Examkin

Question

Difficulty: HardWord and Syllable Stress

Complete the statement below by supplying the correctly syllabified word forms with primary stress indicated in UPPERCASE letters.

Answer:While the base noun is pronounced as DEM-o-crat, the derived abstract noun is stressed as 【de-MOC-ra-cy】 and its corresponding adjectival form is stressed as 【dem-o-CRAT-ic】.

Answer

The correct primary stress placements are 'de-MOC-ra-cy' for the abstract noun and 'dem-o-CRAT-ic' for the adjectival form.
In Oral English phonology, morphological suffixes dictate predictable stress patterns. Nouns ending in '-cy' require antepenultimate primary stress, yielding 'de-MOC-ra-cy'. Adjectives ending in '-ic' require penultimate primary stress on the syllable immediately before the suffix, yielding 'dem-o-CRAT-ic'.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the suffix rule for the abstract noun ending in '-cy'.
Words ending in '-cy' place primary stress on the antepenultimate syllable (third from the end).
For four-syllable nouns like 'democracy' (de-moc-ra-cy), counting three syllables back from the end places primary stress on the second syllable 'MOC'.
2
Identify the suffix rule for the adjectival form ending in '-ic'.
Suffixes like '-ic' draw primary stress to the penultimate syllable (the syllable immediately preceding the suffix).
In 'democratic' (dem-o-crat-ic), the syllable preceding '-ic' is 'CRAT', placing primary stress on the third syllable.

Key Concept

Suffix-Driven Stress Shift (Antepenultimate -cy Rule vs. Penultimate -ic Rule)
Estimated Time:1m 30s
Rate this question

Topics

Word and Syllable Stress

More questions from this topic