Strong forms/weak forms

Grammatical words are words that help us construct the sentence but they don't mean anything: articles, prepositions, conjunctions, auxiliary verbs, etc.

These words have no stress, and so they are weakened. That weakened form is called "weak form" as opposed to a "strong form", which is the full form of the word pronounced with stress. The strong form only happens when we pronounce the words alone, or when we emphasize them. Weak forms are very often pronounced with a schwa, and so are very weak and sometimes a bit difficult to hear properly.

Sometimes weak forms are easy to spot, because we use contractions in the spelling to show it:

I am French (strong form) I'm French (weak form)

But usually there is no change of spelling, only the pronunciation is different:

But strong form: /bʌt/ weak form: /bət/

Tell him to go strong forms /hɪm/ /tu:/ weak form: /tel əm tə gəʊ/

As you can see, the grammatical words "him" and "to" are unstressed and have a weak form when pronounced inside a sentence.

another example: I would like some fish and chips

strong forms /aɪ wʊd laɪk sʌm fɪʃ ænd tʃɪps/ This version sounds unnatural and, believe it or not, more difficult to understand for a native speaker.

weak forms /ɑ wəd laɪk səm fɪʃ ən tʃɪps/ and we can use weaker forms sometimes: /ɑd laɪk səm fɪʃ ən tʃɪps/ so we can see that the auxiliary verb "would" has two weak forms /wəd/ and /d/

Students who are learning English usually use only strong forms, and they sound very unnatural. English speakers use weak forms all the time, every single sentence is full of them, and students find it difficult to understand because they are not used to them, and very often they don't even know they exist.

If you want to learn and practise weak forms follow these links:

Strong and weak forms a list of strong and weak forms for the most common grammatical words (you don't need to learn them, just realize that they exist). Some of the phonetic symbols they use are different from the standard transcription we use in this site, but they are easy to understand.

Weak forms in the sentence you have some examples of a sentence using weak forms, and you can also hear it (BrE).

31. style of speaking - your characteristic style or manner of expressing yourself orally; "his manner of speaking was quite abrupt"; "her speech was barren of southernisms"; "I detected a slight accent in his speech"

Various situations call for different speaking styles, just as various writitng assignments call for different writing styles. Here are four different styles that will suit every occasion:

1. Expressive Style is spontaneous, conversational, and uninhibited. Use this when you are expressing your feelings, joking, complaining, or socializing.

For example: "No way am I going to let that nerd force an incentive-pay plan on UPS workers."

2. Directive Style is an authoritative and judgemental style. We use this style to give orders, exert leadership, pass judgement, or state our opinions.

For example: "I want Mike Romig to explain the new pay plan to each manager."

3.Problem-Solving Style is rational, objective, unbiased, and bland. This is the style most commonly used in business dealings. We use it when we are solving problems and conveying routine information.

For example: "Stacy Lee might be able to present the plan more favorably."

4. Meta Style is used to discuss the communication process itself. Meta language enable us to talk about our interactions.

For example: "We seem to be ahving a hard time agreeing on the specifics of the incentive-pay plan."

http://linguapress.com/grammar/styles-of-english.htm

32. Schwa is the name for the most common sound in English. schwa an unstressed vowel, e.g. ‘a’ in ‘above’ or ‘e’ in ‘sicken’. It is a weak, unstressed sound and it occurs in many words. It is often the sound in grammar words such as articles and prepositions. It is represented in the International Phonetic Alphabet by the symbol
Getting the schwa sound correct is a good way of making your pronunciation more accurate and natural.

The a is schwa in adept.

The e is schwa in synthesis.

The i is schwa in decimal.

The o is schwa in harmony.

The u is schwa in medium.

The y is schwa in syringe.

Authorities vary somewhat in the range of what is considered a schwa sound, but the above examples are generally accepted.

33. H-dropping is a linguistic term used to describe the omission of initial /h/ in words like house, heat, and hangover in many dialects of English, such as Cockney and Estuary English. The same phenomenon occurs in many other languages, such as Serbian, andLate Latin, the ancestor of the modern Romance languages. Interestingly, both French and Spanish acquired new initial [h] in mediæval times, but these were later lost in both languages in a "second round" of h-dropping (however, some dialects of Spanish re-acquired /h/ from Spanish /x/). Many dialects of Dutch also feature h-dropping, particularly the southwestern variants. It is also known from several Scandinavian dialects, for instance Älvdalsmål and the dialect of Roslagen where it is found already in Runic Swedish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HI5BREjD1g

http://www.uv.es/anglotic/phonology/h-dropping/

34. glottal stop a consonantal speech sound created by closing and then opening the glottis before a vowel, which produces a sudden audible release of air. In languages such as Arabic, glottal stops are part of the standard consonant system.

http://davidbrett.uniss.it/phonology/glottalStop/glottalStop.html

35. “U”/Non “U” speaker

U and non-U English usage, with "U" standing for "upper class", and "non-U" representing the aspiring middle classes, was part of the terminology of popular discourse of social dialects (sociolects) in Britain and New England in the 1950s. The debate did not concern itself with the speech of the working classes, who in many instances used the same words as the upper classes. For this reason, the different vocabularies often can appear quite counter-intuitive: the middle classes prefer "fancy" or fashionable words, even neologisms and often euphemisms, in attempts to make themselves sound more refined, while the upper classes in many cases stick to the same plain and traditional words that the working classes also use, as, conscious of their status, they have no need to make themselves sound more refined.

http://www.nancymitford.com/noblesse-oblige-1956

http://poshbirdinlondon.blogspot.com/2010/02/u-and-non-u-some-things-never-change.html

36. prosody In linguistics, prosody (pronounced /ˈprɒsədi/ pross-ə-dee, from Greek προσῳδία, prosōidía, [prosɔːdía], “song sung to music; pronunciation of syllable”) is the rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech. Prosody may reflect various features of the speaker or the utterance: the emotional state of the speaker; the form of the utterance (statement, question, or command); the presence of irony or sarcasm; emphasis, contrast, and focus; or other elements of language that may not be encoded by grammar or choice of vocabulary.

37. Paralinguistics. The study of vocal (and sometimes non-vocal) signals beyond the basic verbal message orspeech.

Paralanguage includes pitch, loudness, rate, and fluency.

Para-linguistics are the nonverbal aspects of communications in different languages, such as body language and wordless expression. Examples are smiling,gestures or body movements, laughing, and more specifically, English-language examples include "um," "erm", "aha," and "mm-hmm."

38. Paralinguistic features of language are extremely important as they can change message completely. Tone and pitch of voice is commonly dealt with at all language levels, but a fuller consideration of paralinguistics is often left to very advanced courses.

Paralinguistic features (from Greek para: beside or beyond) are the vocal effects we can employ when we speak. These do not have the importance of prosodic features, which can change the meaning of an utterance.

Paralinguistic features are commonly referred to as "tone of voice". We can make our speech breathy or nasal or husky or creaky to create desired effects. Some people use very obvious lip-rounding when they talk to babies or small animals: "Coochy coochy coo." Spoken advertisements for certain products are often delivered in a low breathy voice, presumably to make them more alluring.

Whispering is one of the best examples of paralanguage; giggling and laughing also come into this category.

39. Tune one/Tune two

40. Grammatical prosody In phonetics, the use of pitch, loudness, tempo, and rhythm in speech to convey information about the structure and meaning of an utterance. Adjective: prosodic. In literary studies, the theory and principles of versification, especially as they refer torhythm, accent, and stanza.

41. “Hints” to reading

Before reading

1. Look at the title and introduction. What do you think the text is about ? Try to find a topic you are interested in. You are more likely to persevere with it.
2. Make a list of any relevant vocabulary you can think of.

First reading

1. Read the text once without stopping - some of the meaning will become clearer as you read through it.

Second reading

1. Underline words and expressions you are not sure of. Don't look them up immediately.
2. There should be one main idea per paragraph. Summarise each paragraph in one sentence.

Vocabulary

1. Don't look up every word !
2. First look at the CONTEXT. Do you NEED to know this word to understand the overall meaning ? (often a rough idea is enough e.g. a type of tree, a positive or negative emotion, an adjective meaning good or bad)
3. Can you guess the meaning ?

• what part of speech is it ? (verb, noun etc.) If it's an adjective, what noun does it agree with ?
• is it similar to a word in your own language or another language you know ?
• can you recognise the origin or root of the word?

Example

Streichholz (German) - holz = wood, streichen can be guessed (to strike)

• a piece of wood used for striking

allumette (French) - you know allumer (to light), -ette suggests it is small

• something small used for lighting things

fósforo (Spanish)

• you can guess that this relates to phosphorous, which is used to make the heads of matches

The meaning of each of these words, in the context, should therefore be clear i.e. they all mean "match".

1. Select a maximum of 10 words or expressions to look up in a good dictionary (use a monolingual dictionary to get a definition in the target language) Try to select vocabulary with a common theme. This will help you remember it.
2. Instead of simply writing the translation, include the word in a sentence which demonstrates its use in this context (remember the same word may have several different meanings).

+ http://www.mourass.eq.edu.au/reading_hints.htm

Date: 2015-02-16; view: 2628