Complete the account of reduction.
A vowel whose quality glides within one syllable is a ______. The mid-central vowel that occurs only in unstressed syllables is ______. Function words with a reduced pronunciation are said to have ______ forms. English is traditionally called ______-timed, though the strong version is not supported by measurement.
Word bank: diphthong · schwa · weak · stress · monophthong · syllable
Hints
- The second blank names the vowel of the first syllable of about.
- The last blank contrasts English with Spanish.
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A vowel whose quality glides within one syllable is a diphthong. The mid-central vowel that occurs only in unstressed syllables is schwa. Function words with a reduced pronunciation are said to have weak forms. English is traditionally called stress-timed, though the strong version is not supported by measurement.
The last blank should be learned with its caveat attached. Rhythm metrics place languages on a continuum rather than in two boxes, and what is really different about English is the heavy reduction of unstressed vowels, not any equality of intervals.
Practise English Vowels II: Diphthongs and Reduction
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More questions on English Vowels II: Diphthongs and Reduction
- Schwa occurs only in unstressed syllables in English.
- How many diphthongs does the standard analysis of RP recognise?
- Why does a speaker who uses only full forms become harder to follow, not easier? Select every true statement…
- Sort each item by whether it is a CLOSING diphthong, a CENTRING diphthong, or a MONOPHTHONG.
- Vowel reduction is frequently mischaracterised as phonetic sloppiness, yet phonologically it is a systematic…
- The centring diphthongs of RP are stable and show no signs of change.
- Arrange the stages by which a full vowel becomes schwa in a derived word.