This document discusses strong and weak syllables in English. It defines strong syllables as having full vowels and weak syllables as having reduced vowels like schwa. Weak syllables can contain schwa, close front vowels like i, close back vowels like u, or syllabic consonants like nasalized n. Function words like prepositions and articles typically have weak forms with reduced vowels in connected speech. The document also discusses syllabic liquids and nasals that can occupy the vowel slot in weak syllables. Strong forms are used for emphasis, stress, or when words are pronounced in isolation.

1. Strong /Weak Syllables & Weak Forms-Definitions: Strong/ Weak
-Schwa/ Close Front and Close Back Vowels
-Syllabic Consonants: Nasal/Lateral/ Flap
-Weak Forms: Functions Words-Rules about Use of
Strong Forms
:P
repared by
Zhian Fadhil
Asaad

2. Strong /Weak Syllables & Weak Forms
English syllables divided into two types, strong and weak. This
feature is not in English language only but in many other
languages. Strong and weak syllables in English can be
distinguished on the basis of vowel quality when we compare
weak syllable with strong syllable we find that the vowel of a weak
syllable tends to be shorter of lower intensity and different in
quality, is less loud and has a vowel that can not occur in strong
syllables. eg. Father the second syllable which is weak is shorter
than the first. (Roach,2000,p81)
Critical for deciding between these factors are syllables
containing unstressed, unreduced vowels.

3. Crystal (2004: 247) states that strong (or full) forms are used when
the word is said in isolation or is being emphasized. Weak forms
are normal in connected speech: peripheral vowels (those which
are articulated towards the edge of the vowel area in the mouth)
are replaced by those of more central quality, and some
consonants may be elided.
(Roach,2000,p82)defines a weak syllable as the one that can only
have four types of center:
1. the vowel "schwa"
2. A close front unrounded vowel in the general area of i: and i
3. A close back rounded vowel in the general area of u: and u
4. A syllabic consonant

4. Weak forms




Weak forms are usually distinguished by a change in
vowel quality from a border position on the vowel
quadrilateral to a central position.
The vowel in a weak form is usually the schwa (ə).
Weak forms are pronounced more quickly and at
lower volume in comparison to the stressed
syllables.
They are also not central to changes in intonation

5. Strong forms
Strong forms are often found:
1)When they occur at the end of a word
2) When a word is contrasted with another
word
3)When a word is stressed for emphasis
4)When a word is being quoted.

6. …..Weak Syllables Will have
 four




types of center:
The vowel (" shwa") better /betə/
A close front unrounded vowel in the general
area of i: and i symbolized i /hæ pi/
A close back rounded vowel in the general
area of u: and ʊ symbolized u
A syllabic consonant

7. Schwa
Crystal(2003,p.407) states that The usual name for the natural
vowel [ə], heard in English at the begning of such words a ( ago,
amaze, or in the middle of afterward),sometimes called the
indefinite vowel. It is particularly frequent vowel in English as it’s
the one most commonly heard when a stressed vowel becames
unstressed eg. Telegraph/teləgra:f/ becaming telegrahpy/tə’legrəfi/
Schwa in English is mainly found in unstressed positions, but in
some other languages occurs more frequently as a stressed
vowel.

8. Close Front Vowels
Roach(2000,p.84) states that vowels are found in weak
syllables( in the general region of i: and I ). And according to
Crystal (2003,p.240) ,[i:] is produced when front of tongue raised
to slightly below and behind close front position; lips spread;
tongue tense side rims make firm contact with upper molars.
[I ] is produce when part of tongue near centre than front raised to
just above have close position; lips loosely spread; tongue lax rims
make light contract with upper molars.
Eg. /i:zi:/ easy ,/bI zi:/ busy

9. Close Back Vowels
Roach(2000,p.84) states that vowels are found in weak syllables.
Close back rounded ( in the general region of u: and U ). And
according to Crystal (2003,p.240) [u:] produced when the back of
tongue raised to just below close position; lips closely rounded ;
tongue tense , no firm contact between rims and upper molars.
[U ] produced when the tongue is near centre than back ,raised to
just above half-close position; lips closely but loosely rounded
tongue lax ; no firm contact between rims and upper molars.

10. Syllabic Consonants: Nasal/Lateral/
Flap
Nasal: Syllabic-n
Consider the syllables that make up the following word.
garden /gɑ(r)/ + /dən/ = /ˈgɑ(r) dən/ {1}
The first syllable /gɑ/ consists of a CV sequence and the second
syllable /dən/ of a CVC arrangement. The first syllable is said to
be a stressed syllable, i.e. it is given more weight, more
emphasis, when spoken. The second syllable is
an unstressed syllable . In unstressed syllables that end
in /n/ the immediately preceding vowel is usually the neutral
vowel /ə/. This results in the final /n/ taking on the full measure
of the syllable. This is known as syllabic-n and it is
transcribed in IPA as [n̩]. Thus:
garden /ˈgɑ(r)dən/ → [ˈgɑ(ɹ)dn̩] {2}
We see, therefore, that the second syllable no longer contains a
vowel. Further examples of syllabic-n include the following.
frighten /ˈfraɪtən/ → [ˈfraɪtn̩] ,button /ˈbʌtən/ → [ˈbʌtn̩]


11. 






The most frequently found in (n)
Most common after alveolar plosives and fricatives, [t ,d ,s ,
z , followed by n , the plosive nasally released by lowering
the soft palate. E.g eaten /i:tn/ the tongue doesn’t move in
the tn sequence but the soft palate is lowered at the end of
t so the compressed air escaped through nose.
(n) can’t be usually found after l , tʃ , d3
Syllabic n after non-alveolar consonant is not so widespread
. E.g ‘wagon’
Syllabic n after bilabial consonants ‘ ribbon’
After velar consonants , syllabic n is also possible ‘waken’
After f, v , syllabic n is more common ‘seven’

12. Syllabic-m
Syllabic-m
As well as the occurrence of syllabic-n in unstressed
syllables, syllabic-m can occur in similar environments.
Examples of syllabic-m, which similarly take the full measure of a
syllable, i.e. taking the nuclear vowel slot in the syllable, include
the following.
rhythm /ˈrɪðəm/ → [ˈɹɪðm̩]
bottom /ˈbɒtəm/ → [ˈbɒtm̩]
blossom /ˈblɒsəm / → [ˈblɒsm̩]

13. Syllabic-ng
In certain environments, the third English nasal /ŋ/ may also occur
as a syllabic consonant. Consider the following:
broken /ˈbrəʊkən/ → [ˈbɹəʊkŋ̩]
Here, the /ən/ sequence is compressed. Such compression could
plausibly yield syllabic-n in the nuclear vowel slot, i.e. [ˈbɹəʊkn̩].
Further, in some instances, the occurrence of a velar plosive (here
/k/) adjacent to a nasal (here /n/) leads to the nasal assimilating a
feature of the velar plosive. Now, it occasionally happens that the
nasal assimilates the place of articulation of the velar plosive /k/,
i.e. the velar position. This yields a velar nasal. Of course, the
English velar nasal is /ŋ/ (as in the word wing /wɪŋ/). Hence, we
can argue that [ˈbɹəʊkn̩] undergoes an assimilatory process to
yield [ˈbɹəʊkŋ̩]. This assimilation is more likely to occur if the nasal
consonant /n/ occurs between two velar consonants, as in the
following example.
broken key /ˈbrəʊkən ki/ → [ˈbɹəʊkŋ̩ ki]

14. Syllabic liquids
Syllabic liquids
There are two ‘liquid’ phonemes in English: /l/ as in look, and /r/ as
in run.
Syllabic-l
Examples of syllabic-l filling the vowel slot in unstressed syllables
include the following.
handle /ˈhændəl/ → [ˈhændɬ̩]
bottle /ˈbɒtəl/ → [ˈbɒtɬ̩]
bagel /ˈbeɪgəl/ → [ˈbeɪgɬ̩]

15. Syllabic-r
Rhotic accents are accents in which /r/ can occur before
consonants (e.g. as in park /pɑrk/, cart /kɑrt/, card /kɑrd/) and
before pauses (e.g. as in core /kɔr/, car /kɑr/, bar /bɑr/). The
majority of American English accents are rhotic but the Standard
British English accent is non-rhotic. Standard British English
pronunciation of the immediately prior examples would
be: park /pɑk/, cart /kɑt/, card /kɑd/
and
core /kɔ/, car /kɑ/, bar /bɑ/. Syllabic-r is widespread in rhotic
accents but severely limited in non-rhotic accents. Roach
(2009:70) provides the example of the word particular, which is
likely to be pronounced as /pr̩tɪkjəlr̩/ by most Americans in careful
speech, i.e. with syllabic-r, but as /pətɪkjələ/ by Standard British
English speakers.

16. Flap
In phonetics, a flap or tap is a type of consonantal sound, which
is produced with a single contraction of the muscles so that one
articulator (such as the tongue) is thrown against another.
Flaps are most typically made by retracting the tongue tip behind
the alveolar ridge and moving it forward so that it strikes the ridge
in passing."
Spajić, Ladefoged & Bhaskararao (1996), 'The Trills of Toda', Journal of the International
Phonetic Association, 26:1-21. p. 2
Flap
In PHONOLOGY: a sound articulated in such a way that one articulator,
usually the tongue tip, is drawn back and then allowed to strike against
another articulator in returning to its rest position EXAMPLE:in American
English /r/ in mirror or /t/ in dirty are often flaps.
(cf. Ladefoged (1975))

17. Weak Forms: Functions Words-Rules
about Use of Strong Forms
Weak Forms: is that which is result of a word being unstressed ,
as in normal pronunciation of (of) in (cup of tea) and in most other
grammatical words. Several words in English have more than one
weak form eg. And can be [ænd], [ənd] ,[ən] or [n]. the notion is
also applied to syntactically conditioned forms , such as my (weak)
v. mine (strong). Crystal(2003,p.498)
O'Connor(1980,p92) states that the use of weak form is an
essential part of English speech and usually they are not
pronounced alone and usually they are not stressed and the forms
with /ə/ are used and they known as the weak form of those
words.

18. Words-Rules about Use of Strong
Forms
•Whenever
the word is stressed as it may be :
/hæv ju:/
•Whenever the word is final in the group:
/ju: a:/ . Exceptions : he ,him, his , her, them, us have their weak
form in final , O'Connor(1980,p95)

19. Thank you