2018-10-31 Pronunciation: timing and reductions

Homework (optional): Practice trying to read the poem even faster than we did today.
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p. 65 exercise 8A - Listen and repeat the sentences.
What do you notice about the timing?
- The time of each stressed syllable is the same.
- The unstressed words have their pronunciations reduced.
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p. 66 exercise 9
One of the most noticeable things that gets reduced is vowels that become /ə/ (schwa sound).
Often /h/ is dropped at the beginning of words. (‘th’ is also dropped from “them”)
Sometimes the /v/ sound at the end of “have” and “of” is dropped before a consonant
- This means some words have the same reduced pronunciation:
	“him” or “them” -> ‘em
	“of” or “have” -> /əv/ or even /ə/ (like “a”)
	“an” or “and” -> /ən/
The ‘t’ in “to” can be reduced to the flap sound in “city” after a vowel: got to -> gotta
	It can also be eliminated after ‘n’ like in “twenty”: want to -> wanna
Many words get reduced in pairs: gotta, wanna, gonna, woulda/shoulda/coulda, dunno
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p. 67 exercise 10 - Listen to each sentence and write the (full forms of the) structure words in the blanks.
2 her some
3 I’ll, and
4 the, to
5 the, of
6 to, to
7 Is he
8 Will the
9 Did he (“Did you” could sound like “didja”)
10 is an, at
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One-syllable structure words are almost always reduced.
Longer structure words usually have their stressed syllable pronounced fully, but are still unstressed overall.
I live between Boston and Cambridge. (I live on the river?)
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For most words, you only need to understand when native speakers reduce them, but you don’t need to reduce them in your own pronunciation to be understood.
However, there are some words that we will misunderstand if you don’t reduce them.
I can talk right now.
I can’t talk right now.
- If you don’t reduce “can” in affirmative sentences, many people will hear “can’t”.
You should at least reduce the vowel to a schwa (/kən/), but sometimes we even eliminate the vowel entirely (/kn/).
You also shouldn’t stress “can” (because it’s a modal auxiliary verb), but you should stress “can’t” (because it’s a negative word).
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In past perfect, “had had” is common.
	They didn’t eat together because Mary had had lunch already.
We can also say “that that” in reported speech and other noun clauses.
	I knew that that was true.
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Can you punctuate this sentence so it make sense?
I know that that that had had had had in front of it before.
What about
James while John had had had had had had had had had had had the teacher’s approval.
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Homework (optional): punctuate those sentences without cheating with Google