strong of weak form

Strong & Weak FormsIn connected speech, many of the ‘small’ words we use very frequently tend to take on a different ‘shape’ from the one listed in the dictionary.. they are words that h

Strong & Weak Forms

In connected speech, many of the ‘small’ words we use very frequently tend to take on a different ‘shape’ from the one listed in the dictionary All of these words belong to the category of function words, i.e they are words that have little semantic content of their own, but tend to have more grammatical or referential function in relating content words or higher syntactic units to one another Function words are essentially closed class words, such as pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, auxiliaries, etc Below, you’ll find a table listing these words, together with their strong or dictionary form, as well as their potential weak forms The following tables are based on Roach, 2000, with slight modifications/additions

In general, weak forms do tend not to occur in sentence-final position or in contrastive/emphatic use

Determiners/Quantifiers

orthography strong form(s) weak form(s)

Pronouns

orthography strong form(s) weak form(s)

Prepositions/‘Particles’

orthography strong form(s) weak form(s)

there ðɛə ðə

Conjunctions

orthography strong form(s) weak form(s)

Auxiliaries

orthography strong form(s) weak form(s)

Elision

Elision is a process where one or more phonemes are ‘dropped’, usually in order to simplify the pronunciation It may occur for both vowels and consonants, although it is much more common for consonants Where it occurs for vowels, we have extreme cases of vowel reduction or weakening to the

point that the vowel is no longer pronounced at all, such as in words like police, correct or suppose being realised as [pli:s], [kɹɛkt] or [spəʊz] In rare cases, such as in some realisations of the word perhaps, both

consonant and vowel elision may even occur at the same time, e.g yielding [pɹaps]

h-Dropping

As we have alread heard, the dropping of initial <h> is a feature that is very common in many accents of

(especially English or English-influenced) English Unstressed pronouns – as in give her/give him, [gɪvɜ:]/[gɪvɪm] or tell her/tell him, [tɛlɜ:]/[tɛlɪm] –, or forms of the auxiliary have – as in would have, [wʊdəv], should have, [ʃʊdəv], etc – exihibit h-dropping even in the standard reference accents.

Cluster Reduction

When two or more consonants, often of a similar nature, come together, there is a tendency in English to simplify such a cluster by eliding one of them The longer the cluster, the more of a chance there is of elision Cluster reduction can occur in between as well as inside words and mainly involves the deletion

of voiceless oral plosives where it would otherwise be more difficult to produce two plosives in a row as this would require two closure phases If a reduction occurs inside a word, it may also lead to a reduction

in the number of syllables, such as in the examples given in the introductory section above, which have become mono-syllabic

word/combination no elision elision

kept calling [ˌkɛptˈko:lɪŋ] [ˌkɛpˈko:lɪŋ]

kept talking [ˌkɛptˈto:kɪŋ] [ˌkɛpˈto:kɪŋ]

at least twice [əˌtli:stˈtwaɪs] [əˌtli:sˈtwaɪs]

straight towards [ˌstɹeɪtˈtʊwo:dz] [ˌstɹeɪˈtʊwo:dz]

seemed not to notice [ˈsi:mdˌnɒttəˈnəʊtɪs] [ˈsi:mˌnɒtəˈnəʊtɪs]

for the first time [fəðəˌfɜ:stˈtaɪm] [fəðəˌfɜ:sˈtaɪm]

Elision itself is often a precursor to or occurs in conjunction with assimilation, which we’ll discuss in one

of the next sections

1 Weak / strong forms of some conjuncions and prepositions (dạng phát âm mạnh và yếu của một số liên từ và giới từ)

Trong tiếng Anh có những từ không mang ngữ nghĩa mà chỉ có giá trị về mặt chức năng ngữ

pháp gọi là function words (từ chức năng), bao gồm liên từ (conjunction), giới từ

(preposition), trợ động từ (auxiliary verb)… Những từ này khi phát âm có 2 dạng gọi là âm

mạnh và yếu (strong form, weak form)

Một số liên từ, giới từ có dạng phát âm mạnh và yếu:

Liên từ

(Conjunction)

WordStrong form Weak form

And / ænd / / ənd / hoặc / ən / But / bʌt / / bət / That / ðæt / / ðət / Than / ðæn / / ðən /

Giới từ

(Preposition)

For / fɔ: / /fə / From / frɒm / / frəm /

To / tu: / / tʊ / hoặc / tə /

Weak form thường được sử dụng trong giao tiếp bình thường, nhất là khi nói nhanh Nhưng có

một số trường hợp bắt buộc phải dùng strong form như sau:

• Từ đứng ở cuối câu

E.g - I’m fond of chips (tôi thích khoai tây rán.)

- Chips are what I’m fond of (Khoai tây rán là thứ tôi thích.)

• Từ dùng để đối lập hoặc phối hợp với từ khác

E.g The letter’s from him, not to him (Lá thư gửi từ anh ấy, không phải cho anh ấy.)

I travel to and from London a lot (tôi rất hay đi đi về về Luân Đôn.)

/ ai ‘trævl ‘tu: ən ‘frɒm 'lʌndən ə ‘lɒt /

• Từ được nhấn mạnh theo mục đích riêng

E.g You must give me more money (bạn phải đưa thêm tiền cho tôi.)

• Từ được trích dẫn

E.g You shouldn’t put “and” at the end of a sentence

2 Strong and weak form of auxiliaries (dạng phát âm mạnh, yếu của các trợ động từ)

Các trợ động từ khi nói thường được phát âm theo dạng yếu (weak form), nhưng khi nó đứng ở cuối câu thì phải phát âm dạng mạnh (strong form) Quy tắc sử dụng như đã liệt kê ở bài 6 (FUTURE JOBS)

Auxiliary verbsStrong form Weak form

Can / kæn / / kən /

Could / kʊd / / kəd /

Have / hæv / / həv /

Has / hæz / / həz /

Had / hæd / / həd /

Shall / ∫æl / / ∫əl / hoặc /∫l /

Should / ∫ʊd / / ∫əd /

Must / mʌst / / məs / trước phụ âm

/ məst / trước nguyên âm

Do / du: / / də / trước phụ âm

/ dʊ / trước nguyên âm Does / dʌz / / dəz /

Are / ɑ: / / ə / trước phụ âm

/ ər / trước nguyên âm

Were / wЗ: / / wə / trước phụ âm/ wər / trước nguyên âm