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Article written by By Kenneth Beare
Words are made up of letters and those letters create syllable sounds. You can recognize a syllable by remembering that each one contains a vowel sound. For example, in the word computer, there are three syllables: com / pu / ter. The word bike, however, has only one syllable. A single syllable may contain as little as just one letter, or as many as five:
idea – i / de / a (three syllables)
cough – cough (one syllable)
In words that have more than one syllable, one syllable will be stressed. In English, there are a number of word syllable stress patterns.
Counting Syllables
You can check how many syllables a word has by putting your hand under your chin and saying a word. Each time your chin moves to make a vowel sound, count a syllable. For example, the word difficult moves your chin three times. Therefore, difficult is three syllables.
Exercise
Count the number of syllables in each of these words. Answers are below.
- house
- jacket
- glasses
- encyclopedia
- employer
- information
- troublemaker
- thought
- happy
- incoherent
Answers
- 1 (house)
- 2 (ja / ket)
- 2 (gla / sses)
- 6 (en / cy / clo / pe / di / a)
- 3 (em / ploy / er)
- 4 (in / for / ma / tion)
- 4 (trou / ble /ma / ker)
- 1 (thought)
- 2 (ha / ppy)
- 4 (in / co / her / ent)
Word Syllable Stress
In multi-syllable words, the stress falls on one of the syllables. The other syllables tend to be spoken quickly. This leads to sounds that are not clear (muted) on unstressed syllables. In order to improve your pronunciation, focus on pronouncing the stressed syllable clearly. However, don’t be afraid to mute (not say clearly) the other unstressed vowels.
For example:
Listen to these specific examples. Notice where the syllables are stressed:
(To Hear, click on “Listen”, then the Link that appears)
- PersonNEL
- TOtally
- InDUstrial
- ToMAto
- FanTAstic
One Syllable – Stressed
All one-syllable words have the stress on the one syllable. The intonation should go down.
Listen to the general pattern.
- EAT
- DRINK
- SIGN
- WELL
Two-Syllable
First Syllable Stressed
Listen to the general pattern and these specific examples:
- GIant
- PICture
- HEAting
Second Syllable Stressed
Listen to the general pattern and these specific examples:
- toDAY
- aHEAD
- aLLOW
Three-Syllable
First Syllable Stressed
Listen to the general pattern and these specific examples:
- ENergy
- Operate
- ORganize
Second Syllable Stressed
Listen to the general pattern and these specific examples:
- meMORial
- aSSUMPtion
- caNAdian
Third Syllable Stressed
Listen to the general pattern and these specific examples:
Four-Syllable
Second Syllable Stressed
Listen to the general pattern and these specific examples:
- psyCHOLogy
- eVAporate
- cerTIficate
Third Syllable Stressed
Listen to the general pattern and these specific examples:
- poliTIcian
- indiVIdual
- repuTAtion
Double Vowel Sounds
It’s not the number of letters that make up a syllable, rather it is the number of single vowel sounds. Sometimes, a number of vowels combine to make just a single sound. For example:
tree = 1 sound
goal = 1 sound
because = 1 sound
Common Double Vowel Sounds
It’s important to learn spelling patterns for these sounds. Here are some of the most common:
ay – (diphthong EI sound) play, say, may
au – (long A sound) fault, launch, haunt
augh – (long A sound) caught, taught, daughter
augh – (short A sound as in “cat”) laugh
ee – (long EE sound) tree, see, three
ea – (long EE sound) each, peach, teach
ea – (short E sound) dead, head, health
ea – (long EE sound) break, steak, great
eu – (long U sound) deuce, sleuth
ei – (diphthong EI sound) beil, eight, weigh
ey – (diphthong EI sound) they, grey
eigh – (diphthong EI sound) eight, freight
eigh – (long EE sound) seize
eigh – (diphthong AI sound) height
ie – (long EE sound) thief, pice
ie – (long I sound) die, tie
oo – (long U sound) moo, boo
oo – (short U sound) book, foot
oa – (long O sound) boat, moat
oe – (long O sound) hoe, Joe
oi – (diphthong OY sound) soil, toil
ou – (long O sound) soul, your
ou – (short U sound) tough, rough
ue – (long U sound) cue, muse
ui – (long U sound) fruit, juice
Schwa for Unstressed Syllables
Unstressed syllables keep the correct sound, but are muted. Sometimes, unstressed vowels become a schwa sound – like a soft uh sound.
Listen to these specific examples:
- Little
- Repeat
- Tomato
At other times, the vowel is pronounced but not stressed. Listen to these specific examples:
- Industrial
- Noisily
Generally speaking, stressed syllables retain a clear vowel sound, while unstressed syllables tend to soften towards a schwa-like sound.
This lesson brought to you by:
https://www.thoughtco.com/word-syllable-stress-patterns-in-english-1212074