Mohammed Gussmallah Saeed2017-09-272017-09-272015http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/5580A thesis submitted in partial fulfil lment for the requirement of MA in linguisticsAbstract English function words have two alternat ive pronunciations, strong and weak. It is the weak forms that most challenge EFL learners. The confusion that Sudanese EFL learners encounter was the rationale behind carrying out this study. The study aimed at examining students’ ability in recognizing and producing the weak forms and whether their knowledge about the subject will enab le them to produce these weak forms. 115 participants from two universities were tested using a written test to determine if they could produce the co rrect pronunciation of the weak forms or not, and an oral test to find out whether th ey use the weak forms in their speech or not. Results of descriptive analytic method s showed that participants were unable to produce the weak fo rms both written and orally . Furthermore students’ knowledge on the subject had no effect on their performancelinguistics