To see just a glimpse of complexity in English’s use of pitch and stress, consider one of my favorite examples, known among linguists as “stress clash override.” When uttered alone, the word thirteen has higher pitch on the last syllable—“thirTEEN.” And the word women has higher pitch on the first syllable, “Women.” But put the two words together and what do you get? You don’t get “thirTEEN Women,” you get “THIRteen Women.” Why?Because English, like several other languages, doesn’t like two high-pitched, or accented, syllables next to each other. It prefers to have an alternating
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