Reduction of function words in English. Words always weak in unstressed position.

The basic principle of utterance-stress in English, as in other languages, is that form-words, or functional words, are not stressed, unless there is a need for special contrast or prominence on them. The list of functional words that are generally unstressed in speech includes articles, prepositions, conjunctions, some pronouns, auxiliary and modal verbs.

An important feature of English pronunciation is the weake­ning and reduction of functional words in an unstressed position in an utterance. However, not all functional words are always reduced when unstressed. Some of them may be both weak and strong. There is yet another group of functional words which are never reduced.

Thus, according to their pronunciation in an unstressed position functional words can be divided into three groups.

I. Words always weak in an unstressed position

word strong form weak form

Note: The strong form of these words is used when the word is said in isolation or with special emphasis.

Не нашли, что искали? Воспользуйтесь поиском: