- •3. Words in company
- •3.1. Stressed and Unstressed Words
- •3.2. Weak Forms of Words
- •3.3. Rhythm Units
- •3.4. Assimilation
- •3.5. The Reduction of Consonants Clusters (Elision)
- •3.6. Exercises Weak Forms
- •3. Assimilation
- •Elision
- •4. Intonation
- •4.1. Graphical Representation of Intonation and Basic Notions
- •4.2. How to Use the Tunes
- •Table 4
- •4.3. Exercises
- •5. Phonostylistics
- •5.1. Its subject matter and basic notions
- •5.2. Intonational Peculiarities of Conversational Style
- •5.3. Social English Saying the right thing
- •5.4. Hesitation Phenomena
- •5.5.Fillers
- •5.6. Exercises
- •5.7. Informational Style How to hold an audience
- •Intonational Peculiarities of Informational Texts
- •Scientific Style Lectures and Speeches
- •Lectures
- •The Intonational Peculiarities of Scientific Style
3. Words in company
3.1. Stressed and Unstressed Words
When we talk we do not talk in single words but in groups of words spoken continuously, with no break or pause. Some words in such word group are stressed, some - unstressed.
In the group “I could hardly believe my eyes” the words hardly, believe and eyes are stressed: this means that one of the syllables of the word (the only syllable in eyes!) is said with greater force, with greater effort, than the others.
What sorts of words are stressed, then, and what sorts are unstressed? First, words of more than one syllable are stressed. In some circumstances English speakers do not stress such words, but it is always possible to stress them and you should do so. Next, words of one syllable are generally not stressed if they are purely grammatical words like pronouns, prepositions, articles. Other words are stressed, for example, full verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs and the like. In general it is the picture words which are stressed, the words which give us the picture or provide most of the information. Though you should remember that for special purposes it is possible to stress any English words, even the purely grammatical ones, but usually they are unstressed.
Study the list of stressed and unstressed words in table 2.
Table 2
Stressed words |
Unstressed words |
nouns, adjectives, numerals, notional verbs, adverbs, demonstrative pronouns, interrogative pronouns, absolute form of the possessive pronouns
a) in general and alternative questions; b) when they stand for a notional verb; e.g. Have you seen him? – Yes, I have. c) in contracted negative forms; d) “to be” when final and preceded by the unstressed syllables; e.g. Here we are. e) “to do” in emphatic sentences e.g. Do come.
if consist of 2 or more syllables and followed by an unstressed personal pronoun at the end of a word group e.g. The dog ran after him.
at the beginning of the utterance and followed by an unstressed word e.g. If, when he goes. |
and relative pronouns.
auxiliary verbs and modal verbs, “to be”, prepositions, conjunctions, articles, particles
e.g. Show a black one. Preposition “each” in “each other”
e.g. I think so.
e.g. as much as; as well as
|
3.2. Weak Forms of Words
In “It was too expensive for them to buy” [It wqz tu: IkspensIv fq Dqm tq baI] тotice the pronunciation of the words was, for, them and to: all of them have the vowel [q]. If those words are pronounced alone, they have the pronunciations [wPz], [fL], [Dem] and [tu:], but usually they are not pronounced alone and are not stressed, and then the forms with [q] are used; we call these the weak forms of those words. The use of weak forms is an essential part of English speech and you must learn to use the weak forms of English words. Some words have more than one weak form and the following list tells you when to use one and when the other. Study table 3. We use strong forms whenever the word is final in the group [QI dqun’t wPnt tH]. Exceptions: he, him, his, her, them, us have their weak forms in final position (unless they are stressed). At the beginning of word groups the forms hJ, hIm, hIz, hW should be used: [ hJ lQIks It].
Table 3
List of Weak Forms
Word |
Weak form |
Examples |
|
Articles |
|
the |
Dq (before consonants) Di:, DI (before vowels) |
Dq mL Dq merIq Di: a:nts qn Di: ANklz |
a an |
q (before consonants) qn, n (before vowels) |
q paund q deI hxv qn xpl |
|
Prepositions |
|
at |
qt |
kAm qt wAns |
for |
fq (before consonants) fqr, fr (before vowels) |
kAm fq ti: kAm fqr q mi:l |
from |
frqm |
aI sent It frqm lAndqn |
of |
qv |
Dq kwi:n qv INglqnd |
to |
tq, t (before consonants) tu: (before vowels) |
hJ keIm tq skul hJ went tH xn |
through |
ru |
aI went ru Dq taun |
|
Verbs |
|
can |
kqn, kn |
hau kqn aI help? |
must |
mqst, mqs |
aI mqst tel Im |
will |
l ql (after vowels and [l]) |
DIs l du: Dq bOI ql lu:z qn Dq gз:l ql wIn |
shall |
Sl |
aI Sl bI krOs |
would |
d (after personal pronouns) qd (elsewhere) |
aI d du: It dZOn qd du: It |
should |
Sqd, Sd |
ju: Sqd kAm qt wAns |
could |
kqd, kd |
aI kqd swIm |
Continuation of table3 |
||
1 |
2 |
3 |
have (auxiliary) |
v (after personal pronouns) qv (elsewhere) |
ju: v brqukqn It Dq men qv gOn |
has (auxiliary) |
z (after [s, z, S, Z, tS, dZ]) s (after [p, t, k, f, ]) z (elsewhere) |
Dq pleIs qz tSeIndZd dZqk s gOn dZOn z bi:n sIk |
had (auxiliary) |
d (after personal pronouns) qd (elsewhere) |
DeI d left hqum Dq deI qd bi:n faIn |
be |
bI |
dqunt bI ru:d |
been |
bIn |
hIz bIn ru:d |
am |
m (after ‘I’) qm (elsewhere) |
aI m taIqd wen qm aI tq bi: DFq? |
are |
q (before consonants) qr (before vowels) |
Dq gз:lz q bju:tqfl Dq men qr AglI |
is |
s (after voiceless consonants) z (after vowels and voiced consonants) after [s, z, S,Z, tS, dZ] the strong form [Iz] is always used |
Dxt s faIn wFq z dZOn?
wItS Iz raIt? |
was |
wqz |
Dq weDq wqz terqbl |
were |
wq (before consonants) wqr (before vowels) |
ju: wq raIt ju: wqr AglI |
do (auxiliary) |
dq (before consonants) du: (before vowels) |
hau dq DeI nqu?
|
does |
dqz |
wen dqz Dq treIn li:v? |
|
Pronouns |
|
you |
j, ju |
ju kd gqu |
he |
hI, i: |
dId i: wIn? |
him |
Im |
gIv Im tu: |
his |
Iz |
aI laIk Iz taI |
her |
з: (at the beginning of the word groups the strong form should be used) |
teIk з: hqum hi: laIks It hз: feIs Iz red |
she |
SI |
SI Iz faIn |
we |
wI |
wI keIm hqum |
us |
s (only in let’s) qs |
lets du: It nau hi: wqunt let qs du: It |
them |
Dqm |
send Dqm baI pqust |
your |
jq (before consonants) jqr (before vowels) |
aI nqu jq ti:tSq aI nqu jqr a:nt
|
End of table
1 |
2 |
3 |
who |
hu |
hi: nquz hV sed It |
|
Conjunctions |
|
and |
qnd, qn |
blxk qn waIt |
but |
bqt |
bqt waI nOt |
than |
Dqn |
betq Dqn evq |
as |
qz |
qz gd qz gquld |
or |
O (before consonants) Or (before vowels) |
nau O nevq a:nts Or ANklz |
that |
Dqt |
aI qdmIt Dqt aI dId It |
|
Particles |
|
to |
tq (before consonants) tu: (before vowels) |
tq steI O: tq gqu aI wOntId tu: Rsk jH |
|
Negatives |
|
not |
nt |
DeI a:nt kAmIN |