Which syllable is stressed the most in correspond?

Answer 1

--spond

It is said that English is one of the most difficult languages to learn. That is not only because of all of the idioms that English-speaking people use, but also because of all of the different dialects in the United States. English in the United States might better be called "American English." Which syllable to stress in spoken English is often a matter of which part of the country you live in.

Words like "correspond," however, are pronounced the same all over the country. The word breaks down to cor-re-spond and comes from the Middle French or Medieval Latin correspondre or correspondere, both of which have their accent on the --spond syllable. It is unfortunate in this age of computers that more care has not been taken in notating pronunciation. On-line dictionaries are not very good at helping people understand which syllable is to be stressed. There is a computer key to use for stressed syllables, and on-line dictionaries should be using it. Too many on-line dictionaries is another problem. Which one to use?

The problem is with those dictionaries that remove hyphens between words, so that the word "correct," for example, looks like cor'rect, instead of cor-'rect. The word is cor-'rect, with the emphasis on the second syllable, and the word is cor-re-'spond, with the emphasis on the third syllable.