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Wikipedia says:

the English words insight and incite are distinguished in pronunciation only by the fact that the stress falls on the first syllable in the former and on the second syllable in the latter.

In the online dictionary indeed it is indicated that the stress in "insight" falls on the first syllable. Yet both British and American speakers pronounce the word with the stress on the final syllable.

Where is the mistake? Should this word be pronounced with stress on the first or second syllable? Do these speakers pronounce the word correctly?

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6
  • You probably want speaker not dictor. People do funny things when speaking, some subconsciously. The dictionary is correct and I think it'd sound odd if someone accented the second syllable drastically although I've heard many people stress them equally without any weird looks.
    – Jim
    Commented Apr 30, 2013 at 5:10
  • @Jim the both speakers accent the last syllable.
    – Anixx
    Commented Apr 30, 2013 at 5:26
  • In which sentence?
    – Jim
    Commented Apr 30, 2013 at 5:34
  • 1
    Actually, the dictionary you link to provides a Brit putting stress on the second syllable and a Yank putting stress on the first. I believe that the person who put up the web page simply put the wrong audio file there for the Brit. None of my friends who speak any brand of British English stresses the second syllable on "insight".
    – user264
    Commented Apr 30, 2013 at 7:44
  • @Bill Franke as I hear it, the both stress the final syllable.
    – Anixx
    Commented Apr 30, 2013 at 16:07

1 Answer 1

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The online dictionary is correct. "insight" has stress on first syllable. "incite" has stress on second syllable.

Listen to these words spoken by British and American speakers on Forvo.com

insight

incite

You should be able to hear the difference.

Now go back to your original site and listen to the difference between the speakers saying insight and incite.

insight

incite

The recording of the American has a noticeable change in stress between the two words. The recording of the British speaker has a slight change in stress, but much less noticeable.

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2
  • 1
    The difference is quite clear to me after listening 3 times: The Brit stress syllable 2; the Yank stresses syllable 1. Most likely, the page creator made a mistake & used the wrong sound file.
    – user264
    Commented Apr 30, 2013 at 7:47
  • No, in all four recordings for "insight" the stress falls on the final syllable.
    – Anixx
    Commented Apr 30, 2013 at 16:06

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