Tagged Questions
0
votes
1answer
70 views
Which syllable is stressed in word “comparatively” in British usage?
British syllable emphasis on "comparatively"?
5
votes
3answers
324 views
How to stress any word properly?
Personally I think stress is one of the hardest things. There are thousands of words around, so most likely I cannot remember all stress-marks of every word then pronounce them exactly. Is it so ...
3
votes
1answer
113 views
Pronunciations of 'retard' and 'retardation'
Why are the verb form (/rɪtɑːd/, ri-tard) and the offensive noun form (/ˈriːtɑːd/, ree-tard) of the word retard pronounced differently?
While I have heard both variants in use as part of the ...
5
votes
1answer
162 views
Why is “accidentally” pronounced “accident-ly” instead of “accident-tal-y”?
Why is accidentally pronounced accident-ly and not accident-tal-ly?
Incidentally, some other adverbs have this same phenomenon, where some dictionaries show the second-to-last syllable as being ...
2
votes
3answers
206 views
Why are all acronyms accented on the last syllable?
When saying acronyms out loud, almost always the last syllable is accented (no matter how long the acronym is): US*A*, U*N*, RSV*P*, etc.
Accenting any syllable but the last makes you sound silly ...
0
votes
1answer
133 views
Practice tool or package for stress and pronunciation [closed]
I think I'm not bad at written English. However, recently, as I started speaking English on a daily basis, I am noticing that my pronunciation, especially on where to put the stress, does not align ...
6
votes
4answers
540 views
Which syllable is stressed in the word “nineteen”?
The dictionaries list both possibilities to stress nineteen (or any other -teen, for that matter): ,nine-teen and nine-'teen.
Are the two pronunciations completely interchangeable, a matter of ...
5
votes
1answer
405 views
Why is the verb form of “record” pronounced [ri-kawrd] but the noun form is pronounced [rek-erd]?
Is there a different origin of pronunciation style for record as a verb and as a noun?
Fun fact: in OS X, if you type say "this record" and say "record this" — the text to speech system picks up the ...
4
votes
1answer
173 views
What is the proper emphasis for the word “indent”?
Does indent carry an accent on the first or the second vowel?
I've seen both in IPA. My non-native ear would tend to favor the first.
5
votes
1answer
338 views
How did “defect” and “defect” come to have different pronunciations?
There are many interesting events in the history of the English language. Which one of them gave us “defect” (noun, /diːˈfɛkt/, imperfection) and “defect” (verb, /dɪˈfɛkt/ , change allegiances)?
