Unit 3: Word Stress in English: 3.0. Objectives
Unit 3: Word Stress in English: 3.0. Objectives
Unit 3: Word Stress in English: 3.0. Objectives
Structure
3.0. Objective
3.1. Introduction
3.2. The Syllable
3.2.1. Identifying the Number of Syllables in a Word
3.2.2. Identifying the Stressed Syllable in a Word
3.3. Stress Patterns in Words
3.4. Change in Stress Patterns in Words According to Grammatical Function
3.5. Shift in Word Stress in Derivatives
3.6. Some Derivational Suffixes that Affect Word Stress
3.7. Let Us Sum Up
3.8. Key Words
3.9. Suggested Reading
3.10. Answers
3.0. OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit you should be able to:
Count the number of syllables in a word
Recognize the stressed syllable in a word
Apply rules for placement of stress in words with some derivational suffixes
3.1. INTRODUCTION
In the first two units we practised the consonants and vowels of English. We
concentrated on the distinction between one sound and another. In this unit we shall
consider the pronunciation of words in English. In order to pronounce English
words correctly we not only need to produce the correct sounds but we also need to
use extra breath force on one of the elements of a word as specified in the
dictionary. This part of the word is marked with a short vertical line above and in
front of it. For example, in the word believe the second element i.e. lieve is said
with greater energy and is heard as the more prominent of the two elements in the
word. This prominent element is marked thus: be'lieve and is said to be stressed.
The elements of a word, which are the smallest units for the analysis of speech are
known as syllables. In words of more than one syllable, one of the syllables is more
prominent than the others. Stress in an English word forms part of the character of
that word. In other words, stress is inherent in the word, and therefore absolutely
essential for intelligibility.
We shall study the structure of the syllable in English and its importance for word
stress. We shall look at word patterns in English, and the changes in stress pattern
that the addition of some derivational suffixes can bring about.
1. Listen to the following words and identify the number of vowels and hence
the number of syllables in each word.
(i) streams (ii) skies (iii) classes (iv) family (v) corridor
(vi) mistake (vii) hesitate (viii) develop (ix) calendar (x) economics
Example: Calculate – It has three vowel sounds æ, ʊ, eɪ in that order.
Therefore, it has 3 syllables.
2. How many syllables can an English word have? Listen to some more words
and identify the number of syllables they have and you will have got the
answer to this question. Each word will be said twice.
1. always 2. furniture 3. screen 4. examination
40 5. begin 6. honorary 7. multiplication 8. responsibility
9. squash 10. potato 11. understand 12. community Word Stress in English
13. originality 14. suspect 15. mathematics 16. internationalization
Which word has the largest number of syllables? Well, the word
internationalization (ɪntənæʃənəlaɪzeɪʃən) has 8 vowel sounds i.e. /ɪ/, /ə/,
/æ/, /ə/, /ə/, /aɪ/, /eɪ/, /ə/ in that order, and therefore 8 syllables. An English
word can have up to 8 syllables. There are, however, very few words with 8
syllables. For the number of syllables in the other words you may consult
the internet.
(i) admit (ii) among (iii) activity (iv) business (v) foreign
(vi) police (vii) economics (viii) already (ix) complete (x) minister
(xi) important (xii) below
Mark the stressed syllable with an upright stroke above and in front of it. For
example, the first word admit receives stress on the second syllable and is marked
thus – ad'mit.
Check Your Progress 1
1. Listen for the number of syllables in the following words and write down
the number of syllables in each word. Then transcribe all the words and
mark the stress. You may also consult a dictionary on the Internet.
Example: expect – no. of syllables – 2 /ɪk'spekt/
1. enough …………….… 2. bicycle ……………….
3. develop………………. 4. frequent ……………...
5. delicate ………………. 6. arithmetic…………….
7. distinguish……………. 8. familiar ………………
9. opportunity …………… 10.necessary…………….
(i) ac'count (vi) be'fore (xi) di'sease (xvi) o'mit (xxi) su'perb
(ii) ad'dress (vii) be'tween (xii) ef'fect (xvii) per'mit (xxii) sup'port
(iii) a'go (viii) ca'nal (xiii) in'tend (xviii) pro'tect (xxiii) tech'nique
(iv) al'though (ix) col'lect (xiv) in'crease (xix) re'gret (xxiv) to'wards
(v) ap'pear (x) di'rect (xv) ne'glect (xx) re'turn (xxv) wi'thout
3. Look at the words of three syllables with stress on the first syllable. Look at
the following words and listen to them. Then listen again and repeat each
word.
4. Look at the following words of three syllables with the stress on the second
syllable and listen to them. Then listen to them again and repeat each word.
Notice that in addition to the stress mark on the third syllable of these words, there
is also a stress mark below and in front of the first syllable in each word. The third
syllable of each word is said with extra breath force and the pitch of the voice
generally changes on that syllable. It is, therefore said to have the primary stress.
Placing the primary stress on the correct syllable of an English word is absolutely
essential for it be understood. The first syllable is said with some degree of force
and is therefore heard as prominent but is not as prominent as the third syllable. It
is therefore said to receive secondary stress. The latter occurs in longer words to
maintain the rhythm of the word with the alternation of stressed and unstressed
syllables. In the next unit we shall see that alternation of stressed and unstressed
syllables is also an important feature of the rhythm of spoken English sentences.
Words of four syllables can have primary stress on the first, second, third and
fourth syllable.
Listen to the following words of four syllables and mark the syllable that has
primary stress. Then group the words according to the syllable on which they
receive primary stress i.e. first, second, third or fourth syllable. You may also
consult a dictionary or Internet.
Noun/Adjective Verb
'absent ab'sent
'abstract ab'stract
'accent ac'cent
'combine com'bine
'compress com'press
'concert con'cert
'conduct con'duct
'contract con'tract
'contrast con'trast
'convict con'vict
'desert de'sert
'digest di'gest
'export ex'port
'frequent fre'quent
'object ob'ject
'perfect per'fect
'permit per'mit
'present pre'sent
'produce pro'duce
'progress pro'gress
'project pro'ject
'protest pro'test
'rebel re'bel
'record re'cord
Check the dictionary for changes, if any, in the vowels of these words when they
function as verbs.
Here are some more commonly used words on which there is a shift in stress when
certain derivational suffixes are added. Listen to them carefully.
44
1st syllable 2nd syllable 3rd syllable 4th syllable Word Stress in English
'benefit be'neficent bene'ficial
'competence com'petitor compe'tition
'courage cou'rageous
'democrat de'mocracy demo'cratic
'diplomat di'plomacy diplo'matic
'educate edu'cation
'government govern'mental
'hypocrite hy'pocrisy hypo'critical
'intellect in'telligence intel'lectual
'mechanism me'chanical mecha'nician mechani'zation
'personal per'sonify perso'nality
'politics po'litical poli'tician
'photograph pho'tographer photo'graphic
'telegraph te'legraphy tele'graphic
Listen to these words again and repeat each set. Take care to stress the correct
syllable in each case.
Try making a list of as many words as you know and show the shift in stress as they
grow longer with the addition of derivational suffixes. Remember not all
derivational suffixes bring about a change in the stress pattern of a word. For
example, if we add either the suffix –ful or the suffix –fully to the word beauty
there is no change in the stress.
In the next section we shall take up those derivational suffixes that affect word
stress.
3. The following derivational suffixes are not stressed, nor do they affect
stress. Here are some examples of each of the suffixes.
-age postage, breakage
-ance appearance, governance (exception: main'tain, 'maintenance)
-en soften, brighten
45
Sounds of English -ence subsistence
-er doer, keeper
-ess lioness, goddess
-ful dutiful, faithful
-fy classify, falsify
-hood childhood, manhood
-ice cowardice
-ish childish, foolish
-ive creative, attractive (exception: ne'gate, 'negative)
-less aimless, careless
-ly faithfully, happily
-ment government, postponement (exception: 'advertise, ad'vertisement)
-ness boldness, heaviness
-or governor
-ship scholarship, fellowship
-ter laughter
-ure enclosure, failure
-y bloody, woolly
-zen citizen
4a. The following suffixes affect word stress or are stressed. -1, -2, -3 mean
respectively the first, the second and the third syllable from the end. These
rules determine only the primary stress.
1. –aire -1 millio'naire
2. –eer, –ee -1 ˌchario'teer, nomi'nee, ˌmountai'neer,
ˌaddress'ee, ˌengi'neer
3. –esque -1 ˌpictu'resque
4. –ique -1 phy'sique, tech'nique
5. –ental -2 ˌfunda'mental, seg'mental, ˌgovern'mental
6. –ial -2 ˌarti'ficial, es'sential, ˌcere'monial, of'ficial,
ˌconfi'dential, re'medial
7. –ian -2 gram'marian, mu'sician, li'brarian,
phone'tician, ma'gician
8. –ic* -2 ˌaca'demic, ro'mantic, ar'tistic, ˌscien'tific,
ˌphoto'graphic
9. –ics* -2 ˌeco'nomics, lin'guistics, pho'netics
10. –tion -2 ado'ration, so'lution, compe'tition, reso'lution,
occu'pation
11. –ious, –uous -2 fal'lacious, tem'pestuous, in'dustrious,
con'tiguous, re'bellious, lu'xurious
12. –eous -2 cou'rageous, out'rageous
13. –itis -2 bron'chitis, neu'ritis
* Exceptions to this rule – 'catholic/s, 'lunatic/s, 'politics, 'arithmetic
Check Your Progress 3
Look at the following words. Applying the rules of word stress you have learnt so
far, mark the primary stress on each word. Then listen to each word.
1. commericial 2. trustee 3. systematic 4. mathematics
5. accidental 6. politician 7. examination 8. laborious
9. questionnaire 10. parental 11. rebellious 12. memorial
13.electrician 14. profiteer 15. employee 16. organization
17. physician 18. ornamental 19. presidential 20.cosmetic
4 b. Look at some more word endings. In words with these, the primary stress
46 falls on the third syllable from the end.
1. –graphy -3 bi'ography, pho'tography, bibli'ography Word Stress in English
2. –metry -3 ge'ometry, trig'onometry,
3. –cracy/–crisy -3 de'mocracy, hy'pocrisy
4. –nomy -3 a'stronomy, e'conomy
5. –pathy -3 al'lopathy, te'lepathy
6. –tomy -3 va'sectomy, tu'bectomy, hyste'rectomy
7. –grapher -3 bi'ographer, pho'tographer
8. –logy -3 bi'ology, ge'ology, zo'ology
9. –logist -3 bi'ologist, ge'ologist, zo'ologist
10. –ical -3 eco'nomical, geo'graphical
11. –ity -3 possi'bility, a'bility, suita'bility
12. –ate -3 'complicate, 'educate, 'fortunate
Look at the following words. Applying the rules of word stress given above, mark
the primary stress on each word.
Stress the extra breath force used on one of the syllables of a word,
which makes that syllable louder and more prominent than
the others.
3.10 ANSWERS
Check Your Progress 1
Sl.no. No. of syllables Transcription
1 2 ɪ'nʌf enough
2 3 'baɪsɪkəl bicycle
3 3 dɪ'veləp develop
4 2 'fri:kwənt frequent
5 3 'delɪkət delicate
6 4 ə'rɪθmətɪk arithmetic
7 3 dɪ'stɪŋgwɪʃ distinguish
8 3 fə'mɪlɪə familiar
9 5 ˌɒpə'tju:nətɪ opportunity
10 4 'nesəsərɪ necessary