Reduced Words

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Do curso por University of California, Irvine

Tricky American English Pronunciation

238 ratings

University of California, Irvine

Tricky American English Pronunciation

238 ratings

In this course, you’ll practice the sounds of American English that might sometimes be confusing. You'll practice both consonant and vowel sounds. You’ll also learn about the things that give English its special “music,” such as how to stress the right syllable in a word, how to make your voice go up and down in a natural-sounding melody, and how to naturally connect sounds and words. Learning these things will help you speak more clearly and make sure that others can understand what you're saying. This course is useful for English language learners who want to improve pronunciation of American English for better communication. Note that access to all of the lectures and handouts are free to anyone, but the graded assignments and quizzes are only available in the paid version of the course. You will need to submit recordings of your own pronunciation for graded assignments.

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The Music of American English Pronunciation

This week, you’ll learn about some things that give English its special rhythm and melody. You’ll learn about syllables—the small chunks of sound that make up the “beats” in words—and word stress—the way some parts of words are emphasized more than others. You’ll also see how some words become shorter and weaker when we talk. Since these words are used very often in ordinary speaking, we can’t understand spoken English without them. Our goal this week is to help you use the music of English to communicate more effectively and to be understood more easily when you speak. Enjoy learning about the music of American English pronunciation.

Linking in Connected Speech8:08

Linking Connected Speech Practice6:08

Reduced Words6:34

Reduced Words Practice4:25

Conheça os instrutores

Tamy Chapman
Instructor, International Programs
University of California Irvine Division of Continuing Education
Marla Yoshida
Academic Coordinator
International Programs
Brad Gilpin

Reduced words in connected speech.

English has its own rhythm just like music,

this rhythm comes from patterns of stress and unstressed syllables in words.

Stressed syllables last longer and have more emphasis.

Unstressed syllables are shorter and weaker.

Listen to this sentence, the rhythm of English is important.

Can you feel that some syllables are longer and more emphasized than others?

In this lesson,

we’ll practice some changes that happen to unstressed words in sentences.

They often have shortened forms with different pronunciations that

when they are said slowly and carefully.

These shortened forms are called reduced words.

Listen to this sentence, can you hear how some words are reduced?

Bob had a cup of coffee of with cream and sugar.

People don't usually say Bob had a cup of coffee with cream and sugar.

That's too careful and it takes too long to say.

Listen especially to this phrase.

A a cup a coffee.

Of didn't sound like of, did it?

It sounded like a.

Try saying these phrases with of.

A cup a coffee.

The end a the day A couple of days.

Now listen to this phrase.

Cream and sugar.

And didn't sound like and, it sounded like n.

Try saying these phrases with and.

Cream and sugar.

Red, white, and blue.

Salt and pepper.

Many small grammar words have common reduced forms.

Here are some examples.

These are all prepositions.

Try saying each word in its full, careful form and

then say a phrase using its reduced form.

At.

They're at work.

For.

This is for you.

From.

He's far from home.

Of.

I drank a cup of tea.

To.

They went to school.

The three articles, a, an, and the, are usually heard in reduced forms.

Let's try saying them.

A, I made a mistake.

An, do you want an apple?

The, the moon is shining.

These are pronouns.

Try saying both the full and reduced forms.

You, what do you want?

Your, what's in your bag?

Our, this is our house.

Some pronouns, mostly the ones that start with the letter h,

can lost their first consonant sound.

Try saying these.

He, is he here yet?

Him, I gave him a present.

Her.

I gave her a present.

Them, also often loses its first sound and sounds like.

Try saying both forms.

Them.

We talk to.

These reduced forms are all conjunctions.

Try saying each one word in both forms.

And, it goes up and down.

Or, did he say yes or no?

Because.

Why?

because I say so.

Many helping verbs also have reduced forms.

These are just a few examples.

Try saying the full and reduced forms.

Is, he's studying,

has, he's studied,

do, what do you want?

We'll, we'll talk to him.

Now, try saying these sentences.

Words that can have reduced forms are in red.

At noon, we'll stop working and eat lunch.

Do you think he's making them a cup of tea?

I'm going to the beach because it's a sunny day.

How far is it from San Diego to San Francisco?

We hear reduced words anytime people speak English.

They are all around us.

Getting used to hearing reduced words.

We'll make it much easier for you to understand everyday spoken English.

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