Rules to stress placement on three-syllables words

Rules to stress placement on three-syllables words.

To the Verbs:

– If the final syllable is strong, then it will be stressed. Examples: entertain [ entə`teɪn ]; resurrect [ rezə`rekt ]

– If the last syllable is weak, then it will be unstressed, and stress will be placed on the preceding ( penultimate) syllable if that syllable is

strong, examples: encounter [ɪŋ`kaʊtə]; determine [ dɪ`tɜːmɪn ]

– If both the second and third are weak, then the stress falls on the initial syllable: parody [ `pærədɪ ]

To the Nouns: Nouns require a slightly different rules:

– If the final syllable is weak or ends with [əʊ] then it is unstressed, if the syllable preceding this final syllable is strong, then that middle syllable will be stressed.

Examples: mimosa [ mɪ`məʊzə ]; potato [pə`teɪtəʊ]; disaster [ dɪ`zɑːstə ]

– If the second and the third syllable are both weak, then the first syllable is stressed

Examples: quantity [ `kwɔntətɪ ]; cinema [ `sɪnəmə ]; custody [ `kʌstədɪ ]

• Most of these above rules show stress tending to go on strong syllable; however, three-syllable simple nouns are different. Even if the final syllable is strong, the stress will usually be placed on the first syllable. The last syllable is usually quite prominent, so that in some cases, it could be said to have secondary stress.

Examples: intellect [ `ɪntəlekt ]; marigold [ `mærɪgəʊn ]; alkali [ `ælkəlaɪ ]

To the Adjectives: Seem to need the same rule, produce stress patterns such as:

Opportune [ `ɔpətjuːn ]; insolent [ `ɪnsələnt ]; anthropoid [ `ænθrəpɔid ]./.