Unit 10 Strong Forms & Weak Forms

Strong forms & Weak forms  Strong forms: stressed forms  Weak forms: unstressed forms (/  /),e.g. WordsStrong VowelsWeak Vowels at /  / /  / has /  / /  / she /  :/ /  / could /  / /  /

 Some English words only have strong forms, but other  words have both strong forms and weak forms. These words are called structural words. They include many thousands in English, but among them 45 are important to English learners, including the following 5 groups :  1)determiners 2)pronouns ; 3)connectives ;  4)auxiliary verbs; 5) prepositions.   1.The factors that influence the usage of strong form or  weak form of a structural word :  1) the position of a word in a sentence;  2) the degree of stress of a word ; and  3) other factors.  When they bear stress, no change in sound quality  takes place and so the strong forms are  used. Otherwise, weak forms are used.

2. Signs which a weak form of a word may be noted by:  (1) a shortening in the length of a vowel,e.g.  /i:/------/i/ as in we, he, been.  /u:/ -----/u/ as in to, who, you.  /[:/-----/[/ as in sir, were, per.  (2)a change in a vowel sound, e.g.  was /wCz/ /w[z/,  us /Qs/----- /[s/,  by /bai/ /b[, bi/.  (3) the absence of a sound, e.g.  and/And/ /nd,[n,n/,  them/Tem/ /Tm/,  her/hE:/ /[:,[/.

3. The rules for the uses of strong forms: 1) Strong forms are used when structural words occur at the end of a sense group or a sentence. e.g.  Music is what I fond of./ What are you looking at ?  What is he waiting for ?/ Where did you get from ? 2) Strong forms are used when such words are in contrast. e.g.  I have a letter for him,not from him. 3) Strong forms are used when such words are used for emphasis.  I think maybe ``you know it. 4) Strong forms are used when they are being used as nouns. e.g.  Did you say ``“he”?  “A”, “an ”,and “the” are articles.  Note : Negative contract forms do not take weak forms, such as haven’t, can’t, etc