Connected speech 273

The dark blue pattern is the best

10<1 durk blu: patn IZ 0<1 bestl
I 2 3 4567 8
R F F FR RR F

Syllable I has a reduced vowel and is hence short. Syllables 2 and 3 have full
vowels and are long. Syllable 4 has a full vowel but is shortened from long
because Syllable 5 with a reduced vowel borrows time from it. Syllables 6 and
7 each take the short time of syllables with reduced vowels. Finally Syllable 8
has a full vowel and is long.'

1 1.3 Weak forms

Lexical words (both monosyllables and polysyllables) generally retain their full
vowels in connected speech and hence have a level of prominence above that of syl
lables with reduced vowels, even when no pitch prominence is associated with them.
But many function words (pronouns, prepositions, auxiliary verbs, conjunctions,
articles) have different patterns according to whether they are unaccented (as is
usual) or accented (in special situations or when said in isolation). Compared
with the accented (STRONG) forms, the unaccented WEAK forms of these words
show reductions of the length of sounds, centralisation of vowels towards 1<I,I,ul
and the elision of vowels and consonants. The following list of examples presents
the most common of these words, first in their unaccented (normal) weak form
and secondly in their less usual" accented strong form. More common weak forms
are given first (C = any consonant, V = any vowel):

Unaccented Accented
a 1<11 lell
am /om, J11, ml laml
an /on, 1,1, nl lanl
and lan, <In, 1,1, n, ond, nd/ landl
any C + Inil leni/
(e.g. Got any money? Igut ni 'mxni/)
are 1<11 la:1
as I<lz, zi lazl
at I<lt/ lat/
be Ibil /bir,'
because Iblk<lz/, Ib<lk<lz/, Ik<lzl /brknz/
been Ibml Ibi:nl
but C + /bot/, V + Ibt/ + V /bxt,'
can (aux.) C + /kon/, V + Ik1,11 Ikanl
could C + /kod/, V + Ikdl /kudl
do (aux.) Id<ll + C, Idw, dul + V Idu:1
(e.g. do that /do 'öat/, do it /dwrt/)
274 Words and connected speech

does (aux.) Is, z, doz/ IdAZI

(e.g. What's he do? /wnts i: "dur/,
When s he arrive? Iwenz i: 'rarv/)
for 16:1
from /from, frm, fqll /from/
(e.g. The man from the ... man fm
had (aux.) /hod, od, d/ /hadl
(e.g. what he'd done, what John had done)
has (aux.) /hoz, cz, z, si /hazl
(e.g. What's he got, When s he got time?)
have (aux.) /hov, cv, vi /havl
(e.g. What 've you done, I 've done it)
he Ihi, il /hi:1
her /ho, 3:, /h3:1
herself /ho' self, 3:' self, oself/ /hstself/
him Irml /hrm/
himself /rmself, rzself/ /hrmself
(he did it himself Ihi drd rt izself/)
his Irzl /hrz/
is Is, zl IIZI
(e.g. it s not Irts 'rmt, he's coming Ihi:z 'ksmrn/)
just I Id:3ASt/
me Imi! Imi:1
must /mos, most/ /mxst/
not Int 1;11 Inutl
of v, luvl
(e.g. one ofmy . . . /'WAll mall)
shall JV Ifal/
she Iftl Ift:1
should C+ V + Ifdl Ifudl
Sir IS3:1
some (adj.)" /som, sm/ ISAffiI
than /öon, 01;11 /öan,'
that (conj. and rel. pron.)" loat/
the loi! + V,11 +C lai:1
them /öom, öm, om, m, ml /öem/
(e.g. Tell them to do it Itel om 'du: rt/)
themselves /öom' selvzl /öem selvzl
there (indef. adv.)" Iod (rare)
(e.g. There were lots ofthem wa 'Iuts öom,'
to (and into, onto, unto) +C Itu:1
Im, twl + V
us si IAsl
was Iwuzl
 Connected speech 275

we Iwi/ Iwi:1
were IW<JI IW3:1
who Ihu, u/ 13 /hu:1
will l<Jl, t, l/ IwIlI
would C + IW<Jd, od/, V + Idl Iwudl
you Ijul Iju:1
your Ij<JI Ij;):, jU<JI
yourselj, yourselves Ij<J'self, jaselvz/ Ij;):' self, jor' selvzl

Particularly common uses of reduced forms involve auxiliary verb plus not.
Auxiliary verb plus not are shown, for example, in the combinations he, she, it
+ isnt and we, you, they + arent (note also the question form aren t I? I' urnt ar/);
similarly wasn t, weren t, can't /kumtI, couldn't /kodnt/, doesn t, don t /doont/
but note don't know /deoneo, da'nao/, hasn t, haven t, shan't Ifamt/, shouldn t
1'f<Jdnt/, won t /woont/, wouldn t I'w<Jdnt/. Additionally a final Itl may be lost before
a word beginning with a vowel (sometimes with assimilation), e.g. /kum 'Iirv/,
/dxzn 'f<Ju/, IW<JulJ "geo/,
Reduced forms in pronoun plus auxiliary combinations are shown in I 'm, he 50,
she 50, we 're IWI<J/, you 're Ij;):/, they're Iod and all subject pronouns plus will,
would, have, had, e.g. Iwi:l/, Iju:d/, loelv/, plus sequences like you would have
/jurdev/. Note also the question forms: do you Id:3u:1 or Id:3<J/, don t you I'd<Jun!lh/,
did you I' dld:3u/, didn t you I'didnfu/, 'would you I'wud:3u/, 'wouldn t you I'wudnfu/.
Note also the mild imperative let us Ilets/.
The only weak forms which can end sentences are those of pronouns. Thus
auxiliary verbs (and those main verb forms identical to auxiliaries) such as am,
are, be, can, could, do, does, had, has, have, is, must, shall, was, were, will,
would retain a strong form when they occur finally even though they are
unaccented, e.g. Who 50 got it? 1 have I' ar hav/; he 50 not sure, but I am Ihi:z nnt
'joo bot "at ami.
Some prepositions, e.g. to, from, at, for, of, apart from having a strong form
when receiving a primary accent, also keep a strong form when final and
unaccented, e.g. Where have they gone to? (ltu:/, also /tu/, but not /to/); Where 50
he come from? (zfrom/ rather than /from/); What are you laughing for, at? (zfor,
at/); What were you thinking of? (luvi). This applies, too, when prepositions
and auxiliary verbs occur finally in a rhythmic group including at a 'deletion
site' where the following item is understood, e.g. He looked at latl and solved
the problem; or people who can afford to Itu:1 (= 'do so'), buy luxuries, cf.
People who can afford to It<JI buy luxuries, do so.
Some function words, not normally possessing an alternative weak form for
unaccented occurrences, may show such reductions in rapid or casual speech,
e.g. I (I<JI) don't know; I go by (/b<J/) bus; Do you know my (zme/) brother?; for
love nor (ln<J/) money; two or (I<J/) three; ever so (ls<J/) many; Scotland or (I<Jr/)
England. These weak forms are often common only in a limited number of
phrases, e.g. What are you doing? /wnt <J j<J "dunj/ or even Iwuf<J "dunj/; and, in
276 Words and connected speech

the case of or, particularly occur in linking two numbers as in the example above.
In the case ofthe disyllables any, many, a qualitative prominence may be retained
on the first syllable, i.e. leni, meni/, but fully reduced, unaccented, forms may
be heard following a vowel in rapid speech, e.g. Have any more come? /havni
'mo: kxm/; How many do you want? /hao mni d3U 'wnnt/, Other monosyllabic
function words normally retain their strong vowels in unaccented positions, e.g.
on, when, then, one, between, but again, although rather less commonly, reduced
vowel forms may be heard in rapid speech, especially when the word is adjacent
to a strongly accented syllable, e.g. What on (/<Jnl or earth!; When (zwan/)
s
all said and done; Then (/o<Jnl) after a time; One (zwan/) always hopes; Between
(ztwm/) you and me.
The more rapid the speech the greater the tendency to reduction and centrali-
sation of unaccented words." Even monosyllabic lexical words may be reduced
in rapid speech, if they occur in a relatively unaccented positions adjacent to
a primary accent and especially if they contain a short vowel, e.g. !AI in He 'll
come back I'hi:l kam bakl and lei in Don t get lost /doont qot 'Iost/. 111 and lul
may themselves be further reduced to I<J/, e.g. You sit over here Iju S<Jt <JuV<J 'hI<J/,
He put it there /hi pat rt 'oe:/. The more prominent short vowels la,ul are
only occasionally liable to reduction, e.g. lai in They all sat down on the floor
loeI ;):1 S<Jt daon on öo 'flor/, lul in We want to go I'wi: wont t<J qeo/, Finally,
the diphthong l<Ju/, with its dominant central [<J] element, is readily reducible to
I<JI under weak accent, e.g. You can t go with him Iju kamt g<J 'WIO rm/; He s
going to do it /hi:z g<Jn<J 'du: rt/; I don't know /ar donso/ (the last two often
spelt gonna and dunno in the representation of rapid speech).

11.4 Acquisition of rhythm and weak forms by

native learners
Such little evidence as there is suggests that some children often start off by
using the strong forms of function words. They also tend towards a constant
length for each syllable and do not apply the Borrowing Rule (see §11.2 above),
or, in more traditional terms, they have a syllable-timed rhythm.

I 1.5 Rhythm and weak forms-advice to foreign learners

Rhythmical shortening of full vowels occurring before I<J,II should be attended to;
such shortenings can be practised in pairs like short vs shorter, lead vs leading,
bus vs bus es, wet vs wetted, John vs John looked ill, one vs one for tea, John
vs John 'll go etc. Those with a syllable-timed LI like Cantonese, French, Hindi,
Italian, Spanish and Bantu languages, must give particular attention to such
shortenings.
Leamers who aim at a native English accent (British or American) must learn"
the weak forms of function words and regard them as the regular pronunciations,
using the strong forms only on those limited occasions where they are used (e.g.
 Connected speech 277

under special emphasis or contrast and in final positions). The reduction to

in these words will not automatically follow from the teaching of rhythm. Even
advanced learners often do not use as many weak forms as native speakers.

11.6 Intonation l 6, 17
The acoustic manifestation of intonation is fundamental frequency (see §3.2.1)
which is perceived by listeners as pitch. Pitch changes in English have three
principal functions: (i) they signal the division of utterances into INTONATIONAL
PHRASES (besides pitch change, other phonetic cues often mark such boundaries,
in particular, pause, final syllable lengthening and changes in the speed with
which unaccented syllables are produced)-boundaries between intonational
phrases generally correspond syntactically with clause and major syntactic phrase
boundaries (see further in § 11.6.1.1 below); (ii) they signal syllables with primary
and secondary accent, both in the citation of isolated words as already mentioned
in §§ 10.1-10.2 and in the longer utterances of speech; (iii) the shape of the
tunes produced by pitch changes can carry various types of meaning, primarily
discoursal (i.e. establishing the links between various parts of utterances) and
attitudinal; particularly important is the pitch pattern beginning at the primary
accent and ending at the end of the intonational phrase-often called the NUCLEAR
TONE. It should be noted that, while the variation in intonation between languages
(and between dialects of English) is not as great as that involved in segments,
it is nonetheless sufficient to cause a strong foreign accent and in some cases
lead to misunderstanding. The intonation of GB is described in the following
sections. Differences between GB and GA are relatively limited; differences
between GB and that of a number of northern British cities are considerable (see
under § 11.6.3 below).

11.6.1 The forms of intonation 18

11.6.1.1 Intonational phrases
The boundaries between intonational phrases may be indicated by a combination
of internal and external factors. Most obvious among the external ones is pause:
in the following example pauses can occur at the points where boundaries are
indicated by / (we omit standard punctuation marks but continue to use capitals
at the beginning of sentences):

In the past five years / the way that services are delivered to the public /
from both state enterprises / and private companies / has changed almost
out of recognition / If we wish to make an enquiry by telephone / we have
to choose between a number of options / and then between a further series
of options / and so on / Even after this series of choices / we may have to
listen to canned music / for a short time / or a long time / or a very long