Hi everybody and welcome back to Lean English. I’m Ed and I’m here to help you achieve your pronunciation goals. In this British English pronunciation lesson, will teach you how to reduce vowels and stress sentences correctly. This is the second in a three-part series all about the schwa sound. So, make sure you subscribe and turn notifications on so that you don’t miss part three. If you haven’t already watched the first part, I recommend you watch it because I teach you exactly how to identify and pronounce the schwa sound, I’ve put a link in the description below. Now, let’s look at vowel reduction in a bit more detail!
Look at this sentence, do any of the words contain the schwa sound? Now, listen and see if you can hear it.
If you have a bad memory, you should reference a dictionary
/ɪf/ /ju:/ /hæv/ /eɪ/ /bæd/ /ˈmeməri/ /ju:/ /ʃʊd/ /ˈrefərəns/ /eɪ/ /ˈdɪkʃənəri/
When I speak slowly and carefully only three words contain the schwa sound: memory, reference and dictionary. Now, listen to me speak naturally and see if there’s a difference:
If you have a bad memory, you should reference a dictionary
/ɪf/ /jə/ /hæv/ /ə/ /bæd/ /ˈmemri/ /jə/ /ʃəd/ /ˈrefrəns/ /ə/ /ˈdɪkʃənri/
When I speak naturally, the schwa sound replaces the vowels in some words but disappears from others. This is known as vowel reduction and the way vowels are reduced varies depending on the type of word.
What do you notice about the words where the vowels are replaced? Are they important? No, they’re not important because they carry little information. We call these words function words and they include things like prepositions, pronouns, auxiliary verbs, articles, and conjunctions.
The vowel sounds in function words are often reduced and replaced with the schwa sound in connected speech. We call these weak forms, and we use them all the time. These words all have weak forms which adopt the schwa sound in connected speech:
A, am, an, are, as, at, but, can, could, would should, must, do, does, of, for, from, has, have, had, her, shall, some, than, the, to, us, was, were, you, your
However, there are some exceptions. We don’t use weak forms when we stress a function word, and we don’t use weak forms at the end of a sentence. Furthermore, the weak form of ‘the’ is only used before consonants. Let’s go back to the first example:
If you have a bad memory, you should reference a dictionary
/ɪf/ /ju:/ /hæv/ /eɪ/ /bæd/ /ˈmeməri/ /ju:/ /ʃʊd/ /ˈrefərəns/ /eɪ/ /ˈdɪkʃənəri/
If you have a bad memory, you should reference a dictionary
/ɪf/ /jə/ /hæv/ /ə/ /bæd/ /ˈmemri/ /jə/ /ʃəd/ /ˈrefrəns/ /ə/ /ˈdɪkʃənri/
What do you notice about words where the schwa sound completely disappears? Are they function words? No, they’re important words which carry lots of information such as verbs, nouns, adjectives and adverbs. In general, we call these words content words, and they don’t have weak forms. However, where the schwa sound exists in the middle of content words it’s often reduced in connected speech and may disappear completely.
Now, let’s practise. I’m going to say a sentence twice. First, without vowel reduction, and then with vowel reduction. Listen and repeat the sentence with vowel reduction:
The factory must have been dangerous
/ðiː/ /ˈfæktəri/ /mʌst/ /hæv/ /bi:n/ /ˈdeɪndʒərəs/
The factory must have been dangerous
/ðə/ /ˈfæktri/ /məst/ /əv/ /bi:n/ /ˈdeɪndʒrəs/
Do you know your family history?
/du:/ /ju:/ /nəʊ/ /jɔː/ /ˈfæməli/ /ˈhɪstəri/
Do you know your family history?
/də/ /jə/ /nəʊ/ /jə/ /ˈfæmli/ /ˈhɪstri/
Strawberries are her favourite
/ˈstrɔːbəriz/ /ɑː/ /hɜː/ /ˈfeɪvərɪt/
Strawberries are her favourite
/ˈstrɔːbriz/ /ə/ /hə/ /ˈfeɪvrɪt/
So, why do we do this? What is the point of vowel reduction in English? Why don’t we just pronounce the unreduced vowels? The reason is because of sentence stress. Vowel reduction is directly related to rhythm and sentence stress in English. Take a look at these sentences and listen to me read them with unreduced vowels. What do you notice about the length of the sentences?
A | ma | zing | wea | ther
A | bo | mi | na | ble | wea | ther
The second sentence is clearly longer, right? But it doesn’t sound very natural. Now listen to me read them again with reduced vowels. What do you notice about the length of the sentences?
Amazing weather
/əˈmeɪzɪŋ/ /ˈweðə/
Abominable weather
/əˈbɒmɪnəbəl/ /ˈweðə/
When I reduce the vowels, the sentences have a similar length. This is because English focuses on stressed syllables and reduces unstressed syllables to fit around them. This is known as stress-timed sentence stress, and it gives English its distinctive rhythm.
This type of sentence stress can be difficult for students who’s native language lacks vowel reduction. So, let’s practice. Repeat after me and focus on reducing the vowel sounds so that the sentences have a similar rhythm and duration.
The man’s office
/ðə/ /mænz/ /ˈɒfɪs/
The manager’s office
/ðə/ /ˈmænɪdʒəz/ /ˈɒfɪs/
A great idea
/ə/ /ɡreɪt/ /aɪˈdɪə/
A ridiculous idea
/ə/ /rɪˈdɪkjələs/ /aɪˈdɪə/
Would you like a coffee?
/wəd/ /jə/ /laɪk/ /ə/ /ˈkɒfi/
Would you like another coffee?
/wəd/ /jə/ /laɪk/ /əˈnʌðə/ /ˈkɒfi/
She called me this morning
/ʃiː/ /kɔːld/ /mi:/ /ðɪs/ /ˈmɔːnɪŋ/
She should have called me this morning
/ʃiː/ /ʃəd/ /əv/ /kɔːld/ /mi:/ /ðɪs/ /ˈmɔːnɪŋ/
Well, that’s the end of today’s lesson but remember that I’ll be releasing part three of this series next week. So, if you want to know why the schwa sound is becoming more common in modern pronunciation, make sure you subscribe and turn notifications on so that you don’t miss it.
I’ve also uploaded text and audio versions of this lesson so you can study wherever you are, just follow the links in the description below.
But now, it’s your turn. Do you use weak forms and reduce vowels in your speech? How does English sentence stress and rhythm compare to your native language? Let me know in the comments below and remember to like if you found this video useful. Thanks for watching, goodbye!