Definition

1. Noun:
   • A diacritical mark used in writing or printing to indicate which syllable of a word receives the primary emphasis when spoken. It is a symbol placed above, below, or before a letter to show where the stress or accent falls in pronunciation.

Usage

• The stress mark is used in phonetic transcriptions, language textbooks, and dictionaries to guide correct pronunciation.
• It is typically applied to words from languages where stress placement is phonemic (changes meaning) or unpredictable for learners, such as in English, Spanish, or Russian.
• In the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), the primary stress mark is a high vertical line ( ˈ ) placed before the stressed syllable.

Examples

• In the dictionary, the word "photograph" is shown with a stress mark before the first syllable: ˈphotograph.
• To pronounce "record" correctly as a noun (RE-cord) versus a verb (re-CORD), you must observe the stress mark.
• The teacher added a stress mark above the 'a' in the Spanish word "rápido" to indicate the stressed syllable.

Advanced Usage

• Phonemic Notation: In detailed linguistic analysis, stress marks are part of a broader system of diacritics that can also indicate secondary stress (ˌ) or the absence of stress.
• Language Teaching: Stress marks are crucial tools for teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) to help students master word stress patterns, which are often irregular in English.

Variants and Related Words

• Accent mark: A broader term that can refer to marks indicating stress, pitch, or vowel quality. A stress mark is a specific type of accent mark.
• Diacritic / Diacritical mark: The general category of small signs added to letters, which includes stress marks, tildes, umlauts, and cedillas.

Synonyms

• Accent (in the specific sense of a mark indicating stress).
• Stress indicator.

Related Phrases and Terms

• Primary stress: The strongest emphasis given to one syllable in a word, indicated by the stress mark ( ˈ ).
• Secondary stress: A weaker emphasis, often indicated by a low vertical line ( ˌ ) in phonetic notation.
• Word stress: The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a word; the stress mark visually represents this pattern.

Noun

1. a mark indicating the stress on a syllable