This is a spelling dictionary with primary and secondary stress indicators which link each word or phrase to the list of entries in the Vocabulary of Alliteration with the same stave and the same position of the primary- or secondary-stressed syllable. For example, dictionary/ dictionaries D:P1 (N:S3) means that both in the singular dictionary and in the plural dictionaries the (primary) stress P is on the first syllable (P1) and that the pronunciation of this syllable starts with a |D| sound. The word has at least two variants, because native speakers may pronounce it with or without secondary stress S on the third syllable (S3). (If it is stressed, the third syllable starts with an |N| sound after a sharp syllable division in the pronunciation, in spite of what the orthographical word division dic·tion·ar·y/ies may suggest.) It is quite possible that the primary stress on a syllable in a single word turns into a secondary stress when the word forms part of a phrase of two or more terms. Thus, in poetic the (primary) stress is on the second syllable (P2), in license or licence on the first (P1). The respective codes are E:P2 and L:P1. The phrase poetic license, however, receives the primary stress of the word license; in this context, the word poetic only receives secondary stress. A phrase such as poetic license is therefore given the code E:S2, L:P4 with the appropriate links.
