Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
PRONUNCIATION OF COMPOUND WORDS
English compounds put primary stress on the first element and a slightly lower stress (secondary or tertiary but not unstressed) on the final element of the word or phrase. It is that stress pattern that tells us we have a compound: when someone mentions a haht DAWG, we know that the dog is panting heavily, with its tongue hanging out; if that person mentions a HAHT-dawg, we know that a weiner is the subject of conversation.
