Strong and weak forms, weak vowels

Question 1

Content words

Answer 1

• nouns
• lexical words
• adjectives
• adverbs
  => carry meaning

Question 2

Function words

Answer 2

• prepositions
• primary auxiliary words
• modal auxiliary words
• determiner
  -pronouns
• conjunctions

Question 3

Function words -strong and weak forms

Answer 3

many function words (about 40) have strong and weak forms

Question 4

Function words -strong forms

Answer 4

used in isolation or when receiving emphasis

Question 5

Function words -weak forms

Answer 5

• used in connected speech
• they include a reduced vowel (ə, unstressed i or u)
• are never stressed

Question 6

Strong forms are used when …

Answer 6

Strong forms are used in connected speech when…
- they occur in sentence-final position
- the function words are directly contrasted
- the function word is emphasized
- the metalanguage is used (citing/referring to a function word)

Weak forms are used otherwise

Question 7

Unstressed /i/

Answer 7

• in word-final or morpheme-final position when the final i-sound is spelled as <y> or <ey> </ey> </y>
• in unstressed prefixes like {re-}, {de-}, and {pre-} when followed by a vowel
• in suffixes like <-iate>, <-ious> or <-ial> when they are pronounced as two syllables
• in unstressed (function) words (such as he, she , we , me, …)
• in function words (such as to, into) when the next word starts with a vowel

Question 8

Unstressed /u/

Answer 8

• in a word before another vowel
• in unstressed (function) words (such as you…)
• in function words (such as to, into) when the next word starts with a vowel

Question 9

the

Answer 9

strong form: /ði:/
weak form: /ðə, ði/

Question 10

a, an

Answer 10

strong form: /eɪ, æn/
weak form: /ə,ən/

Question 11

that

Answer 11

strong form: /ðæt/
weak form: /ðət/

Question 12

but

Answer 12

strong form: /bʌt/
weak form: /bət/

Question 13

and

Answer 13

strong form: /ænd/
weak form: /ənd, ən, n/

Question 14

can, could

Answer 14

strong form: /kæn, kʊd/
weak form: /kən, kəd/

Question 15

have, has , had

Answer 15

strong form: /hæv, hæz, hæd/
weak form: /həv, həz, həd/

Question 16

do, does

Answer 16

strong form: /du:, dʌz/
weak form: /du, də, dəz, dz/

Question 17

am, are, was, were

Answer 17

strong form: /æm, ɑ:, wɒz, wɜ:/
weak form: /əm, e, wəz, wə/

Question 18

at

Answer 18

strong form: /æt/
weak form: /ət/

Question 19

for

Answer 19

strong form: /fɔː/
weak form: /fə/

Question 20

from

Answer 20

strong form: /frɒm/
weak form: /frəm/

Question 21

of

Answer 21

strong form: /ɒv/
weak form: /əv/

Question 22

to

Answer 22

strong form: /tuː/
weak form: /tə, tu/

Question 23

her

Answer 23

strong form: /hɜː/
weak form: /hə, ə/

Question 24

she, he, we, you

Answer 24

strong form: /ʃiː, hiː, wiː, juː/
weak form: /ʃi, hi, wi, ju/

Question 25

us

Answer 25

strong form: /ʌs/
weak form: /əs/

Question 26

them

Answer 26

strong form: /ðɛm/
weak form: /ðəm/