Quite often, people have doubts about how to pronounce a particular word. If a word appears in a sentence in such a way that it contains only one vowel, then usually there are no problems. What to do in other cases? One of the controversial words about his pronunciation is "newborn." Some people put emphasis on the third syllable. Others argue that the fourth part of the word should stand out. So how does one stress the word "newborn"?
What is literature talking about?
If you look into the explanatory dictionaries and books on the correct pronunciation of words, you can find the following. In the word newborn stress is placed on the fourth syllable. Thus, it is right to say newborn. Another use of the word is unacceptable in the literary language. Nowadays, there are many ancient and modern dictionaries that agree on the statement of stress in the word in question.
In the dictionary, which describes the formulation of the correct stress on a particular word, the following information is presented. The publication states: in the word "newborn" the stress is placed on the letter "e". The textbook also says: to pronounce "newborn" is wrong. This is done for those people who still want to argue with the publisher and indicate the inattention of the author.
Are there any other options?
Of course, yes. Kuznetsov's explanatory dictionary says the following: in a word, a newborn stress can also stand on the third syllable. The author does not claim that this option is correct. He only tells the reader that such use of the word is often found in colloquial speech. Surely you have often heard various words from people with incorrect emphasis from people. If you know exactly what the pronunciation should be, then the phrase you hear always stands out from the general sentence and “cuts the ear”.
Quite often you can hear the phrase "newborn baby" from medical personnel, which puts emphasis on the third syllable. These people have been doing their job for decades, and they can no longer be convinced that it is wrong to say that.
Also, the word "newborn" with an emphasis on the letter "O" can be heard from young mothers or women who are in an interesting position. It is worth noting that even if such ladies pronounced the word in question correctly, then after communicating with the doctors, their knowledge changed not for the better.
Conclusion
Summing up, we can conclude that the only and correct pronunciation of this controversial word is with emphasis on the fourth syllable. This is a literary norm. The stress on the letter “o” can occur in colloquial speech, but it is incorrect. Any linguist will confidently say that this is a gross mistake that cannot be made.
Now you know what the word stress is in the word “newborn”. Even if someone says the wrong thing, it does not always make sense to correct the person. The main thing is that you pronounce the words correctly, according to the rules of the Russian language.