Word Stress Acronyms American English Pronunciation
Today, a quick lesson in word stress. Did
you know, when you’re saying a series of initials,
that it’s the last one that’s stressed. For
example, the UN. The UN. Standing for the
United Nations. Also, CNN. CNN. That is the
Cable News Network, a popular news source
here in America. Let’s look at some more examples
in Praat.
Here in Praat we have the letters CVS. The
first time I’m saying it with the stress on
the last letter, and the second time, incorrectly,
with the stress on the first letter. CVS,
CVS. And in the speech analysis software Praat,
you can see the bump in tone here where the
stress happens. So, the first time it has
the stress at the end. And the second time
it has, incorrectly, the stress at the beginning.
Listen again. CVS [x4]
Other examples: MD, PhD. These you might find
behind someone’s name as their title. MD for
Medical Doctor, PhD for Doctor of Philosophy.
These are initials stating the degree that
someone has that you might say after their
name when introducing them. I’d like to introduce
to you Stan Smith, MD.
And a couple businesses: CVS. I’m not actually
sure what that stands for, but it’s the name
of a popular chain pharmacy there in the United
States. Then there’s IBM, a computer company.
IBM. Then there’s NPR, which stands for National
Public Radio, a great source for podcasts
that you may use in studying English. PBS,
PBS. The Public Broadcasting System. Also,
their website has lots of good videos for
English practice. So, it’s not a complicated
topic, but just like every topic in American
English pronunciation, mastering it will help
you sound more like a native speaker. That’s
it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s
English.