Sentence:  Dominant stress is of course more than extended duration , and normally centers on syllables that would have primary stress or phrase stress if the words or longer units they are parts of were spoken alone : a dominant stress given to glorify would normally center on its first syllable <WSD>rather</WSD> than its last . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  on the contrary; rather (or instead), he wrote her a letter"