Strong And weak Forms in Phonetics and Phonology

1. STRONG AND WEAK FORMS
The small words that manage the grammar in English have two different
pronunciations. These are called weak and strong forms.
Weak forms
The weak form or forms of a word are used only in unstressed positions. And the
weak forms of the words are of much more frequent occurrence than their strong
forms. Most weak forms have either schwa or short 'i' vowel sounds and they are
difficult to hear. These words are very important for the pronunciation of English
grammar
Strong forms
The strong form of a word is used when the word is said in isolation, or in
connected speech in which the word should be stressed. It is also used in certain
cases where the word is in unstressed positions.
Formation of the Weak forms
a, an, the, your, for, to, there: before consonants these words become weak form
words.
that': This word only has a weak form when used in a relative clause; when used
with a demonstrative sense it is always pronounced in its strong form.
his' : When used with a possessivesense, preceding a noun; as an object pronoun,
this can also occurat the end of a sentence. But before consonant it will become
weak.
some': This word is used in two different ways. In one sense (typically, when it
occurs before a countable noun, meaning "an unknown individual") it has the
strong form: 'I think some animal broke it'
It is also used before uncountable nouns (meaning "an unspecified amount of") and
before other nouns in the plural (meaning "an unspecified number of"); in such
uses it has the weak form s@m
Importance of learning weak forms

2. There are two main reasons:
1) first, most native speakers of English find an "all-strong form" pronunciation
unnatural and foreign-sounding, something that most learners would wish to avoid.
2) Second, and more importantly, speakers who are not familiar with the use of
weak forms are likely to have difficulty understanding speakers who do use weak
forms; since practically all native speakers of British English use them, learners of
the language need to learn about these weak forms to help them to understand what
they hear.
The average foreigner uses far too many strong forms; it is impossible to speak
English fluently unless the phenomenon of weak forms is properly understood and
their use acquired, preferably from the earliest stage
Use of strong forms
the strong form is used in the following cases:
1) Many weak form words when they occurat the end of the sentence it becomes
strong forms word. for example, the word 'ofhas the weak form əv in the following
sentence: 'I'm fond of chips' aḬm fɒnd əv ʧḬps
However, when it comes at the end of the sentence, as in the following example, it
has the strong form ɒv:
'Chips are what I'm fond of ʧḬps ə wɒt aim fɒnd ɒv
2) When a weak-form word is being contrasted with another word; for example:
'The letter's from him, not to him' ə letəz frɒm ɪm nɒt tu: Im
3) When a weak-form word is given stress for the purposeof emphasis; for
example:
'You must give me more money' ju mʌst gɪv mi mͻ: mʌnɪ
4) When a weak-form word is being "cited" or "quoted";for example:
'You shouldn't put "and" at the end of a sentence' ju: ʃʊdnt pʊt ænd ət i end əv
ə sentəns
Some weak words:

3. Preposition
At, ət I'll see you at lunch
In, ɪ n . He is in class room
from, frəm I'm home from work
to tə Try to stop
on ən He is on time
Auxiliary verbs
Am əm I am a student
are ə Where are you from?
have həv Do you have some
books?
has həd Most had gone home
does dəz What does it mean
Modelverbs
Can kən They can wait
Will wɪl He will eat
Would wəd I would like to have juice
Shall ʃ əl She shall need to hurry
must məst He must eat it
Articles
A ə Read a book
An ən Eat an apple
The ə Shut the door
Note: before consonants the will be the weak form word (e.g ə, ‫ﺩﺍ‬ )
and before vowel it will the strongest form worb ( e.g i: ‫.)ﺩﻯ‬