Nanni (1977) claims that, in American English –ative forms, whether or not –at- bears a secondary stress depends on several factors. One is rhythmic: –at- is not stressed if the syllable before it is stressed (affírmatíve, *affírmàtive). Another is segmental: in contexts where –at- can bear stress, it does so when preceded by an obstruent or cluster (invéstigàtive, législàtive) but not a vowel or sonorant (pálliative, spéculative). This short paper provides dictionary data in support of the claim that segmental factors impact –at- stress and shows that the effect cannot be reduced to other considerations, like the frequency of the –ative derivative or a related form. A secondary result is that not all dictionaries are equally reflective of native speaker intuitions.