speaker icon Reductions

How do speakers of American English weaken or compress function words? On the next page are some common one-syllable function words and their unstressed pronunciations. These reductions are not errors. If you weaken these words, your speech will sound more natural. If you stress these words, your speech may sound monotonous.

Notice how many function words have schwa /ə/.

speaker icon Play Whole Chart

Pronunciation

speaker icon Play Examples

Articles

a

the

an

 

speaker icon   /ə/

speaker icon   /ðə/

speaker icon   /ən/

 

a mistake

on the desk

an emergency

Conjunctions

or

and

 

speaker icon   /ər/

speaker icon   /ən/ or /n/

 

pass or fail

hot and humid

Prepositions

of

 

to

for

at

 

speaker icon   /ə/

speaker icon   /əv/

speaker icon   /tə/

speaker icon   /fər/

speaker icon   /ət/

 

deck of cards

out of eggs

gone to lunch

call for Pablo

at home

Pronouns

him

her

them

you

 

speaker icon   /əm/ or /ɪm/

speaker icon   /ər/

speaker icon   /əm/

speaker icon   /yə/

 

tell him

introduce her

warn them

are you tired?

Auxiliary Verbs

do

can

have

 

speaker icon   /də/

speaker icon   /kən/ or /kn/

speaker icon   /əv/ or /ə/

 

what do you want?

can you go?

must have gone

Note: In some contexts, speakers may stress words that usually are weak.

speaker icon He CAN'T SWIM, CAN he? -- (in tag questions)

speaker icon He IS SICK. -- (for special emphasis)

You will learn more about the influence of context in the next two chapters.