Initial-stress-derived noun

Perhaps 100 verbs in English become nouns or adjectives when the accent is moved to the first syllable from a later one -- usually, but not always, the second. Some examples are:

• conflict.

"This conFLICTS with that." "There is a CONflict."

• record.

"I reCORDed the results." "They kept a RECord."

• permit.

"I will perMIT that." "I will grant a PERmit."

A possibly incomplete list follows.

When the prefix "re-" is prepended to a monosyllabic word, and the word gains currency both as a noun and as a verb, it will probably fit into this pattern, although, as the list below makes clear, most words fitting this pattern do not match that description.

Many of these have first syllables that evolved from Latin prepositions, although again that does not account for all of them.

Table of contents

1 P/U dialect 2 List 3 Comments

P/U dialect

There is a dialect in the United States referred to informally by linguists as P/U or police/umbrella because in that dialect these nouns (along with cigarette, insurance, and many others) are stressed on the first syllable.

List

absent - abstract - address - affect - affix - ally - attribute - combat - combine - compact - compost - compound - compress - commune - concert - conduct - confines - conflict - conscript - console - consort - construct - consult - content - contest - contract - contrast - converse - convert - convict - default - defect - desert - digest - discharge - dismount - entrance - escort - exploit - export - extract - finance - impact - impound - import - incense - incline - - increase - intercept - insert - insult - invite - object - overcount - overlay - overlook - perfect - permit - perfume - pervert - present - proceeds - produce - progress - project - protest - rebel - recall - recap - recess - record - redirect - redress - refund - refuse - regress - reject - relapse - remake - research - retake - retard - retract - subject - survey - suspect - transform - transplant - transpose - transport - undercount - update - uplift - upset

Comments

In some cases the spelling changes when the accent moves to another syllable:

• envelop/envelope
• unite/unit

(in both cases, the verb preceeds the slash and the noun follows it).

Some two-word phrases follow this pattern:

• fall out
• hand out (written as one word when a noun)
• drop out (also written as a single word when a noun)
• make up (sometimes hyphenated when a noun)
• crack down (written as one word when a noun)

Pronunciations vary geographically. Someone even proposed adding display to this list. Some words here may belong on this list according to pronunciations prevailing in some regions, but not according to those in others.

Perhaps transpose is used as a noun only by mathematicians; the transpose of a matrix is the result of the process of transposition of the matrix; the two-syllable noun and the four syllable noun differ in meaning in that one is the result and the other is the process.