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Theory - Reduction

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7 views

Theory - Reduction

Uploaded by

03lizayurchenko
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Vowel Reduction

Vowels in unstressed syllables are pronounced less distinctly than those in stressed syllables.
It is possible to speak about three types of vowel reduction:

QUANTITATIVE, QUALITATIVE, COMPLETE (ZERO) REDUCTION.

I. Quantitative reduction results in the change of the length (quantity) of a vowel in an


unstressed syllable. It affects long vowels and diphthongs which become half-long or
short, e. g.

We have done it. /wi:/ - long

We have done it. wi’/ - half-long

We did it. /wi/ - short

Diphthongs become half-long when followed by an unstressed syllable, or short, when


followed by a stressed one, but it is not reflected in transcription, e. g.

I’ve done it.

I have done it.

I did it.

II. Qualitative reduction is connected with the change of the quality of a vowel. There
are two types of it.

1. Qualitative soft reduction, resulting in the // phoneme. The letters “e, i, y” correspond
to it in spelling: expect, cinema, city, service.
2. Qualitative hard reduction, resulting in the neutral vowel /ə/. The letters “a, o, u” and
the suffixes –er, -ar, -or, -ous correspond to it in spelling: famous, pilot, melody,
actor, polar.

III. Complete reduction results in a full disappearance of a vowel in an unstressed


position. It occurs before the syllabic sonorants /m, n, l/ when they are posttonic and
preceded by a consonant: conversation /ʃn/, written /tn/, pencil /sl/ as well as in
different /ˈdɪfrənt/, history /ˈhɪstri/, I’m /aɪm/, I’ve /aɪv/.

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