-ic Suffix Syllable Stress Patterns

Words containing the -ic, -ical, and -ically suffixes are stressed on the syllable previous to the -ic.

-ic, -ical, -ically suffix syllable stress pattern

Non-native English speakers should give special attention to the pronunciation of the -ical and -ically suffixes. The 'al' portion of the -ical suffix is pronounced as a syllablic l, so there is not usually any vowel sound included in that syllable. Then, due to syllabic compression, the -ically suffix is often pronounced as /ɪk li/--two syllables, instead of three. This means that a base word ending in the -ical suffix is pronounced with the same number of syllables as the same base word ending in the -ically suffix.