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ESL forum > Grammar and Linguistics > pronunciation: "being" vs "been"," it" and "by" weak form?!    

pronunciation: "being" vs "been"," it" and "by" weak form?!



hheyitsme
Tunisia

pronunciation: "being" vs "been"," it" and "by" weak form?!
 
Hey everyone,
 
I have to write solutions to anticipated problems in my DELTA mod2 and pronunciation is not my strongest point. So I have two questions:
- "I am being told" can be heard as "I am been told" ( I am aware the second is grammatically not correct)
First of all I need to figure out if being and been are auxiliary verbs or not... Kelly (2000) and everyone else dont mention these in their weak forms tables/analysis... So I am pushed to think they are strong forms...
In that case I would transcribe being as /biːɪŋ/ and been as /biːn/
My first question is this correct, the second one is there a way to raise awareness about the difference in pronunciation?
 
- It was filmed by James Cameron.
Sentence stress would be on filmed and James Cameron. The rest are weak forms. How would you transcribe "it" and "by " as weak forms? (feel free to correct me if I m wrong) 
 
Thank you in advance,
 

21 Oct 2017      





yanogator
United States

S,
In some parts of the US, the "g" in the "ing" ending isn �t spoken, and sometimes the e and i are nearly merged, making the word just slightly more than one syllable, so it would sound almost like "been".  It isn �t a pronunciation that you would find in a dictionary, except a regional one, but we definitely recognize it.
 
Bruce 

21 Oct 2017     



Jayho
Australia

Hi S
 
This pattern of changing the final ng sound is seen in US, UK and Australian English as well as in the lyrics of many of todays songs.
 
In Australia, it�s a rather informal and colloquial form of English often associated with males in  "the outback" (the remote and undeveloped areas of Australia and / or the mining areas) (as seen in the movies Crocodile Dundee and Red Dog).  It is also used by a lot of "tradies" (people working in the trades such as plumbers, construction workers etc). A former prime minister often used it to communicate with the everyday working people. It doesn�t change the grammatical purpose - it is purely a pronunciation form and Aussies will perfectly understand the Australian variation.
 
You can read more about it here:
 
 
 
 
 
 
Cheers
 
Jayho
 
 
 
 
 
 

21 Oct 2017     



hheyitsme
Tunisia

Thank you Bruce and Jayho for your quick responses.. However I still cant make my mind about "by".. does it have a weak form?

22 Oct 2017     



ldthemagicman
United Kingdom

Dear hheyitsme,
 
Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 2008.
 
(I can not use IPA symbols here, but I will use the normal �English � alphabet.)
 
Page 72
 
BY: Normal Form /ba-ee/
 
The strong form is /ba-ee/. The Weak Forms /b-ee/ and /b-uh/ (b-schwa) are rarely used, but can be found occasionally, particularly in measurements, e.g. "two by three = /tuh-oo b-uh thr-ee/
 
... 
 
Another example occurs to me. It is when an individual in a rush will say a Contracted Form of: "Goodbye!" 
"Bye bye!" = /ba ba-ee/ (First, a Weak Form, /ba/ followed by the Strong Form /ba-ee/.
 
In the Building Trade, I often heard men say, for example, �four by two � = /f-or b-ee t-uh-oo/.
 
I hope that this helps.
 
Les Douglas 

22 Oct 2017     



Jayho
Australia

As Les says �by �, has a strong and weak form.  I pronounce �it � and �by � in your example as weak forms and here�s how I pronounce both forms:
 
Strong: bɑɪ    Weak: bə 

(I know that Les says that using the schwa is rarely used, but where I am from, most of us would use the weak form with the schwa if we were talking naturally and quickly with native speakers. If we were talking a bit more slowly and clearly, like to our students or perhaps if were talking about different producers, then we would probably use the strong form because the schwa does not sound natural if you say it slowly).
 
Strong: ɪt    Weak: ɪ (no or minimal pronunciation of the �t�)

Hope this helps.
 
Les, there is an IPA typewriter here: http://ipa.typeit.org/  
 
Cheers
 
Jayho 

22 Oct 2017     



ldthemagicman
United Kingdom

Thank you, Jayho.
 
Les Douglas 

22 Oct 2017     



hheyitsme
Tunisia

Thank you Bruce and Jayho for your quick responses.. However I still cant make my mind about "by".. does it have a weak form?

23 Oct 2017     



hheyitsme
Tunisia

Thank you so much for the explanation your provided... Just one more thing, Jayho and Bruce said that "been" and "being"  sound the same in Australia and in some parts of the US.. Is there any literature backing this up?

23 Oct 2017     



hheyitsme
Tunisia

Thank you so much for the explanation your provided... Just one more thing, Jayho and Bruce said that "been" and "being"  sound the same in Australia and in some parts of the US.. Is there any literature backing this up?

23 Oct 2017     



Jayho
Australia

I �m sure there is. 

23 Oct 2017     

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