Most non-native speakers think that their accent will improve when they work on their pronunciation.
And they’re right. Well, sort of. 🤔
For most people, pronunciation means the articulation of sounds.
By articulation of sounds, I mean the way you move your lips, your mouth, your tongue, and your jaw.
While these elements are important, they’re not as essential as word stress.
Word stress is when we make one syllable of a word longer, louder and higher in pitch.
(This is why word stress is sometimes called syllable stress. We’re talking about which syllables in a word to stress.)
When we use the word “stress,” we mean emphasize. Like I said, word stress is when we make one syllable of a word longer, louder and higher in pitch.
As a quick reminder, a syllable is one beat of a word. When we stress a syllable, we make the vowel sound in the syllable clear and easy to understand.
The reason that syllable stress is so important for clear English pronunciation is that native English speakers are expecting to hear this syllable stressed correctly.
If you don’t correctly stress a word, a native English speaker may hear that it doesn’t sound quite right, but they probably wouldn’t be able to tell you why.
When you stress the wrong syllable, the word sounds off.
If you’ve ever noticed that a native English speaker didn’t understand you, it may not actually be your pronunciation of the word.
Instead, it may be the way you stress a word.
Examples of Common Words That Are Often Stressed Incorrectly
A common example is the word “hotel.” I’ve heard a lot of non-native speakers struggle to pronounce the word “hotel” the way we do in American English.
Some people make both syllables of the word “hotel” exactly the same length: ho-tel. Other people stress the first syllable of the word: HO-tel.
As you can hear in the video, when you don’t stress either syllable or you stress the wrong syllable, the word sounds a little strange in American English.
We pronounce the word with stress on the second syllable: ho-TEL.
Even if you correctly pronounce the different consonant sounds and vowels, if you’re not stressing the second syllable of the word “hotel,” it’s going to sound a little off.
Let’s look at another example: the word “university.”
Many non-native speakers have trouble with this word because they either make each syllable exactly the same length (un-i-ver-si-ty) or they pronounce the word with stress on the first syllable (U-ni-ver-si-ty.
If I hear someone say “U-niversity,” I can decipher what they’re saying if I’m listening carefully and it makes sense in the context of the sentence.
However, the word should be pronounced u-ni-VER-si-ty, u-ni-VER-si-ty.
As you can hear, when I stress the syllable “ver” – uniVERsity – it’s easier to understand the word.
Knowing exactly which syllable should receive stress in a word makes it easier to pronounce: uniVERsity.
Instead of getting overwhelmed by how long the word is, look for that stressed syllable.
Why Word Stress is Challenging: Stress-Timed Languages and Syllable-Timed Languages
In just a moment, I’ll give you more examples of word stress in words of different lengths. I’ll also tell you how to identify which syllable should be stressed using your favorite dictionary.
But first, I want to talk about why word stress is so challenging for many non-native speakers.
Many non-native speakers struggle with word stress in English because the rhythm of their native language is a little bit different.
Some languages are what we call syllable-timed languages. This means that each syllable is more or less the same length. The rhythm of the language is measured by the syllables.
On the other hand, English is what we call a stress-timed language. The rhythm of English comes from stressed syllables. The beats are between stressed syllables.
You may be struggling with word stress because you haven’t thought about these lengthened syllables or you may need to adjust to the rhythm of English.
(If you’re interested in learning more about isochrony and the rhythm of different English accents and dialects, this article is really interesting.)
It can take some time to get used to hearing the different rhythm that comes from a syllable that is longer, louder and higher in pitch, especially if you’ve been speaking your native language for decades and you’re used to hearing each syllable be more or less the same length.
This is why it can take some work to start stressing words correctly in English.
However, it is well worth the effort!
You’ll find when you put more attention on word stress, you’re going to be more easily understood by native English speakers.
Improving your word stress requires you to unlearn the habits you’ve picked up from your native language and re-learn the habits of English.
To be honest, it can feel a little awkward to hold the syllable a little longer than you’re used to. You may feel like it’s really obvious and you may feel uncomfortable.
You may also feel a little silly making your pitch go up and down, or maybe you’re not used to changing up your volume in order to emphasize certain syllables.
Like I said, it’s well worth the practice if you want to speak clearly and be easily understood. You wouldn’t be here if that weren’t important to you!
How to Identify Word Stress Patterns in a Dictionary
In order to speak English more clearly, you need to pay more attention to word stress.
Whenever you learn a new word, be sure to identify the word stress pattern first.
Let’s talk about how you can identify word stress patterns. I’m going to show you the phonetic spelling of the two words I just gave as examples:
- hotel: /hoʊˈtɛl/
- university: /ˌjunəˈvɜrsəti/
If you’re not familiar with the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet), don’t worry, you don’t need to know every single detail right now.
What I want you to pay attention to are the symbols that indicate word stress in English.
You can use any online dictionary or resource and you can even search in Google. These symbols are consistent across dictionaries.
To identify which syllable receives primary stress (the most stress), you want to look for the symbol that kind of looks like an apostrophe: ˈ.
This ˈ symbol appears at the top of the word and comes before the stressed syllable.
When you’re pronouncing a word, you want to make sure this syllable receives the most stress.
In other words, you want it to be longest, loudest, and highest in pitch.
Let’s look at another example, education: /ˌɛdʒuˈkeɪʃən/
If you’re looking carefully, you may notice a symbol that looks somewhat like a comma at the bottom of the word: ˌ.
The ˌ symbol identifies secondary stress.
This means that these syllables are still pretty clear, but they’re not as long, loud or high in pitch as the primary stressed syllable.
When you’re getting started with word stress, don’t worry too much about secondary stress.
Focusing most of your attention on primary stress will help people understand you.
As you continue to work on your accent and you continue to evolve as a non-native English speaker, you’re going to be able to add in secondary stress.
Keep in mind that not every word has secondary stress.
This is why it is just something to be aware of, but your attention should go to the syllable that receives primary stress. This is absolutely essential to correctly stressing words in English.
Native English speakers are going to be listening for the primary stressed syllable more than anything else.
Now that you know how to identify primary and secondary stress using the phonetic alphabet, let’s look at a few examples.
Word Stress in One Syllable Words
Let’s get started with one syllable words. In my experience, many non-native speakers rush through one syllable words.
Because they’re easier to say than those longer multi-syllable words, most people just jump over them in order to rush to the more tricky words.
But I know you’re smarter than this. I want you to pay extra attention to these one syllable words.
Of course, we do use longer words as well, but most of the words we use are simple. So you want to make sure you stress these one syllable words.
So now that I’ve convinced you to pay attention to one syllable words, let’s look at some examples.
Let’s start with the word “time” – TIME, or /taɪm/.
Many non-native speakers rush through that word, but as you can hear in the video, the word “time” is stressed.
I pronounce the word “time” by lengthening the vowel sound, making it louder, and also making it higher in pitch: TIME, TIME.
Another common example is “school” – school, or /skul/. This word is tricky for a lot of non-native speakers.
If you put extra emphasis on lengthening that vowel sound – schooooool, schooooool – and moving your mouth through all those different shapes, it’s going to be clear and easy for a native English speaker to understand: SCHOOL, SCHOOL.
Can you hear the difference?
Remember, don’t rush through those words. Make sure to make them longer, louder and higher in pitch.
Word Stress in Two Syllable Words
Now, let’s look at two syllable words.
First, let’s talk about the word “today” – toDAY, or /təˈdeɪ/.
As you can hear in the video, I’m emphasizing the second syllable, “day.”
That vowel sound is super clear and easy to understand. It’s longer, louder and higher in pitch: to-DAY.
Here’s another example: patient, or /ˈpeɪʃənt/. In the word “patient,” I’m emphasizing the first syllable: PA-tient.
Even though you can still hear all the sounds in the second syllable, the first syllable is the clearest and the easiest to understand: PA-tient.
Word Stress in Three-Syllable Words
Let’s move on to three syllable words. Let’s talk about the word “analyze,” or /ˈænəˌlaɪz/.
As you can hear, the word “analyze” is stressed on the first syllable: AN-al-yze.
That means that the vowel sound is the clearest and the easiest to hear: AN-al-yze.
In the video, you can hear me make that first syllable longer, louder and higher in pitch.
Here is another example: attention, at-TEN-tion, or /əˈtɛnʃən/.
As you can hear, I’m stressing “ten”: at-TEN-tion.
You can hear a difference between the stressed and unstressed syllables.
Difference Between Primary Stress, Secondary Stress, Unstressed Syllables, and Reduced Syllables
At this point, you may be asking me, “What about the syllables that aren’t stressed? What happens to those?”
As I’ve been explaining, the vowel sounds on stressed syllables are the clearest and easiest to understand.
On vowels that receive secondary stress, they are still clear and easy to understand, but they aren’t the clearest.
They’re just a slight bit shorter, lower in volume, and lower in pitch.
When syllables are unstressed, the vowel sound is still clear, but you really don’t hear them as much.
Lastly, we even have what we call reduced syllables.
When syllables are reduced, they’re reduced to either the schwa sound – /ə/, or the “uh” sound in about – or they’re reduced to the “i” sound, /ɪ/, like in my name.
The sound of reduced syllables will vary based on regional accents and it will depend on the word.
You really have to listen carefully to which sound it’s reduced to.
But since the sounds are reduced, you don’t want to make those vowel sounds really easy to understand.
You’ll be able to hear this a little bit more when I go through the longer examples.
Word Stress in Four Syllable Words
Moving on, let’s talk about four syllable words. Let’s start with the word “experience,” or /ɛkˈspɪriəns/.
Can you hear which syllable is being stressed in “experience”?
As you can hear, it’s the second syllable: ex-PER-i-ence, ex-PER-i-ence.
In the word experience, the second syllable is the clearest and the easiest to hear because it’s the longest, the loudest, and the highest in pitch.
However, in the other unstressed syllables, you can still hear the vowel sounds.
They’re just not as distinct.
Next, let’s look at everyone’s favorite word, “education,” or /ˌɛdʒuˈkeɪʃən/.
As you can hear, I’m stressing the second to last syllable: e-du-CA-tion.
You can hear a clear difference: my pitch rises to the stressed syllable and then falls back down afterwards: e-du-CA-tion.
Have you noticed a relationship between the word “attention” and “education”?
If you’re listening carefully, you may notice that words that end in -tion have a particular stress pattern: at-TEN-tion, e-du-CA-tion.
The syllable before the -tion ending is stressed.
In order to continue to develop your word stress, you want to try to identify these patterns.
While there are no rules that are true a hundred percent of the time for word stress, you will be able to pick up on patterns and that will help you communicate clearly and confidently in English.
Word Stress in Five Syllable Words
Last but not least, let’s talk about five syllable words. We already mentioned one: “university,” or /ˌjunəˈvɜrsəti/.
Like I said earlier, looking for the stressed syllable in these longer multi-syllable words makes them easier to pronounce: u-ni-VER-si-ty.
Here’s another common five-syllable word: “communication,” or /kəˌmjunɪˈkeɪʃən/.
You may have noticed that’s another -tion word, and that means that the syllable before -tion is stressed: com-mu-ni-CA-tion, com-mu-ni-CA-tion.
As I mentioned a moment ago, this is a pattern that you can practice.
However, you may hear some words that don’t follow this particular stress pattern.
When you identify where the stress is on these longer words, you can often figure out the pronunciation.
That’s why I encourage you to pay so much attention to word stress!
Tune Your Ear to Hear Word Stress in Natural Speech
Even better, tune your ear to word stress.
Listen for the syllable of a word that is longest, loudest and highest in pitch. This will help you start to decipher how to pronounce it.
Of course, you can always check to be sure by looking in a dictionary!
That said, the sooner you can tune your ear to listening to this stress, the quicker you’re going to be able to pronounce words clearly.
In my opinion, stress accounts for 60 to 75 percent of your accent in English.
When you start to master word and sentence stress, you’ll start to sound even more natural.
If you’d like more guidance on word and sentence stress and thought groups, be sure to check out my Stress Simplified program.
You’ll practice with over 50 drills to tune your mouth and your ear!
On top of that, tuning your ear to word stress will help you understand native English speakers.
We stress syllables on the words that are most important.
By listening for this stress, you’re going to be able to understand what you should be listening to in order to better comprehend spoken English.
Word Stress in American English and British English
In case you’re wondering, there *is* a difference in word stress between British and American English.
Some words are stressed the same, while others are stressed differently.
(Learn 30 words that Americans and Brits stress differently here.)
When you’re practicing word stress, be sure to practice the same accent. It will make life a lot easier!
We can understand the differences between British and American pronunciation, but you want to be consistent and choose one accent to practice when working on your word stress.
Your Turn
Now it’s your turn! I encourage you to watch this video a few times and practice along with the examples.
It can take some time to get comfortable with the natural rhythm of English, especially if your native language uses stress differently (or it doesn’t exist at all!).
To practice, I encourage you to look up the word stress pattern for a word you find challenging.
Leave a comment below , let me know which word you’re struggling with, and emphasize which syllable should be stressed in that particular word. I’ll let you know if you’re correct!
If you have any additional questions, let me know in the comments. I’ll be making more videos on stress and intonation and I’d love to hear what you need more help with.
Hi Kim!
Thanks for your mail.
There’s no specific word I’m struggling with. The problem is, when I read a book or the newspaper, it’s difficult for me to find or discover the words that should be stressed.There are a lot of words to read. When I have to think about every word ,if it is a one syllable word, a two.., three and so on… it takes a very long time to read even a short article. How can I see or feel it without thinking too much?
Thanks for your answer 😉
Birgit
Hi Birgit! Great question. You’ve clearly identified the main reason why most people don’t work on their word and sentence stress – at first, it can require you to think about every word. That’s why I encourage you to focus on the words that carry the meaning of the sentence and stress those. I’ll have a video out soon that talks about this in more depth. I encourage you to develop sensitivity to the rhythm by listening for and identifying which words are longer, louder, and higher in pitch while reading the transcript to a podcast or video. When you hear it, it’s easier to do it. Then read the transcript aloud and try to do it yourself. This is also why I include so many drills on stress patterns in my Stress Simplified program – you have to hear the rhythm as well as practice consistently to start doing it naturally. Like I said in the email, it requires you to internalize the rhythm.