stress in compounds

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How do you stress compound words? Usage seems to be inconsistent.
 
Usage is inconsistent because the link between the component words varies. A black bird may be a rook or a crow or a male blackbird; but a female blackbird is a brown bird.

b
 
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***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Excellent question.

One book says that in compounds, the stress (louder sound) is often on the first word:

SICK room (NOT: sick ROOM. The room is not sick. It is a room for the sick.)
ROOMmate.
BASKETball.
SIDEwalk.

Be very careful:

We ate a HOT dog.

We chased a hot DOG.

Credit: A Basic Grammar of Modern English (1979) by Professor Bruce L. Liles.
 
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