044 strong and weak forms in detail

Francisco Zabala – 2014 1 Strong and Weak forms In Detail The following guidelines will help you choose whether a weak form or a strong form is appropriate in a given context.. Citation

Trang 1

Prof Francisco Zabala – 2014 1

Strong and Weak forms In Detail

The following guidelines will help you choose whether a weak form or a strong form is appropriate in a given context Remember to refer back to the general rule and the list

of weak and strong forms provided in the set of notes

Notice: The nucleus has been underlined in each example and is the last primary stress ! All post-nuclear stresses are given a secondary stress mark

ARTICLES & DETERMINERS

Definite article ‘the’1

Strong Form:

1 Citation:

The strong form

weak form !C? (Wells: 2008)

E.g.: Let’s analyse the uses of ‘the’

2 Hesitation:

pause

E.g: Ben’s the the the manager

3 Emphasis & particularisation:

The strong form

most outstanding,’ ‘the one and only’

E.g.: The pronunciation dictionary | is the tool for transcriptions

Weak Form:

The weak form is the norm There are two variants:

1.

.Ch is necessary before vowel sounds (be careful to distinguish between initial vowel sounds and initial vowel letters)

E.g.: The elephant and the ostrich |are the attractions in this park

1

Wells (2008) explains that not all native speakers follow this rule, although he advices foreign learners to do so For example, many native speakers use the weak form

there is glottal reinforcement (i.e hard attack) E.g.: Tell me the answer

Trang 2

The MP3 player’s dead

2.

E.g.: This is the uniform 2 we give the workers

Indefinite articles ‘a’ and ‘an’

Strong Form:

The strong forms

create contrast or in rhetorical speech

E.g.: A: She’s got two sons, right?

B: She’s got a son (Contrast: a “means only one, not two”)

Do we use ‘a’ | or ‘an’ before the word herb? (Citation and contrast)

Weak Form:

The weak form is the norm

1 ‘A’ .? before consonants

E.g.: A strange customer came this morning

A cat and a dog

A Euro 2

2 ‘An’ .?m before vowels

E.g.: An old friend of mine

An X-ray 2

2

These examples illustrate that sometimes words begin in a vowel sound but not in a vowel letter or vice versa

Trang 3

‘Some’3

Strong Form:

The strong form is used in the following situations:

1 Citation:

E.g.: The word ‘some’ | can take a weak form

2 Stranded and/or pronominal:

E.g.: A: More meat? I’ll put some on your plate

B: Thank you I’ve still got some

3 Contrast: As opposed to ‘others’ or to ‘all’

E.g.: Some of my students| might pass the exam

I believe some models | are clever and learned

Some varieties of English | are rhotic

E.g.: I haven’t talked to her | for some years

It’s been some time | since she moved to LA

E.g.: Some day I’ll conquer her heart

Some student or other | has forgotten to finish this test

singular countable noun

E.g.: That was 'some 'kiss!

Some friend you turned out to be!

3

Wells’s Blog entry “Some” http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/blog.htm Wednesday 28 May 2008

Trang 4

Weak Form:

The weak form

E.g.: I want some milk, please

I need some participants

Would you care for some more?

Wells provides this comparison:

He put some 'fruit on the pizza (as well as cheese, ham etc.)

He put ˈsome 'fruit on the pizza (I can’t identify which/It was a remarkable fruit)

AUXILIARIES & THE VERB ‘TO BE’

The verb ‘to be’

Attention!!!

The verb ‘to be’ is almost invariably weak, even in full affirmative sentences, regardless of whether it functions as an auxiliary or a main verb

The strong forms am, are, be, was and were4

emphasis, contrast, or citation as any other weak form However, these forms can also be used in other positions: they are obligatory when there is stranding, or when they occur in a

short yes-no question or a short answer, as they are loaded with the meaning of the elements that have been elided The strong form is optional in full yes-no questions without expressing contrast

Obligatory strong form:

1 Citation

E.g.: Is the verb was the correct answer?

2 Contrast

E.g.: They were rich ages ago!

4

Caution: The strong form of the verb ‘were’ is pronounced !v29 by the great majority of

‘wear’ and the noun ‘ware’.

Trang 5

3 Emphasis

E.g.: These cupcakes are marvellous!

4 Stranding (complement movement)

E.g.: To be | or not to be (Emphasis-contrast and stranding.)

I don’t remember who they are, Mr Reynolds

5 Short yes-no questions and short answers (the verb to be stands for the elements that have been elided)

E.g.: A: The Smiths are murderers B: Are they? A: Yes, they are

A: My parents were doctors B: Were they? A: Yes, they were

A: You are gorgeous! B: Am I? Yes, I am!

A: My brother was a catholic B: Was he? A: Yes, he was

Optional strong form:

1 Full yes-no questions

E.g.: Were they evaluated?

Was Andrew against capitalism?

Am I coordinating them?

5

Stranding (i.e the dislocation of the complement) cannot always be equated with placing the verb to

be in final position in the chunk In this case this word is not final, but it is stranded anyway because the following word is not its complement

Trang 6

Weak Form:

Weak forms are the norm Remember, also, that regardless of whether the written text shows

a contraction or not, speakers normally choose the most reduced form

1 Present tense:

a ‘Am’ is .?l Its contraction ’m is .l

E.g.: I am a cowardly person

b ‘Is’ is .Hy Its contraction ’s agrees invoice with the previous sound:

E.g.: Dave is here Dave’s here

It’s too much (Cf It is too much.)

The book’s missing (C.f The book is missing.)

c ‘‘‘‘Are’ takes ? Linking q is inserted if the next word starts with a vowel

Note that the contractions “you’re,” “we’re,” and “they’re” take a special monosyllabic form

E.g.: My cousins are really young

Pronoun and preposition are categories | not functions

You’re a reliable guy You are a reliable guy

They’re there with their Mayor They are there with their Mayor

We’re weary after this weird journey We’re weary after this weird journey

2 Past tense

a ‘Was’ is .v?y According to Windsor Lewis (1997)6

, the form suitable target for the foreign learner, especially before consonants

6

Retrieved from the blog “Weakform Words and Contractions for the Advanced EFL User” http://www.yek.me.uk/wkfms.html

Trang 7

E.g.: Mary was anxious

The donkey was tired | but the monkey was full of energy

b ‘Were’ is .v? Linking .q is inserted if the next word starts with a vowel E.g.: They were robbed | by kids that were carrying knives

3 Past participle ‘been’:::: Some speakers make a distinction between .ah9m for the strong form and

E.g.: I’ve been working (Weak)

Where have you been? (Strong – stressed)

‘Can’

Strong Form:

1 Content word: If it means ‘to store things in a tin’ it functions as a main verb and, thus,

it is !jzm.-

E.g.: I dislike canned tuna

2 The strong form jzm.of the auxiliary is used for:

a citation

E.g.: We use can| to express possibility

b contrast

E.g.: I can go| but I don’t want to

c stranding

E.g.: I’ll finish this report | if I can

d negative: ‘can’t’ &‘cannot’

E.g.: I can’t stand your questions!

It can’t be true!

Trang 8

We cannot dismiss this opportunity

e short yes-no questions and short answers:

E.g.: A: Can we? B: Yes you can

f full yes-no questions: it can be either weak or strong

E.g.: Can you increase the speed of your computer?

Can we leave, sir?

Weak Form:

‘Can’ is normally weak in statements and in wh-questions It is pronounced jm.or sometimes

E.g.: We can purchase food

Where can Anthony go on holiday?

‘Have’

Strong Form:

The strong forms ‘have’ gzu., ‘has’ gzy and ‘had’.gzc occur in the following cases:

1 citation

E.g The past tense of ‘have’ | is ‘had’

2 contrast

E.g I have tried| but it was useless (‘have’ vs ‘haven’t’)

3 obligation:

E.g.: I had to kill her

4 causative use or misfortune:

E.g.: I had my hair dyed

She’s had her house broken into

Trang 9

5 main verb: it is semantically loaded

E.g.: Francis has a puppy (= possess)

We can have a shower? (= take)

What about having some tea? (= drink)

I’ll have a hamburger, please (= eat)

6 short yes-no questions and answers

E.g.: A: Have you? B: Yes I have

A: Has she? B: Yes she has

7 full yes-no questions: it can take either a strong or a weak form

E.g.: Have you finished?

Had they left before you arrived?

Weak Form:

‘Have,’ ‘has’ and ‘‘‘‘had’ are weak when they work as the auxiliary verb for the present and past perfect tenses and for the possessive construction ‘have got’ Unless these words occur after a pause, they can elide

E.g.: I have got some friends in Chicago

We’ve never done it

2 Has ~ ’s (it takes .y after voiced sounds and .r after voiceless sounds) E.g.: She has seen them

Trang 10

Sheila’s divorced

Pat’s done it

E.g.: He had failed three times | before he finally got his licence

It’d been great | before the police arrived

4 Perfect modals reduce have to

E.g Susan must have left Harry

Harry can’t have left Susan

I could have married her

I shouldn’t have let her go

We would have been happy together

We might have had kids

Do ~ Does

Strong Form:

The strong forms are used in the following cases:

1 citation

E.g.: The right answer is ‘does’, not ‘makes’

2 emphasis

E.g.: They do look gorgeous

3 contrast

E.g.: She tried to behave like a lady before, | but now she does behave like one

Trang 11

4 short yes-no questions and answers

E.g.: A: Do they? B: Yes they do

5 semantically loaded: main verb meaning ‘to perform’

E.g.: After doing the washing, | don’t forget to do my homework, Mum

6 stranding

E.g.: I don’t know what to do, Peter!

E.g.: Do you understand me?

Does Pamela ride horses?

Weak Form:

The weak forms

the form

E.g Why do you still date him?

Where do Alice and Aaron live?

When does the aeroplane take off?

Must

Strong Form:

1 citation

E.g.: The modal “must” | is the best option in this case

2 emphasis

E.g.: We must meet soon

3 contrast

E.g.: I don’t care whether you want to do it | you must do it

Trang 12

E.g.: A: Must I? B: Yes you must

5 stranding

E.g.: I’m afraid you must, darling

E.g.: Must I return the novel myself?

7 deduction: to show deduction in the present, the modal verb must is followed by the main verb; to indicate deduction in the past, the perfect modal must have is used, followed by the main verb

E.g.: You must be joking! (Are you really dating an 80-year-old man?)

Jennifer must have left by now (Her computer’s off)

Weak Form:

The weak form

stranding or any of the reasons mentioned above

E.g.: I must be off now

You must take good care |of this little dog of yours

Could – Would – Should – Will

According to Ortíz Lira (2008)7 the weak forms of these words are not essential, as the strong form can be used in any context This is possible because their strong forms take either

together with ? However, some other authors do mention the use of strong and weak forms with ? or without a vowel

Strong Form:

1 citation

E.g.: Can we use either ‘could’ | or ‘should’ here?

7

Ortíz Lira, H (2008) “The 37 essential weak form words”.

Trang 13

2 Emphasis or contrast

E.g.: I don’t think I will help you| although I definitely could

E.g.: A: Will they? B: Yes they will

4 stranding

E.g.: I don’t think you should

E.g.: Will you push the door, please?

Would you mind?

6 semantically loaded: main verb meaning ‘to urge, to desire’

E.g.: She was willing to travel

Weak Form:

The weak forms

questions The auxiliary verb would can be contracted to ’d, whose pronunciation is

E.g Why will you go to Cambridge | instead of Oxford?

I will never forgive you

Molly should move to the suburbs

It’d be better to leave everything as is

Trang 14

PRONOUNS & POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES

You – He – She – We – Me – Her – Us – Our – Their

Strong Form:

The strong forms of these words are used when they are cited, emphasized or contrasted They remain weak even before a pause because they cannot be stranded: as they do not require a complement, they cannot be followed by a syntactic gap

E.g.: The pronouns ‘she’ and ‘we’| are subjective

It was you who let the cat escape (Emphasis)

He wanted to get divorced, | but she didn’t (Contrast)

Are you talking to me | or to them? (Contrast)

Weak Form:

The weak form is the norm Remember that the weak form is used even before a pause Pay special attention to the following features:

• The weak forms of he, him, her, his, himselfand herself can elide g in any context except when they occur after a pause Relativewhocan also drop

E.g.: Tell him that you knew the judge who raped her | and then killed himself

• The words them and themselves usually elide schwa:

E.g.: We’d better stop them | before they hurt themselves

• Wells (2008) says that the word our presents great variation Some speakers use .!`T? as the strong form and @9.as the weak form; some other speakers only use either one or the other However, since smoothing of

latter can be found in any context What is more, if we stick to

transfer.!`v`.will not emerge

• The word their is normally Cd? Some speakers have an occasional weak form only when a vowel follows this word, but this is not obligatory

E.g.: On their own

Examples: Do you love me?

Trang 15

Prof Francisco Zabala – 2014 15 Brian told his sister Chloe| that her daughter should tell me about her marks

Will she tell them | that they can give us our tickets |before we leave?

The man who sold us this mobile phone | has lost his wallet

CONJUNCTIONS

According to Windsor Lewis (1997) “these by their nature virtually never end sentences Beginning sentences they usually sound only slightly less fluent in their strongforms than in their weakforms.” That is, the use of a strong form when a conjunction is the first word in a chunk is possible, but stylistically marked

‘And’

Strong Form:

The strong form

contrasting idea ‘not only but also’ Windsor Lewis states that the strong forms

“are often used sentence initially but usually with a fairly marked deliberate or hesitant effect, unless quickly uttered”

E.g.: The conjunction ‘and’ | expresses addition

I am blond and smart

‘And,’ he continued, | ‘you will be fired.’

And another thing,

Weak Form:

The weak form is the norm .?m is normally used, regardless of the phonetic context

E.g.: Sarah and Mary love pop

I came in |and opened the drawer

The elision of schwa is frequent after the alveolar plosives

nasals involved: E.g.: I want it in black and white

Định dạng
Số trang	20
Dung lượng	222,94 KB