I sem - Gen. English - Word stress

Word Stress

« The word is a linguistic entity composed of one or more syllables

« The syllable that is pronounced more prominently than the other(s) in the same word is said to be accented or to receive the stress

« In English there are several polysyllabic words in which more than one syllable may be prominent – one of the syllables is said to receive the primary stress; the other syllable that is secondly prominent is said to receive the secondary stress

« Primary Stress is marked with a vertical bar above & in front of the syllable to which it refers

« Secondary Stress is marked with a vertical bar below & in front of the syllable to which it refers

RULE 1:

There are some disyllabic words in which word accent depends upon whether the words are used as nouns/adjectives or as verbs.

For nouns the stress is on the first syllable

For verbs the stress is on the second syllable

Word	Noun / Adjective	Verb
conduct object product direct export

Rule : 2   Accent in Compound Words

The most common type in English is the first of the two elements receiving the primary stress.

Air – raid                                 Cardboard

Bookshelf                               Footprint

Rule 3:

Words ending with –ever  & -self  take the stress in the second element

Her self                          what ever

My self                          when ever

Rule 4 :

Words with weak prefixes always take the accent on the root.

A board

A broad

Be come

Rule 5:

Words having weak vowel followed by a strong vowel syllables have the accent in the second syllable

Recom mend

Com pose

Ad vance

Rule 6:

Words ending in  -ion take the primary stress on the penultimate syllable

admi ration

appli cation

combi nation

Rule 7:

Words ending in –ic, -ical, -ically, -ious, -ial & -ially take the stress on the previous syllable

-ic               pathetic                        terrific

-ical            optical                           biological

-ically         chemically          psychologically

-ious           notorious                      atrocious

-ially           commercially               dramatically

-ial              commercial                  memorial

Rule 8:

Words ending in –ity take the accent on the ante – penultimate syllable (third from the last syllable)

a bility                           fu tility

ca pacity                       oppor tunity

Sentence Stress

In a sentence, some words have been stressed rather than other words.  This depends on the intention of the speaker.  Mostly the content words receive the stress rather than the structural words.

‘He is my uncle   ( not any other person, only he )

He is ‘my uncle   ( not any other’s )

He is my ‘uncle   ( not any other relation)