What are weak forms? - Connected Speech | English Pronunciation

In this video we are going to look at weak forms. You learn what weak forms are compared to full forms and why they occur in English. You might have asked yourself why it is sometimes so difficult to understand spoken English because words all seem to run together into one long word - other words seem to become very short or disappear! This is because English is a stress-timed language, and it is therefore full of weak forms when we speak naturally! Those weak forms are reduced versions of grammatical words. They can sound very different when they are said in isolation compared to in a sentence. We will go over some common weak forms, and you will see what an important role the schwa sound plays in weak forms. At the end, there is a little test for you as always :-)

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Chapters
0:00 What are weak forms - INTRO
2:10 Weak forms vs. full forms
3:40 Why do we have weak forms? Content words vs. grammatical words
6:20 Common weak forms
15:20 Summary: weak forms
17:04 TEST 'Can you recognise the weak forms?'

#weakforms #connectedspeech #phonology

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Stress-timed vs. syllable-timed languages
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Sentence Stress in English
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Connected Speech: Assimilation, Elision & Intrusion
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What is a syllable?
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What is word stress? Part 1
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Video on The Phonemic Chart (vowels, diphthongs & consonants):

The Vowel Chart
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Video on Diphthongs Introduction

[BillieEnglish]

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[nisreen]

اتمنى انطيج مليون لايك ع هالشرح والالقاء الحلو ❤

[ramamonato]

Languages are classified into two groups: 1. syllable-timed languages (e.g. Japanese, Indonesian, etc.)
2. stress-timed languages (e.g. English, German, Russian).
In a stress-timed language, the stressed syllables are said at approximately regular intervals, and unstressed syllables shorten to fit this rhythm. Words that should be pronounced with stress are content words, namely nouns, verbs (except for "be"), adjectives, adverbs, negative contractions and demonstrative (this, that, etc.). Other words are called grammatical words, and these words are not pronounced with strong stress at all. Moreover, they are made weakened by being pronounced with a schwa or other weak vowels. Such words are called "weak forms". In Indonesia, people speak English with strong forms only and treat English as if it were a syllable-timed language. For native speakers of English, it is tiring to listen to an Indonesian speak English since they need much energy and patience during listening.

[ramesh.varsha]

As always, it's very useful video.

[veronikamichalkova]

The strong/weak picture analogy is brilliant, thank you Billie :)

[receivedpronunciation]

The topic of strong forms vs weak forms can also be found in Dutch and German. For example, Willeke Albertie in 1965 sang a Dutch song "De Winter Was Lang". In the last line she sang:

"De winter was lang, eenzaam en [ən] koud".

Instead of saying [ɛn] with a strong form for "en" (=and), she used the weak form [ən]. The weak form to "en" can also be found in counting numbers, such as: "vierenveertig" (44). The "en" there is pronounced with a schwa, thus: [ˈfiːrənfeːrtəx].

In German, there is only one word that has a weak form. It is "es". When being strong form, it is pronounced [ɛs]. When pronounced in its weak form, it is pronounced [əs] and even [s] as in a common expression for greeting someone:

"Wie geht es [ˈɡeːtəs] Ihnen?"
"Wie geht's [ˈɡeːts] dir?"

Once, I tuned in to the German programme of Deutsche Welle on shortwave. The newsreader said like this:

"Es [ɛs] ist dreiundzwanziɡ Uhr Weltzeit. In Deutschland ist_es [ɪstəs] ein Uhr."

[joelmasamba]

Oh my gosh!!!! Thanks a lot about your great lesson my amazing teacher keep up the good work!!!! Muna improve my level up coz i wanna understand even angels when speaking English

[diagnembaye]

Interesting like all your lessons. Many thanks.

[melisaurun]

what is the difference between assimilation and weak forms?

[joelmasamba]

Thanks a lot about your great lesson my amazing teacher keep up the good work!!!! You have been helping us more Munna supprise the people when speaking English

[amirahamdy]

Thank you so much Billie! with love and respect.

[narendra_ughade]

The way you explain it's brilliant

[pgamingminecraft]

Dear madam,
When to use English Strong forms properly?
Do BBC English News Channel News readers use only strong forms in news reading?
Should we use only strong forms while explaining English text or lessons?
From
Prateek Mudagal
India

[sheydaahoupay]

I don't have enough time to read my thick book and when I watch your videos I learn it so deep. You are amazing thank you

[cosydaywfatima]

I'm a 1st year student in English ttyyyyssssmmm for the explanation 🥹🩷

[VictorLopez-qkrx]

I just discovered you on your web site, and I was impressed, since you come across as being a spontaneous speaker, sounding natural with your warm conversational manner. As you speak and explain, you show no competitive spirit and you don't try to compare yourself with others. That's a remarkable character trait, which is why you sound so natural and modest. Your pronunciation is smooth and effortless. I can tell you this because in my early years I was trained and coached by a native speaker of English who sounded so smoothly that I was motivated to pick up his accent. He was a commander in the US military and he educated me like a father. May god bless you and keep up your marvelous work.

[mariak]

Hi Billie,
Thanks for your video, it’s well-presented and super clear to understand!
Just a question about the weak form of the word ‘’to’’: Is it always reduced to /tə/ when unstressed, irrespectively of whether the following word begins with a vowel sound?
Because according to the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, the reduction to a schwa sound occurs before vowels, otherwise the weak form of ‘’to’’ is /tu/.
What do you think? Can you please elaborate on this?

[juustsauul]

I have a question on the sentence "I picked them up at the school", and the question is, should the /l/ of school be a dark /l/? As it is in a postvocalic position! I am a non-native English speaker and I do have a few problems with this things! However, thank you for the wonderful video :)

[Roxana.garcia.]

Hi! I have a question, why in the example 'I have two sister' is weak form? Isn't 'have' functioning as a verb?

[sknrsqsqr]

Thanks a lot. Plz how to pronounce. It's already done. I listen they say... /'solri dan / plz phonetic transcription.