Initial-stress-derived noun

Initial-stress derivation is a phonological process in English, wherein stress is moved to the first syllable of verbs when they become nouns or adjectives. This is called a suprafix in linguistics. It is gradually becoming more standardized in some English dialects, but is not present in all, and the list of affected words differs from area to area, and whether a word is used metaphorically or not. At least 170 verb-noun (or adjective) pairs exist. Some examples are:

• conflict.

as a verb, "I hope that won't conflíct in any way."

as a noun, "There will be no cónflict."

• record.

as a verb, "Remember to recórd the show!".

as a noun, "I'll keep a récord of that request."

• permit.

as a verb, "I won't permít that."

as a noun, "We already got a pérmit."

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Origins

In English, since the early modern period, polysyllabic nouns tend to have an unstressed final syllable, while verbs do not. Thus, the stress difference between nouns and verbs applies generally in English, not just to otherwise-identical noun-verb pairs. The frequency of such pairs in English is a result of the productivity of class conversion.

When "re-" is prefixed to a monosyllabic word, and the word gains currency both as a noun and as a verb, it usually fits into this pattern, although, as the following list makes clear, most words fitting this pattern do not match that description.

Many of these have first syllables that evolved from Latin prepositions, although again that does not account for all of them. See also list of Latin words with English derivatives.

When the stress is moved, the pronunciation, especially of vowels, often changes in other ways as well. Most common is the reduction of a vowel sound to a schwa when it becomes unstressed.

List

absent - abstract - accent - addict - address - affect - affix - alloy - ally - alternate - annex - assay - associate - attribute - augment - belay - bombard - combat - combine - commune - compact - complex - compost - compound - compress - concert - conduct - confect - confine(s) - conflict - conscript - conserve - consist - console - consort - construct - consult - content - contest - contract - contrast - converse - convert - convict - costume - decrease - default - defect - desert - detail - dictate - digest - discard - discharge - discount - discourse - dismount - document - escort - essay - excise - exploit - export - extract - finance - foretaste - foretoken - forward - frequent - gallant - impact - implant - implement - impound - import - impress - imprint - incense - incline - increase - indent - inlay - insert - insult - intercept - interchange - intercross - interdict - interlink - interlock - intern - interplay - interspace - interweave - intrigue - invert - invite - involute - mandate - misprint - object - offset - ornament - overcount - overlap - overlay - overlook - override - overrun - overturn - perfect - perfume - permit - pervert - prefix - present - proceed(s) - produce - progress - project - protest - purport - rebel - recall - recap - recess - recoil - record - re-count - redirect - redo - redress - refill - refund - refuse - regress - rehash - reject - relapse - relay - remake - repeat - reprint - research - reset - retake - retard - retract - retread - rewrite - segment - subject - survey - suspect - torment - transfer - transform - transplant - transect - transport - transpose - undercount - underlay - underline - underscore - update - upgrade - uplift - upset

Some two-word phrases follow this pattern. Nouns derived from phrasal verbs like the following are written solid or hyphenated: hand out, drop out, hand over, crack down, follow through.

In some cases the spelling changes when the accent moves to another syllable, as in the following verb/noun pairs:

• envelop, envelope
• unite, unit

In British English, annexe is the noun from the verb annex.

Pronunciations vary geographically. Some words here may belong on this list according to pronunciations prevailing in some regions, but not according to those in others. Some speakers, for example, would consider display as one of these words. For some other speakers, however, address carries stress on the final syllable in both the noun and the verb. There is a dialect in the United States referred to informally by linguists as P/U or police/umbrella because many nouns are stressed on the first syllable; including police, umbrella, and many verb-derived nouns. Some dialects of Scottish English have this in "police".

Some derived nouns are used only in restricted senses; often there is a more generic noun not identical in spelling to the verb. For instance, to combine is to put together, whereas a combine may be a farm machine or a railway car; the generic noun is combination. Perhaps transpose is used as a noun only by mathematicians; the transpose of a matrix is the result of the process of transposition of the matrix; the two-syllable noun and the four-syllable noun differ in meaning in that one is the result and the other is the process. Similar remarks apply to transform; the process is transformation, the result of the process is the transform, as in Laplace transform, Fourier transform, etc.

In the case of the word protest, as a noun it has the stress on the first syllable, but as a verb its meaning depends on stress: with the stress on the second syllable it means to raise a protest; on the first it means to participate in a protest. This appears to result from the derived noun being verbed.

Entrance is also a noun when stressed on the first syllable and a verb when on the second, but that is not a true example since the words are unrelated homographs.