THEORETICAL PHONETICS Lecture 10 Strong and weak forms

THEORETICAL PHONETICS Lecture 10. Strong and weak forms of words

(2) Strong and weak forms q In English there are certain words which have two forms of pronunciation: (1) strong, or full, form, and (2) weak, or reduced, form. § These words include form-words and the following pronouns: 1. personal 2. possessive 3. reflexive 4. relative, and 5. the indefinite pronoun some, denoting indefinite quantity. § These words have strong, or full, forms when they are stressed, e. g. He will do it. [↘hi: wil du: it] (and nobody else)

(3) Notional parts of speech q The notional parts of speech are usually not reduced in unstressed positions, although there are some compound words in which their second element has been reduced, e. g. sixpence [‘sikspәns], gooseberry [‘guzbәri]. q There are three degrees of reduction of strong forms: 1) The first degree consists in reducing the length of a vowel without changing its quality (quantitative reduction). Cf. (p. 186) strong forms weak forms for [fͻ: ] [fͻ] you [ju: ] [ju] he [hi: ] [hi]

(4) continuation - 1 2. The second degree of reduction consists in changing the quality of a vowel (qualitative reduction). Cf. Strong forms Weak forms for [fͻ: ] [fә] at [æt] [әt] can [kæn] [kәn] Cf. I’ll do it for him. [ail ↘du: it fͻ: him] I’ll do it for Ann. [ail ‘du: it fәr ↘æn] § Most vowels in weak forms are reduced to the neutral vowel [ә], although the long vowels [i: ] and [u: ] are usually reduced to [i] and [u] respectively. Cf. (p. 187) He will go there. [↘hi: wil gou ðεә] He will go to the cinema. [hi wil ‘gou tә ðә ↘sinimә]

(5) continuation -2 (p. 187) 3. The third degree of reduction consists in the omission of a vowel or consonant sound (zero reduction). Cf. Strong forms Weak forms (zero reduction) am [æm] [m] from [frͻm] [frm] of [ͻv] [v] (vowels are can [kæn] [kn], [kŋ] omitted) is [iz] [s], [z] shall [∫æl] [∫l] must [mʌst] [mst] he him his must had have has [hi: ] [him] [hiz] [mʌst] [hæd] [hæv] [hæz] [i], [ɪ] [im] [iz] [mәs] [әd] [әv] [әz] and has have had will would [ænd] [hæz] [hæv] [hæd] [wil] [wud] [n] [z], [s] [v] [d] [l] [d] (consonants are omitted) (both vowels and consonants are omitted)

(6) Form-words used in their strong forms The following form-words in certain positions are used in their strong forms, even when they are unstressed. 1) Prepositions have their strong forms: (a) when they are final, e. g. Do you know where I come from? [‘du: ju ‘nou wεәr ↗ai kʌm frͻm] (p. 191) (b) when they are followed by an unstressed personal pronoun at the end of a sense-group or a sentence, e. g. She was not listening to him. [∫i wәz ‘nͻt ↘lisniŋ tu: him] 2) Auxiliary and modal verbs, as well as the link-verb to be, have their strong forms at the end of a sense-group or a sentence, e. g. (p. 192) Who is absent to-day? Ann is. [‘hu: iz ↘æbsәnt tәdei |↘æn iz] 3) The indefinite pronoun “some in the meaning of “certain” has always strong form, even when it is unstressed, e. g. For some reason they call it the Circle. [fә sʌm ‘ri: zn ðei ‘kͻ: l it ðә ↘sә: kl] q There are some form-words which are never reduced. They are: which, what, where, on, in, with, then, when, how.