Strong and weak syllables

Phonetics and Phonology I

 Strong and Weak
• In English, some syllables are strong and many
others are weak.
“I washed the dishes at the Angel Hotel from 6
to 10 p.m.”
• But how are they pronounced and where do
weak syllables occur?
• Several factors to take into account: Stress,
Elision, Intonation, “strong” vs. “weak” forms
of function words.
 Wk/St Phonetic difference
• When we compare weak syllables with strong
ones, we find:
– Vowel in the weak syllable tends to be shorter
– Vowel in the weak syllable is of lower intensity
– Vowel in the weak syllable is different in quality

– Example: “data” /deI tə/ , “bottle” /bQ tl/

Other ways of distinguishing weak
and strong syllables
• Describing them in terms of stress:
strong/stressed; weak/unstressed
BUT >>> we have to define what stress is, first.
 Strong syllables
• STRONG SYLLABLES Any strong syllable will
have vowel phonemes, diphthongs or
triphthongs at its peak but not /ə, i, u/
• If the vowel is /I, e, ᴂ, V, Q, U/, then this
syllable will have a coda.
 Weak syllables
• WEAK SYLLABLES can only have a very small
number of possible peaks
i) The vowel “schwa” /ə/
ii) A close front unrounded vowel /i/
iii) A close back rounded vowel /u/

Examples: better /betə/, happy /hᴂpi/,

thank you /TᴂNk ju/
 Weak syllables - distribution
• Weak syllables in word-final position: with a coda
if the vowel is schwa
Examples: open /əUpən/, sharpen /SA:pən/
• Inside a word, the previously mentioned vowels
ə, i, u, can happen without a coda in weak
syllables:
Examples: photograph, radio, influence
• /i/ can act as peak if the next sound is a
consonant
Example: architect
 Schwa /ə/
• Schwa is never stressed
• It is always associated with weak syllables
• Quality: mid and central.
• Generally described as lax (articulated without
much energy)
• Its quality is not always the same, but this
variation is not important.
 Using spelling as a guide to identify
where /ə/ appears
i. “a” – attend, barracks, character
ii. “ar” - particular, molar
iii. “-ate” adjectives –intimate, accurate
iv. “o” - tomorrow, potato
v. “or” - forget, ambassador
 Using spelling as a guide to identify
where /ə/ appears
vi. “e” - settlement, violet
vii. “er” - perhaps, stronger
viii.“u” - autumn, support
ix. “ough” - thorough, borough
x. “ou” - gracious, callous
 Close front and close back vowels
• Comparison between /i:, I/ and /i/
• / U, u:/ and /u/
• Please refer to section 9.3 on page 66.
Let’s read aloud

Words to compare sounds: easy, busy

Close front unrounded /i/ is found:
• Word-final position in words spelt with “y” or
“ey”: happy, valley
• Morpheme-final position when these words
have suffixes: happier, easiest
• Preffixes “re”, “pre”, “de” if they precede a
vowel and they are unstressed: react, create
• Suffixes spelt “iate”, “ious” when they have
two syllables: appreciate, hilarious
Close front unrounded /i/ is found:
• In the following words when unstressed: he,
she, we, me, be
• BUT: in most other cases we can assign /I/ to
these unstressed syllables, e.g. resist, inane,
incident, orchestra, swimming, liquid
 Weak syllables with
close back rounded vowels
• Not very commonly found
• Found in: you, to, into, do (when unstressed
and not preceding a consonant)
• Found also in “through” and “who” in all
positions when unstressed.
• Within a word, before a vowel: evacuation,
influenza
 Syllabic consonants
• These occur when in there is no vowel sound
in a weak syllable
• /l/, /r/ or a nasal consonant are possible.
• When they occur, we mark them with a small
vertical mark below them
 Syllabic /l/
• Perhaps the most noticeable example of
English syllabic consonants
• It occurs after a consonant
• The way it is produced depends on the
preceding consonant
• Dark /l/ : the sides of the tongue (raised for
the production of the previous alveolar
consonant) are lowered, and tip & blade do
not move >>> lateral release
 Syllabic /l/
• Spelling guide: ending in C + “–le”
- With alveolar consonant preceding: cattle,
wrestle, bottle, muddle
- With non-alveolar consonant preceding:
couple, struggle, trouble, knuckle.
• Spelling guide: ending in C + “-el” or “-al”:
panel, kernel, petal, pedal
• In uncommon words it is usual to pronounce
/ə/: acquittal
 Syllabic /n/
• This is the most frequently found of the
syllabic nasals.
• It is uncommon to find weak syllables which
are composed of a plosive or fricative + /ən/
except in word-initial position.
• So: tonight, canary, fanatic…
• BUT: threaten, threatening, eaten, even.
• Refer to page 69-70 to read aloud its
distribution.
 Syllabic /m, N/
• These occur as syllabic but when a process of
elision or assimilation has occurred.
• Examples of syllabic /m/: happen /hᴂpm/,
uppermost /VpməUst/
• Examples of syllabic /N/: thicken, broken key
 Syllabic /r/
• In rhotic accents it is very common:
pronounce the contrast in “particular” (AmE,
BBC)
• Less common in BBC accent. It is pronounced
in weak syllables
• There are a few minimal pairs, e.g. hungry
/hVNgri/ vs. Hungary /hVNgri/, where you
have a contrast in meaning. But “Hungary”
can also be pronounced /hVNgəri/
 Combinations of syllabic consonants
• Not unusual: national /nᴂSnl/, literal /lItrl/,
visionary /vIZnri/, veteran /vetrn/
• But other pronunciations are also possible.