The stress in compound and polysyllabic words

REDUCTION

There are certain words in English which have two forms of pronunciation: strong, or full, form and weak, or reduced, form.

These words include form-words, modal verbs and pronouns: personal, possessive, reflexive, relative, etc.

The following functional words are never used in their strong form in an unstressed position in an utterance:

Word	Strong form	Weak forms
a	[eI]	[q]
an	[xn]	[qn]
and	[xnd]	[qn], [n]
but	[bAt]	[bqt]
than	[Dxn]	[Dqn]
that (conjunction)	[Dxt]	[Dqt]
the	[DJ]	[Dq] – before a consonant [Di], [DI] – before a vowel
them	[Dem]	[Dqm]
there (pronoun)	[DFq]	[Dq] – before a consonant [Dqr] – before a vowel
us	[As]	[qs]
There is also a group of words that are reduced when unstressed at the beginning or in the middle of an utterance, but remain strong in the final position:
am	[xm]	[qm], [m]
are	[R][Rr]	[q] – before a consonant [qr] – before a vowel
is	[Iz]	[z], [s]
was	[wPz]	[wqz]
were	[wE:]	[wq] – before a consonant [wqr] – before a vowel
will	[wIl]	[l]
would	[wVd]	[d]
shall	[Sxl]	[Sql], [Sl]
should	[SVd]	[Sqd], [Sd]
have	[hxv]	[hqv], [qv], [v]
has	[hxz]	[hqz], [qz], [z]
had	[hxd]	[hqd], [qd], [d]
do	[dH]	[du], [dV], [d]
does	[dAz]	[dqz]
must	[mAst]	[mqst], [mqs]
can	[kxn]	[kqn], [kn]
could	[kVd]	[kqd]
some (determiner)	[sAm]	[sqm]
as	[xz]	[qz]
at	[xt]	[qt]
from	[frPm]	[frqm]
for	[fL]	[fq] – before a consonant [fqr] – before a vowel
of	[Pv]	[qv]
to	[tH]	[tq] – before a consonant [tu] – before a vowel or finally

Prepositions have their strong forms though they might remain unstressed:

1. 
   at the very end of an intonation groups or phrase;
   

E. g.: Where have you come from?

What are you looking at?

Who are you looking for

Where are you going to?

2. 
   at the end of an intonation group or phrase when they are followed by the unstressed pronouns;
   

E. g.: He’ll make his fortune at it.

There’s something for you.

3. 
   polysyllabic prepositions followed by a pronoun at the end of a phrase are stressed as a rule.
   

E. g.: I’ve never heard about her.

Auxiliary and modal verbs have their strong forms:

1. 
   at the end of an intonation group or a phrase;
   

E. g.: Who is on duty today? - I am.

We didn’t know where he was

2. 
   at the beginning of general and alternative questions in careful colloquial style, while in rapid colloquial style are unstressed and reduced;
   

E. g.: Could you tell me his name?

3. 
   in contracted negative forms.
   

Some form-words are always used in their strong form. They are never reduced:

Words always strong in an unstressed position

To be (is, are), to do (do, does), to have (has, have, had) when they function as main verbs;

When, then (adverbs);

On, off, in;

Will (modal verb);

That (demonstrative pronoun);

Some (indefinite pronoun);

What, where, how, which, with.

E. g.: For some (certain) reason they didn’t arrive on time. On the ground floor there are three rooms. Then go and help him. That dress is more beautiful than this one.

There are three degrees of the reduction of strong forms.

1. the reduction of the length of a vowel without changing its quality (quantitative reduction)

E. g.: you [jH] → [ju], me [mJ] → [mi].

2. The reduction of the quality of a vowel (qualitative reduction)

E. g.: her [hE:] → [hq], for [fL] → [fq].

3. The omission of a vowel or a consonant sound (zero reduction)

E. g.: I am → I’m [aIm]; I have → I’ve [aIv]; does not → doesn’t [dAznt].

ELISION IN CONSONANT CLUSTERS

1. Elision of [t], [d], [h].

Elision means the dropping of a sound or sounds either within a word or at a junction of words in rapid colloquial speech. Formal speech tends to retain the full form under the influence of spelling.

A group of consonants may be reduced by an elision of [t] or [d] between two other consonants: e.g. friends [frenz] ; mostly ['mqVslI]

Pronouns with the initial [h] and the auxiliary verbs have, has, had commonly lose [h] when they are unstressed within an utterance.

e.g. : The people have gone. [Dq 'pJpl qv `gPn]

She gave him his breakfast. [SI 'geIv Im Iz `brekfqst]

Sound [h] is pronounced in those words when they are initial in an utterance or when they are stressed.

2. Clusters of two identical consonants

It must be remembered that elision of consonants is not always permissible. In general a double consonant at a word junction mustn’t be reduced by elision:

e.g.: What time ['wPt`taIm]; with this [wID`DIs]

In any such phrases the two consonants should be run together smoothly without a break.

The elision of one of a boundary cluster of two consonants sometimes occurs in very rapid speech, but it is usually characterized as a vulgarism:

e.g.: He went away [hI 'wen q`weI]

e.g.: I want to come [aI 'wPn q `kAm]

Note the traditional orthographical rendering of such careless and vulgar pronunciation as "I wonna come" – I want to come; "Gimme a cake" – Give me a cake; "I gonna do it" – I am going to do it; etc., especially in American texts.

THE INTONATION OF NON-FINAL PARTS OF UTTERANCES

An utterance — the minimal independent unit of communication — is realized in oral speech either as one intonation-group, or as a sequence of groups. In the first case the utterance has a simple tune, in the second it has a combined tune.

According to their position in a combined tune intonation-groups can be final (at the end of a tune) and non-final (at the beginning or in the middle of a tune). Non-final intonation-groups are normally formed by initial clauses of compound and complex sentences, adverbial and subject groups in a simple sentence; parenthetical words, direct address and reporting phrases in sentences of all syntactic types.

Non-final intonation-groups can be pronounced with various nuclear tones, yet there are more and less typical intonation patterns for each kind of syntactic structure. On the whole, the choice of the nuclear tone in a non-final group depends on the semantic weight of this part of the utterance.

When a Low Rise is used it indicates that the utterance is not finished and there is a continuation without which the information is incomplete.

Mr. ˡPriestley’s ‚daughter | ˡstudies at a ˡbusiness ‘college.

It is typical of intonation-groups formed by grammatically incomplete parts of utterances, such as

a) adverbial phrases:

In the ˡmiddle of the ‚square | there’s a ‘monument.

b) enumeration

On the ˡground ‚floor | there is a ‚kitchen, | a ‚pantry, | a ‚dining-room, | a ˡcosy ˇsitting-room | and Dr. ˡSandford’s ‘study.

c) initial subordinate clauses:

When ˡBetty ˡstudied at ‚college, | she had ˡmany com‘panions.

d) principal clauses formed by the initial author's words in reported speech:

His ˡyounger ˡsister ‚says | that she is ˡeager to beˡcome a ‘teacher.

This pattern can also be used in an initial part of a compound sentence, especially when the adjacent clauses are symmetrical in their grammatical structure and meaning (in this case a Low Rise is often replaced by a High Rise):

There is a 'plate in 'front of ‛John | and a 'plate in 'front of ‘Mary.

The Falling nuclear tone, due to its categoric and definite character adds greater semantic weight to a non-final group in comparison with the Low Rising pattern.

Compare: I 'live near the ‚tram-stop |and the ‘metro station.

I 'live near the ‘tram-stop | which is 'very con‘venient.

A Falling-Rising nuclear tone is widely used in non-final groups in English. It has a complex semantic effect, since it conveys two kinds of meaning at one and the same time: 1) special semantic importance or emphasis — due to the falling component of the tone, 2) semantic incompleteness and close links with the continuation — due to its rising component. Such a semantic relationship is most typical of cases when the non-final group is contrasted either to what follows in the same utterance or to what precedes it in the earlier context:

In 'front of the ‚house | we have a 'small ‘garden. At the ‘back of the ‚house | there is a 'much ‘larger garden.