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 anot[r]
(1)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 tend not to occur in sentence-final position or in contrastive/emphatic use
Determiners/Quantifiers
orthography strong form(s) weak form(s)
the ði: ðɪ, ðə
a/an eɪ, an ə, ən
some sʌm səm, sm̩
Pronouns
orthography strong form(s) weak form(s)
his hɪz ɪz
him hɪm ɪm
her hɜ: ə
you ju: jʊ, jə
your jo: jə
she ʃi: ʃɪ
he hi: ɪ
we wi: wɪ
them ðɛm ðəm, əm
us ʌs əs, s
(2)orthography strong form(s) weak form(s)
than ðan ðən
at at ət
for fo: fə
from fɹɒm fɹəm, fəm, fm̩
of ɒv əv, v
to tu: tə, tʊ
as az əz, z
there ðɛə ðə
Conjunctions
orthography strong form(s) weak form(s)
and and ənd, ən, n̩d, n̩
but bʌt bət
that ðat ðət
Auxiliaries
orthography strong form(s) weak form(s)
can kan kən, kn̩
could kʊd kəd
have hav əv, v
has haz əz, z
had had əd, d
will wɪl l
shall ʃal ʃəl, ʃl, l
should ʃʊd ʃəd
must mʌst məs, məst
do du: də, d
does dʌz dəz, z
am am əm, m̩
are ɑ: ə
(3)were wɜ: wə
Sources & Further Reading:
Roach, P 32000 English Phonetics and Phonology: a Practical Course Cambridge: