Word Formation and Stress - Verbs

“English words with more than one syllable mostly have a fixed stress pattern. There are not many rules to show which syllable of a word will be stressed: one usually has to learn the stress pattern of a word along with its meaning, spelling and pronunciation.” (Michael Swann, Practical English Usage (OUP, 2nd ed., 1995), p. 564).

In not having a typical stress pattern for words in the language, English is unlike some other languages. In Italian, for example, although there are many exceptions, stress tends to fall on a word’s penultimate syllable, while in German it is usually the first syllable of a word that has the stress, though, again, there are many exceptions.

Swann himself does not cite any of the rules which may determine the stress pattern of an English word, but here are some which readers of AWE may find helpful. The relevant examples fall into different categories: this page lists some of the suffixes which are used to form verbs and determine the stress pattern of the verbs they form.

• The suffix –ify, pronounced IPA: / ɪfaɪ/ and used to form verbs with the meaning ‘to make’, ‘to be’, or ‘to become’ (whatever is denoted by the word’s stem), forms verbs with the principal stress on the pre-penultimate syllable (i.e., the third syllable from the end), e.g., beautify, clarify, crucify, detoxify, electrify, glorify, horrify, indemnify, intensify, magnify, mystify, rectify, simplify, terrify.

• The suffix –ate, pronounced as a single syllable, IPA: /eɪt/, and used to form verbs from nouns and adjectives, forms verbs with the principal stress on the pre-penultimate syllable (i.e., the third syllable from the end), e.g., calculate, castigate, decimate, delegate, demonstrate, dislocate, excoriate, fumigate, hyphenate, infuriate, liberate, marinate, masticate, nominate, relegate, repatriate, rusticate, salivate, titillate, titivate, vacillate. Note that there is a small number of dissyllabic verbs ending in –ate and that these and their compounds are stressed on the final syllable, e.g., berate, collate, debate, deflate, inflate, locate (and relocate), orate, predate.

See also Word Formation and Stress - Nouns and Word Formation and Stress - Adjectives.