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Introduction of Four Common Reductions:
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Common Reductions I Common Reductions II Linking Word Stress Sentence Stress & Rhythm
Introduction of Four Common Reductions:
There are commonly used supra-segmental features in everyday American English conversation, which makes the target language fast and fluent. And we are going to introduce three kinds of reduction of the supra-segmental features in this unit.
1. Vowel Reduction
Vowels in the unstressed syllables in a word are pronounced with the reduced vowel //, as in the word “delicious” which are pronounced as /dlI∫s/ by native speakers. Here in Taiwan, we often find unstressed syllables pronounced strongly as the vowels stated in a dictionary by people. These vowels include /I/, /U/, /^/, //.
Examples are:
For better understanding, please listen to the following sentences:
(5) Could I borrow twenty dollars?
(6) You sound kind of depressed.
(7) I hope you’re enjoying your stay with us.
(8) Hmmm. Something smells delicious.
(9) I was downstairs talking to the guy who just moved in to the apartment below mine, Kate’s friend.
(10) Artificially produced vitamins are no substitute for the nutrition we derive from food.
2. Ellipsis
In many dialects, unstressed syllables are completely dropped; which causes the missing of one vowel or, literally, one syllable. This is called ellipsis. Even though it is very common, it is not used by all speakers. Examples are as follows:
(1) favorite /′fe-v-rIt/ à /′fev-rIt/
(2) difficult /′dI-f-klt/ à /′dIf-klt/
(3) general /′ε-n-rl/ à /′εn-rl/
(4) separate (adj.) /′sε-p-rIt/ à /′sε-prIt/
(There is no such change with the verb separate.)
For better understanding, please listen to the following sentences:
(5) I’ve always thought she was a little difficult, but these days I find her impossible.
(6) For lunch Roley at ten pieces of bacon, four eggs, ten potatoes, and fried vegetables.
(7) They went everywhere together—to movies, to parks, to museums, and to restaurants.
(8) Marriage is such a big step, honey.
(9) They pay one dollar for a lottery ticket.
(10) His family went on vacation, and he didn’t go with them.
3. Inflectional Endings
-ed is pronounced as /d/ after /t/ and /d/, and –es is pronounced as /z/ after /s/, /z/, //, //, and //. Examples are as follows:
(1) wanted /wan-tId/ à /wan-dd/
(5) causes /k-zIz/ à /k-zz/
(6) sentences /sεn-tn-sIz/ à /sεn-tn-sz/
For better understanding, please listen to the following sentences:
(7) Yes, but it closes in half an hour.
(8) He sounded a little depressed.
(9) He’s in Los Angeles, and he decided to stay an extra day.
(10)What’s listed in the classifieds today?
(11)And she always manages to mention how good she is at everything she does.
Section 2: From Listening To Pronunciation
Closely observe dialogues or reading passages, one can easily find various supra-segmental features prevail everywhere. The following dialogue and reading passage contain various supra-segmental features. Please listen as many times as you would like, and observe the features as presented.
Dialogue:
Listen while observing the words and sentences in a dialogue or a reading passage, and you will get a clear picture of how reductions are spoken.
Now listen to Conversation 1 of the elementary level from the following site:
http://www.lage.fju.edu.tw/sunny/linkother.asp?name=conversation2
Reading Passage:
Now, listen to reading passage 5.2, and you will find the reductions we mentioned above are very common in the reading passage; which is spoken in the form of report English, similar to news reports we hear everyday.
Section 3: Pronunciation Drills
After you observed the dialogue and reading passage from the previous section, you have probably had a thorough understanding of how supra-segmental features work in American English. The following practices are sentence exercises for each reduction feature we introduce in this unit. Practice them, and you will find becoming fluent like a native speaker is not difficult at all.
Reduction 1
For more practice, please log on part 5 母音減弱on the following page:
http://www.lage.fju.edu.tw/sunny/linkother.asp?name=reduction
Reduction 2
For more practice, please log on part 6 音節省音on the following page:
http://www.lage.fju.edu.tw/sunny/linkother.asp?name=reduction
Reduction 3
For more practice, please log on part 7 複數省音on the following page:
http://www.lage.fju.edu.tw/sunny/linkother.asp?name=reduction
No learning is completed without a quiz to check your comprehension. The following quiz is designed for you to check whether you can identify the supra-segmental features introduced in this unit. It is in sentence and can be repeated for as many times as you like.
Listening Quiz
The following sentences were originally spoken as a dialogue. Please listen and Underline the words when you identify they have inflectional ending.
Tina: How long have you lived in Clinton?
Marge: Me? My whole life. You know Frank, the owner? We’ve known each other for thirty-five years … since kindergarten.
Tina: No kidding! Have you ever wanted to live somewhere else?
Marge: When I was younger I wanted to move to Hollywood and be an actress. But here I am … still in Clinton and still a waitress.
Tina: Oh, that’s funny. I’ve always wanted to be an actress, too. How long have you been a waitress?
Marge: For twenty years now.
Tina: That’s a long time.
(P.14, Lesson9, Spectrum 3: A Communicative Course in English, by Nancy Frankfor& Joan Dye, 1994, Engliwood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents, Prentice-Hall, Inc.)
