Rules of Stressing syllables

1. PROSODIC ELEMENTS OF
ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Lesson 4: Stress in
English
By: Israel
Reyes

2. WHAT IS
STRESS?
In linguistics, stress is the
relative emphasis that may be
given to certain syllables in a
word.

3. In linguistic, stress is represented as a big
circle - small circle (Oo). The big circle
represents the stress syllable in a word and
the short one the rest of the syllables. Eg:
economy oOoo. Sometimes the stress is
also represented with capital letters. Eg:
economy eCOnomy. In phonetics it
SYSTEM OF NOTATION FOR
MARKING STRESS

4. When we stress syllables in words, we use a
combination of different features:
 A stressed syllable combines five features:
o It is l-o-n-g-e-r E.g: comP-U-Ter
o It is LOUDER E.g: comPUTer
o It has a change in pitch from the syllables coming
before and afterwards. The pitch of a stressed
syllable is usually higher.
o It is said more clearly -The vowel sound is purer.
NOTE:

5. RULES FOR DETERMINING THE
STRESSED SYLLABLE
1.The great majority of two-syllable
words are stressed on the 1st syllable.
Examples:
FUture FAther PLEAsure RAthe
WINdow

6. 2. A large group of words, which may
be used either as nouns or verbs (same
spelling- different pronunciation), have
a difference in stress to indicate the
difference in usage. Nouns take the
stress on the 1st syllable and verbs on

7. Example
s:
Nouns
the CONflict
the CONtract
the DEsert
the INsult
the OBject
the PERmit
the PREsent
the PROgress
the PROject
the REcord
the SUSpect
Verbs
to conFLICT
to conTRACT
to deSERT
to inSULT
to obJECT
to perMIT
to preSENT
to proGRESS
to proJECT
to reCORD
to susPECT

8. 3. Generally when a suffix is added,
the word maintains its stress:
Example
s:
HAppy- HAppiness
FRIEND- FRIENDly
BUILD- BUILDer
BEAUty- BEAUtiful
FAshion- FAshionable
esPEcial- esPEcially

9. 4. Words ending in -tion, -ian, -
sion,-ic,-ical, and -ity almost always
have the primary stress on the
syllable preceding the ending, so
there is usually a change of stress.

10. conTRIbute-contriBUtion
eCOnomy-ecoNOmic
EDucate-eduCAtion
eLECtric-elecTRIcian
SCIENtist-scienTIfic
NAtinal-natioNALity
Example
s:

11. Compound words are made from two smaller
words put together, for example book + shop =
bookshop.(They are not always written as one
word, for example shoe shop.) In most
compound words, the stress is on the first part.
For example, the word bookshop has two
STRESS IN COMPOUND WORDS

12. 5. In compound nouns the stress
generally goes on the 1st syllable.
Example
s:
Oo : MAILman, GREENhouse, FIREman, HOT dog, ROOMmate,
SCHOOL bus, AIRport, BEDroom.
Ooo: TRAffic light, BUS station, SUNglasses, BOARDing card,
WINdow seat, CHECK-in desk.
Oooo: TRAvel agent, ART gallery, SUPERmarket, TAPE recorder,
PHOtocopy.

13. If the compound word is not a noun, we often put stress
on the second part too.
OO FIRST CLASS, HALF PRICE, HAND MADE
OOo BAD-TEMpered, OLD-FAshioned, SHORT-SIGHTed
OOo OVERnight, SECOND hand
NOTE:

14. STRESS IN LONGER WORDS
We can build longer words by adding
parts to the beginning or end of
shorter words. Usually this does not
change the stress: it stays on the
same syllable as in the original word.

15. Example
s:

17. Oo oOoo Ooo oooOo
equal equality equalize equalizatio
n
final finality finalize finalization
neutra
l
neutralit
y
neutraliz
e
neutralizati
on
nation
al
national
ity
nationali
ze
nationalizat
ion

18. EXERCISES
Write the words from the list in the correct part of the table according to the stress pattern.
List:
population, telecommunication, nation, identification, relation, communication, pronunciation,
scientific, clinic, romantic, pessimistic, investigation, public, discussion

19. Combine each word with one of the endings in the list, and give the stress pattern of
your new word. You may need to change or add other letters to the first word.
List: -ion -ic
Example: inform: information: ooOo
introduce
base
economy
describe
romance
compete
optimist
celebrate
diplomat
operate
explain
decide

20. Write the word in the list in the correct column according to their stress
pattern.
List: economy, economics, physics, chemistry, geography, mathematics,
sociology, history, geology, photography, nation, nationality

21. GOOD LOOK!!!