WEAK FORMS to: /tə/ (before consonants) = to play = /tə pleɪ/
/tʊ/ (before vowels) = to eat = /tʊ iːt/ CHAPTERV
FEATURES
OF
CONNECTED SPEECH
ENGLISH SENTENCE STRESS and SCHWA *CONTENT WORDS are the key words of a sentence. They are the important words that carry the information or meaning in a sentence. *Do you say every English word with the SAME STRESS or FORCE? NO.
NATIVE SPEAKERS of English listen for the STRESSED WORDS, not the WEAK WORDS. If you use SENTENCE STRESSin your speech, you will understand spoken English. STRESSED WORDS are the KEY to excellent pronunciation and understanding of English. *FUNCTION WORDS are not very important words. They are SMALL WORDS that make the sentence correct grammatically. UNSTRESSED WORDS are weak, small or quiet. *If you remove the CONTENT WORDSfrom a sentence, you can’t undersand the sentence. The sentence has no meaning without the CONTENT WORDS. *If you remove the FUNCTION WORDS from a sentence, you can understand the sentence. FUNCTION WORDS have little meaning. *It is the part of a GOOD ACCENT. Every language has its own RHYTHM or BEAT. SENTENCE STRESS is the MUSIC of spoken English. *SENTENCE STRESS gives English its RHYTHM. We use strong and weak ‘BEATS’ in sentences. The mixture of STRESSED and UNSTRESSED words gives English its RHYTHM. *SENTENCE STRESS help us to understand spoken English when people speak English fast. We reduce WEAK WORDS or SYLLABLES. *With SENTENCE STRESS, some words in a sentence are STRESSED (important, loud, big) and other words are UNSTRESSED (weak, quiet, unimportant, small). SENTENCE STRESS is a GOLDEN KEY to speaking and understanding English. *IF YOU STRESS EVERY WORD OR SYLLABLE EQUALLY, YOU SOUND ANGRY, IMPATIENT OR YOU GIVE NEGATIVE FEELINGS...
STRESS& UNSTRESS
STRESSED
(OPEN CLASS WORDS)
UNSTRESSED
(CLOSED CLASS WORDS)
VERBS
(go, come, read...)
AUXILIARIES
(was, will, are, can, could...)
NOUNS
(school, home...)
ARTICLES
(a, an, the)
ADJECTIVES
(big, clever...)
PREPOSITIONS
(from, to, of...)
ADVERBS
(slowly, hard..)
CONJUNCTION
(but, that, as, and, or...)
DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS (that, this, these, those)
PRONOUNS
(we, they, them...)
NEGATIVES (can’t, wouldn’t, don’t...)
QUANTIFIERS
(some...)
QUESTION WORDS (what, when, why, where...)
INTERJECTIONS (EXCLAMATIONS)
(oh!, wow!...)
PREPOSITIONAL ADVERBS
(Do you want to go out ?)
(where do you come from?)
*STRESSED SYLLABLES are high, long, and loud.
*UNSTRESSED SYLLABLES are low, short, quiet, and one-syllable words.
Content words = information words = stressed = important words...
Function words = non information = grammatical = unimportant...
