Phonetics_______2nd

Year LMD Teacher: Mr. Aounali W

Remark: The function words may be pronounced as strong form when they occur at the end

of the sentence or it’s emphasized in the sentence.

LECTURE 8:

Many grammatical words in English have two forms when it comes to pronunciation, called

‘strong’ and ‘weak’ forms. The weak forms show reduction of vowels /ɪ/, /ʊ/ towards /ə/ in most

cases. These words belong to the grammatical category, also called function words. For instance:

auxiliary verbs, modals, pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions, possessive adjectives and articles.

Orthography Strong form Weak form

A / An /eɪ/ ; /æn/ /ə/ ; /ən/

The /ði/ /ðə/ , /ði/

Some /sʌm/ /səm/ /sm /

Orthography Strong form Weak form

He / His / Him /hiː/; /hɪz/; /hɪm/ /hi/, /ɪ/ ; /ɪz/ ; /ɪm/

She / Her /ʃiː/ ; /hɜː/ /ʃi/ ; /hə/, /ə/

Them /ðem/ /ðəm/ /əm/

We / Us /wiː/ ; /ʌs/ /wi/ ; /əs/

You / your /juː/ ; /jɔː/ /jə/ , /jʊ/ ; /jə/

Orthography Strong form Weak form

As /æz/ /əz/

At /æt/ /ət/

For /fɔː/ /fə/

From /frɒm/ /frəm/

Of /ɒv/ /əv/

To / Into /tuː/ ; /ɪntuː/ /tə/ /tʊ/;/ɪntə/,/ɪntʊ/ Than /ðæn/ /ðən/, /ðn /

There /ðeə/ /ðə/

Just

Orthography Strong form Weak form

And /ænd/ /ənd/ /ən/ /n d/, /n /

But /bʌt/ /bət/

That /ðæt/ /ðət/

Orthography Strong form Weak form

Am / Are /æm/ ; /ɑː/ /əm/ /m / ; /ə/

Be / Been /biː/ ; /biːn/ /bi/ ; /bɪn/

Can / Could /kæn/ ; /kʊd/ /kən/ /kn / ; /kəd/

Do / Does /duː/ ; /dʌz/ /də/ ; /dəz/

Have/ Has /Had /hæv/; /hæz/; /hæd/ /əv/ /v/; /əz/;/əd/

Must /mʌst/ /məst/ , /məs/

Shall / Should /ʃæl/ ; /ʃʊd/ /ʃəl/ ; /ʃəd/

Was / Were /wɒz/ ; /wɜː/ /wəz/ ; /wə/

Determiners / Quantifiers

Pronouns / Possessive

adjectives

Prepositions / Particles

Conjunctions

Auxiliaries / Modals

STRONG AND WEAK FORMS IN SENTENCE STRESS