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Weak and Strong Forms
Objectives:
By the end of this lesson, students will:
- understand the distinction between content and function words
- learn about what happens when we put words together into longer stretches of speech
- see how sounds can change when words are put together in a sentence
- see how sounds may be lost when words are put together in a sentence
- identify the specific rules that govern the use of weak forms versus strong forms.
- list some of the weak forms of spoken English
Introduction
In the previous lesson, we learned that, within the same word, some syllables are
more prominent. There are also more prominent and less prominent words within an
utterance or a sentence in connected speech. In the sentence Mike and his wife have made
a made, for example, the content words Mike, wife, made, and made are normally stressed
whereas and, his, have, and a of are normally unstressed. The latter group of function
words would typically be pronounced /ən/, /həz/, /(h)əv/, and /ə/. These words, under
certain conditions, can undergo a reduction, or weakening, of the vowel. The same group
of function words, when they occur in isolation, they are pronounced /ænd/, /hiz/ /hæv/,
and /eɪ/. Therefore, the vowels in these words are pronounced in a strong form.
8.1. Function Words and Content Words
In connected speech, weak forms appear depending on the distinction between
lexical content words and grammatical function. Traditionally, grammatical function words
convey only grammatical information and express various grammatical relations.
Grammatical words are articles (a, the), auxiliary verbs (be, have, can), conjunctions
(and, but),
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prepositions (at, to) and pronouns (he, them). Lexical content words carry a semantic
content. They include nouns (e.g. book), main verbs (read), adjectives (beautiful) and
adverbs (quickly).
8.2. Strong vs. Weak Forms
8.2. 1. Strong Forms
The strong form refers to the pronunciation of some words when they are stressed
and used in isolation and in careful speech. It is the pronunciation variant of a given word
which contains a strong vowel, and from which, no sounds have been omitted (or elided),
like /hæd/, and / eɪ / (Skandera and Burleigh, 2005).
8.2. 2. Weak Forms
Weak forms are those words that are pronounced in an unstressed manner. It is a
pronunciation variant which contains a weak vowel, or from which one or more sounds
have been omitted, Crystal (2008) defines weak forms as:
One of two possible pronunciations for a word, in the context of
connected speech, the other being strong. The weak form is that which is the
result of a word being unstressed, as in the normal pronunciation of in cup of
tea, and in most other grammatical words (p. 519).
From a phonological perspective, almost all function words have two pronunciation
forms; a strong form and a weak form. The strong form (also called citation form/ full
form) is stressed and it is the pronunciation form provided by the dictionary (Brown &
Kondo, 2006). The weak form (modified pronunciation) is unstressed, less prominent,
and phonemically different form the strong form in both quality and duration. Function
words become weak by the replacement of the word's central vowel by a weaker one,
mainly the schwa /ə/. In addition, the change of consonants and the appearance of syllabic
consonants cause weak forms (Selkirk,
1996). Consequently, some function words have more than one weak form when the same
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function word occurs in different phonological contexts. For instance, the word „your‟ is
pronounced /jə/ when it occurs before a consonant and /jər/ before a vowel:
Your turn /jə tɜːn /, your office /jər ɒfɪs/
8.3. Uses of Weak Forms and Strong Forms
Although the weak forms of function words are more frequently used by native speakers,
there are exceptions where they are not used. Hence, we will mention only the conditions under
which the strong form is more suitable than weak forms as compiled by Roach (2009, pp. 89-90),
Gimson (1994, pp. 228-230).
- When the word (mainly prepositions) occurs in the final position of the sentence.
Eg.1 He is looking for /fə/ his glasses. Eg.
2 What is he looking for /fɔː/?
- When the function words occur in isolation.
- When the word or a phrase is emphasized in an utterance, it should be louder and
clearly pronounced. For instance, in the sentence You must study hard! The speaker
wants to emphasize the modal verb must, so it is necessary to use its strong form
/mʌst/.
- When function words are quoted. In Roach‟s example, the sentence: Please, would
you be so kind and write ‘and’ instead of ‘or’ next time? The strong forms of the
function words /ænd/ and /ɔː/ are used.
- When a function word precedes a pause, it is pronounced in its strong form.
Eg. It is a /ei/ ….nice colour.
- When auxiliary verbs occur in their negative sense, they are always strong.
Eg. She has /hæz/not come yet.
