You may remember last week’s program, in which I talked about rules of English word
stress for two-syllable words. This week, we continue talking about word
stress. Let’s begin with three-syllable words.
Three-syllable words that end in –er and –ly often stress the first syllable. Listen to some
examples: readily
quietly perfectly
manager gardener
busier
Note these words are a mix of adverbs, adjectives and nouns. But the part of speech is not important
here. We are focused on word endings.
Next: Words ending in –ic, –tion and –sion usually have their stress on the second-to-last syllable.
This is true for words with three or more syllables. Listen carefully. Word meaning is not important
here: embryonic
catatonic organization
rendition permission
indecision
Several other word endings decide word stress. They are –al, –gy, –cy, –ty and –phy.
For these, the stress is on the third-to-last syllable.
That sounds complex, but it’s easier than you think. For example, here is a word you’ve
probably heard often: photography. Listen to a few more:
entomology democracy
physical morbidity
autobiography
Kind in mind a few things as you learn and practice English word stress.
First: Some multi-syllable words have two stresses. We call them primary stress (the
main, louder stress) and secondary stress (the lower, softer stress). Take the word “alligator.”
It has four syllables. The primary stress is on the first syllable. But the third syllable
does have a softer, secondary stress. Second: In English, we stress only vowel sounds.
We do not stress consonants. For instance, in the word “photography,” I stressed
the second vowel (ɐ). I said it louder and longer than the other vowels. Listen again:
photography. The unstressed syllables are low, fast and
often unclear. And that brings us to our last point: It may
feel strange to say some parts of a word lower, quicker and less clear than other parts but,
with practice, it will begin to feel more natural.