Compound nouns are stressed on the first word in the compound.

• bedroom
• someone

Compound verbs are stressed on the second word in the compound.

• outsmart
• overdue

In compound adjectives the stress is on the second part of the compound.

• bad-tempered
• old-fashioned

Hyphenated compound words often have short words in the middle. Some of these are stressed on the first part of the compound such as:

• mother-in-law
• free-for-all

Click here to read more about syllable stress in American English.

Related posts:

1. American English Pronunciation: Syllable Stress Rules
2. American English Syllable Stress Patterns & Schwa
3. Syllable & Sentence Stress in American English

Cambridge English Language Teaching offers some FREE downloadable books for teaching English pronunciation and listening skills.

One of these free books is Judy Gilbert’s book: Teaching Pronunciation: Using the Prosody Pyramid. This is a great resource for teachers of American English pronunciation because it explains the importance of teaching students how to use word stress, sentence stress and intonation to improve their communication skills.

Click here to read more tips for teaching pronunciation.

Related posts:

1. American English Pronunciation & Accent Reduction Books
2. American English Pronunciation Books for Students & Teachers
3. American English Pronunciation & Accent Reduction Books

In order to improve your American English pronunciation you must know how to use syllable stress and word stress. One pattern that you must follow is this: in phrasal verbs the stress is on the participle or second part of the verb.

Here are a few examples:
put down, not put down, that’s like an insult
stand up, not stand up, that’s a type of comedy
turn on, not turn on, that’s a sexual term
turn over, not turn over, that’s type of pastry
catch up, not catch up, (ketchup) that’s for french fries

We use many phrasal verbs in English. To read more about phrasal verbs check out the Longman Pocket Phrasal Verbs Dictionary. This great little resource is only $6.00 and it’s easy to carry around with you.
Longman Phrasal Verbs Dictionary

Related posts:

1. Syllable Stress Patterns: Compound Words
2. Syllable Stress in Nouns & Verbs
3. American English Syllable Stress Patterns & Schwa

One good example is the word: OBJECT.
The way you use syllable stress say the word ‘object’ changes the meaning of the word.

When the stress is on the first syllable the word is a noun as in this sentence:
James has many beautiful OBjects in his home.

When the stress is on the second syllable the word is a verb as in this sentence:
Sylvia əbJECTed to her husband’s drinking.

Note that the reduced syllable in the verb form has a schwa (ə) vowel sound. I teach all about heteronyms in my free 4 week accent reduction e-course.

Related posts:

1. Why You Need to Use Syllable Stress Correctly
2. American English Syllable Stress Patterns
3. Syllable Stress-The Quickest Way to Improve Your American English Pronunciation?

Heteronyms are two words that are spelled identically. The way the words are pronounced determines the meaning.

One good example is the word: ADDRESS.
When you say the word ‘address’ the way you use syllable stress changes the meaning of the word.

When you place stress is on the first syllable, address is a noun as in this sentence:
Susan’s ADdress is 2010 Pine Street.

When you place stress on the second syllable, address is a verb as in this sentence:
Susan will ədDRESS the class tomorrow.

Note that the reduced syllable in the verb form has a schwa (ə) vowel sound.

There are many more examples of syllable stress in heteronyms and I’ll post more of these in the next couple of days.

BTW-don’t forget to add this blog to your bookmarks!

Related posts:

1. Syllable Stress in Nouns & Verbs
2. Syllable Stress-The Quickest Way to Improve Your American English Pronunciation?
3. American English Syllable Stress Patterns & Schwa

In spoken English words with multiple syllables, one syllable is always more prominent than the others. We call this the stressed syllable.
Stressed syllables are pronounced:

with a higher pitch
a bit louder in volume
with a lengthened vowel sound

Related posts:

1. Syllable Stress-The Quickest Way to Improve Your American English Pronunciation?
2. Syllable & Sentence Stress in American English
3. American English Syllable Stress Patterns & Schwa

There are a number of factors that contribute to accented speech and this week I am going to describe five factors that may be causing you to have an accent when you speak American English.

Today I will talk about syllable stress and intonation.

People typically use the stress and intonation patterns from their native language when they speak American English. Since your native language uses stress and intonation differently than we do in English this will contribute to your accent.  This will make your speech may sound it too choppy, too fast too flat. Learning how to speak using American English syllable stress and intonation patterns will really help you to reduce your accent sound more American.

Professor Marianne Celce Murcia, co author of Teaching Pronunciation, found that students studying American English need a balance of both sound lessons and stress and intonation lessons in order to increase their comprehensibility.

Related posts:

1. Why You Have an Accent When You Speak American English, Part 2
2. Why You Have an Accent When You Speak American English, Part 3
3. Can I Reduce My Accent?

1. Compound nouns are stressed on the first syllable (or part). Here are a few examples:

• CLASSroom
• LIVing room
• POST office
• PARKing lot
• BIKE rack

Related posts:

1. Syllable Stress Patterns: Compound Words
2. American English Syllable Stress Patterns
3. Syllable Stress-The Quickest Way to Improve Your American English Pronunciation?

In spoken English acronyms are stressed on the last syllable or letter. That means you must lengthen the last letter and pronounce it with a higher pitch. After the stress your pitch should fall slightly. Here are a few examples:

ATM–>ATMm

USA–>USAa

FBI–>FBIi

LA–>LAa

CD–>CDd

DVD–>DVDd

If you say every letter in an acronym with the same stress American English speakers will have a difficult time understanding what you are saying.

Related posts:

1. American English Syllable Stress Patterns
2. American English Pronunciation: Syllable Stress Rules
3. Syllable Stress-The Quickest Way to Improve Your American English Pronunciation?

Spoken French does not employ syllable stress in this way. French syllables are evenly stressed until you reach the last syllable in a phrase or thought group. The last word in a phrase or thought group will be stressed.

Given that correct syllable stress is key to a good American English accent, how can you learn to use it?

There are some rules or patterns you can use to determine which syllable to stress in American English words.

Here are the two “rules” that students find easy to remember:

1. 90% of two syllable nouns are stressed on the first syllable (STU-dənt, NOTEbook, COF-fee)

2. 60% of two syllable verbs are stressed on the second syllable (rə-TURN, də-LAY, əf-FEND)

Also, remember that the vowel sound in unstressed syllables is frequently reduced to schwa.

Here is a Syllable Stress Chart that you can use to practice syllable stress in 2 syllable, 3 syllable and 4 syllable English words.

Related posts:

1. American English Pronunciation Problems for French Speakers
2. Syllable & Sentence Stress in American English
3. American English Syllable Stress Patterns