unstressed syllable
Softer spoken part
An unstressed syllable is one that receives less emphasis when spoken—it's quieter, shorter, and lower in pitch than stressed syllables.
In banana, the first and third syllables are unstressed while the second carries the stress.
English rhythm depends on this alternation between stressed and unstressed syllables.
- schwaNeutral unstressed vowel
- weakLacking power or force
- accentRegional speech pattern
- rhythmPatterned stress and silence
- vowelUnobstructed speech sound
reduction · short vowel · murmur · soft · light · quick · swallowed · elision · iambic · iambic pentameter · meter · poetic meter · prosody · cadence · muted · faint · glide · neutral
- poetry termspoetry, rhyme, verse, rhythm, meter
- Old English poetryalliteration, Beowulf, kenning, caesura, kennings
- prosodyscansion, meter, foot, metrics, iamb
- stress meterbeat, foot, offbeat, sprung rhythm
- syllablessyllabication, monosyllable, disyllable, trisyllable, polysyllable
- poetrypoem, poems, poetry, verse, verses
prosodic prominence
unstressed syllablestressed syllable
Emphasized unit of speech
downbeat · strong beat · beat · thesis
unstressed, stress, stressed, stresses, stressing, stressor, stressful, distress, distressed