Word Stress

Word stress (word accent) is greater prominence given to one or more syllables in a word.

Stressed and unstressed syllables differ in quantity (length) and quality. They are longer when stressed and carry vowels of full formation. When unstressed, they undergo reduction and become shorter.

Word stress should be considered from the point of view of:

1. its place in a sentence;

2. its degree.

There are two degrees of word stress in English:

1. primary or strong (marked above the syllable);

2. secondary or weak (marked under the syllable).

The place of word stress depends on the quantity of syllables in a word.

Accented types of words

1. Monosyllabic, disyllabic and trisyllabic words are stressed on the first syllable, e. g. phoneme, palate, prefix, pronoun, family, enemy, imitate, colony.

Note 1. In three-syllable words the stressed vowel is mostly read according to the second type of the syllable, e. g. family.

Note 2. In words with inseparable prefixes the stress falls on the syllable next to the prefix: begin, prepare.

2. Most four-syllable words have the stress laid on the third syllable from the end, e. g. political, experiment, historical, geology.

3. Compound nouns are stressed on the first component, the second though unstressed has a vowel of full formation, e. g. blackboard //.

Exceptions: arm-chair, ice-cream, tape-recorder.

4. Polysyllabic words have the primary stress on the third syllable from the end and the secondary stress on the second pretonic syllable, e. g. university, assimilation, possibility.

5. The following groups of words have two primary stresses:

   • numerals (from 13 to 19): fourteen;

   • compound adjectives: well-known, good-looking;

   • composite verbs: get up, sit down, put on;

   • words with separable prefixes:

     1. implying negation: un-, in-, il-, ir-, non-, dis-, e. g. unknown, inaccurate, irregular, non-aggressive, disbelief, illiterate;

     2. prefixes implying assistance: sub-, vice-, e.g. subtitle, vice-minister;

     3. prefixes with different meanings: mis- - meaning ‘wrong’ (misunderstand); over- - meaning ‘too much’ (overtired); pre- - meaning ‘before’ (pre-revolutionary); inter- - meaning ‘among’, ‘between’ (international); anti- - meaning ‘against’ (antiwar).

Note. Words listed under group 5 undergo variations in stress. In utterances they lose one stress or the other. When they are used attributively, the second stress is lost; when used predicatively, the first stress is lost:

Attributively Predicatively

Fourteen years. He’s fourteen.

A hard-working boy. The boy is hard-working.

A well-planned house. The house is well-planned.

A well-bred man. The man is well-bred.