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Phonetics: Aspects of Connected Speech Weak Forms by Dr. Chelli

The document provides an overview of connected speech and weak forms. It defines content words and function words, noting that function words can have weak forms where vowels are reduced. Examples of strong and weak vowel forms are provided. The document asks readers to identify function words and transcribe sentences using weak forms to practice this concept.

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حسام جدو
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191 views13 pages

Phonetics: Aspects of Connected Speech Weak Forms by Dr. Chelli

The document provides an overview of connected speech and weak forms. It defines content words and function words, noting that function words can have weak forms where vowels are reduced. Examples of strong and weak vowel forms are provided. The document asks readers to identify function words and transcribe sentences using weak forms to practice this concept.

Uploaded by

حسام جدو
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Phonetics

Lecture 5
Aspects of connected speech
Weak forms
By Dr. Chelli
Objectives: Introducing function words and
the weak forms
Transcription practice
-
Types of words
Types of words

content words Function words

verbs, nouns, auxiliaries, pronouns,


adjectives conjunctions,
adverbs prepositions, articles
Follow up
* Content words are also called lexical words
* Function words are also called grammatical
words or structural words.
What is the difference between them?
What about their pronunciation when they are
alone?
What about their pronunciation when they are in
connected speech?
Weak forms
Content words have one pronunciation form
called the strong form.
Function words can have two or more
pronunciations called the weak forms.
The weak form shows reduction of the
vowels towards / ɪ/ , / ʊ/ and most of the
time towards / ə/
Strong vowel Weak vowel e examples
/ i:/ /ɪ/ be
/u:/ /ʊ/ or /ə/ do (aux)
/ ɑː/ /ə/ Are

/ɔː/ /ə/ for

З:/ /ə/ her

/æ/ /ə/ and

/ɒ/ /ə/ of

/ʌ/ /ə/ but

/e/ /ə/ them

/ʊ/ /ə/ could


Example
Look at these examples. What do you notice?

/ ˈti: fə ˈtu:/
ˈ ti: f ɔː ˈ tu/
/ wɒt ə jʊ ˈlʊkɪɳ f ɔː/
Follow up
When function words are alone, at the end of the
sentence or when the the speaker wants to put
emphasis on them, they are used in the strong form.
Refer to Peter Roach 4th edition for extra information
examples
Can you underline the function words in these
sentences? Then transcribe them using the
weak forms

I gave her a box of chocolate for her brithday.


Are you coming to the theatre with us tomorrow?
What does he do at the weekends?
Refer to the List of common function words that
have weak forms you have been provided
with.
Can you identify the words in weak forms?
/edʒʊˈkeɪʃn̩ ɪz ðə məʊst ɪmˈpɔːtnt ˈfæktə fə
ˈhjuːmən ˌsɪvɪlaɪˈzeɪʃn̩ | ɪt prəˈvaɪdz ðə ˈneɪʃn̩
wɪð mæn ˈpaʊəz | prəˈməʊts ˈnæʃnəl ˈjuːnɪti
ənd ˌʌpˈlɪfts ˈpʌblɪk əˈweənəs | ɪf ˈpiːpl̩ ər
ˈedʒʊkeɪtɪd | ˈðeɪ kən ˌʌndəˈstænd ðeə ˈdjuːtɪz
ənd raɪts |ɪn ˈɔːdə tu ˌʌpˈlɪft ˈhjuːmən səˈsaɪəti
| iːtʃ ʃəd bi ˈkeɪpəbl̩ tu ˌʌndəˈstænd ˈʌðəz |

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