman / / men / / women / /
- add / / addiction / / office / / official / /
- photographer / / photographic / /

• Variability in the position of stress

- Two-syllable words may be stressed on the first or the second syllables

-- examples of stress on the first syllable: April, thirsty, morning, Sunday
-- examples of stress on the second syllable: July, midday, thirteen, today

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- Three-syllable words may be stressed on the first, second or third syllable:

-- examples of stress on the first syllable: Saturday, charity, physical
-- examples of stress on the second syllable: tomorrow, computer, completion, performance
-- examples of stress on the third syllable: afternoon, twenty-four, absentee

- Longer words may have a primary stress and a secondary stress;

-- the former is signalled by an apostrophe before the main stressed syllable
-- the latter is signalled by a comma before the syllable that is slightly less emphasized
--- examples: computation /,kɒmpju’te ʃ ə n/ exaggerate /ɪg’z æʤəɹeɪt/
-- there may be differences between Br. and Am. English
--- examples: secretary (Am. ) /’sεk ɹə,t eəɹi/ (Br.) /’sεkɹətɹi/
dictionary (Am.) /’dɪk ʃ,əeəɹi/ (Br.) /’dɪk ʃ ə(ə)ɹ i/
interesting (Am.) /’ɪnt ə ,ɹ ε stɪ ŋ / (Br.) /’ɪnt ɹ Astɪ ŋ /

• Nouns vs verbs
- Nouns tend to be stressed on the first syllable: e.g.:
-- artist, driver, friendly, famous, differ, open, answer, enter, listen, happen
-- record, contrast, desert, export, object, present, produce, protest, rebel.
- Verbs tend to be stressed on the second syllable; e.g.:
-- remove, dislike, rebuild, become, forget, relax, enjoy, escape
-- record, contrast, desert, export, object, present, produce, protest, rebel.
- But there are also words stressed on the first syllable that can be either nouns or verbs; e.g.:
-- answer, picture, promise, reply, travel, visit.

Practice
• Transcribe the following words:
Nouns Verbs Nouns Verbs
Record / /'rekɔ:d/ Record / /rɪ'kɔ:d/ Constrast / / Constrast / /

Desert / / Desert / / Export / / Export / /

Object / / Object / / Present / / Present / /
Produce / / Produce / / Protest / / Protest / /
Rebel / / Rebel / /

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• Word endings
- Numbers ending in –teen
-- When pronounced on their own, they are stressed on their last syllable
--- examples: nineteen (19) fifteen (15) seventeen (17)
-- When they are part of a date, they are stressed on the first syllable
--- examples: nineteen fifty (1950) fifteen eighty-two (1582) seventeen twelve (1712)
--- cf. the Italian name Maria, which is pronounced [ma’ria] on its own, but which is
pronounced [‘marja] if followed by Grazia.

- suffixes –tion and –cian , both pronounced /ʃən/, are stressed on the syllable that precedes them
-- examples: communicate – communication educate – education decorate - decoration
-- examples: electric – electrician music – musician magic – magician

- the suffix –ic moves the stress onto the syllable that precedes it
-- examples: scientist – scientific economy – economic hygiene hygienic
atom – atomic artist – artistic fantasy fantastic

- abstract words of 3-4 syllables, usually of Graeco-Latin origin, which end in –y are stressed on the
third from last syllable
-- examples: public – publicity photograph – photography national - nationality
climate – climatology chemist – chemistry economy dichotomy

- the following suffixes do not affect stress:

-- -al (music - musical);
-hood (child – childhood);
-ish (child – childish);
-ly (friend – friendly);
-ness (happy – happiness);
-er (play – player); - ful (help – helpful);
-ing (interest – interesting); -ise/ize (civil – civilis/ze);
-ist (piano – pianist); -less (effort – effortless);
-ment (employ – employment);
-ship (friend – friendship)

• Prefixes
- The following prefixes do not affect stress:
-- un- (forgettable – unforgettable) under- (pay – underpay)
-- in/im/il- (possibile – impossibile legal - illegal)

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• Compound nouns
- compound nouns are made up of two nouns put together to express a unitary concept
-- e.g. bus stop, concert hall, night club, swimming pool
-- e.g. airport, bathroom, hairdresser’s
- independently of orthographic conventions (two separate words, two hyphenatated words or one
word), the stress falls on the first word
-- examples: fast food four-star (hotel) armchair cowboy

• Compounds vs non-compounds
- Even if a compound may look the same as a normal adjective+noun or noun+verb sequence, the
pronunciation – and meaning – is different. Cf.
-- We grow these plants in a greenhouse. We live in a green house.
-- Did you see my bus pass on the desk? I was late. I saw my bus pass. I missed it.

Practice
• Read the following words, making sure you stress the syllables that have been underlined:
- physics chemistry biology mathematics history geography economics
- geology philosophy different management development narrator

• Read the following word families, making sure you stress the syllables that have been underlined
- photograph, photography, photographic
- economy – economics – economical;
- national – nationality – nationalise – nationalisation
- civil – civility - civilise – civilisation

• Read the following compound nouns, making sure that, in each case, you stress the first word:
- armchair breakfast bus station checking account coffee cup fast food
- four-star garden table language lab plastic cup problem-solving shock absorber
- shoelace tomato sauce war film weekend

• Read the following adjectival compounds

- first class half price hand-made bad-tempered old-fashioned short-sighted
- over-night second-hand childproof hard-working high-heeled well-paid
- narrow-minded old-looking thought-provoking time-consuming voice-operated

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• Read out loud the following words, making sure you know where the stress falls:
address afternoon performance development
cassette deadline dessert desert
hotel Japan photographer policeman
post office vegetables Asian British
European Japanese Spanish Mexican
Chinese Brazilian Peruvian uniform
Credit card bus stop lifeguard demonstration
Reputation apologize sort out go away
Drop out lecture necklace career
Enquire arrange sensible library
Restaurant opposite revision directly
Statement Peter longer estate
Repeat design along solution
Tomato beautiful easily addiction
Holiday August sixteen sixty
Report pleasure flexible development
Imagine appointment bookshop footpath
Airport shoe shop road sign car park
Bedroomtraffic light bus station boarding card
Window seat aisle seat check-in desk travel agent
Art gallery supermarket tape recorder photocopy

• Read the following extract from K. Fox’s “Watching the English” (p. 171), making sure you know
which syllables are stressed:
[…] all drivers stop for pedestrians at zebra crossings, even when the pedestrians are still
standing waiting on the pavement and have not set foot on the crossing. (I met one tourist who
found this so astonishing that he kept repeating the experiment, marvelling at the fact that he
could single-handedly [da solo] bring streams of traffic to a deferential halt, without the aid of red
lights or stop-signs); […] horn-honking [suonare il clacson] is regarded as rude, and only used in
emergencies or special circumstances, as a warning, not as an all-purpose means of
communication or emotional outlet [sfogo], as it is elsewhere in Europe and most other parts of
the world. Even if you fail to notice that the traffic lights have changed to green, the English
drivers behind you will often hesitate for a few moments, hoping you will move off of your own
accord [di propria iniziativa], before giving a small, almost apologetic ‘beep’ to draw your
attention to the green light.