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    Rules of Word Stress in English: 1 Stress On First Syllable Rule Example

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    Hoàng Long
    There are two main rules for word stress in English: 1) A word can only have one main stress, and 2) Stress is placed on vowels, not consonants. Additional guidelines are provided, but there are many exceptions. It is generally better to learn stress through exposure to the language. The location of stress depends on factors like the number of syllables in a word, whether syllables are heavy or light, and where prefixes or suffixes are attached. Stress placement can also vary between words that are otherwise identical.

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    Rules of Word Stress in English: 1 Stress On First Syllable Rule Example

    Uploaded by

    Hoàng Long
    106 views3 pages
    There are two main rules for word stress in English: 1) A word can only have one main stress, and 2) Stress is placed on vowels, not consonants. Additional guidelines are provided, but there are many exceptions. It is generally better to learn stress through exposure to the language. The location of stress depends on factors like the number of syllables in a word, whether syllables are heavy or light, and where prefixes or suffixes are attached. Stress placement can also vary between words that are otherwise identical.

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    Rules of Stress

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    There are two main rules for word stress in English: 1) A word can only have one main stress, and 2) Stress is placed on vowels, not consonants. Additional guidelines are provided, but there are many exceptions. It is generally better to learn stress through exposure to the language. The location of stress depends on factors like the number of syllables in a word, whether syllables are heavy or light, and where prefixes or suffixes are attached. Stress placement can also vary between words that are otherwise identical.

    Copyright:

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    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    106 views3 pages

    Rules of Word Stress in English: 1 Stress On First Syllable Rule Example

    Uploaded by

    Hoàng Long
    There are two main rules for word stress in English: 1) A word can only have one main stress, and 2) Stress is placed on vowels, not consonants. Additional guidelines are provided, but there are many exceptions. It is generally better to learn stress through exposure to the language. The location of stress depends on factors like the number of syllables in a word, whether syllables are heavy or light, and where prefixes or suffixes are attached. Stress placement can also vary between words that are otherwise identical.

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    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 3

    Rules of Word Stress in English

    There are two very simple rules about word stress:

    1. One word has only one stress. (One word cannot have two
    stresses. If you hear two stresses, you hear two words. Two stresses
    cannot be one word. It is true that there can be a "secondary" stress in
    some words. But a secondary stress is much smaller than the main
    [primary] stress, and is only used in long words.)

    2. We can only stress vowels, not consonants.

    Here are some more, rather complicated, rules that can help you understand
    where to put the stress. But do not rely on them too much, because there
    are many exceptions. It is better to try to "feel" the music of the language
    and to add the stress naturally.

    1 Stress on first syllable

    rule example

    Most 2-syllable nouns PRESent, EXport, CHIna, TAble

    Most 2-syllable adjectives PRESent, SLENder, CLEVer, HAPpy

    2 Stress on last syllable

    rule example

    Most 2-syllable verbs to preSENT, to exPORT, to deCIDE, to beGIN

    There are many two-syllable words in English whose meaning and class
    change with a change in stress. The word present, for example is a two-
    syllable word. If we stress the first syllable, it is a noun (gift) or an adjective
    (opposite of absent). But if we stress the second syllable, it becomes a verb
    (to offer). More examples: the
    words export, import,contract and object can all be nouns or verbs
    depending on whether the stress is on the first or second syllable.

    3 Stress on penultimate syllable (penultimate = second from end)

    rule example

    Words ending in -ic GRAPHic, geoGRAPHic, geoLOGic


    Words ending in -sion and -tion teleVIsion, reveLAtion

    For a few words, native English speakers don't always "agree" on where to
    put the stress. For example, some people say teleVIsion and others
    say TELevision. Another example is:CONtroversy and conTROversy.

    4 Stress on ante-penultimate syllable (ante-penultimate = third from


    end)

    rule example

    Words ending in -cy, -ty, - deMOcracy, dependaBIlity, phoTOgraphy,


    phy and -gy geOLogy

    Words ending in -al CRItical, geoLOGical

    5 Compound words (words with two parts)

    rule example

    For compound nouns, the stress is on BLACKbird, GREENhouse


    the first part

    For compound adjectives, the stress is on bad-TEMpered, old-


    the second part FASHioned

    For compound verbs, the stress is on to underSTAND, to


    the second part overFLOW

    English Stress
    English stress is dependant on origin of words and the rhythmic factors ( heavy-light
    syllables). Words borrowed from Latin and other donor languages are stressed differently. In
    the case of  Anglo-Saxon words  the first syllable of the root is stressed. For example, in the
    following words the stress is in the first syllable, “blossom, body, holy, never, unpack.” 
     
    What are the ways in Determining the main stress in English? The steps to be taken in this
    process are, first:
    1)                         remove inflectional suffixes and stress neutral suffixes,
     
    then
    2)                         if the word has two syllables, stress the first one.
     
    The floowing words are examples for this two step process: “donkey, exit, finger, bonus.”
     
    3)                         If the words are of three syllables or more, determine whether the penult (the next to
    last syllable in a word ) is heavy or light. Following are examples of heavy and light
    syllables.
    “Recruitment, entailment, detergent, escapist (heavy)
    Average, bungalow, regiment, resolute (light)”
     
    4)                         If the penult is heavy, stress it.
    A, E, I,O,U and diphtong are long vowels. Spacious, spicy, ocean, rejoice are examples for
    this process.
    5)              If the penult is light, stress the antepenult.
    As seen in “ACtivate, MULtiply, reVItalize, VACcinate.”
    (English Words, 2001)
     
    Main stress falls on the penultimate syllable if it has a long vowel or is closed by a consonant;
    otherwise, main stress falls on the antepenultimate (the 3rd syllable of a word counting back
    from the end ) syllable.
     
    The location of the stress depends on the distribution of heavy syllables, as well as location in
    the word. So, English makes distinction between heavy (long vowels, more prominent) and
    light (short vowels) syllables. Foot with one heavy syllable is stressed, however a foot with
    one light syllable is not stressed. (Dresher, B. E. 1999)
     
    The affixes which change the word stress are various, some examples are
    -ain(entertain),              -ee(refugee,trainee), -ese(Portugese, Japanese), -ique(unique),
    -ette(cigarette,laundrette),                -esque(picturesque), -ial(proverbial), -ic(climatic),
    -ion(perfection), -ive(reflexive), -cal (political), -ity(complexity), -aire(millionaire), -
    eer(mountaineer), -ian(Italian), -et(ballet),
     
    On the other hand, there are some other affixes which don’t effect the distribution of stress,
    they are -able, -age, -al, -ful, -en, -ish, -ish, -like, -less, -ment, -wise, -y, -hood, -ship, -ness,
    -ing, -our etc.

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