nonstressed

Nonstressed is an adjective used in linguistics to describe syllables, vowels, or segments that do not bear primary stress in a word or phrase. The more common term is unstressed; nonstressed appears in some descriptions or dictionaries as a variant.

In languages with lexical or phrasal stress, syllables can be stressed, unstressed, or carry secondary stress. A nonstressed syllable is typically shorter in duration and weaker in prominence than a stressed syllable. Vowels in nonstressed syllables often undergo reduction, becoming a neutral vowel such as schwa in English, or other centralized vowels in other languages.

For example, in the English word banana, the primary stress falls on the second syllable, while the first and third syllables are nonstressed and often reduced: /bəˈnænə/. In many languages, the pattern of stressed and nonstressed syllables shapes rhythm and intelligibility, and nonstressed segments can still carry segmental information even if they are lighter.

In poetry and speech, unstressed (nonstressed) syllables contribute to meter and rhythm; languages may alternate stressed and unstressed syllables to create patterns such as iambic or trochaic feet. Phonological analyses often contrast stressed versus nonstressed syllables to describe vowel reduction, syllable timing, and prosodic structure.

Applications include speech synthesis, speech recognition, pronunciation teaching, and phonological analysis. See also: stressed syllable, secondary stress, vowel reduction, schwa, prosody, meter.