This week a PhD candidate in linguistics from the University of Malaya wrote and asked me to explain how American English speakers apply syllable stress in compound words. This is an excellent question that comes up frequently. Here is my answer.
The syllable stress patterns for compound words vary. Here are some of the common patterns that we use.
When compound words are nouns such as breakfast or sailboat we typically stress the first part of the word. Here are some commonly used compound nouns. These are stressed on the first part of the word.
- bedroom
- someone
- passport
Compound verbs are usually stressed on the second word in the compound. Here are a few examples.
- outsmart
- overestimate
- understand
In compound adjectives the stress falls on the second part of the compound. Here are some examples of compound adjectives.
- even-tempered
- out-dated
- over-dressed
You’ll find some hyphenated compound words with prepositions in the middle. Some of these are stressed on the first part of the compound. Examples include:
- mother-in-law
- son-in-law
- free-for-all
Other hyphenated compound words are stressed on the second part of the compound. Examples include:
- word-of-mouth
- day-to-day
- side-by-side
When in doubt you can always use a paper or online dictionary to find out which part of a word has major stress. Primary stress will be indicated with a bold mark ˈ.
The American Heritage Dictionary places the primary stress mark after the stressed syllable but this will vary from dictionary to dictionary.
Susan Ryan is an American English pronunciation teacher and accent reduction coach. She currently lives in South Florida. Read more articles by Susan at http://www.confidentvoice.com/blog/
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