I'm looking for a right way to stress words ending in -fluence in American English. There should be a change of stress depending on whether it's used a noun or verb. Also, in "finance" I stress the 1st syllable as a noun, but 2nd as a verb - am I right?
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1Wikipedia has this list of "Initial-stress-derived_nouns" (where the "original" verb form had stress on the second syllable, but when used as a noun, the stress moves to the first syllable)... absent · abstract · accent · access · addict · address · affect · affix · alloy · ally · annex · assay · attribute · augment · belay · bombard · combat · combine · commune · compact · complex · composite · compost · compound · compress · concert · conduct · confect · confine(s) · conflict · conscript[ · conserve · consist ...– FumbleFingersCommented Oct 12, 2018 at 18:43
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1Confluence isn't a verb.– TimRCommented Oct 12, 2018 at 18:52
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1I thought influence was always stressed on the first syllable.– snetchCommented Oct 12, 2018 at 20:01
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1Stress is not a foolproof test for nounhood vs verbhood. Many people put slight stress on the first syllable in both usages.– BillJCommented Oct 13, 2018 at 7:12
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I bet they put that slight stress because they are not sure how to use it correctly. E.g. I have heard in'fluence a number of times.– JamesCommented Oct 14, 2018 at 13:57
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1 Answer
The word finance can have stress either on the first syllable or second, whether it's used as a verb or a noun. I happen to work in that field and I stress the first syllable unless I'm trying to impress someone, in which case I use the second. Stressing the second syllable sounds fancy almost to the point of being supercilious.
Influence has the first syllable stressed, always, regardless of whether it is used as a noun or verb.
Confluence is an uncommon word to the point that most people won't know it (except because of context) but the first syllable is stressed there too. I wouldn't be surprised if people mispronounced it. I've never spoken the word aloud.
I don't know what other words you might consider "similar" to these but stressing the first syllable is a good guess in the US.
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No offence, but the speech of people who work in Finance can't be used as a standard of (American) English.– JamesCommented Oct 14, 2018 at 13:54
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None taken, but what are you saying? I said people pronounce it both ways, with stressing the second syllable being much less common in ordinary speech. Are you saying no one stresses the second or that everyone does?– farnsyCommented Oct 14, 2018 at 17:17