Is it stress?

English words stress and syllables?

• I'm studying the English syllables and I've found out that some words don't follow the stress rules. For example, verbs such as "experiment", "follow", "facilitate" are the exceptions that I can find from English words. I need to know the reasons of these exceptions! Why they don't follow the rules?! 1) "Experiment" should have a stress on the last syllable (according to the rule), but it has on the 2nd syllable /pe/. 2) "Follow" has a diphthong on the last syllabe so the stress should be there. But there is a stress on the first one /fo/. 3) "Facilitate" has a diphthong on the last syllabe, too, so the stress should be there. But it is on the 2nd one /ci/. Nouns: Carpenter, antique, musician They are the exceptions, too. I need to know the reasons for these, too. Why they are exceptional!? 1) "Carpenter" has C+V+V on the last syllable so the stress should be there. But it's on the first syllable. 2) Most nouns with 2 syllables have stresses on the first syllables, but "antique" has a stress on the second syllable. 3) "Musician" has not stress. The second syllable has C+V, so the stress should be on the first syllable, But this word has none. Could anyone explain why these things happen to these words? T.T

• Answer:

  I've been speaking English my whole life (well, my whole life so far) and I've never really thought about these things. The English language is inconsistent in many ways. It grew organically. It doesn't have prescribed rules. It is as we speak it, and we speak it imperfectly. I wasn't aware there were stress rules! They didn't teach them to us in school. My guess is that they are 'descriptive' rules, derived from practice, rather than 'prescriptive' rules, from which practice is derived. Let's see. 'Experiment', if you put the emphasis on the last syllable it's harder to say. What about words like , basement, predicament, etc.? 'Follow' does not end with a dipthong! I'm curious to hear how you pronounce it! When I pronounce it, no diphthong. 'Facilitate', also no diphthong. Maybe we have different ideas of what a dipthong is. It's two vowel sounds together. There are only four in standard English--'pay my boy now'. 'Antique' is actually a French word, and we use their pronunciation. When i was a kid, before I'd ever heard the word pronounced, I thought it was pronounced 'AN-ti-kyew'. 8^) 'Musician' has a stress on the second syllable. 'myu-ZI-shin'. It would be really hard to say with the stress on the first syllable. We have the same rule with physician, magician, politician, beautician, etc.