3.8.1 Stress

　 Stress is defined as the perceived prominence (comparative loudness) of one or more syllabic elements over others in a word. This definition implies that stress is a relative notion. Only words that are composed of two or more syllables have stress. If a word has three or more syllables (called polysyllabic word), there is a primary stress (the vowel in italics) and a secondary stress (the vowel underlined). Take these words for example:

　linguistics 　　　systematic 　　　fundamental
　resignation 　　hospitality 　　　politician

　 In some languages word stress is fixed, i.e. on a certain syllable. In English, word stress is unpredictable. Nevertheless, when a word is used as a different part of speech, the stress is shifted regularly. Many disyllabic words have stress on the first syllable when used as a noun and on the second syllable when used as a verb. This can be exemplified by the words in the two columns.

　　Verb 　　　　Noun

　export 　　　　export
　increase 　　　increase
　combine 　　　 combine
　record 　　　　record