This document discusses syllables and syllable stress in words. It defines a syllable as the sound of a vowel created when pronouncing letters like A, E, I, O, U. The number of syllables in a word is equal to the number of vowel sounds. Words can be mono-syllabic, having one syllable, or poly-syllabic, having multiple syllables. All multi-syllable words have one syllable that is stressed, making it longer, higher in pitch, and louder. The rules for determining stressed syllables in words of different types are explained. Examples are provided to demonstrate applying word stress correctly.

1. Syllable and Syllable Stress
Vasundhara Rawat
1

2. Examination
Kindergarten
Chimpanzee
Fonder
Rat
Now try breaking each word
into parts and pronounce
again.

3. • Ig-za-mi-na-tion
• Kin-der-gar-ten
• Chim-pan-zee
• Fon-der
• Rat

4. May be on the basis of
i , a , o ,u , e sounds?
You may wonder we have a name for this:-
Yes, ‘Syllable’ .

5. What is a Syllable?
A syllable is the sound of a vowel
that is created while pronouncing the letters
A, E, I, O, U and their combinations.
We can say that,
The number of times that you hear the sound
of a vowel is the number of syllables in a
word.

6. 20 vowel sounds
12 monophthongs

7. and 8 Dipthongs

8. Words can be mono-syllabic and polysyllabic.
Examination
Ig-za-mi-na-tion 5 syllabic
Kindergarten
Kin-der-gar-ten 4 syllabic
Chimpanzee
Chim-pan-zee 3 syllabic
Fonder
Fon-der 2 syllabic
Rat
Rat Mono syllabic

9. Word stress
All words that have more than
one syllable have word stress .

10. How
do we give
to a word

11. When a syllable is stressed, it is pronounced
 longer in duration
higher in pitch
louder in volume

12. Presentation
A stressed syllable is denoted by placing a stress
mark(‘) just before the stressed syllable.
For example, receive will be transcribed as
/ri’si:v/

13. Look at this

14. And this..

15. Importance of word stress
 Mistakes in word stress are a common cause
of misunderstanding in English.
 Stressing a word differently can change the
meaning or type of the word .
 Stressing the wrong syllable in a word can
make the word very difficult to hear and
understand.

16. On the other hand, knowing the right syllable
stress can help you understand the words
even in poor audibility.
Fluent English speakers use word stress to
communicate rapidly and accurately.

17. Look at these words
Photograph
Photographer
Photographic
PHO-to-graph
Pho-TO-gra-pher
Pho-to-GRA-phic

18. Word stress Rules
 We can only stress vowels, not the
consonants.
 When a multi-syllable word has a long vowel,
usually this is stressed.
emplo’yee exam: ig-’zam

19.  Stress is usually on the first syllable of 2
syllablic nouns
'pen/cil 'a/pple 'prin/ter 'Chi/na
 And 2 syllable adjectives
'o/pen 'fa/mous ‘cle/ver 'clum/sy
 Stress is usually on the last or ultimate syllable
of 2 syllable verbs.
re/'view de/'cide be/'gin o/'bey

20. Examples
1• Her ‘conduct is good. (noun)
• She con’ducts herself well. (verb)
2•-What is our ‘import policy. (adjective)
• We im’port this item from USA (verb)
3•-He was ‘present here yesterday . (adjective)
• Please pre’sent your case . (verb)
4•-Tell me the ‘object of your case. (noun)
• I ob’ject to your ideas. (verb)
5•What are your ‘subjects of study? (noun)
• He was sub’jected to torture. (verb)

21.  Stress is on the penultimate syllable
(penultimate means ‘second from end’) for
words with the endings below:
Words ending in -ic 'gra/phic
ge/o/'gra/phic, a/'ller/gic, e/'ccen/tric, al/co/'ho/lic
Words ending in -sion and -tion
de/mon/'stra/tion, e/du/'ca/tion, in/for/'ma/tion,
a/'dop/tion,
Words ending in -ious
de/'li/cious, 'glo/rious, 'con/scious,

22. Stress on ante-penultimate syllable (ante-
penultimate means ‘third from end’) for words
with the endings below:
Words ending in -cy, -ty, -phy and -gy
de/'mo/cra/cy, de/pen/da/'bi/li/ty,
pho/'to/gra/phy, ge/'o/lo/gy, 'sa/ni/ty
Words ending in -al 'cri/ti/cal, ge/o/'lo/gi/cal,
'e/thi/cal
Words ending in -ise 'su/per/vise, 'or/ga/nise,
'e/xer/cise, 'ad/ver/tise, 're/cog/nise
Words ending in -ate co/'mmu/ni/cate, 're/gu/late,
a/'ppre/ci/ate, 'cal/cu/late, 'con/cen/trate

23. • Examination Ig-za-mi-’na-tion
• Kindergarten ‘Kin-der-gar-ten
• Chimpanzee Chim-pan-’zee
• Fonder ‘Fon-der
• Rat ‘Rat

24. THANK YOU!