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Today I want to talk more about word stress.  I've already done an intro to word stress video and a video on content words.  Content words are those which are normally stressed within a sentence.  Higher in pitch, longer in duration.  Today I'm going to talk about function words.  Function words are words that are going to be unstressed, or sometimes reduced within a sentence.  That means they will be lower in pitch and often very quick.

There are several categories and subcategories of words that can be function words.  So this video is just going to be a quick overview.  There will be videos later that will cover each category with more examples and more detail.

Articles are function words, for example, 'a' and 'the'.  In the sentence, Do you have the time?  Do you have the time?  You can see that 'the' is lower in the sentence, the time, and that it is very quick.  Do you have the time?

Auxiliary verbs.  These are sometimes called helping verbs.  These are verbs that, in English grammar, are paired with main verbs.  There are several kinds.  First, the kind of auxiliary verb that helps to make the passive voice.  For example, The wall was painted yesterday.  The wall didn't paint anything, it itself was painted.  Passive.  The wall was painted yesterday.  Here, the word 'was' is this auxiliary verb.  The wall was painted yesterday.  And you can see, it is lower in pitch and also very fast.  The wall was, was, the wall was painted yesterday.

Another kind of auxiliary, or helping, verb, is the ING or progressive verb.  For example, in the sentence, You are speaking too fast.  You are speaking too fast.  You can see that the word 'are' is much lower compared to 'speaking'.  You are speaking.  And it is also very fast.  You are speaking too fast.  Sometimes these words are actually written as a contraction:  you're, you're, rather than as a separate word.  You're speaking too fast.

Another kind of auxiliary verb is one that helps to make the perfect tense.  For example, in the sentence She has given up.  The word 'has' here is this auxiliary verb.  She has given up.  She has given up.  You can see it is lower in pitch than 'given', and actually it is reduced in this case, has, has.  It's not really pronounced has, with the 'aa' as in 'bat', but rather with the schwa.  She has given up.  It is reduced in this case.  She has given up.

Modal verbs are also auxiliary or helping verbs.  Examples:  can, could, might.  In the sentence I can go tomorrow, I can, can, I can go tomorrow, 'can' is reduced to kn.  It is unaccented.  I can go tomorrow.  Unaccented and very fast.  I can go tomorrow.

Prepositions are also function words.  For example, with, on, beside.  And so are pronouns.  For example, she, we, and our.  In the sentence He came with his friends, He came with his friends, he, a pronoun, is unstressed.  Lower in pitch.  Came with his.  With, a preposition, also unstressed, and his, also unstressed, and lower in pitch.  He came with his friends.

Also, conjunctions are function words.  For example and, but, and if.  In the sample sentence I'll come if you want, I'll come if, if, if you want, you can see that the word 'if' is reduced.  It is very quick and lower in pitch.  I'll come if you want.

To review, function words are the words that will normally be unstressed or reduced within a sentence.  The opposite, content words, those words that are normally higher, brought out of the sentence and a little bit longer.  Function words, lower in pitch, very short.  Let's look at some example sentences.

Not that I want him back.  Got to love Meryl Streep.  The sentence was, Not that I want him back.  The word 'him', a kind of pronoun, was low in pitch and very fast.  Not that I want him, him, him.  You can see, the H was even dropped.  So, this is a reduced syllable here.  Not that I want him back.  (x2)

Your dramatic pictures from Cassini.  The sentence was, Your dramatic pictures from Cassini.  The word 'from', a preposition, a function word, was not pronounced from, but rather, frm.  Frm.  Very fast.  Your dramatic pictures from Cassini.  From was lower in pitch than the rest of the sentence, it was unstressed.  Your dramatic pictures from Cassini. (x2)

I'm not up for going out tonight.  The sentence:  I'm not up for going out tonight.  The word 'for' was reduced, fer.  For going out.  It is a preposition, a function word, therefore normally unstressed within a sentence.  I'm not up for going out tonight. (x2)

And now you know which words within a sentence will probably be unaccented or reduced.  I encourage you to really listen for this when you hear native speakers, and also to put it into practice.  Don't be afraid to have your words be lower in pitch within a sentence and sometimes very fast.