Thread: pronunciation

What is the right way to pronounce the words "archipelago" and "dioxide" (I mean a stress)? I'm puzzled very much because 2 dictionaries give 2 different variants and I do remember that my teacher pronounced them the third way!...

I say it as ark-a-PEL-a-go and dy-OX-ide

The annoying thing is that different dictionaries use different ways of marking stress. According to the international phonetic alphabet you put the stress sign before the stressed syllable - but some put the sign behind the syllable, and that is confusing.

according to me it is archipelago and dioxide.

Originally Posted by Brandon8

I say it as ark-a-PEL-a-go

This is the fourth way

You have to remember that the stress in English is much weaker than in Russian, and in a lot of longer words even native English speakers would have to think hard about where it falls.

For what it's worth, I'd agree with Brandon.

dy-OX-ide, always.

I've heard:

ark'-ih-PEL-a-go,

or

ark'-i-pel-A-go

In English, in most words with 3 (4?) or more syllables, dictionaries show primary and secondary stresses. In Russian, I've only seen this for very long words.

Thank you