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Word Stress

Updated: Tuesday, March 4, 2003

• A multi-syllable word has a prominent syllable. This is called a stressed syllable.
• Stressed syllable is longer in duration, higher in pitch, and louder in volume.
• Duration is the primary attribute to the prominence of a syllable.
• Usually 2 syllable nouns (90%+) have the stress on the first syllable; 2 syllable verbs (60%+) have the stress on the second.
• Except for the compounds, stressed syllables in words with more than 2 syllables never stand next to each other (Stressed syllables and weak syllables alternate).

When a word has more than one syllable, one is more prominent than the others. When this happens, we say that the syllable has a stress, or that it is stressed. In the following examples, stressed syllables are expressed with boldface.

When a syllable is stressed, it is pronounced;

• longer in duration
• higher in pitch, and
• louder in volume

Try this with the word teacher.

(Japanese learners and others) However, for Japanese learners, it is most important to make the stressed syllable longer. Duration is the most important aspect of stress that Japanese learners have to practice. This is because Japanese learners are used to make prominence ONLY by the pitch.

The location of stress is determined by a set of many complex rules. Therefore predicting where the stress falls is not easy. However, some sets of words follow a simple pattern.

Consider the following two-syllable words. Underline the stronger syllable.

As you can see, the nouns typically have the first syllable stressed, whereas verbs have the stressed second syllable. 90% two-syllable nouns, and 60% two-syllable verbs follow this pattern (Avery and Ehrlich, 1992).

Look at the following three syllable words. Consider the stress patterns.

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Explore this topic further?

• More exercises on word stress
• Syllable constituents