AJELLS: Awka Journal of English Language and Literary Studies, Vol. 8 No. 1, 2021 90 Nwabunwanne & Nnamdi-Eruchalu PHONOLOGICAL USE OF THE WEAK FORMS OF PREPOSITIONS BY THE EDUCATED IGBO SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH Nwabunwanne Igweadiani Department of English and Literary Studies, Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Ebonyi, Nigeria Email: nwabu5555@gmail.com & Dr. Geraldine Ifesinachi Nnamdi-Eruchalu Department of English and Literature, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria Abstract The spread and use of the English language has brought about varieties in the language which is reflective of its geographical spread and contact with the local languages. One area that is greatly affected by the contact between the English language and the local languages is pronunciation. This study examines the phonological use of the weak forms of prepositions among the educated Igbo speakers of English. The study also examines gender differences in the phonological use of the weak forms of prepositions. Sixty educated Igbo speakers of English as a second language comprising thirty males and thirty females who have no less than two years of post secondary education selected through a purposive random sampling technique participated in the study. The data were collected by getting the subjects to read a passage that contains prepositions that are supposed to be pronounced in their weak forms in connected speech into a recording device and was analysed perceptually. The study which relied on Labov’s theory of variation observed that educated Igbo speakers of English manifested variation in their production of weak forms when compared with RP. The study also observed that there is no gender differences in the manner in which educated male and female Igbo speakers produced the weak forms of the English prepositions Keywords: The Strong and Weak Forms, Variation Theory, The English Grammatical Words Introduction Many centuries ago, the English language was a local language spoken mainly by monolinguals within the shores of Britain. But today, the English language is a global language. The spread and use of the English language has brought about varieties in the language which is reflective of its geographical spread and contact with the local languages. One area that is greatly affected by the contact between the English language and the local languages is pronunciation. Okoro (159) attests that ‘geographical and regional varieties of English are usually most noticeable on the level of phonology’. The works of Labov (1963) and (1966) which were attempts to track the social variations of the features of a language have been inspiring researchers to map the differences between Standard British Usage (RP) and regional varieties, and to account for the linguistic and social variables that are responsible for the observed differences. A characteristic feature of natural connected speech in the English language is the weakening of grammatical words (also referred to as function words). The English grammatical words are realised in two ways in the spoken form. They could be realised in the strong form or in the weak form. Suffice to say that the English grammatical words undergo a set of modifications in natural connected speech. The modifications in natural connected speech of the English grammatical words are not arbitrarily done. It is context specific. There are certain contexts where only the strong form is acceptable and others where the weak form is the normal pronunciation. Why is it important to learn how weak forms are used? Roach provides answers to the question and it is worth quoting in extenso: There are two reasons; first, most native speakers of English find an ‘all strong-form’ pronunciation unnatural and foreign sounding, something that most learners would wish to avoid. Second, and more importantly, speakers who are not familiar with the use of weak forms are likely to have difficulty understanding speakers who do use the weak forms; since practically all native speakers of British English use them, learners of the language need to learn about these weak forms to help them understand what they hear. (Roach, 112)