In linguistics, vocal stress is the accent or emphasis given to each syllable in a piece of writing, as determined by conventional pronunciation. The amount and importance of vocal stress varies in languages. In some languages, vocal stress can determine the meaning of a word.
For example, in English, the word record changes its meaning according to vocal stress:
- record, the noun
- record, the verb
Example: In the word reconsider, the stress pattern is 'recon'sider (intermediate - weak - strong - weak).