Perfect Pronunciation - Weak Forms

Perfect Pronunciation - Weak Forms

Intro: 

Rich: Do you get it? Gladiator. He was glad, happy he ate her. He was a Gladiator.

Jack: Yes, I get it. It’s awful.

Rich: I’ve got another ...

…

Jack: Oh no! I mean oh really. Go on ... please.

Rich: Knock, knock.

Jack: Who's there?

Rich:  Lettuce.

Jack: Lettuce who?

Rich: Let us in, it’s cold out here.

Jack: Oh my god! Please, stop. I’m laughing so hard I’m afraid my sides my split.

Rich: One more.

Jack: If you must.

Rich: Where’s your sister going on holiday next summer?

Jack: I’m not sure ... I’ll ask her.

Rich: I bet that will be cold! I will ask her. Alaska. Do you get it?

Jack: No more. Stop! Now!

Welcome - Weak forms

Rich: Hello my name’s Rich

Jack: and I’m Jack

Rich: and welcome to this week’s Premier Skills English podcast

Jack: Where we talk about football and help you with your English.

Jack: What’s happening this week, Rich?

Rich: In this week’s podcast, we are going to focus on pronunciation.

Jack: That’s right. We’re going to look at some things called weak forms

Rich: Weak forms are words or parts of words that are not stressed when we are speaking. They usually sound like /ə/. 

Jack: This sound is so common, it has a name. It’s called the the schwa. You can hear it when you say words like gonna, wanna and gotta. It’s the last sound in these words.

Rich: I think that the main reason this sound is so common is English people are lazy. I mean, it’s a lazy sound.

Jack: Yeah, it’s basically a grunt. All you do is open your mouth a bit and /ə/ - that’s a schwa.

Rich: It’s the sound I make when I’m watching football and someone asks me a question: /ə/?

Jack: And if a word isn’t that important in a sentence, then there’s no point in wasting all that energy making the stressed sound. So words like to, of, at and a become /tə/ /əv/ /ət/ /ə/. If you want to sound natural in English, you should start using them.

Rich: That’s right. Nearly every sentence you will ever here in English will contain a weak form. English is what is known as a stress-timed language. 

Jack: Like we said earlier, we’re all a bit lazy so we only stress the important words. That’s what a stress-timed language is; one where some words are stressed and given more importance. Unstressed words, which are often grammar words like have, the, and, to …  are given less importance or stress. Sometimes these words can be difficult to hear. Some learners say that it sounds like the little words are swallowed. We don’t say fish and chips we say fish ‘n chips.

Rich: This happens a lot in phrases that we use all the time. With common phrases and expressions, we use lots of weak forms in phrases like ‘man of the match’, ‘top of the table’, ‘work your socks off’.

Jack: I like that phrase. You have to work your socks off on the pitch - especially if you’re a midfielder. Chelsea’s N’Golo Kante is a player that works his socks off. 

Rich: Weak forms are also very common in questions like: Have you ever ..., do you want to..., would you mind if I ... /.../

Jack: Have you ever been to a Premier League match? Do you want to see a live match in the UK? Would you mind if I ...?

Rich: This makes English pronunciation difficult especially if your language is a syllable-timed language where all words are pronounced in the same way.

Jack: Another reason to think about weak forms is that they often cause misunderstandings. Because grammar words are often unstressed, learners often don’t notice them being used or don’t use them themselves.

Rich: The jokes I told in the first section, if I can call them jokes, are based on misunderstandings around weak forms. For example, ‘I will ask her’ becomes ‘Alaska’ - the state in the USA - when said at natural speed.

Jack: So, in this week’s language focus, we’re going to look at some more examples in a bit more detail.

Rich: And your task is to listen to five sentences with common weak forms and write the complete the sentences. 

Jack: But more about that later.

Rich: Don’t forget, there is more information about the language we use on the page below and activities to help you understand. 

Jack: Make sure you listen to the end of the podcast because we’ve got another football phrase for you as well.

Topic Focus

Rich: What are you going to do at the weekend, Jack?

Jack: That is very clear Rich and easy for our listeners to say but it’s not how you usually ask that question, is it?

Rich: You’re right. Let me have another go. Jack … What are you going to do at the weekend?

Jack: That’s more like it. That’s much more natural. What jə gonna do ət thə weekend? Whatyə not what are you, gonnə not going to, ət thə not at the

Rich: So, what are you going to at the weekend?

Jack: Very good. That’s much better.

Rich: What are you going to do at the weekend? It’s a real question.

Jack: Ahh … I don’t know …. Maybe I’ll go out to a restaurant … or perhaps I’ll go for a picnic if the weather is nice … I’m definitely going to watch some football!

Rich: What do we want to do now, Jack?

Jack: We want to move back to weak forms. Can you remember what we said a weak form is? Let’s take an example sentence. Rich … you just said what do we want to do now. That’s actually a great example.

Rich: Is it?

Jack: Remember, we said earlier, that weak forms are words that aren’t stressed, they are not pronounced completely, they contain an /ə/ sound - a schwa.

Rich: Yes, and the words that usually include weak forms are grammar words and not content words like adjectives, nouns and main verbs.

Jack: Let’s look at the word do in this example sentence: What do we want to do now? It’s being used in two different ways. The first do is an auxiliary verb and the second do is a main verb. Can you hear the difference? What do we want to do now?

Rich: What do we want to do now? The first do uses a weak form de and the second doesn’t - du:

Jack: Let’s look at some more examples of weak forms being used.

Sting 

Rich: We’re going to give you three more examples. All of these are famous quotes from films. Listen to the sentence, do you know what the film is.

Jack: Quote one: I could have been a contender ... I could have been a contender. 

Rich: Mmm … I could have been a contender. I’ve heard this before. Mmm … I can’t remember.

Jack: This is Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront. Have you seen it? 

Rich: Yes, it’s a great film I’m a big Brando fan.

Jack: Really?  The quote is interesting because it’s difficult to understand with those weak forms. I could have been a becomes  acudvbinə … I could have been a contender. Let’s look at another quote.

Rich: I’m not very good with film quotes. Do another one, Jack.

Jack:OK.  Quote two: I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse. I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.

Rich: Ahh! Yes, I know it … it’s er ...

Jack: It’s Marlon Brando again! The film is the Godfather. The offer is do what I say or I will kill you.

Rich: That’s not very nice, is it? Anyway, again we have a common weak form. Gonna often replaces going to in connected speech.

Jack: Have you got one Rich?

Rich: Ok, I’ll have a go Quote three: Who yer gonna call? Who yer gonna call?

Jack: Easy. It’s Ghostbusters. I’m not sure it’s a quote though. I think it’s the song from the film.

Rich: I’m better with song lyrics than film quotes. It uses weak forms too. It uses gonna again and it has this hu:yə … hu:yə gonna call  hu:yə is who are you … who are you going to call

Jack: Mmm … I don’t think the song would’ve worked if it was Who are you going to call? Ghostbusters!

Rich: No, probably not.

TASK

Jack: Our task for you this week is to listen to five sentences that include weak forms and your job is to write the complete sentence in the comments section.

Rich: If you can’t hear some of the weak forms because we are speaking too quickly you should use your grammar knowledge to complete the sentences.

Jack: Are you ready?

Rich: Let’s do an example first …

Jack: OK an example … here it is …

Rich: Liverpool have gotta win on Saturday!

Jack: In the comments section you should write Liverpool have got to win on Saturday.

Rich: Remember, listen to the sentences and write them in full in the comments section.

Jack: Number one:

Rich: Number two:

Jack: Number three:

Rich: Number four:

Jack: Number five:

Rich: That was difficult. Write your answers in the comments section.

Can you work out this week’s football phrase?

Rich: Have you got a football phrase for us this week? 

Jack: Yes, I have, but first, last week’s football phrase. The phrase was a one-two. This is a type of pass on the football pitch. One player passes to a teammate then runs forward to receive the ball immediately from that teammate. This type of pass is used to go past defenders in tight spaces.

Rich: It’s sometimes, especially in American English, called a wall pass - thanks to Liubomyr, a listener from Ukraine for that!

Jack: Well done to Liubomyr from Ukraine, Milos from Serbia, Elghoul and Khaldoun83 from Algeria, and Kwesimanifest from Ghana. You all got the right answer!

Rich: Right, that’s all we have time for this week! Don’t forget to write your answers to our questions and make a guess at our football phrase in the comments below.

Jack: And don’t forget to listen to our round-up show called ‘This Week’. All the action from Matchweek 9 will be on the Premier Skills homepage on Monday.

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football!