Você está na página 1de 5

Word stress

Word stress is the specific stressed syllable in the pronunciation of a particular word.
A great number of words in English only have one syllable (for example go, eat, wait, eight, house,
prince, friends, thieves, straight, etc.). In these cases the stress can only be located in that syllable.
In longer words the stress can lie in any syllable:
First syllable: doctor; handicap; testimony; capitalism;
Second syllable: alone; delete; comparison; sophisticated;
Third syllable: understand; controversial; university;
Fourth syllable: configuration; experimental; responsibility
While on the subject, as in all aspects of language, a constantly-evolving mode of communication
among human beings, the stress on words can also shift over time.[1]

IPA symbol
In IPA the primary stress is marked with a small raised vertical line preceding
the stressed syllable: doctor /dktr/, hotel /htel/, experience
/ksprns/, professional /prfenl/.

IPA vowels

Secondary stress

trap

father - start

Long words may have an extra stress, the second most stressed syllable in the
word.

dress

face

square

kit

fleece

near

lot

goat

north

The secondary stress is marked with a small lowered vertical line preceding
the stressed syllable: information /nfrmen/, understand /ndrstnd/,
represent /reprzent/.
Words with secondary stress are pronounced as if thew were two different
words, and one of them has the primary stress: infor-mation, under-stand,
repre-sent. If a word has two secondary stresses it is pronounced as three small
words: onomatopoeia /nmtpi/ ono-mato-poeia; heterosexuality /
hetrsekult/ hetero-sexu-ality.

Some general rules


First syllable
Second syllable
Nouns coffee - expert - water canal - hotel
Verbs argue - follow
agree - complain - regret

Nouns, etc.
What is said here about nouns is also valid for other parts of speech, except
verbs.

foot

ju

cute

cure

strut comma nurse

price mouth choice


IPA consonants
Normal sound: /b,
d, f, g, h, k, l, m, n,
p, r, s, t, v, w, z/

Two syllables

goose mature

show church sing

Two-syllable nouns often, but not always, have the stress on the first
syllable:
Nouns: coffee - country - effort - engine - exit - expert - export increase - level - morning - number - people - pepper - problem record - rescue - second - sentence - system - water
Other parts of speech: after - any - central - little - many - mental only - other - over - something - very
Exceptions:

usual judge you

think

that

see

IPA

Nouns: amount - attack - attempt - canal - control - defence - de


mand - disease - eclipse - effect - except - extinct - hotel - July machine - police - receipt - reply - report - research - result - suc
cess - support
Other parts of speech: above - about - again - against - ahead - a
lone - although - among - around - aware - away - because - be
fore - behind - below - between - enough - perhaps - today - until upon - within - without
Three or more syllables

Stress

Primary
stress
hotel /h
tel/

Secondary
stress
understand
/ndr
stnd/

IPA Syllabification

Stress in the first syllable


animal - company - definitely - exercise - family - general - gentlemen
- government - handicap - recipe - secretary /sekrtr,BrE sekr
teriAmE/ - yesterday /jestrde, jestrd/

nitrate
/na.tret/,
night-rate
/nat.ret/

Stress in the second syllable:


another - composer - December - departure - detective - emotion - example - expensive - ex
perience - gorilla - remainder
In nouns ending -isation or -ization, we stress the /e/:
civilise civilisation; improvise improvisation; organise organisation; privatise privati
sation;
Stress in the third syllable:
afternoon - controversial - entertainment - indistinguishable - information - university
Stress in the fourth syllable:
characteristic - configuration - etymological - experimental - responsibility

Verbs
Two syllables
verbs with two syllables often, but not always, have the stress on the second:
agree - apply - arrive - become - begin - believe - compare - complain - comply - decide declare - defy - depend - discuss - enjoy - explain - export - forget - improve - include - in
crease - invite - prepare - pretend - prevent - provide - receive - record - refer - refuse - re

gret - remain - repeat - reply - report - respect - return - reveal - rewind - suggest
Exceptions: argue - cancel - centerAmE/centreBrE - colorAmE/colourBrE - differ - edit - enter - exit follow - happen - issue - level - limit - market - offer - open - order - question - reason - silence - study
- value - visit
Three or more syllables
Stress in the first syllable
dominate - educate - hesitate - interest - multiply
Many verbs ending in "-iseBrE/-ize": civilise/civilize - realise/realize - recognise/recognize
Stress in the second syllable
consider - comunicate - experience - evaluate - recover - remember
Some verbs ending in "-iseBrE/-ize": commercialise/commercialize - familiarise/familiarize prioritise/prioritize
Stress in the third syllable
decontaminate
last: decompose - recommend - understand

The letter e
First syllable
Second syllable
/e/ general - level - yesterday technique
// pretty

belief - prepare - refuse

Most words with the first e pronounced like // are stressed in the second syllable.
Nouns: belief - December - defence - demand - departure - detective - eclipse - ellipse - emotion
- example - except - expensive - experience - extinct - receipt - report - research - result
Verbs: become - begin - believe - decide - declare - defy - depend - enjoy - evaluate - explain experience - prepare - pretend - prevent - receive - recover - refer - refuse - regret - remain remember - repeat - reply - report - respect - return - reveal - rewind
Other parts of speech: because - before - between
When the first e is the stressed syllable, it is usually pronounced /e/:
Nouns: beggar - benefit - celery - ceremony - effort - engine - exercise - exit - expert - general gentlemen - level - mechanism - pepper - recipe - record - rescue - second - secretary - sentence vegetable - yesterday
Verbs: detonate - edit - educate - enter - exit - hesitate - level
Other parts of speech: central - definitely - federal - mental
This is particularly noticeable in many verbs which have the same spelling for the noun; See Heteronym.
export (v.) - export (n.); record (v.) - record (n.);
Exceptions:
First syllable

//: England - English - pretty


/i/: decent - detail - even - female - legal - Peter - previous - recent - region - retail - secret
- sequence - vehicle
Second syllable
/i/: replay
/e/: technique
Third syllable
/e/: celebration

Heteronyms
Many heteronyms have a difference in stress. In many cases a noun is stressed in the first syllable and a
verb is stressed in the second.
arithmetic (n.) - arithmetic (adj.); export (n.) - export (v.); insult (n.) - insult (v.); invalid (n.) invalid (adj.); record (n.) - record (v.);

Variant pronunciations
Some words may be pronounced with stress in different syllables. In some cases there is a regional
variation.
address/addressAmE - adult/adult - advertisementBrE/advertisementAmE compositeBrE/compositeAmE - controversy (traditional pronunciation, both BrE and
AmE)/controversy (new pronunciation, peculiarly BrE)[2] - kilometre/kilometre transferenceBrE/transferenceAmE
This is particularly noticeable in French borrowings.
balletBrE/balletAmE - chauffeurBrE/chauffeurAmE - fianc(e)BrE/fianc(e)AmE garageBrE/garageAmE - lingerieBrE/lingerieAmE
Many words that have a secondary stress in American English have one less syllable in British English:
secretary /sekrter/AmE - /sekrtr/BrE
laboratory /lbrtri/AmE - /lbrtr/BrE

Anticipated pronunciation difficulties depending on L1


Preconceived ideas and other interferences from L1 obviously interfere in many cases with how students
perceive - and pronounce - sounds/words in English. The following sections aims to point out some of
the most typical difficulties teachers and students may encounter regarding pronunciation.

Spanish
Many Spanish speakers think that all English words are stressed in the first syllable, and they pronounce
*canal, *hotel, *perhaps, *between, or *preliminary

References
1. Crystal, David, "A pronounced change in British speech" (http://davidcrystal.com/?id=4046)
PDF format
2. The Telegraph, The 'conTROversy' over changing pronunciations
(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8305645/The-conTROversy-overchanging-pronunciations.html), 5 Feb 2011
Content licensed Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0

Teflpedia.com

Você também pode gostar