Primary and secondary stress
We know that in every polysyllabic word, one syllable has
the main stress, or primary stress. In longer words, there
is often another syllable that receives a little stress, but not as
much as the main-stress syllable. We say this syllable has
secondary stress. For example, the word congratulations
has !ve syllables, with the primary stress on the fourth
syllable:
con grat u LA tions
But we can also hear that the second syllable has some stress;
it is pronounced with just a bit more force than the syllables
before and after it:
con grat u LA tions
The other syllables in the word have no stress at all. They are
called unstressed syllables. Congratulations has three
unstressed syllables: con, u, and tions.
Using phonemic symbols and including symbols to mark
primary and secondary stress, we can write congratulations
this way: /kənˌgræʧəˈleyʃənz/. (See the notes in the green box
“Symbols for Indicating Stress.”)It’s very important for learners to know where the primary
stress in a word is. For teaching purposes, secondary stress is
less critical. As long as the primary stress is in the right place,
the stress pattern will sound acceptable to most listeners.103Symbols for Indicating Stress
Textbooks and dictionaries use two main ways of indicating
stress in words. (Unstressed syllables are usually not marked.)
1.A small vertical line above the line of type at the beginning of
a syllable shows primary stress: comˌmuniˈcation.
A small vertical line below the line of type at the beginning of
a syllable shows secondary stress: comˌmuniˈcation.
2.A slanted accent mark with a positive slope above a vowel
shows primary stress: commùnicátion.
A slanted accent mark with a negative slope above a vowel
shows secondary stress: commùnicátion.
Other ways to indicate primary stress:
3.Write the stressed syllable in capital or bold letters (or both):
communiCAtion.
4.Underline the stressed syllable: communication.
5.Put a circle, dot, or other mark above the stressed syllable:
communication, communication.