Home town

[Maz]

Odd question at this late hour, but...

I'm doing some preparation for teaching practice for my TEFL class next week. Amongst other things, I will be teaching about stress on compound words.

Some of the stresses are easy enough:
Housewife (stress on House)
Homesick (stress on Home)

But I can't quite figure out if the compound word home town has stress on the home or on the town, or if they have equal stress.

The more I repeat the word to myself, the less confident I feel about where the stress lies. You could say I'm getting stressed out!

What do you reckon? How do you instinctively pronounce Home town?

 

[Baggy]

Hmm, I'd say with equal stress.

 

[Sittingduck]

It's two words isn't it? Maybe I am just a thicko though

I would say it's a 30/70 stress split in favour of town if it is actually a single word.

 

[Baggy]

I think it depends on your accent - I'm a bit northern so say it with equal stress

 

[Baggy]

We're so helpful

 

[Auntie Helen]

I'd say it's equal stress on both words (speaking as a Southerner here).

I have to say, however, that there are many things about which one thinks that then become less and less clear. The "some" and "any" difference completely confuses me when I try to explain it. "Would you like any tea?", "would you like some tea?" What the heck is the difference!

 

[Noodley]

equal.

which is the definitive answer...

 

[Maz]

I'm going with equal stress. Cheers everyone!