Reduction

Palatalization.

Aspiration.

[P, t, k] in initial position in a stressed syllable are accompanied by aspiration, i.e. a strong puff of breath in a voiceless interval after the explosion of [p, t, k] before a vowel. Aspiration is very strong before a strong long vowel or a diphthong; it is weaker before a short vowel. It is less noticeable before an unstressed vowel. If plosives are preceded by “s” there is hardly any aspiration at all.

Palatalization is the process of softening of a consonant before front vowels, when the front part of the tongue is raised to the hard palate. It should be remembered that English consonants (except) are not palatalized, but before front, close or mid-level vowels they are a bit clearer than before back vowels. To avoid Palatalization it should be kept in mind that the front part of the tongue should be raised only when the articulation of the consonant is accomplished.

The notion of “dark” and “clear” [l].

When pronounced before consonants and in final positions “l” is dark (in such cases the back part of the tongue is raised to the soft palate giving a dark to the sound).

When “l” occurs before vowels or the sonorant [j] it is “clear” (together with the tip of the tongue the front part of the tongue is raised to the hard palate).

Linking “r”.

When a word ending in [ ] is immediately followed by a word beginning with a vowel, the sound [r] is very often inserted at the end of it, joining it to the next word. When the ordinary spelling of the word ends in the letter “r” or “re”, the inserted r-sound is called a linking [r]. When there is no written “r” in spelling, the inserted r-sound is called an intrusive [r] (the idea [r] of it). Learners of English are generally not recommended to use intrusive [r], while the linking [r] is recognized as a typical feature of English Standard Pronunciation.

Reduction is a historical process of weakening, shortening and disappearance of vowel sounds in unstressed positions. The neutral sound represents the reduced form of almost any vowel in the unstressed position ([kəm'bain]), besides, the sounds [i] and [u] in the suffix –ful are very frequent realizations of the unstressed positions (['bju:tiful]). There is also a tendency to retain the quality of the unstressed vowel sound (retreat, programme).

Non-reduced unstressed vowels are often retained in:

1) compound words (blackboard);

2) borrowings from other languages (kolkhoz).

Reduction is closely connected with word stress, rhythm and sentence-stress. Stressed words are pronounced with greater energy of breath. Regular loss of sentence-stress of certain words is connected with partial or complete loss of their lexical significance. These words play the part of form-words in a sentence. So reduction is realized in unstressed syllables within words and in unstressed form-words, auxiliary and modal verbs, personal and possessive pronouns within intonation groups.

There are three types of reduction noticed in English:

1. Quantitative, that is shortening of a long vowel in the unstressed position ([hi: -hi].
2. Qualitative, that is obscuration of vowels towards [ə, i, u], affects both long and short vowels ([kæn-kən]).

Vowels in unstressed form-words in most cases undergo both qualitative and quantitative reduction ([tu:-tu-tə]).

1. Elision of vowels in the unstressed position (I’m [aim]).

Strong and weak forms.

Words	Strong forms	Weak, reduced forms
the	ði:	ðə + C; ði + V
a	ei + C; æn + V	ə + C; ən + V
at	æt	ət
from	from	frəm
of	ov	əv
to	tu:	tə + C; tu + V
into	intu:	intə + C; intu + V
for	fo: + C; fo:r + V	fə + C; fər + V
you	ju:	ju
he	hi:	hi, i
she	ò i:	ò i
we	wi:	wi˙, wi
me	mi:	mi˙, mi
her	hə: + C; hə:r + V	hə˙, hə, ə + C; hər, ər + V
his	hiz	iz
him	him	im
us	^s	əs, s
them	ðem	ðəm, əm
your	jo: + C; jo:r +V	jo˙, jo, jə +C; jo˙, jo, jə +V
our	auə +C; auər + V	aə +C; aər + V
be	bi:	bi
been	bi:n	bin
am	æm	əm
are	a: +C; a:r +V	a˙, ə +C; a˙r, ər +V
is	iz	iz, z, s
was	woz	wəz
were	wə: +C; wə:r +V	wə +C; wər +V
have	hæv	həv, əv, v
has	hæz	həz, əz, z/s
had	hæd	həd, əd, d
can	kæn	kən, kn
could	kud	kəd, kd
must	m^st	məst, məs
will	wil	l
would	wud	wəd, əd, d
shall	òæl	òəl, l
should	òud	òəd, òd
do	du:	du˙, du, də
does	d^z	dəz
and	ænd	ənd, ən, n
that	ðæt	ðət
but	b^t	bət
than	ðæn	ðən, ðn
as	æz	əz
or	o: +C; o:r +V	o˙, o, ə +C; o˙r, or, ə +V
to	tu:	tə+C; tu +V
there	ðeə	ðə +C; ðər +V

Words which bear the major part of information are generally stressed and are called content (or notional) words (nouns adjectives, notional verbs, adverbs, numerals, interrogative and demonstrative pronouns (in the function of the subject of a sentence). The other words in a sentence are mostly form (or structural) words which link the content words and in this way help to form an utterance (articles, prepositions, conjunctions, particles, auxiliary and modal verbs, personal and possessive pronouns). They are normally unstressed in a sentence, their weak reduced forms are generally used in speech.

Strong and weak forms.

Prepositions have their strong forms though they might remain unstressed:

1) at the very end of an intonation group or phrase (What are you looking at?).

2) at the end of an intonation group or phrase when they are followed by the unstressed pronoun (I am not `talking to you).

Polysyllabic prepositions followed by a pronoun at the end of a phrase are stressed as rule (Have a look `under it).

Auxiliary and modal verbs have their strong forms:

1) at the end of an intonation group or phrase whether stressed or not (Mary has [hæz].);

2) at the beginning of general and alternative questions in careful colloquial style (Can [kæn] you get it by tomorrow?);

3) in contracted negative forms (I don’t [dount] know the man.).

The following form-words should be remembered as having no weak forms: what, where, when, how, which, on, in, with, then.

The verb “to have” used as a content verb in the meaning of “to possess” has no weak forms.

The demonstrative pronoun “that” is never reduced, while the conjunction “that” is. Neither are reduced the absolute forms of possessive pronouns.

All the form words, auxiliary and modal verbs, personal and possessive pronouns are generally stressed and consequently have their strong forms in case they become the logical centres of phrases.

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