There are twelve (12) months of the year in the U.S. calendar, and the names of these twelve months offer a good opportunity to practice syllable stressing and de-stressing.
To speak with the music of English in your speech, you must stress certain syllables in words.
Stress
That means that one syllable in each word will be:
longer
louder
higher in pitch
De-stress
In addition to stressing, we often de-stress certain syllables in words. That means, we say them:
quickly
weaker
very relaxed
Secondary
Some syllables are have a secondary stress, somewhere in the middle of stressed and de-stressed.
Example
We don’t give equal strength to all of the syllables when say the month “December” [Də SɛM bɝr].
But we:
de-stress the first syllable [də]
stress the second syllable [SɛM]
and pronounce the third syllable somewhere in the middle [bɚr]
Listen and Repeat
“December” [də SɛM bɚr] (2x)
Did you hear how my voice was louder and higher on the second syllable?
“December” [də SɛM bɚr]
Got it?
Let’s practice stressing and de-stressing syllables.
Listen and Repeat
January [DʒÆN nyə wey riy]
February [Fɛ bruw ey riy] or sometimes said [Fɛ byuw ey riy]
March [mɑrtʃ]
April [eY prəɫ]
May [mey]
June [dʒuwn]
July [dʒə LɑIY]
August [ɑW gəst]
September [sɛp TɛM ɚr]
October [ɑwk TOW bɚr]
November [now VɛM bɚr]
December [də SɛM bɚr]