English Pronunciation Tip of the Day
Tip 21
Category:
Stress
Author: JCW
Afternoon
How is afternoon different from afterbirth, afterburner, aftercare, aftereffect, afterglow, afterlife, aftershock, aftertaste, afterthought?
Afternoon is end-stressed: /%A:ft@"nu:n/, but the others are all front-stressed, e.g. /"A:ft@rI%fekt/.
However afternoon, like all end-stressed trisyllables, also has an earlier stress (secondary stress on <aft->), and is therefore subject to stress shifting: afternoon tea, /"A:ft@nu:n "ti:/