English Word Stress – Stress two syllable words correctly
When I raise the subject of word stress with a group of non-native English-speaking professionals, I’m usually met with blank stars. Word stress plays a minor role among non-native speakers, but a huge role in the intelligibility of your spoken English when speaking with native English speakers across borders.
Don’t you know what I’m talking about? Let’s look at a simple example. The word calendar can be divided into 3 syllables: cal-en-dar. Of these three syllables, one is stressed more than the others, which means that it is said louder, longer, in a higher pitch, and/or with a purer vowel sound. In this case, the stressed syllable is the first: CAL-en-dar. In Singapore, for example, the stress of this word has changed to the second syllable, so it is common to hear it pronounced cal-EN-dar. This pronunciation bears little resemblance to the standard, which is why native English speakers may have a hard time making the connection.
There are many differences between Singaporean English word stress and standard word stress. In this short article, I’d like to focus on one small piece of this puzzle: two-syllable words. These words are so short that it’s surprising that a simple change in word stress could make such a big difference, but it does.
2 syllable nouns and adjectives
Most two-syllable nouns and adjectives have stress on the first syllable.
However, in Singapore, this stress is often carried over to the second syllable, or both syllables are given the same stress. Some words I often hear in Singapore are collEAGUE (instead of COLleague) and purCHASE (instead of PURchase). This pattern of word stress is so ingrained in Singaporeans that many will fight me on this point until they’re sad (if we don’t find a dictionary before then).
And it’s not just Singaporeans! My husband, who is not Singaporean and does not speak English as his first language, came home the other day and told me that he had to write some purchase orders. When I corrected his pronunciation, he completely resisted and declared that this time, he was definitely wrong! I asked him where he learned this word, and when he said: “From my colleagues!” I decided to give up.
2 syllable verbs
2-syllable nouns, when used as verbs, shift their stress to the second syllable.
Most nouns that also have a verb form (for example: progress, present, object, produce, record) will stress the first syllable when used as a noun, and the second syllable when used as a verb. Take for example the word progress. Notice how the accent changes depending on how the word is used.
We are making great progress in this field. (noun)
New technologies are helping us PROGRESS in this field. (verb)
Unfortunately for us, there are many exceptions to this rule. Some words will remain the same (keeping the stress on the first syllable), such as answer, picture, travel, visit, and several others.
Do you remember the old taxi booking recording? “Please don’t hang up. We are processing your reservation now.” According to our rule of thumb, this pronunciation would make sense, but unfortunately, word processing is an exception. Listen carefully the next time you hail your cab. You’ll notice that they now use the correct pronunciation, ‘PROcessing’.
If you’ve never heard of word stress before reading this article, don’t stress too much! The good news is that non-native English speakers pay little attention to word stress when speaking English to each other. Ironically, only native English speakers get confused! If you find that native speakers have trouble understanding you, pay extra attention to how you emphasize your words. Sometimes it doesn’t matter what you say, but how you say it!