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mark how different 'ma:k hau 'difərənt 'mak hʌ 'difrənt

The diphthong [зu] is sometimes completely neutralized in
the unstressed position.

Spelling Formal Informal

so we've discussed sзu wi·v dis'kʌst sə wiv dis'kʌst

hope to settle it hзup tə 'setl it hə tə 'setl it

Vowel elision is very frequent in informal conversational

style. It often goes with other processes involving assimilation and
elision of consonants. Elided neutral sound [ə] is very common in

the unstressed syllables of polysyllabic words, like:

Spelling Formal Informal

collective kə'lektiv 'klektiv

different 'difərənt 'difrənt

prisoner 'prizənə 'priznə

political pə'litikl 'plitikl

phonetically fə'netikəli 'fnetikəli

In the last three examples the loss of [ə] in the initial
unstressed syllable of a word causes the initial consonant form a

cluster with the consonant of the stressed syllable.
Vowel reduction mostly occurs in extended utterances in

sequences of words. The loss of the neutral sound [ə] in the
preposition to or the particle to preceded by a consonant is a very

common pattern.

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