Word Stress – III

                 Word Stress – III

Dear readers, in the previous post, we discussed monosyllabic and disyllabic words and their stress patterns. In this post, let us learn about the stress patterns of the Trisyllabic words in English.

Trisyllabic words accented on the FIRST syllable

1.     Accident          –AC-ci-dent (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/accident)

2.     Abdomen        -AB-do-men (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/abdomen?q=%09Abdomen)

3.     Beautiful         -BEAU-ti-ful (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/beautiful)

4.     Barrister          -BAR-ris-ter (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/barrister)

5.     Currently        -CUR-rent-ly (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/currently)

6.     Document       - DO-cu-ment (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/document)

7.     Dramatist        - DRA-ma-tist      (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/dramatist)

8.     Elephant          - E-le-phant (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/elephant)

9.     Energy            - E-ner-gy (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/energy)

10.  Government    - GO-vern-ment(https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/government)

11.  Gratitude         - GRA-ti-tude (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/gratitude)

12.  Honesty           - HO-nes-ty (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/honesty)

13.  Jealousy          - JEA-lou-sy (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/jealousy)

14.  Measurement  - MEA-sure-ment

(https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/measurement)

15.  Natural             - NA-tu-ral (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/natural)

Trisyllabic words accented on the SECOND syllable

1.     Attendance      - at-TEN-dance (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/attendance)

2.     Accountant     - ac-COUN-tant (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/accountant)

3.     Addition          - ad-DI-tion (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/addition)

4.     Affection        - af-FEC-tion (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/affection)

5.     Announcement - an-NOUNCE-ment                      (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/announcement)

6.     Attraction       - at-TRAC-tion (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/attraction)

7.     Artistic            - ar-TIS-tic (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/artistic)

8.     Assessment     - as-SESS-ment (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/assessment)

9.     Battalion         - bat-TAL-ion (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/battalion)

10.  Belated            - be-LA-ted (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/belated)

11.  Collection       - col-LEC-tion (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/collection)

12.  Creation          - cre-A-tion (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/creation)

13.  Director          - di-REC-tor (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/director)

14.  Dramatic         - dra-MA-tic (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/dramatic)

15.  Dynamic         - dy-NA-mic (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/dynamic)

16.  Enjoyment      - en-JOY-ment (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/enjoyment)

17.  Elation            - e-LA-tion (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/elation)

18.  Fantastic         - fan-TAS-tic (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/fantastic)

19.  Familiar          - fa-MI-liar (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/familiar)

20.  Gigantic          - gi-GAN-tic (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/gigantic)

21.  Historic           - his-TO-ric (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/historic)

22.  Maternal         - ma-TER-nal (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/maternal)

23.  Occasion         - oc-CA-sion (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/occasion)

24.  Relation          - re-LA-tion (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/relation)

25.  Selection         - se-LEC-tion (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/selection)

 

The highlighted syllables take primary stress in every word mentioned above. In other words, the highlighted words should be pronounced with more prominence than other syllables in the words displayed. Hence, we should pronounce those given words by giving more stress on the selected syllables. If we practise the stress patterns while speaking English, doubtlessly our English pronunciation will sound intelligible.  

In the next post, let us explore some interesting features of stress patterns.

Reference:

Balasubramanian, T. 2017. English Phonetics for Indian Students. Trinity Press.

Cambridge Online Dictionary    

Author: 

K. Nandhakumar

Assistant Professor of English

Sri Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya College of Arts and Science

Coimbatore-641 020