In the phrase "That's so not funny." do we usually use the weak form of That's?

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Zoli

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Feb 24, 2015
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Hello,
I know that stress can be shifted in a phrase to emphasize the words that mean more specifically what the speaker wishes to express, however I'm interested in the default stress where the phrase is pronounced without any special shifting.

That's so not funny.

In the dictionaries "that's" has two forms: ðæts and the unstressed form ðəts (reduced with the schwa vowel).
I think the unstressed one can be used in the phrase above. Right?
 
In speech it would be:

That's SO not funny.

(I didn't know there was more than one way to pronounce that's.)
 
I think the unstressed one can be used in the phrase above. Right?
The strong form of that is more likely there.

I prefer strong to stressed. The strong form is not always stressed.
 
When the word that in that's is a demonstrative pronoun, it's always pronounced in the strong form.

The strong form of that is more likely there.

More likely? How and why could it be pronounced in the weak form?
 
Perhaps I should have said The strong form of that is much more likely there. I just think the weak form is not impossible there.
 
You also have That is so not funny.
 
In speech it would be:

That's SO not funny.

(I didn't know there was more than one way to pronounce that's.)
That means the final inflection is on the word So? I guess everything falls down after that until the name which has its own inflection pattern. Am I right?

That's so not funny, Alison.
ðæts‿ˈsoʊ nɑt̚ fʌn.i, || ˈæl.ə.sən.
 
@Zoli Two things. One, I would call it emphasis, but I'm not a linguist. Two, how could it be the final inflection if there's another one? (That tends to be the pattern, yes.)
 
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