These have been called function
words. Since function words are usually unstressed in utterances, their
'normal form' is the one containing a weak vowel, the weak form.
A common way of going about teaching weak forms is to have a section in
the coursebook where weak forms are presented in lists and practised in a
certain amount of context.
Focus on stress 111
TASK 87
The following two extracts are examples of this approach. What
could be the advantage of having a list of weak forms? What about
other weak forms in the two extracts?
Extract 1
A. Weak forms (sbwa) B. Strong forms (full value)
and
lrm[ ['nl [ond]
are [al [a
I swallowed a fly. An
alligator bit him.
What am I doing? I'm
singing a song.
Bread an(d) butter. Over
an(d) over an(d) over again.
Where are my glasses?
Her cakes are awful!
You say a book, a
child but an apple,
an elephant.
What am I to do?
Am I serious? Yes, I'm
afraid I am!
Trifle or jelly? Trifle and
jelly, please! And she's a
gossip . . .
They are mine, they are,
they are\ Are you alone?
(Ponsonby 1987: 64)
Extract 2 (the relevant weak form is in light type)
1 a/a/
A: So what went wrong?
B: Well you said all I needed was a pencil, a ruler, a piece of
wood, a saw, a hammer and a couple of nails.
A: I said you needed a pencil, a ruler ... and a bit of common
sense.
(Mortimer 1985: 5)
Mortimer, in fact, acknowledges that there may be 'words not in light type
which need to be pronounced weakly if the dialogue is to be spoken
properly' (1985: 4). In this particular dialogue these are 'you', 'was', 'of,
'and', but he recommends that 'primary attention should be given to the
weak forms actually specified in the heading'. The problem with this
strategy is that one weak form is picked out while the others are
typographically lumped together with the stressed content words. However,
the difficulty of how to represent weak forms typographically is really only
a symptom of something else: namely the fact that 'paying attention to
weak forms' leaves teachers and learners in a paradoxical situation. Weak
forms are weak precisely because speakers pass over
112 Demonstration
them quickly. So in 'concentrating on them' we are actually trying hard not
to pay attention to them—something which requires considerable mental
acrobatics.
There is another 'psychological barrier' to reducing weak syllables which
might be even more serious for the language learner.
* TASK 88
Avery and Ehrlich (1992: 65-6) give the following advice:
'It is extremely important for both you and your students to recognize
the pronouncing unstressed vowels as schwa is not lazy or sloppy. All
native speakers of Standard English (including the Queen of England,
The Prime Minister of Canada, and the President of the United
States) use schwa.'
What do you think is their motivation for this explicit advice? What
aspects of learner speech tend to prevent the production of 'properly
(un)stressed' utterances?
Kenworthy pinpoints the problem (and a possible solution) in the following
way:
'Every word seems important to someone who is struggling to put together a
message in a new language. Indeed the concern 'not to leave anything out'
often leads to overstressing; ... We need activities which make learners think
about the relative importance of parts of a message.' (Kenworthy 1987:33)
The classic awareness exercise in this respect revolves around sending
telegrams (as they contain only content words and everything that can be left
out is a function word or weak form).
c
Look at these telex messages and see if you can expand them into
complete sentences.
Example: SEND PARCEL AIRMAIL.
'Could you send the parcel by airmail?'
(There is more than one possible version in most cases.)
1 CONFIRM ARRIVAL ORDER NO 2.35/SA.
2 PLEASE CONTACT. URGENT MESSAGE.
3 REGRET DELAY DUE FERRY STRIKE.
4 ARRIVING MILAN AIRPORT TUES 09.OO.
5 CONFERENCE POSTPONED. CANCEL FLIGHTS.
(Rogerson and Gilbert 1990: 29)
Focus on stress 113
> TASK 89
Some of the rhythm exercises we have looked at might also be
recycled for the purpose of building awareness about weak forms.
Look at the activities presented in Task 86. How could you turn them
into activities on weak forms? Is there an advantage to using material
for more than one purpose?
If students are asked to name the kinds of words which are stressed and the
kinds of words which are not, they do not usually find it hard to come up
with a list of relevant word-classes. This may remind you (or your students)