In dictionary entries for words another symbol usually accompanies the phonemic script. This can be', as in /'bjuitifl/, or _ , e.g. /bjuitifl/ or °, e.g. /bjuitifl/. These signs are used to show word stress. This is the part of the word which we say with greater energy, i.e. with more length and sound on its vowel sound. Compare the stress (the pronunciation with greater energy) in the vowel sounds in the stressed syllables and the other syllables in: pencil, children, important. (The stressed syllables are underlined.) We pronounce the other syllables with less energy, especially the unstressed or weak syllables, whose vowels get shortened or sometimes even disappear, e.g. the vowel sound in the last syllable of important, which is pronounced as a schwa /a/. There are many languages which, like English, give especially strong stress to one