Weak and strong forms of word

Слабые и сильные формы слов в английском языке

Видеоурок: Слабые и сильные формы слов в английском языке

В английском языке есть слова, которые имеют две формы произношения: сильную (strong form) и слабую (weak form). Например, модальный глагол could в сильной (ударной) позиции произносится как [kʊd], а в слабой (безударной) позиции — [kəd].

Почему некоторые слова имеют две формы произношения?

В английском языке есть такое понятие как фразовое ударение. Фразовое ударение — это выделение голосом в предложении одних слов среди других. То есть некоторые слова в предложении произносятся с большим ударением, чем другие.

При этом в английском есть слова, которые в предложении, как правило, всегда ударны. Это знаменательные (или по-другому самостоятельные) слова: существительные, смысловые глаголы, прилагательные, наречия, числительные, указательные местоимения (this/these; that/those), вопросительные местоимения (what, why, when, where, how). Эти слова сами по себе сильные, потому что в предложении они играют важную роль — передают смысл. Поэтому в устной речи мы стремимся выделить их голосом, а так как эти слова в предложении всегда под ударением, то и имеют они только одну — сильную форму произношения.

Но есть в английском языке слова, которые, напротив, в предложении чаще всего безударны, то есть находятся в слабой позиции. К таким словам относятся так называемые grammar words (грамматические слова), в русском языке мы их обычно называем служебными словами. Это артикли, некоторые предлоги и союзы, вспомогательные глаголы, некоторые модальные глаголы и большинство местоимений. Чаще всего в связной устной речи они ослабляются, потому что мы не выделяем их голосом, считая не очень важными. Ведь они не столько передают смысл, сколько помогают структурировать фразу, придают ей грамматическую верность. К тому же, стремясь придать фразе ритм, мы склонны «проглатывать» эти неважные слова, то есть произносить их слабо. Но несмотря на то, что в слитной речи такие слова, как правило, безударны и произносятся в слабой форме, они могут находиться и в сильной (ударной) позиции. Именно поэтому и имеют две формы произношения — слабую и сильную.

Например, рассмотрим предложение:

He can call you later.
hi kən kɔːl jʊ ˈleɪtə

В этом предложении два знаменательных слова, которые находятся в сильной (ударной) позиции: смысловой глагол call (звонить) и наречие later (позже). Это важные по своему значению слова, поэтому мы выделяем их голосом среди других. Другие же, местоимения he (он) и you (вы), а также модальный глагол can, в этом предложении безударны, то есть в речи ослабляются.

Слабая и сильная позиции в предложении

Хотя служебные слова в слитной речи чаще всего ослабляются, они могут находиться и в сильной позиции. Сильная позиция — это конец предложения. Если слово стоит в конце предложения, то оно, как правило, ударно, поэтому в этом случае используется сильная форма произношения. Кроме того, сильную форму произношения мы выберем и тогда, когда нужно намеренно выделить голосом слово в предложении, чтобы акцентировать на нём внимание. Во всех остальных случаях (в начале и середине предложения) используется слабая форма.

Could:
слабая форма [kəd] / сильная форма [kʊd]

I could [kəd] read it now. (середина предложения — слабая позиция)
Could [kəd] you read it now? (начало предложения — слабая позиция)
Yes, I could [kʊd]. (конец предложения — сильная позиция)
I really COULD [kʊd] read. (выбираем сильную форму, чтобы акцентировать внимание «я правда умела читать»)

Список слов с двумя формами произношения

Ниже вы найдёте список наиболее часто встречающихся слов, которые имеют две формы произношения — слабую (weak) и сильную (strong).

Cлово	Weak Form (слабая форма)	Strong Form (сильная форма)
a	/ə/	/eɪ/ (unusual)
an	/ən/	/æn/ (unusual)
the*	/ðə/, /ði/*	/ðiː/ (unusual)
and	/ənd/ /ən/ /n/	/ænd/
but	/bət/	/bʌt/
that (союз)	/ðət/	/ðæt/
than	/ðən/	/ðæn/
there	/ðə(r)/	/ðeə(r)/
because	/bɪ(kəz)/	/bɪˈkɒz/
some	/səm/	/sʌm/
as	/əz/	/æz/
at	/ət/	/æt/
for	/fə(r)/	/fɔː(r)/
from	/frəm/	/frɒm/
of	/əv/	/ɒv/
to	/tə/ /tʊ/	/tuː/
am	/əm/ /m/	/æm/
are	/ə(r)/	/ɑː(r)/
be	/bɪ/	/biː/
been	/bɪn/	/biːn/
do	/də/	/duː/
does	/dəz/	/dʌz/
have	/həv/ /əv/	/hæv/
has	/həz/ /əz/	/hæz/
had	/həd/ /əd/	/hæd/
was	/wəz/ /wz/	/wɒz/
were	/wə(r)/	/wɜː(r)/
can	/kən/ /kn/	/kæn/
could	/kəd/	/kʊd/
must	/məst/ /məs/	/mʌst/
shall	/ʃəl/ /ʃl/	/ʃæl/
should	/ʃəd/	/ʃʊd/
will	/wəl/ /wl/	/wɪl/
would	/wəd/ /əd/	/wʊd/
he	/hi/ /i/	/hiː/
him	/ɪm/	/hɪm/
his	/ɪz/	/hɪz/
she	/ʃɪ/	/ʃiː/
her	/hə(r)/ /ə(r)/	/hɜː(r)/
me	/mi/	/miː/
we	/wɪ/	/wiː/
us	/əs/	/ʌs/
our	/ɑː(r)/	/aʊə(r)/
you	/jə/ /jʊ/	/juː/
your	/jə(r)/	/jɔː(r)/
them	/ðəm/	/ðem/

* Определённый артикль the имеет две слабые формы:  /ði/ — произносится, если следующее за ним слово начинается с гласного звука (the apple /ði ˈæpl /); /ðə/ — если следующее за ним слово начинается с согласного звука (the table /ðə ˈteɪbl/). Обратите внимание, что выбор формы определяется произношением, а не написанием.

Краткие отрицательные формы глаголов имеют только сильное произношение: can’t /kɑːnt/, couldn’t /ˈkʊdnt/, wasn’t /wɒznt/ и др.

Обратите внимание, что в большинстве слабых форм появляется нейтральный гласный звук /ə/. Это краткий, всегда безударный гласный звук. Он очень короткий и расслабленный. Чтобы его произнести, нужно немного приоткрыть рот и слегка выдохнуть. Язык и губы не должны быть напряжены. Послушать, как произносится звук /ə/, а также другие английские звуки, можно здесь.

Несколько примеров:

Who are you waiting for?
huː ə jʊ ˈweɪtɪŋ fɔː?
Are и you произносятся в слабой форме, а предлог for — в сильной, так как стоит в сильной позиции — в конце предложения.

We need some salt and pepper.
wi niːd səm sɔːlt ən(d)ˈpepər.
We, some и and произносятся в слабой форме. Вы можете сравнить их слабые формы с сильными в таблице выше.

Фонетика. Сильные и слабые формы.

В английском языке есть слова, которые имеют две формы произношения: сильную (strong form) и слабую (weak form). Например, модальный глагол could в сильной (ударной) позиции произносится как [kʊd], а в слабой (безударной) позиции — [kəd].

Почему некоторые слова имеют две формы произношения?

В английском языке есть такое понятие как фразовое ударение. Фразовое ударение — это выделение голосом в предложении одних слов среди других. То есть некоторые слова в предложении произносятся с большим ударением, чем другие.

При этом в английском есть слова, которые в предложении, как правило, всегда ударны. Это знаменательные (или по-другому самостоятельные) слова: существительные, смысловые глаголы, прилагательные, наречия, числительные, указательные местоимения (this/these; that/those), вопросительные местоимения (what, why, when, where, how). Эти слова сами по себе сильные, потому что в предложении они играют важную роль — передают смысл. Поэтому в устной речи мы стремимся выделить их голосом, а так как эти слова в предложении всегда под ударением, то и имеют они только одну — сильную форму произношения.

Но есть в английском языке слова, которые, напротив, в предложении чаще всего безударны, то есть находятся в слабой позиции. К таким словам относятся так называемые grammar words (грамматические слова), в русском языке мы их обычно называем служебными словами. Это артикли, некоторые предлоги и союзы, вспомогательные глаголы, некоторые модальные глаголы и большинство местоимений. Чаще всего в связной устной речи они ослабляются, потому что мы не выделяем их голосом, считая не очень важными. Ведь они не столько передают смысл, сколько помогают структурировать фразу, придают ей грамматическую верность. К тому же, стремясь придать фразе ритм, мы склонны «проглатывать» эти неважные слова, то есть произносить их слабо. Но несмотря на то, что в слитной речи такие слова, как правило, безударны и произносятся в слабой форме, они могут находиться и в сильной (ударной) позиции. Именно поэтому и имеют две формы произношения — слабую и сильную.

Например, рассмотрим предложение:

He can call you later.
hi kən kɔːl jʊ ˈleɪtə

В этом предложении два знаменательных слова, которые находятся в сильной (ударной) позиции: смысловой глагол call (звонить) и наречие later (позже). Это важные по своему значению слова, поэтому мы выделяем их голосом среди других. Другие же, местоимения he (он) и you (вы), а также модальный глагол can, в этом предложении безударны, то есть в речи ослабляются.

Слабая и сильная позиции в предложении

Хотя служебные слова в слитной речи чаще всего ослабляются, они могут находиться и в сильной позиции. Сильная позиция — это конец предложения. Если слово стоит в конце предложения, то оно, как правило, ударно, поэтому в этом случае используется сильная форма произношения. Кроме того, сильную форму произношения мы выберем и тогда, когда нужно намеренно выделить голосом слово в предложении, чтобы акцентировать на нём внимание. Во всех остальных случаях (в начале и середине предложения) используется слабая форма.

Could:
слабая форма [kəd] / сильная форма [kʊd]

I could [kəd] read it now. (середина предложения — слабая позиция)
Could [kəd] you read it now? (начало предложения — слабая позиция)
Yes, I could [kʊd]. (конец предложения — сильная позиция)
I really COULD [kʊd] read. (выбираем сильную форму, чтобы акцентировать внимание «я правда умела читать»)

Список слов с двумя формами произношения

Ниже вы найдёте список наиболее часто встречающихся слов, которые имеют две формы произношения — слабую (weak) и сильную (strong).

* Определённый артикль the имеет две слабые формы:  /ði/ — произносится, если следующее за ним слово начинается с гласного звука (the apple /ði ˈæpl /); /ðə/ — если следующее за ним слово начинается с согласного звука (the table /ðə ˈteɪbl/). Обратите внимание, что выбор формы определяется произношением, а не написанием.

Краткие отрицательные формы глаголов имеют только сильное произношение: can’t /kɑːnt/, couldn’t /ˈkʊdnt/, wasn’t /wɒznt/ и др.

Обратите внимание, что в большинстве слабых форм появляется нейтральный гласный звук /ə/. Это краткий, всегда безударный гласный звук. Он очень короткий и расслабленный. Чтобы его произнести, нужно немного приоткрыть рот и слегка выдохнуть. Язык и губы не должны быть напряжены.

Несколько примеров:

Who are you waiting for? huː ə jʊ ˈweɪtɪŋ fɔː?

Are и you произносятся в слабой форме, а предлог for — в сильной, так как стоит в сильной позиции — в конце предложения.

We need some salt and pepper. wi niːd səm sɔːlt ən(d)ˈpepər.

We, some и and произносятся в слабой форме. Вы можете сравнить их слабые формы с сильными в таблице выше.

Даже зная приведенную выше теорию, практически невозможно научиться понимать быструю речь, не научившись, хотя бы более или менее говорить таким образом. Для этого недостаточно просто пытаться повторять фразы вслед за диктором. Необходимо выучить слова, имеющие две формы произношения, – полную, которую еще называют сильной, и слабую. Когда на такие слова по смыслу падает ударение, они имеют полную форму произношения. 

ПРИЛОЖЕНИЕ

There are three degrees of reduction:

  — Quantitative reduction (shortening of a long vowel)

e.g. he  [hi: — hi – hi]

— Qualitative reduction (changing of the quality of a vowel0

e.g. can [ kæn – kәn]

— Zero reduction (omission of a vowel)

e.g. I ’m [aim]

The following cases should be remembered as the traditional use of strong forms:

a. Prepositions have their strong forms in the sentence final position or when followed by an unstressed personal pronoun.

e.g. What are you looking at ? [ æt ]

I’m listening to you. [tu:]

b. Auxiliary and modal verbs are in their strong forms at the end of a sentence or sense-group and in contracted negative forms. In both cases the verbs are stressed.

e.g. Are you free ? – I am. [ æm]

I can’t come. [k α: nt]

c. The verb ‘to have’ in the meaning of ‘to possess’ is used in its full form whether stressed or unstressed. The verb ‘to do’ is not reduced when used for emphasis.

e.g. I have a brother . [h æ v]

Do tell me a bout it. [ du: ]

d. The demonstrative pronoun ‘that’ is never reduced while the conjunction ‘that’ is always weak.

e.g. I know that . [ ðæt]

I know that you are ill. [ ðәt ]

“Linguistic reductions are lost sounds in words. This happens in spoken English.

For instance, “going to” changes to “gonna”. The most widely known reductions are contractions. Most contractions are reductions of ‘not’. For instance, “cannot” becomes “can’t”. Many contractions are reductions between a subject and a verb.

For instance, “He is...” becomes “He’s…“

Some reductions are well known to ESL learners; for instance, the reduction of a verb and “to”. Examples are “going to” becoming “gonna” and “want to” becoming “wanna”.

Linguistic reductions are part of natural English. They are not slang, or improper.” – Wikipedia.

1. wanna/ gonna/ outta/ hafta/ hasta/ hada/

Words like want to/ going to/ have to/ has to/ had to/ ought to are often said in an utterance. They are so often spoken every day that speakers tend to reduce them into the following forms:

         Written Words   Spoken Utterance

Want to                    wanna

Going to                  gonna

Ought to                  oudda

Has to                      hasta

Had to                     hada

The above examples show that not only the words are shorter, but the sounds are of course shorter, which eventually speed up the utterance. For better understanding, please see the following examples:

I wanna get it done soon.

I am gonna visit Japan next month.

I outta try harder in the test.

You hafta make sure someone will pick you up.

He hasta report to the office before 5:00 p.m.

She hada get a ride last night when she was too sleepy to drive.

2. n/ er/ fer

Words like and/or/for are also used in most of the sentences. And they are pronounced in very short and weak sounds. Please see the following examples:

Written Words                    Spoken Utterance

and                                       n 

or                                          er

for                                         fer  

For better understanding, please refer to the following examples:

Cream n sugar?

Either coffee er tea is fine with me.

Fer information, please call 2635-8284.

3. Reduction of h Sound

When “him” and “her” are used as an object in a sentence, and the sentence is on the verb, the h sound of these two words are often removed and the rest of the word is pronounced rather weak by linking with the previous sound; either a vowel or a consonant..

Written Words                                  Spoken Utterance

him                                                     im

her                                                      er

For better understanding, please refer to the following examples:

A: Did you see John?

Yeah, I saw_im in the hallway.

A: So, do you like Mary?

Yeah, I like_er a lot.

4. Unreleased Consonants

Words with final sounds p/b/d/t/k/g are found everywhere in spoken utterances, and native speakers tend to make these sounds unreleased. But very often non-native speakers pronounce these sounds with very strong stress, which also affect the speed of their utterance. The trick to pronounce these words is to place more stress on the vowel.

     Written Words                                       Spoken Utterance

soup                                                          soup

rob                                                            rob

road                                                          road

it                                                               it

take                                                           take

bag                                                            ba

For better understanding, please refer to the following examples:

The soup tastes good.

Are you gonna rob the bank?

You can stop by Jackson Road and pick me up.

It is very interesting to read Harry Potter.

Take this book and read it during the weekend.

I like this bag more than that one.

5. Reductions of ‘of’ –

There are three changes that can occur with the word ‘of’.

1. The “o” in “of” is often pronounced using the schwa sound “- uh”. 

“some of”  becomes  “some uh”

“He likes some of the books” becomes “He likes some uh the books.”

2. If a vowel follows “of” it is often pronounced with a schwa + v (uhv)

“most of” becomes “most uhv”

“Most of all, you can’t drink’” becomes “Most uhv all, you can’t drink.”

 3. If the sound of the letter before “of” is a “t” ,there is a flap in addition to the reduction. 

“out of” becomes “outta”

 “He’s out of money” becomes “He’s outta money.”

6. Reductions of ‘and’

And is often reduced to ‘n’. 

“movies and books” becomes “movies n books”

“I like movies and books” becomes “I like movies n books.”

7. Reductions of ‘or’

Or is often reduced to ‘r’.

“pencil or pen” becomes “pencil r pen”

“Either a pencil or pen will do.” becomes “Either a pencil r a pen will do.”

8. Reductions of ‘for’

For is often reduced and changed to fer

“for instance” becomes “fer instance”

“What’s for lunch?” becomes “What’s fer lunch?”

Other Reductions Used in Utterance 

Because => Kuz

I don’t wanna go to the party, kuz it sounds boring. 

Bet you => Betcha 

I betcha can’t eat ten hot dogs!

Could have + consonant => Kuda 

You kuda gone with me, if you’d told me in plenty of time. 

Could have + vowel => kuday 

I was so hungry, I kuday eaten a horse. 

Did you => didja/ didya 

Didja like the film? 

Don’t you => doncha 

Doncha know?

Get you => Getcha 

I’ll getcha a drink. 

Give me => gimme 

Gimme all your money! 

Going to + verb => Gonna 

I’m gonna do my homework now. 

Got you => gotcha 

I gotcha that candy bar you asked for. 

Has to => hasta 

He hasta know how much he means to me. 

Have to => hafta 

I hafta clean the house before I go out.

IMPORTANT:  The reductions are being used by native speakers a lot. If you have observed yourself, when listening to native speakers you hardly comprehend them, because they speak so fast and use reduction. In order to, familiarized yourself with spoken English, I recommend you to listen to native speakers in a move, lecture, news etc. and concentrate how do they use and pronounce contractions. 

In English there are certain words which have
two forms of pronunciation; strong and
weak (full and reduced) forms. These
words include form-words and the following pronouns: personal,
possessive, reflexive, relative and the indefinite pronouns “some”,
denoting indefinite quantity.

These words have strong forms when they are
stressed. Each of these words usually has more than one weak form
used in unstressed positions. There are
three degrees of the reduction of strong forms:

The first degree consists in reducing the length
of a vowel without changing its quality (the so-called quantitative
reduction), e.g. you
[ju:] – [ju.], [ju].

The second degree of reduction consists in
changing the quality of a vowel (the so-called qualitative
reduction), e.g. for
[fo:] – [ ].

The third degree of reduction consists in the
omission of a vowel or consonant sound (the so-called zero
reduction, or elision), e.g. do
[du:] – [d].

6 Sentence stress.

Stress in an isolated word is called word stress, stress in
connected speech is termed sentence stress.

In a sentence, semantically more important
words are pronounced with greater stress. Sentence stress has two
main functions.

Its first function is to single out words in
the sentence according to their relative semantic importance. The
more important the word is, the stronger is the stress.

The second function of sentence stress is to
serve as the basis for the rhythmical structure of the sentence. The
rhythm of English speech is constituted by the recurrence of stressed
syllables at more or less regular intervals of time and by the
alteration of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Sentence stress has its own specific features
in every language. A word belonging to one and the same part of
speech may be stressed in one language, but unstressed in another.
For instance, personal pronouns in the Russian language are usually
stressed, whereas in English they are not.

Words which are usually stressed in English
unemphatic speech belong to the notional parts of speech, namely:
nouns, adjectives, numerals, notional verbs, adverbs, demonstrative,
interrogative, emphasizing pronouns and the absolute form of the
possessive pronouns, e.g., the words in bold type in the following
sentences: Who was
that on
the phone?

He rang
up himself, wanted to speak to you.

However, personal, possessive, reflexive and relative pronouns, which
also belong to the notional parts of speech, are usually not
stressed.

The other class of words which are usually
not stressed in English unemphatic speech are form-words. These are:
auxiliary and modal verbs, as well as the verb to
be, prepositions, conjunctions,
articles and particles.

However, it is necessary to point out, that
any word
in a sentence may be logically stressed.
The semantic factor determines logical
stress and, therefore, the “turn of
the intonation” which takes place in the stressed syllable of the
word with logical stress. A word, which is made prominent by logical
stress may stand at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of a
sense-group, and it is usually the last stressed word in it. Sentence
stress on words following logical stress either disappears or becomes
weak, e.g.

I can ,do it. ,I can do it.

Questions for self-control:

1. How can the term “ stress” be
defined?

2. Are “stress” and “prominence”
synonymic terms?

3. What is the accentual structure in
English?

4.. What are the accentual tendencies in
English?

5. What are the functions of a sentence
stress?

Lecture
11.

SUPRASEGMENTAL PHONOLOGY.

1. Intonation and prosody. Structure and functions.

2. The structural elements of prosody.

3. Intonation patterns.

4. Fundamental intonation patterns and
their use.

1.
Intonation and prosody. Structure and functions.

After considering the system of English segmental
phonemes, the syllabic structure and the accentual structure of
English words we are to focus on the topic of particular theoretical
and practical interest, i.e. intonation.
Intonation is a language universal.
There are no languages which are spoken as a monoton, i.e. without
any changes of prosodic parameters.

Professor Smirnitsky
in his book “Синтаксис
английского языка”
was the first to suggest that the most universal and significant
means of predication is intonation.
Hence – the concept of “sentence”
and “intonation”
are inseparable. Without intonation a word or a group of words
usually apprehended by us as a “sentence”
is only a potential sentence. In this case it is hardly possible to
speak of the intonation of some segment as one particular sound or
even such bilateral units as words and word-combinations.

Nowadays in linguistic literature is widely
used the term “prosody”,
which substituted the term “intonation”.

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Grammatical words are words that help us construct the sentence but they don’t mean anything: articles, prepositions, conjunctions,
auxiliary verbs, etc.

These words have no stress, and so they are weakened. That weakened form is called «weak form» as opposed to a «strong form», which
is the full form of the word pronounced with stress. The strong form only happens when we pronounce the words alone, or when we
emphasize them. Weak forms are very often pronounced with a schwa, and so are very weak and sometimes a bit difficult to hear
properly.

Sometimes weak forms are easy to spot, because we use contractions in the spelling to show it:

I am French (strong form) I’m French (weak form)

But usually there is no change of spelling, only the pronunciation is different:

But strong form:
/bʌt/ weak form:
/bət/

Tell him to go strong forms
/hɪm/ /tu:/ weak form:
/tel əm tə gəʊ/

As you can see, the grammatical words «him» and «to» are unstressed and have a weak form when pronounced inside a sentence.

another example: I would like some fish and chips

strong forms
/aɪ wʊd laɪk sʌm fɪʃ ænd tʃɪps/ This version sounds unnatural and, believe it or not, more difficult to understand for a native speaker.

weak forms
/ɑ wəd laɪk səm fɪʃ ən tʃɪps/
and we can use weaker forms sometimes: /ɑd laɪk səm fɪʃ ən tʃɪps/ so we can see that the auxiliary verb «would» has two weak forms
/wəd/ and
/d/

Students who are learning English usually use only strong forms, and they sound very unnatural. English speakers use weak forms all
the time, every single sentence is full of them, and students find it difficult to understand because they are not used to them, and
very often they don’t even know they exist.

Why do grammatical words weaken the way they do. It’s all about
rhythm. The way English is pronounced makes it necessary to
weaken function words so you can keep the rhythm. You can find

more about rhythm here or simply watch this introduction video:

If you want to learn and practise weak forms follow these links:

 
A video explaining more about  Rhythm
& Weak Forms

Pronunciar las formas débiles  
una web con explicaciones en español.

Phonetics in British songs
we analyse the pronunciation of the British group One Direction
and Ed Sheeran
to see the weak forms in action as they sing.

Introduction

Pronunciation  is not an optional extra for the language learner any more than grammar, vocabulary or any other aspect of language is. If a learner’s general aim is to talk intelligibly to others in another language, a reasonable pronunciation is important. A teacher has to give due attention to it along with everything else.

Pronunciation is not based on spelling. Language is primarily an oral phenomenon and in many respects (but not in every respect) the written form can be considered as a kind of representation of the spoken. Ideally the spelling system should closely reflect pronunciation and in many language that indeed is the case. But unfortunately this is not the case in English, the nature of the problem is twofold. Firstly each sound of English is represented by more than one written letter or by sequence of letters; and secondly, any letter of English represents more than one sound or it may not represent any sound at all.

Pronunciation is more than a matter of consonants, vowels and diphthongs. While listening to the sound of people speaking we listen out for the rise and fall of pitch (Intonation), the passing and grouping together of words and phrases and the highlighting of some syllables and the virtual suppression of others and we realize that there is more to pronunciation than uttering different sounds. The accented and unaccented syllables matter a lot. This pacing of speech, this springing from one accent to the next regardless of the number of intervening unaccented syllables leads us to consider the matter of weak forms.

Use of weak forms promote fluency which is an important feature of spoken language.

Daniel Jones writes:

“One of the most striking features of English pronunciation is the phenomenon known as ‘gradation’. By gradation is meant the existence in many common English words of two or more pronunciations, a strong form and one or more weak forms, weak forms occur only in unstressed positions; strong forms are used chiefly when the word is stressed, but they also occur in unstressed positions”.

While giving information about accented and unaccented syllables J. D.O’ Connor writes.

“Syllables which are not stressed often contain in the vowel/ /instead of any clear vowel, and this vowel / / only occurs in unstressed syllables, never in stressed ones”. (1992-91).

Connected speech has its own rules and imposes many changes on the separate words that it is made up of. Every utterance is a continuous, changing pattern of sound quality with associated features of quality, pitch, and stress. In connected speech a word is subject to the pressures of its sound environment or of the accentual rhythmic group of which it forms part. Such variations my affect the word as a whole, e.g. weak forms in an unaccented situation or word accentual patterns within the larger rhythmic pattern of complete utterance; or may affect more particularly the sounds used at word boundaries, such changes involving a consideration of the features of morphemes and word junctures, junctural assimilation, elision and liaison forms.

World Classes and Weak forms

Almost all of the words that have both a Strong and Weak Forms belong to a category that may be called grammatical (function) words—words that do not have a dictionary meaning in the way that we normally expect nouns, verbs, adjectives and a adverbs to have. There is a limited number of such words that can be pronounced in two different ways i.e. one strong pronunciation  and one or more than one weak pronunciation.

In the sentence,

‘ I have a good book’.

There are five words. The second, fourth and fifth words are stressed, whereas the first and third are unstressed. As a general rule we can say that we stress those words in connected speech that are important for meaning. They are generally content words—nouns, demonstrative and interrogative pronouns, principal verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Structural words—articles, personal pronouns, auxiliary verbs, prepositions and conjunctions—are normally not stressed. They come in their strong forms only when they are said in isolation or under special situations.

Features of Weak Forms

The extent of variation in weak forms depends largely upon speed of utterance, the slower and more careful the delivery the greater the tendency to preserve a form nearer to that of the isolate word i.e. the strong form.

Weak form have one of the following prominent features.

1. Reduction in the length of sound.
2. Obscuration of vowels towards /        /
3. Elision of vowels and consonants.

1. Reduction in the Length of sound

In such cases it is generally found that the weak form has /   / where the strong form has some other vowel.

Example.

Strong form weak form or one of the weak form Illustration of weak form

RULES FOR THE USE OF STRONG FORMS

In certain contexts the strong forms of the weak forms words are used.

1. The strong forms  is used when a weak form word occurs at the end of a sentence. Where are you from? Many weak form words never occur at the end of a sentence e.g. the, your, etc. some words particularly certain pronouns occur in their weak forms in final position.
2. A strong form is used when a weak form word is contrasted with another word e.g. The letter’s from him, not to him. Same is the case in co-ordinated use of prepositions e.g. I travel to and from London a lot.
3. A strong form is used when a weak form word in given stress for the purpose of emphasis,e.g. You must give him more money.
4. A strong form is used when a weak form word is ‘quoted’ or ‘cited’, e.g. You shouldn’t put ‘and’ at the end of a sentence.

Another  point to remember is that when a weak form word whose spelling begins with ‘h’ e.g. ‘her’, ‘have’. Occurs at the beginning of a sentence, the pronunciation is with initial ‘h’ even thought this is usually omitted in other contexts.

Contractions and Weak Forms

A contraction is a shortened form used either in speech or in writing. In speech some words combine together to form contractions. These are represented in writing that reproduce spoken language (e.g. drama, direct  speech in novels, short stories), by omitting one or two letters and replacing the letters that are omitted by an apostrophic (‘).

In speech there is an area of overlap between weak forms and contractions. Weak forms (e.g. the weak forms of be and have) are used throughout connected speech in close proximity to a wide range of vocabulary. When personal pronouns are combined with the auxiliary verb be and have, the auxiliaries take their weak forms. These are spoken as weak forms and may be written as contractions e.g. ‘she has’ –‘she’s, ‘they have-‘they’ve.

FOREIGN LEARNERS AND WEAK FORMS

The proper use of weak forms is essential for a correct pronunciation of English, and is on of the most difficult features of English pronunciation for foreigners to acquire. Foreign people generally have an almost irresistible tendency to use strong forms in their place.

It is possible to use strong forms only and some foreign learners do this. Usually they can still be understood by other speakers of English so that question arises why is it important to a learn how weak forms are used? There are two main reasons.

1. Most native speakers of English find an ‘all strong form’ pronunciation unnatural and foreign sounding.
2. The second and most important reason is that the speakers who are not familiar with the use of weak forms find it difficult to understand speakers who use weak forms. So it becomes compulsory from practical point of view to learn weak forms.

Teaching programmes must include this feature in their curricula and foreign learner can help themselves by paying more attention to their listening skills. Exposure to native speakers speech helps in improving the pronunciation. Correct use of weak forms can also be acquired by continual reading of phonetic transcription. In a few cases there are rules which help the learner.

Bibliography;

1. Hubbard Peter et al (1983), A Training Course For TEFL, Oxford University Press.
2. Jones Daniel (1976) A outline of English Phonetics, Cambridge University Pres.
3. Gimson A. C. (1980). An Introduction to the Pronunciation of English.
4. Revised by Crittenden Alan (1994). Gimson’s Pronunciation of English.
5. Roach Peter English Phonetics and Phonetics and Phonodgy.
6. Saifullah M. Main An Approach to the study of Linguistics.

Also Study: Interpretation of Communication with Example