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Strong & Weak Forms

Strong and weak forms refer to the pronunciation of words in English. [1] Most words are stressed on one syllable and do not have distinct strong and weak forms. [2] Monosyllabic words like function words can have different pronunciations depending on stress, with the weak form being more common. [3] For example, the weak form of the indefinite article "a" is the schwa sound [ə], except when stress is needed to emphasize indefiniteness.

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281 views

Strong & Weak Forms

Strong and weak forms refer to the pronunciation of words in English. [1] Most words are stressed on one syllable and do not have distinct strong and weak forms. [2] Monosyllabic words like function words can have different pronunciations depending on stress, with the weak form being more common. [3] For example, the weak form of the indefinite article "a" is the schwa sound [ə], except when stress is needed to emphasize indefiniteness.

Uploaded by

Santoso Toroh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Strong & Weak Forms

In English, most words will have at least one


stressed syllable, and hence no separate strong
and weak forms. All words which do have
distinct strong and weak forms are
monosyllables, and are usually function words
or discourse particles. For most of these, the
weak form is the one usually encountered in
speech. As the extreme example, the strong
form of the indefinite article a is used only in
the rare cases when the word is stressed:
naming the word, or when emphasizing
indefiniteness.
Question: "Did you find the cat?"
Answer: "I found a [ə] cat." (i.e. maybe not the one
you were referring to)
Otherwise (unless one is risking pomposity) the weak
form [ə] is used for a.
The main words with weak forms in Received
Pronunciation are:
a, am, an, and, are, as, at, be, been, but, can, could, do,
does, for, from, had, has, have, he, her, him, his, just,
me, must, of, shall, she, should, some, than, that, the,
them, there, to, us, was, we, were, who, would, you
DETERMINER/QUANTIFIERS
orthograph strong weak
y form(s) form(s)
the ði: ðə

a/an eɪ, æn ə, ən

some sʌm səm


PRONOUNS
orthograph strong weak
y form(s) form(s)
his hɪz ɪz
him hɪm ɪm
her hɜ: ə
you ju: jʊ, jə
your jɔ: jə
she ʃi: ʃɪ
he hi: ɪ
we wi: wɪ
them ðem ðəm
us ʌs əs
PREPOSITIONS
orthogra strong weak
phy form(s) form(s)

than ðæn ðən


at æt ət
for fo: fə
from fɹɒm fɹəm, fəm

of ɒv əv, v
to tu: tə, tʊ
as æz əz, z
there ðeə ðə
CONJUNCTIONS
orthograp strong weak
hy form(s) form(s)

and ænd ənd


but bʌt bət
that ðæt ðət
AUXILIARIES
orthograp strong weak
hy form(s) form(s)
can kæn kən
could kʊd kəd
have hæv əv, v
has hæz əz, z
had hæd əd, d
will wɪl l
shall ʃæl ʃəl, ʃl,
should ʃʊd ʃəd
must mʌst məst
do du: də
does dʌz dəz
am æm əm
are ɑ: ə
was wɒz wəz
were wɜ: wə
PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION
TEXT
Frustration is a burst hot-water bottle, or loathing
every moment of a holiday you're paying a fortune
for. It's using the wrong side of the Sellotape,
forgetting what you were going to say, or locking
yourself out. Frustration is other people parking in
front of your garage, or a stranger reading a
riveting letter on the bus and turning over before
you get to the bottom of the page.

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