In speech, stress refers to the accentuation of parts of words, as well as the most meaningful words in a message.

A stressed syllable is spoken longer and more loudly than is an unstressed syllable, and it is spoken with changed pitch. The vowel within a stressed syllable is produced fully and clearly. In contrast, an unstressed syllable is spoken simply and quickly, with the vowel usually reduced to the schwa sound.

At the Word Level:

Within a word, one or more syllables may be stressed. If more than one syllable is stressed, one of them will be accentuated more strongly than any other. (This level of stress is called primary stress.) Pitch rises on primary stress and then a pitch inflection occurs, with pitch either falling or rising. This inflection occurs either in a stepwise manner or in a glide.

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