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prominence on them. The list of function word in English

includes articles, prepositions, conjunctions, personal,

possessive and indefinite pronouns, auxiliary and modal verbs.

An important feature of English pronunciation is the

weakening and reduction of function words in an unstressed

position in an utterance. However, not all function words are

always reduced when unstressed. Some of them may be weak in

some cases and strong in other. There is yet another group of

function words which are never reduce.

Thus, according to their pronunciation in an unstressed

position function word can be divided into three groups.

1. Words always weak in an unstressed position

Word strong-word weak form

the ði: ði (before a vowel)

ðə (before a
a ei consonant)

an æn ə

as æz ən
and ænd əz

but bʌt ən, n
than bət
ðæn
that (conj.) ðən
ðæt
he ðət
hi:
she hi: , hi

you ʃi:
ʃi: , ʃi
ju:
ju: , ju

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