Unit 8 – STRESS – STRESS WITHIN A WORD

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1 Welcome to English Phonetics and Phonology Course
Unit 8 – Stress and Stress within a word

2 In this unit, we will discuss Nature of Stress, and Levels of Stress. Besides, we will go further
with Stress within a word. In this part, you will learn Placement of Stress within a word, One-
syllable words, Two-syllable words, Three-syllable words, Complex word stress, and
Compound word stress.

3 What is a stressed syllable? It is more prominent that an unstressed one in a word.

There are 4 factors that you need to notice when stressing a syllable, they are loudness,
length, pitch, and quality.

4 There are usually THREE levels of stress that we might use in a word. They are primary,
secondary, and unstressed.
For example: Doctor, the primary stress is on the first syllable /dok/. Conversation, the
secondary stress is on the first syllable /kon/. Worker, the unstressed is the second syllable.

5 Next, we will discuss Stress within a word. Six parts we need to focus are 1. Placement of
Stress within a word; 2. One-syllable words; 3. Two-syllable words; 4. Three-syllable words;
5. Complex word stress; and 6. Compound word stress.

6 Placement of Stress within a word:

Stress placement depends on:
a. Morphological structure: simple, complex or compound words
A simple word is a word consisting of only one morpheme. Ex: boy; girl; father
A complex word consists of a base plus affix(es). Ex: teacher; boys; stopped …
A compound word consists of 2 or more words. Ex: armchair; bad-temper; …
b. Grammatical category: noun, adjective, verb, adverb ….
c. Number of syllables
d. Phonological structure: long, short vowel, diphthong, consonant …

7 In one-syllable words:
It is certain that When pronounced in isolation, monosyllable lexical words receive
primary stress.
Ex: ′Green; ′House; ′Cat; ′Dog
However, when used in combination with other words, the stress may vary.
Ex: A ′greenhouse (a special kind of house, compound word)
A green’house (a house which is green, grammatical structure)
A ′hot dog (a kind of cake, compound word)

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8 In two-syllable words:
There are 3 cases: We stress the first syllable if the 2nd one contains: a short vowel (for
example: doctor /′dɒktə /; enter /′entə/); diphthong /əʊ/ (for example: narrow /′nærəʊ/;
follow /′fɒləʊ/); and one final consonant (for example: happen /´hæpən/)

9 In the second case: We stress the 2nd syllable if it contains: a long vowel (for example:
concern /kən′sɜ:n/; abroad /ə′brɔ:d/; begin /bɪ′gi:n/); a diphthong (for example: design
/dɪ′zain/; divine /dɪ′vaɪn/; arrive /ə′raɪv/); and more than 1 final consonant (for example:
correct /kə′rek/; attract /ə′trækt/)

10 In the third case: it is word-class pairs which are pairs of 2-syllable words with identical
spelling but different parts of speech. This means If it is a noun or an adjective, the stress is
on the 1st syllable; and if it is a verb, the stress is placed on the 2nd syllable.
For example: present (n) /′preznt/; present (v) /prɪ′zent/
abstract (A,V); conduct (N,V); contract (N,V,); contrast (N,V); desert (N,V); escort (N,V);
export (N,V); import (N,V); insult (N,V); object (N,V); perfect (A,V); permit (N,V); produce
(N,V); protest (N,V); rebel (N,V); record (N,V); subject (N,V)

11 Next, we will focus on three-syllable words. About VERB, the stress is usually on the 2nd or
3rd syllable. If it is on the 2nd syllable, the final syllable should contain a short vowel (for
example: encounter /ɪŋ′kaʊntə/), or one consonant (for example: determine /dɪ′t3:mɪn/); And
the stress is on the final syllable if that final syllable contains a long vowel or diphthong (for
example: entertain /‚entə′teɪn/), or more than one consonant (for example: resurrect
/‚rezə′rekt/)

12 About NOUN, the stress is usually on the 1st or 2nd syllable.

If it is on the 2nd syllable, it should contain a long vowel (for example: disaster /dɪ′za:stə/), or
a diphthong (for example: potato /pə′teɪtəʊ/)
And in some other cases, the stress is on the 1st syllable (for example: cinema /′sɪnəmə/;
intellect /′ɪntəlekt/; alkali /′ækəlaɪ/)

13 In the next part, we will focus on Complex Word Stress. Complex words are the ones
consisting of a stem plus affixes.
In more than 3-syllable words, the stress usually falls on the 3rd one from the end. Ex:
Photography /fə′tɒgrəfi/; international /,ɪntə′næʃnəl/
In Final syllable stressed: words ending in: -ade; -oon; -ee; -ese; -eer; -ette; -ine;
esque; -ain; -ique… Ex: ‚Lemo‫׳‬nade; bal‫׳‬loon; trai‫׳‬nee; ‚Vietna‫׳‬mese; ‚engi‫׳‬neer; ciga‫׳‬rette;
‚maga‫׳‬zíne; ‚pictu‫׳‬resque; u′níque
In Penultimate syllable stressed (the syllable before the last): words ending in – ic’;-ial; -ian; -
ion; -ient; -ience; -iar; -eous; -ious; -ity; -aphy; -ive…
Ex: Pho′netic; arti‫׳‬fícial; elec‫׳‬trícian;‚conver‫׳‬sation; suf‫׳‬fícient; con‫׳‬venience; fa‫׳‬míliar;
advan‫׳‬tageous; de‫׳‬lícious; uni‫׳‬versity; pho‫׳‬tography; re‫׳‬flexive
Prefixes: Usually prefixes do not affect the stress placement. Ex: ′Comfortable =>
un‫׳‬comfortable; ′pleasant => un‫׳‬pleasant

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14 Next, we will talk about Compound Word Stress. Compound words are units made of two or
more words joined together. They may be written in different ways:
*As one word. Ex: Armchair; sunflower; sunglasses ….
*Words separated by a hyphen. Ex: ice-cream; first-class; bad-tempered
*Words separated by a space. Ex: a green house; a coffee cup; a desk lamp

15 a. Stress on the 1st word

Usually compound nouns (N + N; A + N) forming only one unit with a particular meaning
receive the primary stress on the 1stword.
Ex: ′suitcase; ′sunflower; a ′green house; a ′gold fish
b. Stress on the 2nd word
*Adjective + -ed. Ex: bad-′tempered; heavy-′hearted; heavy-′handed
*Number + noun. Ex: Three-′wheeler; second-′class
*Compounds functioning as adverb. Ex: down-′stream; head-′first
*Adverb + verb. Ex: down-′grade; back-′pedal; ill-′treat
*Compound proper names. Ex: New′York ; Bob ′Smith
*Compound verbs / phrasal verbs. Ex: pick ′up; turn ′on; look ′after

16 That is the end of Unit 8. I hope that you enjoy the lesson. Thank you for your attention, and
goodbye!