Word Stress

WORD STRESS

STRESS DEFINED

By “stress” is meant the degree of force or loudness with which a syllable is pronounced so as to give it prominence.

A “syllable” consists of a vowel, with or without one or more than one consonant preceding or following it.

Three degrees of stress can be observed in English: strong or primary, medium or secondary, and weak stress.

Why word stress is important

Mistakes in word stress are a common cause of misunderstanding in English. Here are the reasons why:

1. Stressing the wrong syllable in a word can make the word very difficult to hear and understand; for example, try saying the following words:

o O   b'tell  

O o  hotel

And now in a sentence:

 "I carried the b'tell to the hotel."

Now reverse the stress patterns for the two words and you should be able to make sense of the sentence!

 "I carried the bottle to the hotel."

2. Stressing a word differently can change the meaning or type of the word:

 "They will desert* the desert** by tomorrow."

  o O

desert*

 O o

 desert**

Think about the grammatical difference between desert* and desert**.

3.  Even if the speaker can be understood, mistakes with word stress can make the listener feel irritated, or perhaps even amused, and could prevent good communication from taking place.

What word stress is?

When we stress syllables in words, we use a combination of different features. Experiment now with the word 'computer'. Say it out loud. Listen to yourself. The second syllable of the three is stressed. What are you doing so that the listener can hear that stress?

 A stressed syllable combines five features:

 It is l-o-n-g-e-r - com p-u-ter

  It is LOUDER - comPUTer

        It has a change in pitch from the syllables coming before and afterwards. The pitch of a stressed syllable is usually higher.

 

Some 'rules' of word stress
There are patterns in word stress in English but, as a rule (!), it is dangerous to say there are fixed rules. Exceptions can usually be found.

two-syllable nouns and adjectives stress on the first syllable

      O o

apple  

lagoon

suspect

import

insult  

words which can be used as both nouns and verbs

vthe noun has stress on the first syllable

O o

"You are the suspect!"

vthe verb has stress on the second syllable

o O

"I suspect you."  

compound nouns fairly equally balanced but with stronger stress on the first part

O o

hairbrush

Football

Half way

Dead tired

Old world

Hand knit 

Stress can fall on the first, middle, or last syllables of words, as is shown here: