Our queer language

I think you already know

Of tough and bough and cough and dough.

Others may stumble but not you

On hiccough, thorough, though and through,

Well done! And now you wish , perhaps,

To learn of less familiar traps?

Beware of heard, a dreadful word,

That looks like beard and sounds like bird

And dead; it’s said like bed, not bead

For goodness’ sake don’t call it deed!

Watch out for meat and great and threat

They rhyme with suite and straight and debt.

A moth is not a moth in mother

Nor both in bother or in brother

And here is not a match for there

Nor dear and fear for bear and pear.

And there’s dose and rose and lose –

Just look them up - and goose and choose.

And cork and work and card and ward,

And font and front and word and sword

And do and go and thwart and cart -

Come, come, I’ve hardly made a start!

A dreadful language? Man alive,

I’d mastered it when I was five!

In the sentences below mind the correct reading of vowels in homographs. Mind also the words where stress or consonant interchange distinguish between different parts of speech:

English is a confusing language!

We must polish the Polish furniture.

He could lead if he would get the lead out.

The farm was used to produce produce.

The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

The soldier decided to desert in the desert.

This was a good time to present the present.

A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

I did not object to the object.

The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

The bandage was wound around the wound.

There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

They were too close to the door to close it.

The buck does funny things when the does are present.

They sent a sewer down to stitch the tear in the sewer line.

To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

After a number of injections my jaw got number.

Upon seeing the tear in my clothes I shed a tear.

I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Section 3 reduction of vowels

In the English language vowels are reduced in unstressed position.

Reduction is a historical process of weakening, shortening and even disappearing of vowels in unstressed position. There are three degrees of vowel reduction:

1. Quantitative reduction is observed when the length of the vowel is reduced without changing its quality. First of all it refers to long vowels: e.g. for [fL] – [fO].

2. Qualitative reduction is observed when the length of the vowel is reduced with changing its quality (i.e. when one vowel phoneme is replaced by another one, usually schwa). e.g at [xt] – [qt], can [kxn] – [kqn], there’s [Deqz] – [Dqz], land [lxnd] - Scotland ['skOtlqnd]. In the English language almost all the vowel sounds (monophthongs and diphthongs) are replaced by the neutral sound [q] in unstressed position.

3. Zero reduction is the omission of a vowel in unstressed position. It often occurs in contracted forms: e.g. am [xm] – I’m [m], or in a rapid colloquial speech: e.g. of [Ov] – [v].

Reduction of vowels is closely connected to weak and strong forms of pronunciation.

WEAK AND STRONG FORMS OF FORM WORDS

In English there are certain words which have two forms of pronunciation: strong or full and weak or reduced. These words are called form words (or function words). They are: articles; particles (there, to); one-syllable prepositions; conjunctions; auxiliary verbs and all forms of the link-verb “to be”; modal verbs; pronouns: personal, possessive, reflexive (myself, yourself etc.), reciprocal (each other, one another), relative (who, that, which etc.) and the indefinite pronoun “some” denoting “indefinite quantity”.

These words have the strong form when they are communicative centre of the sentence, in isolated position or when they are used in a very slow speech.

Each of these words have also more than one weak form used in unstressed position in a very fast speech, that is they are reduced. However, the form words may be used in their strong forms even though unstressed. Let us consider these cases.

1. Prepositions have their strong forms when:

a) they are final:

e.g. 'Where do you _\come from? [frOm]

'What are you _\looking at? [xt]

b) in the final unstressed position before an unstressed personal pronoun in moderate speech :

e.g. There’s a _\letter for you. [fO]

Note that if the pronoun is logically stressed, the preposition is used in its weak form:

e.g. 'Don’t 'send it to _\him! [tq] Compare: _\Send it to him. [tu]

'Look at _\me! [qt] Compare: _\Look at me!

2. Auxiliary verbs, modal verbs and the link-verb “to be” have their strong forms :

a) at the end of a sentence:

e.g. 'Who’s _\done it? - _\Mary has. [hxz]

'Are you _/ tired? - I am. [xm]

b) at the beginning of a general or alternative questions in a moderate speech:

e.g. 'Can you _/ read? [kxn]

'Have you got a ciga_/ rette? [hxv]

c) in contracted negative forms:

e.g. I 'don’t _\know him. [dount]