Theory on Aspects of Connected speech in English

1. Aspects of Connected Speech

2. Aspects of Connected Speech
 Weak Forms
 Elision
 Assimilation
 Coalescent assimilation (Yod coalescence)
 Linking / Intrusive /r/ (UK)

3. INTRODUCTION
 There is a great deal of difference between
words pronounced in isolation and in the
context of connected speech.
 Learners of English must be aware of the
problem they will meet in listening to
colloquial connected speech.

4. Weak forms
When we talk about weak forms in the phonetics
of English this regards a series of words which
have one pronunciation (strong) when isolated,
and another (weak) when not stressed within a
phrase.
A car
/ˈeɪ ˈkɑ:/
I bought a car
/aɪ ˈbɔ:t ə ˈkɑ:/

5. Look at this phrase:
I went to the hotel and booked
a room for two nights for my
father and his best friend.

6. What are the most important
words?
I went to the hotel and booked a room
for two nights for my father and his
best friend.

7. If we eliminate the other words
can we still understand the
message?
went hotel booked room
two nights father best
friend.

8. Let’s look at the phrase
transcribed:
 /aɪ ˈwent tə ðə həʊˈtel ən ˈbʊkt ə
 ˈru:m fə ˈtu: ˈnaɪts fə maɪ ˈfɑ:ðər ən
 hɪz ˈbest ˈfrend/

9. There is a tendency for vowels in
unstressed syllables to shift towards
the schwa (central position)

10. Weak forms are used in
commonly used words such
as:
 One-word prepositions
 Auxiliary verbs
 Conjunctions
 Pronouns (not all of them, though!)

11. Strong form Weak form
Prepositions
to
for
from
into
of
as
at

12. Auxiliary
verbs
are
was
were
would
could
should
can
must

13. Others
and
but
than
that
you
your
her
a
an
the

14. Weak=unstressed
In the following sentences the underlined words are
stressed and so would be pronounced using the strong
form:
 I do like chocolate.
 She drove to Las Vegas, not from Las Vegas.
 We were surprised when she told us her secret. (stress
on ‘were’ for emphasis)

15. Elision
Elision is very simply the omission of certain sounds in certain
contexts. The most important occurrences of this phenomenon
regard:
Alveolar consonants /t/ and /d/ when ‘sandwiched’ between two
consonants , or at the end of a final consonant cluster.
The next day…. /ðə ˈneks ˈdeɪ/
The last car… /ðə ˈlɑ:s ˈkɑ:/
Hold the dog! /ˈhəʊl ðə ˈdɒg/
Send Frank a card. /sen ˈfræŋk ə ˈkɑ:d/

16. Africates /tʃ/ & /dʒ/
This can also take place within affricates / tʃ / and / dʒ / when
preceded by a consonant, e.g.
lunchtime /ˈlʌntʃtaɪm/ becomes /ˈlʌnʃtaɪm/
strange days /ˈstreɪndʒˈdeɪz/ /ˈstreɪnʒˈdeɪz/

17. Elision of ‘not’
The phoneme /t/ is a fundamental part of the
negative particle not, the possibility of it being
elided makes the foreign students life more
difficult. Consider the negative of can – if followed
by a consonant the /t/ may easily disappear and
the only difference between the positive and the
negative is a different, longer vowel sound in the
second:
+ I can speak…./aɪ kən ˈspi:k//
- I can’t speak… /aɪ ˈkɑ:n(t) ˈspi:k//

18. ASSIMILATION
A significant difference in
natural connected speech is the
way that sounds belonging to
one word can cause change in
sounds belonging to
neighbouring words.

19. Assimilation
Assimilation can be of:
 Place of articulation
 Voice
 Manner of articulation

20. Regressive & Progressive.
1- That person. /ðæp p3:sn/
2- good boy /gub boi/
3- get them /get dəm/
4- read these /ri:d di:z/

21. Assimilation of Place
The most common form involves the
movement of place of articulation of the
alveolar stops /t/, /d/ and /n/ to a position closer
to that of the following sound.
For instance, in the phrase ten cars, the /n/ will
usually be articulated in a velar position, so
that the tongue will be ready to produce the
following velar sound /k/.
Similarly, in ten boys the /n/ will be produced
in a bilabial position, to prepare for the
articulation of the bilabial /b/.

22. BEFORE A VELAR (/k/, /g/)
/d/  /g/
e.g. good girl / gʊg g3:l /
/t/  /k/
e.g. that kid / ðæk kid /

23. BEFORE A BILABIAL (/m/, /b/, /p/)
/n/  /m/
e.g. ten men /tem men/
/d/  /b/
e.g. bad boys /bæb ˈbɔɪz/
/t/  /p/
e.g. hot mushrooms / hɒp ˈmʌʃru:mz/

24. ASSIMILATION OF VOICING
The vibration of the vocal folds is not something that can be
switched on and off very swiftly, as a result groups of
consonants tend to be either all voiced or all voiceless.
Consider the different endings of ‘books’, bags and ‘catches’
(also known as “grammatical endings)

25. Yod coalescence
In English phonetics Yod coalescence is a form of
assimilation – it is a phenomenon which takes place
when /j/ is preceded by certain consonants, most
commonly /t/ and /d/:

26. EXAMPLES
 1- ‘Betcha’ for
 ‘( I ) bet you’ as in ‘Betcha can’t catch me.
 2- ‘Gotcha’ for
 ‘( I’ ve ) got you’ as in ‘Gotcha at last’

27. /d/ + /j/ = /dʒ/
Could you help me?
/kʊdʒu help mi:/
Would yours work?
/wʊdʒɔ:z wɜ:k/
She had university
students…/ʃi:
hædʒu:ni:vɜ:sɪti
stju:dənts

28. /t/ + /j/ = /tʃ/
…but use your head!
bətʃu:z jɔ: hed/
What you need….
/wɒtʃu ni:d/
The ball that you
brought…. /ðə bɔ:l
ðətʃu: brɔ:t/
Last year….
/lɑ:stʃɪə/

29. Exercise. Identify places where yod coalescence
may occur in the following phrases:
What you need is a good job!
You told me that you had your homework done.
She didn’t go to France that year.
Could you open the window please?
You’ve already had yours!

30. LINKING
 The phoneme ‘r’ does not occur in syllable
final position in BBC accent
 When a word’s spelling suggests a final r,
and a word beginning with a vowel follows,
the ‘r’ sound must be pronounced to ease
the transition of speech from one sound to
the next and to avoid having to pronounce
two vowels together.

31. EXAMPLES
 ‘Here’ /hɪǝ/ but
 Here are / hɪǝr a: /
 ‘Four’ / fɔ: / but
 Four eggs / fɔ:r egz /