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American English Stress

The underlying pattern of English rhythm is that the stressed syllables of stressed wordsoccur on relatively evenly spaced "beats." This concept is called theRhythm Rule. This

pattern is possible because words and sentences have three levels of stress:

1. stressed

2. unstressed

3. secondarily stressed

Stressed syllables and words

Within words, a single stressed syllable is given emphasis by any combination of being

pronounced louder, for more time, and/or at a different pitch than surrounding syllables. A

stressed syllable of a word is mostly static and unchanging.

Stressed syllables

of words don'tusually change.

stressed syllable stressed syllable

vol un teer in spi ra tion

Sentence stress is more flexible than syllable stress. Which word is stressed can change to

fit the speaker's intended meaning. A word is stressed by emphasizing its stressed syllablemore than the stressed syllable of surrounding words.

Stressed words

of sentences are

very flexible.

stressed syllable

Are you com ing?

Or possibly:

stressed syllable

Are you com ing?

Or even:

stressed syllable

Are you com ing?

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