Practise: Emphasis
We have already given you some audio examples showing you how to pronounce key terms. Listen to these again now. This time they are being said twice, the first time with emphasis on the first syllable, the second time with emphasis on the second syllable.
- Menstruation
- Prescription
- Gestation
- Nauseous
- Migraine
- Syncope
- Infarct
Can you hear the differences in the pairs of words in the audio clips above? You can probably hear it more clearly in some words than others, and that's quite normal. In fact, changing the emphasis can make more of a difference in some words than others. For example, in Australian English you can say 'gestation' and 'infarct' with the emphasis on the first or second syllable - so its OK to say these words in both the ways we have illustrated in the audio clips above. But no Australian English speaker would ever say 'nauSEous' or 'miGRAINE', with the stress on the second syllable.
Learning new words
Make sure that when you learn new words you pay attention to the emphasis placed on them as well. If you keep a vocabulary list for yourself, you might want to mark the part of the word that takes the emphasis.
Reflect on how you will incorporate what you have learnt into your everyday General Practice.