strong form

One of two possible pronunciations for a WORD, in the context of CONNECTED SPEECH, the other being WEAK. The strong form is that which is the result of a word being STRESSED. For example, most of the GRAMMATICAL WORDS of English occur in both forms, e.g. I want bacon and eggs v. I want bacon – and eggs. The notion is also used for SYNTACTICALLY conditioned alternatives, such as your book v. the book is yours.