Weak and strong forms of words

Function words in English are generally not stressed, unless there is a need for special contrast or prominence on them. So, when these words are unstressed they have their weak forms, but when they are stressed they have their strong forms.

An important feature of English pronunciation is weakening or reduction /rI'dAkSn/ of function words in an unstressed position in an utterance. These words show reductions in the length of sounds, weakening of vowels towards / q, I / and disappearances of some vowels and consonants.

Why is it important to learn how weak forms are used? It is possible to use only strong forms in speaking, for example /xnd/ instead of /qnd/ or /wPz/ instead of /wqz/. There are two main reasons for using weak forms. Firstly, most native speakers of English find an ‘all-strong-form’ pronunciation unnatural and foreign-sounding. Secondly, and more importantly, speakers who are not familiar with the use of weak forms are likely to have difficulty understanding speakers who do use weak forms; since practically all native speakers of British English use them, learners of the language need to learn about these weak forms to help them to understand what they hear.

There are about 40 function words in English:

Word	Strong form	Weak form	Examples
a	eI	q	(before consonants)	q *paVnd q *deI
an	xn	qn	(before vowels)	*hxv qn *xpl
the	DJ	Dq Di or DJ	(before consonants) (before vowels)	Dq *mL Dq *merIq qt Di *eqpLt
and	xnd	qn		*blxk qn *waIt
as	xz	qz		qz *gVd qz *gqVld
but	bAt	bqt		*gVd bqt Iks*pensIv
than	Dxn	Dqn		*betq Dqn *evq
that	Dxt	Dqt	(only in a relative clause)	aI qd*mIt Dqt aI *dId It
there	Deq	Dq	(as an indefinite adverb)	Dq z q *bVk Pn Dq *teIbl
he	hJ	J		*dId J *wIn
him	hIm	Im		*lJv Im
his	hIz	Iz		aI *laIk Iz *taI
her	hE:	E: or q E:r or qr	(before consonants) (before vowels)	*teIk q *hqVm *teIk qr *aVt
them	Dem	Dqm		*Jt Dqm
us	As	qs s	(only in let’s)	*raIt qs *lets *dH It
you	jH	ju		*wPt dq ju *TINk
at	xt	qt		*kAm qt *wAns
for	fL	fq fqr	(before consonants) (before vowels)	*kAm fq *tJ *kAm fqr q *mJl
from	frPm	frqm		aI *keIm frqm *lAndqn
of	Pv	qv		*mqVst qv *Ll
to	tH	tq tH or tu	(before consonants) (before vowels)	*traI tq *stPp *taIm tu *Jt
some	sAm	sqm	(meaning ‘an unspecified amount of’)	aI *nJd sqm *peIpq
do	dH	dq dH or du	(before consonants) (before vowels)	*haV dq DeI *nqV *haV du aI *nqV
does	dAz	dqz		*wen dqz It q*raIv
am	xm	qm m		*waI qm aI *hIq aI m *taIqd
are	R	q qr	(before consonants) (before vowels)	Dq *gE:lz q *prItI Dq *men qr *AglI
is	Iz	s     z	(after voiceless consonants) (after vowels and voiced consonants)	*Dxt s *faIn   *weq z *GPn *GPn z *hIq
was	wPz	wqz		Dq *weDq wqz *faIn
were	wE:	wq wqr	(before consonants) (before vowels)	DeI wq *leIt DeI wer *JzI
be	bJ	bi or bI		*dqVnt bi *rHd
just	GAst	Gqst		Gqst bI*haInd
have	hxv	v   qv	(after pronouns, as an auxiliary verb)	DeI v *dAn It   Dq *men qv *gPn
has	hxz	qz s   z	(after s, z, S, Z, C, G) (after other voiceless consonants) (after vowels and voiced consonants)	Dq *pleIs qz *CeInGd *Gxk s *gPn hJ z *gPn *GPn z *gPn
had	hxd	d qd	(after pronouns)	DeI d *left *hqVm Dq *deI qd bJn *faIn
shall	Sxl	Sql or Sl		aI Sl bi *krPs
should	SVd	Sqd		aI Sqd fq*get It
will	wIl	l ql	(after vowels and /l/)	*DIs l *dH Dq *gE:l ql *wIn
would	wVd	d qd	(after pronouns)	*aI d *dH It *GPn qd *dH It
can	kxn	kqn		*haV kqn aI *help
could	kVd	kqd		*hJ kqd *dH It
must	mAst	mqst		aI mqst *tel Im

All these function words are in certain circumstances pronounced in their strong forms. It is important to remember that there are contexts where only the strong form must be used. There are some simple rules which we are to observe:

· whenever the function word is stressed it has its strong form:

/Dq *letqz * frPm *GPn nPt * tH *GPn/

· whenever the function word is at the end of an utterance:

/*Dxts *wPt aIm *fPnd Pv /

/*jH R /

· whenever it is cited or pronounced separately for some purpose:

/mAst/

· if the function word ends in a vowel and the following word begins with a vowel, the function word also has its strong form:

/ tH Rsk/ or / DJ ADq/

But there are some exceptions. Pronouns he, him, his, her, them, us have their weak forms at the end of an utterance (unless they are stressed, of course). Also pronouns he, him, his, her, when found at the beginning of an utterance, are pronounced with an initial /h/.

There are some function words which always have their strong forms regardless whether they are stressed or not. These are:

on	Pn	Its Pn Dq *teIbl
off	Pf	*GAst Pf Dq *rqVd
in	In	Its In Dq *desk
not	nPt	aI *hqVp nPt

Also to this group we can refer the following words which can have their strong or weak forms according to their meaning in a sentence:

· have (when it is a main verb with the meaning ‘to possess’),

I have a *very *good *car. /hxv/

· do (when it is a main verb with the meaning ‘to make, to perform’),

He *always does his *best. /dAz/

· some (when it is an indefinite pronoun),

I *think some *animal *broke it. /sAm/

· that (when it is a demonstrative pronoun),

I must *answer that *letter. /Dxt/

· there (when it is an adverb of place),

He *went there to *study. /Deq/

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