Stress on "donate"

[Tom Zurinskas]

I wonder What is the key feature of stress in a word in USA English?  Pitch, loudness, duration?  Is one element the key?

For "donate" in USA I would assume DOE-nate ~doenaet.  This shifts to second syllable for "donation" doe-NAY-shin  ~doennaeshin.

I don't know about Canada.  For UK thefreedictionary.com gives stress on the second syllable, for USA the first.

Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL7+
see truespel.com phonetic spelling



> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Tony Au
> Subject: Stress on "donate"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> According to several dictionaries online, the word "donate" can be stressed
> on the first or the second syllable, though I've heard it only on the first.
> However, I've noticed in a commercial on an Ontario radio station as well as
> in a line in Corner Gas (a Canadian sitcom) people stressing the second
> syllable of "donate." Does anyone know if this is more prevalent in Canadian
> English (or for that matter, how prevalent it is in American English)?
>
> Thanks,
> Tony Au
>
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