English Pronunciation Tip of the Day
Tip 64
Category:
Stress
Author: JAM
Compound stress (1)
In Tip 13 we looked at the stress patterns in road and street names. This tip is about stress in other compound nouns of the form NOUN1+NOUN2. The usual situation is for the main stress to fall within NOUN1. Here are some examples (main stress only marked):
| 'lecture theatre |
| 'railway carriage |
| re'tirement home |
| 'wristwatch |
As you might expect, there are plenty of exceptions. One group of compounds where the main stress falls within NOUN2 consists of words where NOUN1 is an ingredient of NOUN2. Here are some examples:
| apple 'pie |
| beef 'stew |
| strawberry 'milkshake |
However, compounds ending in cake, juice or water are exceptions to the exceptions!!
| 'chocolate cake |
| 'lemon juice |
| 'rose water |