Syllable

• A syllable is the quantity of speech that can be articulated with one puff of breath
• For example:
  • ‘wanted’ has two beats or syllable; ‘wan’ + ‘ted’
  • ‘important’ has three beats or syllables; ‘im’ + ‘por’ + ‘tant’
• We produce vowels when we speak. This chain of consonants and vowels are combined to form syllables

Stress

• This is a conventional term that describes the greater prominence which a given syllable has over the others in word pronunciation
• For example:
  • ‘DEsert’, stressing on that first part means an area where plants cannot grow, but if stressed thus ‘deSERT‘, it means to leave
  • ‘REfuse’ (dirt), ‘reFUSE‘ (reject)
  • ‘IMport’ (meaning), ‘imPORT‘ (bringing in goods)