MULTI-SYLLABIC WORDS
Deciding which syllable to give stress becomes very complicated when words include more than two syllables. With poly-syllabic or multi-syllabic words (sometimes called heavy words), the rules of stress placement start to become ever more arbitrary—with more exceptions than can easily be explained away. However, this does not mean that there is no rule for this purpose.
One general hint to remember is that weak syllables never carry stress. Therefore, any unstressed syllable will reduce its vowel into a weaker one—like /ə/ or /ɪ/. Another hint is that multi-syllabic function words happen, for the most part, to carry stress on their final or ultimate syllable. Take the following examples:
Despite the large amount of research done on the subject of stress, it is still one area of which phoneticians have little understanding. They have, however, developed a few rules that can be safely used to identify the stress patterns of the majority, though not all, of the English poly-syllabic content words. Very often the exceptions are words borrowed from other languages (which are normally stressed according to the stress patterns of the languages from which they were originally borrowed.
These rules, and a few examples for each, are provided here. Notice that these rules do not identify the stress patterns of all content words. They are not exhaustive and all-inclusive.
Prefixes and the adverbial suffix -ly (used to make adverbs) usually do not change the pattern of stress. Take the following examples:
Verbs that end in –ate or –ize receive stress on their antepenultimate (i.e., last but two, or the third from right) syllables. Notice that the endings are pronounced as /eɪt/ and /aɪz/ respectively. Take the following examples:
Verbs that end in –ify usually take stress on the syllable prior to the –ify ending. Take the following examples:
Other verbs usually take stress on their last syllables, unless when the last syllable contains a short vowel. Take the following examples:
Adjectives that end in –ate receive stress on their antepenultimate syllable (like verbs) but the –ate ending is pronounced as /ət/. Take the following examples:
Adjectives that end in –ese usually receive stress on the syllable containing –ese. Take the following examples:
Adjectives which end in –ious, -uous, -eous, -ieous, -ic, -ical, -ian, -ible, –ial, or -ive (except for those ending in -tive) usually receive stress on the syllable prior to these endings. There are a few exceptions in connection to the ending –ic (e.g., Arabic, lunatic, and rhetoric). Take the following examples:
Adjectives that end in –able, -al, and –ous usually take stress on their antepenultimate syllables (i.e., the third from right). Take these examples:
Nouns that end in –ity, -ety, -al, -ion, -ence, -ance, -acy, and –ian usually take stress on the syllable prior to these endings. Take the following examples:
Other heavy nouns usually receive stress on their antepenultimate syllables. Take these examples:
The endings –ist, and –ism do not change stress. Take the following examples:
Nouns ending in –ee usually receive stress on the ending itself; there are some exceptions though. Often the exceptions are those nouns that include double consonants prior to the –ee ending (e.g., committee, coffee, etc.). Take the following examples:
13) –ly does not change stress. Therefore, for adverbs ending in –ly, the easiest way is to ignore the –ly ending and to identify the stressed syllable of the adjective. –ly in adverbs is usually pronounced as /lɪ/.
