The Use of Weak and Contracted Forms

Lecture 8. Strong and Weak Forms. Unstressed Vocalism

In actual speech there is a great number of words which are pronounced in the weak or contracted form. They are more common than non-contracted or full forms. It applies to all styles and different manner of speech — formal or informal, slow or rapid tempo.

Given below are the lists of essential weak and contracted forms.

1. If word is stressed the strong form must be used.

2. Strong forms are used for a preposition between an unstressed syllableand a pronoun, or at the end of the intonation group even if the word is unstressed, e.g. /aım ˛k Λ miŋ tu:ju/

Where did Mary come from? /'wεə dıd 'mεərı ˛k Λ m frυm?/

Pronouns retain the weak form in final position, e.g.

John suspects her. /'dЗυn səs ˛pekts hə/

We adore them. /wı ə ˛do: ðəm/

3. Demonstrative pronouns always have strong form (even if not stressed), e.g.

That's exactly what I want. /ðæts ıg'zæktlı wot aı ˛wont/

That play I saw was wonderful. /ðæt 'pleı aı 'so: wəz ˛w Λ ndəful/

4. Weak forms ending in /ə/ are not used before vowels.

5. The weak forms of words beginning with /h/, e. g. have, has, he,
him, etc. may or may not be /h/ — less.

6. Have as a main verb is usually in the strong form. In speech contracted forms with have should be used: I've, we've, they've (never he has, she has), e.g.

I've, we've, they've a 'bit of a _˛problem, /aıv, wiv, ðeıv ə ́bıt əv ə ˛рrυbləm/

7.Sonorants /1, m, n/ in contracted forms are typically syllabic, e.g.

'John'll _˛come. /'dЗυnl ˛k Λ m/

'bread and ˛butter /'bred n b Λ tə/

8. In contracted forms 's is pronounced as /z/ after all lenis and after
vowels:

'Bob's ˛here /'bυbz ˛hıə/

'Van's ˛соmе /'vænz ˛k Λ m/

Boy's ˛gone /'boız ˛gυn/

's is pronounced as /s/ after the fortis.

'Jack's ˛here /'dЗæks ˛hıə/

'Robert's ˛gone /'rυbəts ˛gυn/

'Pete's ˛come /'pi:ts ˛k Λ m/

is is pronounced as /iz/ after /s, z, ς, 3, tς/, has is pronounced as /əz/, e.g.

Max is coming later. /'mæks ız 'k Λ mıŋ ˛leıtə/

Mr. Hodge has arrived. /mıstə 'hυd3 əz ə ˛raıvd/

Jones has decided to leave. /'dЗəunz əz dı'saıdıd tə ˛li:v/

9. Some common grammatical words do not have a regular weak form, e.g.

on, up, when, then, one, what, where

As has already been mentioned, unstressed vowels in English may either change their quality and quantity or remain unchanged. For exam­ple, the indefinite article a may be pronounced as /ə/, which differs from /eı/ qualitatively. He may be pronounced as /hı/ which differs from /hi:/ quantitatively. In the word potato the final /əu/ remains unchanged though it occurs in an unaccented syllable /pə'teıtəu/.

The major role in the system of unstressed vocalism in English be­longs to the neutral vowel /ə/. It originated as a result of the development of the analytical grammar structures, which led to the reduction of some vowels not only in inflexions but also in other parts of lexical and gram­matical words.

According to the latest data /i, ə, u/ are weak:

happ y, rad i ation, glor i ous, a bout, ann u al

/ı/, /u/ — are weak in many cases, e.g. alb u m, stim u lus, lett u ce, bas i c.

The neutral vowel hi may alternate with any vowel of full formation, e.g.

/i:/ — /ə/ the /ði:/ — the lesson /ðə 'lesn/

/e/ — /ə/ pence /pens/ — three pence /'θrepəns/

/æ/ — /ə/ land /lænd/ — England /'ıŋglənd/

/a:/ — /ə/ particle /'pa:tıkl/ — particular /pə'tıkju:lə/

/υ/ — /ə/ a combine /a 'kυmbaın/ — to combine /tə kəm'baın/

/u/ — /ə/ fully /'fulı/ — playfully /'pleıfəlı/

/u:/ — /ə/ to him /tu hım/ — to the table /tə ðə 'teıbl/

/ Λ / — /ə/ some /s Λ m/ — tiresome /'taıəsəm/

/з:/ — /ə/ herd /hз:d/ — shepherd /'ςepad/

/eı/ — /ə/ face /feıs/ — preface /'prefəs/

/aı/ — /ə/ shire /ςaıə/ — Yorkshire /jo:kςə/

/аu/ — /ə/ mouth /mauθ/ — Plymouth /'plıməθ/

/əu/ — /ə/ folk /fəuk/ — Norfolk /'no:fək/

/ıə/ — /ə/ revere /rı'vıə/ — reverence /'revərəns/

/εə/ — /ə/ there's /ðεəz/ — there's /'ðəz/

On the phonological level the question arises about the phonemic sta­tus of the neutral vowel /ə/. Is it an independent phoneme, or a variant of the phoneme with which it alternates? This question can be answered in terms of the distinctive function of the phoneme. In pairs like, for exam­ple, some /s Λ m/ — some /səm/ /ə/ performs distinctive function. In the sentence / read some /s Λ m/ book some means "a certain". In the sen­tence / read some /səm/ books some means "several". Similar pairs in which the members differ in quality prove the independent phonemic status of the /ə/ phoneme.

From the position of the Moscow and Leningrad phonological schools the relations between the vowel of full formation and /ə/ in the pairs mentioned above should be viewed differently.

The representatives of the Moscow phonological school consider such relations to be interallophonic, because /ə/ is considered by them in the pairs like /s Λ m/ — /səm/ to be an allophone of the / Λ / phoneme.

The representatives of the Leningrad school state that in the above examples /ə/ and / Λ / undergo interphonemic changes and that they are separate phonemes.

In the Russian language vowels in unstressed syllables may coincide in speech. E.g. /o, a/ in the first pretonic syllable are both pronounced as / Λ /: / Λ / вáнс, / Λ / лéнь.

The peculiarity of the unstressed vocalism of Russian is that an unstressed vowel never preserves its full form. Cases like potato /pə'teıtəu/, artistic /a:'tıstık/ are very common in English, e.g.

/a:/ paragraph /'pærəgra:f/

conservatoire /kən'sз:vətva:/

radar /'reida:/, /'reida/

/i/ graduate /'grædju:ıt/

surface /'sз:fıs/

effect /ı'fekt/

ticket /'tıkıt/

/ou/ also /'o:lsəu/

zero /'zıərəu/

/ Λ / tumult /'tju:m Λ lt/

There are some digraphs in English which are pronounced in unstressed lyllables either as /ə/ or /ı/, e.g.

er — teacher /'ti:tςə/

ar — mortar /'mo:tə/

or — motor /'məutə/

ei — foreign /'fυrın/

ir — elixir /ı'lıksə/

ie — hobbie /'hυbı/

ou(s) — famous /'feıməs/

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