In spoken English, word reduction is done by dropping or changing the sound of unaccented syllables in a word. The word 'for' reduces to ’fer’. Often, the function words of a sentence are reduced and made unstressed in spoken sentences. Reduction means not receiving the full pronunciation. In any language, function words are the words that carry the grammar in the sentence while content-words are the nouns, adjectives and signal-verbs.
Here are the 12 short function-words and their reduced forms which should be practice enough to become proficient and spontaneous in them.
1. to /tə/ You should talk to Rama
2. for /fər/ I had bread with butter for breakfast.
3. at /ət/ I'll see you at the tea stall.
4. and /ən/ /ɪn/ /n/ Please, may I have the corn soup and butter toast.
5. or /ər/ What would you like to have, tea or coffee?
6. you /yə/ Do you like me?
7. him/her /əm/ /ər/ I met him/her last night.
8. have /əv/ /ə/ Where have you been?
9. can /kən/ I can draw well. Can you?
10. do /də/ What do you want?
11. as /əz/ Black as a crow, dirty as a pig.
12. of /ev/ /ə/* I'd like a glass of milk, please with a few pieces of chocolate .
*Note (i): /əv/ is often used before a word that starts with a vowel sound
Example: All /əv/ our friends were there.
*Note (ii): /ə/ is often used before a consonant sound:
Example: There were a lot /ə/ people.
Σχόλια