t& tee • 12 Weak forms Chapter 9 discussed the difference between strong and weak syllables in English. We have now moved on from looking at syllables to looking at words, and we will consider certain well-known English words that can i be pronounced in two different ways, which are called strong forms and weak forms. As an example, the word 'that' can be pronounced daet (strong form) or Set (weak form). The sentence 'I like that' is pronounced ai laik Saet (strong form); the sentence 'I hope that she will' is pronounced ai haup ctet Ji wil (weak form). There are roughly forty such words in English. Itf is)possible to use only strong forms in speaking, and some foreigners do this. Usually they can still be understood by other speakers of English, so why is it important to learn how weak forms are used? There are two main reasons; firstly, most native speakers of English find an "all-strong-form" pronunciation unnatural and foreign-sounding, something that most learners would wish to avoid. Secondly, and more importantly, speakers who are not familiar with the use of weak forms are likely to have difficulty understanding speakers who do use weak forms; since practically all native speakers of British English use them, learners of the language need to learn about these weak forms to help them to understand what \ i they hear. We must distinguish between weak forms and contracted forms. ,7 Certain English words are shortened so severely (usually to a single phoneme) and so consistently that they are represented differently in informal writing, e.g. 'it is' - 'it's'; 'we have' - 'we've'; 'do not' - 'don't'. These contracted forms are discussed in a later chapter, and are not included here. Almost all the words which have both a strong and weak form belong to a category that may be called function words - words that do not have a dictionary meaning in the way that we normally expect nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs to have. These function words are words such as auxiliary verbs, prepositions, conjunctions, etc., all of which are in certain circumstances pronounced in their strong forms but which are more frequently pronounced in their weak forms. It is important to remember that there are certain contexts where only the strong form is acceptable, and others where the weak form is the loa 12 Weak forms normal pronunciation. There are some fairly simple rules; we can say that the strong form is used in the following cases: i) For many weak-form words, when they occur'at the end of a sentence. For example, the word 'of has the weak form 9v in the following sentence: 'I'm fond of chips' aim 'fDnd av 'tjips but when it comes at the end of the sentence, as in the following example, it has the strong form DV: 'Chips are what I'm fond of 'tjips e 'wDt aim 'fDnd dv Many of the words given below (particularly the first nine) never occur at the end of a sentence, e.g. 'the', 'your'. Some words (particularly the pronouns numbered 10-14 below) do occur in their weak forms in final position. ii) When a weak-form word is being contrasted with another word, e.g.: 'The letter's from him, not to him' de 'letez 'fram im not 'tu: im A similar case is what we might call a co-ordinated use of prepositions: 'I travel to and from London a lot' ai 'treevl 'tu: en 'from i 'lAnden a 'lot 'A work of and about literature' e 'w3:k 'dv en e'baut 'litrrtje iii) When a weak-form word is given stress for the purpose of ^rnphasisy e.g.: 'You must give me more money' ju 'mASt 'giv mi 'mo: 'mAni iv) When a weak-form word is being ('cited" or "quoted'/, e.g.: 'You shouldn't put "and" at the end of a sentence' ju 'jbdnt put 'aend et 6\ 'end ev e 'sentens In the rest of this chapter, the most common weak-form words will be introduced. 1. 'the' Weak forms: de (before consonants) 'Shut the door' '/At de 'do: 6i (before vowels) 'Wait for the end' 'wert fe 6i 'end 2. 'a', 'an' Weak forms: 8 (before consonants) 'Read a book' 'ri:d e 'buk en (before vowels) 'Eat an apple' 'i:t en 'aepl 3. 'and' Weak form: an (sometimes n after t, d, s, z, J) 'Come and see' 'kAm en 'si: 'Fish and chips' 'fij n 'tjips 4. 'but' Weak form: bat 'It's good but expensive' its 'gud bat iks'pensiv 5. 'that' (This word only has a weak form when used in a relative clause; when used with a demonstrative sense it is always pronounced in its strong form.) Weak form: 6at 'The price is the thing that annoys me' 6a 'prais iz 6a '9irj 6at a'noiz mi 6. 'than' Weak form: 6an 'Better than ever' 'beta 6an 'eva 7. 'his' (when it occurs before a noun) Weak form: iz (hiz at the beginning of a sentence) 'Take his name' 'teik iz 'neim (Another sense of 'his', as in 'it was his', or 'his was late', always has the strong form.) 8. 'her' (When used with possessive sense, preceding a noun; as an object pronoun, this can also occur at the end of a sentence.) Weak forms: a (before consonants) 'Take her home' 'teik a 'haum ar (before vowels) 'Take her out' 'teik ar 'aut 9. 'your' Weak forms: ja (before consonants) 'Take your time' 'teik ja 'taim jar (before vowels) 'On your own' 'on jar 'aun 10. 'she', 'he', 'we', 'you' This group of pronouns has weak forms pronounced with weaker vowels than the i: and u: of their strong forms. I will use the symbols i and u (in preference to i and u) to represent them. There is little difference in the pronunciation in different places in the sentence, except in the case of 'he'. Weak forms: 'she' Ji 'Why did she read it?' 'wai did Ji 'ri:d it 'Who is she?' 'hu: 'iz Ji 'he' i (the weak form is usually pronounced without h except at the beginning of a sentence) 'Which did he choose?' 'wrtj did i 'tjurz 'He was late, wasn't he?' hi waz 'lert 'wDznt i 'we' wi 'How can we get there?' 'hau kan wi 'get 6ea 'We need that, don't we?' wi 'ni:d 6ast 'daunt wi 'you' ju 'What do you think?' 'wDt da ju '8ir)k 'You like it, do you?' ju 'laik rt 'du: ju 11. 'him' Weak form: im 'Leave him alone' Ti:v im a'laun 'I've seen him' aiv 'si:n im 12. 'her' Weak form: a (ha when sentence-initial) 'Ask her to come' 'disk a ta 'kAm 'I've met her' aiv 'met a 13. 'them' Weak form: 6am 'Leave them here' 'li:v dam 'hia 'Eat them' 'i:t 6am 14. 'us' Weak form: as 'Write us a letter' 'rait as a 'leta 'They invited all of us' 6ei in'vartid 'o:l av as The next group of words (some prepositions and other function words) occur in their strong forms when they are fmajjn a sentence; examples of this are given. (19 is a partial exception.) 15. 'at' Weak form: at 'I'll see you at lunch' ail 'si: ju at 'UnJ In final position: ast 'What's he shooting at?' 'wDtS i '[u:tirj aet 16. 'for' Weak form: fa (before consonants) 'Tea for two' 'ti: fa 'tu: far (before vowels) 'Thanks for asking' '8aen,ks far cnskin. In final position: fo: 'What's that for?' 'wDts '6aet fo: 17. 'from' Weak form: frem 'I'm home from work' aim 'haum fram 'w3:k 105 12 Weak forms 12 Weak forms In final position: fram 'Here's where it came from' 'hiaz wear rt 'keim from 18. 'of' Weak form: av 'Most of all' 'maust av 'o:l In final position: dv 'Someone I've heard of 'sAmwAn aiv 'h3:d dv 19. 'to' Weak forms: ta (before consonants) 'Try to stop' 'trai ta 'stDp tu (before vowels) 'Time to eat' 'taim tu 'i:t In final position: tu (It is not usual to use the strong form tu:, and the pre-consonantal weak form ta is never used.) i don't want to' ai 'daunt 'wont tu 20. 'as' Weak form: az 'As much as possible' az 'mAtJ az 'pDSibl In final position: eez 'That's what it was sold as' 'deets 'wDt it waz 'sauld eez 21. 'some' This word is used in two different ways. In one sense (typically, when it occurs before a countable noun, meaning "an unknown individual") it has the strong form: 'I think some animal broke it' ai '9ir)k SAm 'eenimj 'brauk it It is also used before uncountable nouns (meaning "an unspecified amount of") and before other nouns in the plural (meaning "an unspecified number of"), in such uses it has the weak form sam. 'Have some more tea' 'haev sam 'mo: 'ti: In final position: SAm 'I've got some' aiv 'got SAm 22. 'there' When this word has a demonstrative function, it always occurs in its strong form dea (6ear before vowels), e.g. 'There it is' 'Sear it 'iz 'Put it there' 'put rt 'dea Weak forms: 6a (before consonants) 'There should be a rule' 6a 'Jud bi a 'ru:l 6ar (before vowels) 'There is' 6ar 'iz In final position the pronunciation may be 6a or dea. 'There isn't any, is there?' 6ar 'iznt eni 'iz 6a or 6ar 'iznt eni 'iz dea The remaining weak-form words are all auxiliary verbs, which are always used in conjunction with (or at least implying) another ("full") verb. It is important to remember that in their negative form (i.e. combined with 'not') they never have the weak pronunciation, and some (e.g. 'don't', 'can't') have different vowels from their non-negative strong forms. 23. 'can', 'could' Weak forms: kan, kad 'They can wait' '6ei kan 'weit 'He could do it' 'hi: kad 'du: rt In final position: kaen, kud 'I think we can' ai '8ir)k wi kaen 'Most of them could' 'maust av 6am kud 24. 'have', 'has', 'had' Weak forms: av, az, ad (with initial h in initial position) 'Which have you seen?' 'wrtj av ju 'si:n 'Which has been best?' 'wrtj az 'bi:n 'best 'Most had gone home' 'maust ad 'gDn 'haum In final position: haev, heez, haed 'Yes, we have' 'jes wi 'hasv 'I think she has' ai 'Girjk Ji 'hsez 'I thought we had' ai '8o:t wi 'haed 25. 'shall', 'should' Weak forms: Jal or JI; Jad 'We shall need to hurry' wi JI 'ni:d ta 'hAri 'I should forget it' 'ai Jad fa'get it In final position: Jael, Jud 'I think we shall' ai '8ir)k wi 'Jael 'So you should' 'sau ju 'Jud 26. 'must' This word is sometimes used with the sense of forming a conclusion or deduction, e.g. 'she left at 8 o'clock, so she must have arrived by now'; when 'must' is used in this way, it is rather less likely to occur in its weak form than when it is being used in its more familiar sense of "obligation". Weak forms: m9S (before consonants) 'You must try harder' ju mas 'trai 'hcr.da mast (before vowels) 'He must eat more' hi mast 'i:t 'mo: In final position: mASt 'She certainly must' fi 'S3:tnli 'mASt 27. 'do', 'does' "Weak forms: 'do' da (before consonants) 'Why do they like it?' 'wai da Sei 'laik it du (before vowels) 'Why do all the cars stop?' 'wai du o:l 3a 'ka:z 'stDp 'does' daz 'When does it arrive?' 'wen daz it a'raw In final position: du:, dAZ 'We don't smoke, but some people do' 'wi: daunt 'smauk bat 'said 'pixpj 'du: 'I think John does' ai '0in,k 'd3Dn dAZ 28. 'am', 'are', 'was', 'were' Weak forms: am 'Why am I here?' 'wai am ai 'hia a (before consonants) 'Here are the plates' 'hiar a 5a 'plerts ar (before vowels) 'The coats are in there' da 'kauts ar in '6ea waz 'He was here a minute ago' hi waz 'hiar a 'minrt a'gau wa (before consonants) 'The papers were late' 5a 'peipaz wa 'lert war (before vowels) 'The questions were easy' 3a 'kwestjanz war 'i:zi In final position: aem, a:, wdz, W3: 'She's not as old as I am' Jiz 'nDt az 'auld az 'ai aem 'I know the Smiths are' ai 'nau da 'smi8s a: 'The last record was' 5a 'la:st 'reko:d wdz 'They weren't as cold as we were' 5ei 'w3:nt az 'kaold az 'wi: W3: Notes on problems and further reading Z^-is,fAaHer.is almost entirely practical. All books about English pronunciation devote a lot of attention to these words. Some of them give a great deal of importance to using weak forms, but do not stress the importance of also knowing when to use the strong forms, something which I feel is very important. See Mortimer (1984). Written exercises In the following sentences, the transcription for the weak-form words is left blank. Fill in the blanks, taking care to use the appropriate form. 1. I want her to park that car over there, ai wont pa:k ka:r auva 2. Of all the proposals, the one that you made is the silliest. o:l prapauzjz WAn meid siliast 3. Jane and Bill could have driven them to and from the party. d3ein bil dnvan pa:ti 4. To come to the point, what shall we do for the rest of the week? kAm point WDt rest wi:k 5. Has anyone got an idea where it came from? eniwAn got aidia wear it keim 6. Pedestrians must always use the crossings provided for them, padestnanz o:lwiz ju:z krosirjz pravaidid 7. Each one was a perfect example of the art that had been developed there i:t[ WAn p3:fikt igza:mpl a:t bi:n drvelapt 108