Reduction of function words in English. Words which may be both weak and strong in an 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.

16. When a Low Rise is used it indicates for the hearer that the Utterance is not finished and there is a continuation without which the information is incomplete. An. important characteristic of this intonation pattern is the high pitch of the prenuclear part (the High or the Stepping Head).

e. g.: Mr. 'Priestley's,daughter 'studies at a 'business college.

This pattern is typically pronounced in grammatically incomplete parts of utterances, such as

a) adverbial phrases:

A 'few days ago we 'went to a 'fast-food restaurant.

b) enumeration:

On the 'ground floor there is a /kitchen, a /pantry, a/dining-room, a cosy sitting-room and my 'husband's study.

c) initial subordinate clauses:

When 'Betty 'studied at /college she had a 'lot of friends.

d) principal clauses formed by the author's words in reported speech:

My 'younger 'sister /says \ that she 'can't stand 'loud music.

This pattern can also be used in an initial part of a compound sentence, especially when the adjacent clauses are syrnmetrical in their grammatical structure and meaning (in this case a Low Rise is often replaced by a Mid-High Rise)

There is a plate in front of John and there’s a plate in front of Mary.

17. A Falling nuclear tone, due to its categoric and definite character, adds greater semantic weight to a non-final group in comparison with the Low Rising pattern.

Cf. 1 live near the bus-stop and the metro station.

I 'live near the bus-stop which is very convenient.

It must be noted that the Falling tone in non-final groups often has the so-called "not-low ending", i. e. when the ending level of the fall doesn't reach the bottom of the voice range.

This variant of a Fall lacks the effect of semantic completeness and is therefore most typical of semantically important but incomplete parts of sentences.

Falling tones used in structurally independent non-final intonation-groups usually end on a low pitch, at the bottom of the voice range:

Cf. Once or twice a week we 'go to the pictures.

The 'train 'leaves at nine so we have 'little time left.

18. A Falling-Rising nuclear tone (Divided or Undivided) is perhaps the most widely used pattern of non-final groups in English. It has a complex semantic effect, since it conveys two kinds of meaning: 1) special semantic importance or emphasis — due to the falling component of the tone, 2) semantic incompleteness and close links with the continuation — due to the rising component of the tone. Such a semantic relationship is most typical of cases when the non-final group is contrasted either to what follows in the same utterance or to what precedes it in the earlier context:

In 'front of the house we have a 'small garden. At the back of the house there's a 'much larger garden.

When the context does not imply the meaning of contrast, the function of the falling-rising tone is to express emphasis:

My daughter's name is Susan. Susan is the eldest child in the family.

The prenuclear part of a Falling-Rising tune often takes the pattern of a Sliding Head:

We went to the pictures last night, and saw a very interesting film.

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