The Three Types of Syllable Stress

By Julie Cunningham, MA, CCC-SLP, licensed speech-language pathologist

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(Video Transcript)

 

What is a stressed syllable?

A stressed syllable is the syllable in a word that you say longer, louder, and with a higher pitch than the others. In banana, the stressed syllable is NA: ba-NA-na. An unstressed syllable is shorter, quieter, and lower in pitch, and its vowel often reduces to the schwa /ə/, the "uh" sound. Both unstressed syllables in banana use the schwa.

Every English word with two or more syllables has one syllable with the main stress. Longer words can also have a syllable with a lighter, secondary stress. That gives English three types of syllable stress: primary, secondary, and weak (unstressed).

The rhythm of English: Stress-timed languages

Spoken English has a rhythm to it - a back-and-forth between stressed syllables and unstressed syllables. It sounds something like,  DA - da - DA -dada - DA - da -DA. Long, short, Long, short, short, Long, short, long. This is because English is a stress-timed language, which means some syllables are longer and receive more stress, and some syllables are shorter, reduced, and receive less stress.

For more on the shorter, reduced syllables, see my examples of unstressed syllables and word reductions using common words.

 

This is in contrast to other languages that are syllable-timed, like Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. In syllable-timed languages, all syllables are given approximately equal length and stress. These languages also lack reduced vowels.  

 

When I talk about stress, I usually talk about a syllable being stressed or unstressed. Long syllable or short syllable. But stress can be more specific than just “stressed” and “unstressed”. There is a third type of stress that is found in some words that are 3 or more syllables.

 

Primary stress

Let’s talk about the first type of stress. A stressed syllable can have the primary stress in a word. That means it is stressed the most - it is said the longest, the loudest, and with the highest pitch in that word. Let’s look at the 3-syllable word understand /ˌʌn.dɚˈstænd/. Understand. Un-der-STAND. In this word, the third syllable, STAND, has the most stress, so it has the primary stress. Primary stress is noted in the IPA using this symbol: /ˈ/

 

Secondary stress

But listen to the first syllable of that word. Understand. Un-der-STAND. The first syllable, Un, has some stress, too. It is stressed more than the second syllable, der, but not stressed as much as the third syllable, STAND. Un-der-STAND.  Da- da- DA. Un-der-STAND. This type of stress is called the Secondary stress. It’s still a stressed syllable, but it is stressed a little bit less because it doesn’t have the primary stress. It has secondary stress. Secondary stress is noted in the IPA using this symbol: /ˌ/

 

Weak stress

The second syllable of understand is der. Der. Der. This syllable is noticeably shorter and lower than the other two syllables. Understand. Understand. Der. Der. Der is the weak syllable of this word, and it is unstressed. There is no special IPA symbol for a weak or unstressed syllable, so you won’t see any symbols above or below the syllable. 

The three types of stress at a glance

Stress	How it sounds	In understand
Primary, marked /ˈ/	Longest, loudest, highest pitch	STAND
Secondary, marked /ˌ/	Some stress, but less than primary	UN
Weak (unstressed), no mark	Short, quiet, low; the vowel often becomes the schwa /ə/	der

 

3- and 4-syllable word examples

Let’s do some examples of 3- and 4-syllable words that have primary, secondary, and weak stress. And to help illustrate the stress patterns, I’m going to use the syllable DA in place of the words. DA is for a syllable with primary stress, Da is for a syllable with secondary stress, and da is for an unstressed syllable. 

 

Let’s look at the 3-syllable word estimate, as in “I estimate this will cost a hundred bucks”. Estimate is a verb. It is spelled exactly like the noun estimate. But listen to the differences in the stress pattern and the vowel in the last syllable. Estimate (verb). Estimate (noun).  Estimate (verb). Estimate (noun). Mate. Mit. The verb, estimate, has secondary stress on the last syllable. The stress pattern is: Primary stress, weak stress, secondary stress. DA - da - Da. Estimate. Estimate. The last syllable said just a bit longer than the weak middle syllable. EH-stuh-Mayt /ˈɛs təˌmeɪt/.

 

The noun, estimate, as in “I’ll give you an estimate in an hour”, has primary stress, then weak stress, weak stress, and the last syllable is short. Estimate. Estimate. DA- da-da.

 

Now let’s look at the 4-syllable word absolutely. Absolutely. Da-da-DA-da. Absolutely. /ˌæb.səˈlut.li/ The stress pattern in this word is secondary stress, weak stress, primary stress, weak stress. Ab-suh-LOOT-lee. Da-da-DA-da. Ab-suh-LOOT-lee. 

 

Stress is what makes a word sound American even when every individual sound is correct. The Syllables and Stress course in English Pro drills all three types. Word stress is also the focus of Week 2 in my 5-week intensive accent class.

 

I hope this video helped you to understand the difference between primary stress, secondary stress, and weak stress in American English. Thanks for watching!

Stressed and unstressed syllables: common questions

How do I know which syllable is stressed?

Listen for the syllable that is longest and highest in pitch. Tap out the beats, then try saying the word with the stress on each syllable in turn. Only one version will sound right. A dictionary marks the stressed syllable with /ˈ/ in front of it, as in understand /ˌʌn.dɚˈstænd/.

What is an unstressed syllable?

An unstressed syllable is said shorter, quieter, and at a lower pitch than the stressed syllable, and its vowel often reduces to the schwa /ə/. The first and last syllables of banana are unstressed. See more examples of unstressed syllables in common words.

Can stress change the meaning of a word?

Yes. Many two-syllable words are nouns with the stress on the first syllable and verbs with the stress on the second: a REcord and to reCORD, an OBject and to obJECT, a PREsent and to preSENT. The vowel in the unstressed syllable often changes too, as you heard with estimate above.

Is "and" stressed or unstressed?

Usually unstressed. In a sentence, and often reduces to "n" or "uhn," so rock and roll sounds like "rock 'n' roll." Small function words such as and, for, to, at, and can are usually unstressed unless you want to emphasize them.

Why is English word stress hard to learn?

Many languages, such as Spanish and Mandarin, give every syllable about the same length. English is stress-timed, so stressed syllables are long and unstressed syllables are short, and English spelling doesn't show you which is which. That's why I teach stress by ear, one pattern at a time.

For a program built around your speech, see my one-to-one accent training.

 

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Interested in more American English pronunciation practice? Be sure to check out some of my most popular online resources (all free!):

• Stressed and Unstressed Syllables exercises: Free, downloadable and printable pdf

This is one of the top pronunciation challenges for native speakers of Farsi/Persian, Filipino/Tagalog, Korean, Turkish and Vietnamese. See my guides for Farsi/Persian, Filipino/Tagalog, Korean, Turkish and Vietnamese speakers.

For a real example, see how many syllables are in computer and where the stress falls.