Weak forms, strong forms
Weak forms, strong forms I can!
I can leave!
She has! She has decided ! He was! He was afraid
I decided to wait at the corner of the street for the girl from Ipanema
I can see John was trying. John has been trying too long. He must try better He must have been trying
I can see John was trying. John has been trying too long. He must try better He must have been trying
I think he knows I think she knows I think we know Ill be there Ive been robbed
Words which change before a word beginning with a vowel
1
be, he, she Ill be there Ill be early Does he drink? Does he agree?
Words which change before a word beginning with a vowel
2
do, to, you
What do they want? What do Amricans want? Give it to Mary give it to Arthur Did you make it? Did you eat it?
Words which change before a word beginning with a vowel
3
for, her, are, were
for me for all of us her mother her aunt What are they doing what are all the children doing
foregrounding
Mary has seen him before Mary has seen him before Mary has seen hm before
comparative stress
This train isnt coming from London, its going to London
evasion of repetition (deaccenting)
Government of the people, buy the people, for the people
City life is great, as long as you dont actually live in the city
citation forms
How do you spell the word than?
Prepositions and auxiliary verbs are strong at the end of utterances
I come from Brighton Brightons where I come from
Do you want to come Im not sure I want to
Prepositions and auxiliary verbs are strong at the end of utterances - but pronouns remain weak
I dont want to see him
I dont want to see her I dont want to see them
(c) Different grammatical function
that: weak when relative (complementizer), strong when a determiner
thats the man that I saw
He said that that was the man he saw
(c) Different grammatical function
some weak when an indefinite deteriminer, strong when adjectival There are some people waiting to see you
Some of them are drunk
Some party this is!
(c) Different grammatical function
Verbs which can be either main or lexical (strong forms) or auxiliary (weak forms)
Jean has found it Jean has the answer Does Paul agree? Paul does his duty
Structural words beginnng with h- drop the h when weak
I gave her the letter I gave him the letter Toby went to see his mother
Structural words beginnng with h- drop the h when weak but usually retain it at the beginning of a sentence
His mother was glad to see him Her answer was quite definite
Structural words beginnng with h- drop the h when weak but usually retain it at the beginning of a sentence
Adam has lost it What have you done with the evidence?
If the dropped h leads to V-V, it may reappear, or lead to r-insertion I tried to give her his letter Tessa has lost it
H-dropping does not occur on lexical words in RP English!
Harry hurt his head
Nor does it occur on stressed structural words
He hurt his head, not not hers
But some lexical words are spelled with a silent h honest, hour --- hotel? herb?
Mary and Bruce and quicker than me but slower than you
am is are was were have has had does did can will must
I think I can do it Jane will have finished by now When does she leave work?
We must get some more What was I saying Where were the children
Thats not what i said
That isnt what I said
You cant do that
web page
The first 2 columns show whether the word takes 0 or i when it is weak. If it takes final this should be regarded as the 'happY' vowel, i.e. it may be tensed to , especially if it is followed by a vowel in the next word - look in column 4. Column 3 shows forms which lose their initial h except at the beginnings of utterances
Columns 4-8 show words which change before vowels, and the changes concerned. An arrow means "becomes". Column 6 applies only to non-rhotic accents; the rhotic accents will always have a final -r in these words. Also, many American accents do not change to as in column 5. Columns 7 and 8 only concern the words the and a (an). The change in the before vowels does not take place in many American accents. Finally, column 9 shows those words which retain their STRONG vowel at the end of utterances, BUT REMAIN UNSTRESSED.
