Exercise 1-54: Intonation and Pronunciation of "That" CD 2 Track 27
That is a special case because it serves three different grammatical functions. The relative pronoun and the conjunction are reducible. The demonstrative pronoun cannot be reduced to a schwa sound. It must stay [æ].
Relative Pronoun |
The car that she ordered is red. |
[the car th't she order diz red] |
Conjunction |
He said that he liked it. |
[he sed the dee läikdit. ] |
Demonstrative |
Why did you do that? |
[why dijoo dothæt?] |
Combination |
I know that he'll read that book that I told you about. |
[äi knowthe dill read thæt bük the dai toljoo(w)' bæot] |