English Pronunciation Tip of the Day
Tip 22
Category:
Stress
Author: JAM
<-ity>
In Tip 11 we saw that some suffixes cause stress to be placed on the syllable before the suffix. Another "stress imposing" suffix of the same sort is the noun-forming suffix -ity. Here are some examples (only the first two have sound):
| complex | "kQmpleks | complexity | k@m"pleks@ti | |
| eccentric | Ik"sentrIk | eccentricity | %eksen"trIs@ti | |
| pompous | "pQmp@s | pomposity | pQm"pQs@ti | |
| stupid | "stju:pId | stupidity | stju:"pId@ti |
Again watch out for vowel quality changes when this suffix is added and the stress moves. This suffix also causes consonant changes, especially k > s, as in the second example.