Welcome! Stress is a general term for both word and emphatic stress in language. You may see the emphatic here. Firstly, what is word stress? In English, pronunciation of all syllables are not done with the same strength or force; there's always a change in emphasis. This change is called word stress. Word stress is therefore the level of emphasis placed on each syllable of a word. Taking this course, I believe you've had a ground knowledge of pronunciation and IPA reading. If not, quickly do so by clicking here to see our webinars on pronunciation. You are going to need the knowledge.
Word stress is sub-divided into primary, secondary and unstressed syllables. The primary stress carries the highest effort and takes the stress stroke at the beginning and top of the syllable that has it; /'meǝ.ri/ the secondary stress is placed at the bottom and beginning of its syllable /,kɔm.pǝ.'zi.ʃn/ while an unstressed syllable is completely weak and has no force. It therefore carries no stress stroke. To simplify this course, I've divided it into two parts: bi-syllabic and poly-syllabic stress with easy rough-and-ready rules to help you build your stress and pronunciation.
The Bi-syllabic Stress and Rules
Bi-syllabic words are 2-syllabic while poly-syllabic refers to words that have more than two syllables. Now, we are going to consider some rules that may serve as guide to your stress analysis in language. Make sure you pronounce all transcribed words to perfection.
- All syllables that carry shwa /ǝ/, either in 2-syllabic or poly-syllabic are traditionally unstressed because the sound shwa is weak. Ex.: Above /ǝ.'bʌv/, advice /ǝd.'vaɪs/ and advise /ǝd.'vaɪz/. Both words: advice and advise are stressed on second syllable. Although most people believe every nominal 2-syllabic word is stressed on the first while the verbal counterpart is stressed on the second syllable; this is not always true, esp., when there's a shwa involved.
- No suffix or prefix can be stressed; they aren't part of the word itself. Ex.: Teaching /'ti:.ʧɪn/, pan-African /,pæn.'æf.rɪ.kǝn/.
- 2-syllabic nouns are stressed on the first syllable and verbs on the other. Noun: /'bɔks.ǝ/, verb: indict /ɪn.'daɪt/. However, if the 2-syllabic noun contains a shwa in the first syllable, the stress is passed on to the second syllable. Ex.: Domain /dǝ.'meɪn/. Try to stress rebel (noun) and rebel (verb).
- Shwa can be stressed when it occurs in a dipthong. Examples: Mary /'meǝ.rɪ/, goaler /'gǝu.lǝ/, gogo /'gǝu.gǝu/. In the examples above, the first word is a noun, name, that has shwa in the first syllable but the shwa is strengthened because it occurs in a dipthong. The shwa is therefore stronger than the other syllable that contains the sound /...ri/. The second example showcased a noun that contains shwa in both syllables but the first is a dipthong, therefore it's stronger than the single shwa so it's stressed while in the last example, we have the case of a word that contains one dipthong shwa in each of its syllable. When such occurs, the word is treated like a normal 2-syllabic nominal word that takes stress on its first syllable (rule 3). To sum this up, a shwa involved in a dipthong is no longer seen weak but made strong by the other sound in the pair but this doesn't mean all dipthong shwas are stressed. See: billow /'bɪ.lǝu/. This means a stronger sound than the dipthong shwa, if available in a word, is chosen over the dipthong. Again billow can also be a verb; in such case, you stress the second syllable because the /ɪ/ in the first syllable of billow will have weakened to a single shwa which is the weakest.
The Poly-syllabic Stress and Rules
There are some reliable techniques that can help your stressing of poly-syllabic words. But you must know that some of these techniques may not be applicable to all words so why do we even study them? This is because they are accountable and reliable to help your stressing and open your mind to broader realities of the English stress such that you'll know what to pay attention while studying, what your target for improvement should be and help you create your own mnemonic way of understanding the stress. Let's see the rules.
- Words that end in "ic", "ics", "ial" and "ion" are stressed on the penultimate syllable, that is, next to the last. Ex.: Mechanic /mǝ.'kæ.nɪk/, mechatronics /,me.kǝ.'trɔ.nɪks/, etc. However, the word politics doesn't conform with this rule. Politics /'pɔ.lǝ.tɪks/.
- Words that that end "sm" are stressed on the first syllable. Words like: fascism /...zm/, Africanism /...zm/, etc.
- Words that end in "ity" are stressed on the third syllable away from the last. Such word as: illogicality /ɪ.lɔ.ʤɪ.'kæ.lǝ.tɪ/, acceptability and fraternity. While British people end words like franchise with -ise, Americans use -ize but words that end in either "-ise" or "-ize" are mostly stressed on the first syllable. Words like: fraternise, franchise, monetise, etc. Keep your study alive!