The document discusses various rules of assimilation, elision, linking, intrusion, juncture, and contractions in connected speech in English. It provides examples to illustrate anticipatory assimilation of consonants before bilabials, yod coalescence, elision of consonants and vowels, linking of /r/, /j/, and /w/ between words, intrusive /r/, the effect of rhotic and non-rhotic accents on linking and intrusion, how to teach elision and linking, and common contractions. The document argues that teachers should consider how teachable, relevant, and important for intelligibility each connected speech feature is when deciding how much to focus on them.

1. Assimilation

2. Some rules for assimilation
• Anticipatory assimilation:
o The phonemes /t/, /d/ and /n/ often become bilabial before bilabial
consonants /p/, /b/ and /m/
Ex: “Can you see that boy?” “He's a very good boy” “There are ten men in
the class”
o /t/ assimilates to /k/ before /k/ or /g/.
Ex: "Where has that cat been?"
o /d/ assimilates to /g/ before /k/ or /g/.
Ex: “She's a very good girl”

3. Some rules for assimilation
o/n/ can assimilate to /ŋ/before /g/ or /k/
Ex: “I've been going out too much lately”
“He's bringing his own car”
o/s/ can assimilate to /ʃ/ before /ʃ/
Ex: “I love this shiny diamond”
o/z/ can assimilate to /ʒ/ before /ʃ/
Ex: “We found this cheese shop in Paris”

4. Some rules for assimilation
• Yod coalescence:
o /t/ and /j/ coalesce to form /ʧ/
Ex: “You went to France last year, didn't you?”
o /d/ and /j/ coalesce to form /ʤ/
Ex: “Would you like a cup of tea?”

5. Elision
Omission of a sound to reduce the effort while speaking.

6. Some rules for elision
• /t/ and /d/ within a consonant cluster (word boundaries)
Ex: “We arrived the next day” /neks deɪ/
“We bought a lovely carved statuette”  /kɑ:v stætʃʊˈet/
“We reached Paris and stopped for lunch”  /ri:ʧ pærɪs/ /stɒp fə/
• Complex consonant clusters are simplified
Ex: “She acts like she owns the place”  /æks/
“George the sixth’s throne”  /sɪks θrəʊn/

7. Some rules for elision
• The /ə/ sound can dissapear in unstressed syllables
Ex: “Call the police”  /pli:s/
“Are you coming out tonight?”  /tˈnaɪt/
• The /v/ sound can dissapear in “of” BEFORE consonants
Ex: “It’s a complete waste of time”  /ə/

8. Linking and intrusion

9. Rhotic and non-rhotic accents of English
• Speakers with a RHOTIC accent of English DO pronounce the /r/
sound when is present on the spelling.
Ex: car  /kɑ:r/
• Speakers with a NON-RHOTIC accent of English DO NOT pronounce
the /r/ sound even though it is present on the spelling
Ex: car  /kɑ:/

10. Linking /r/
• For non-rhotic accents: Speakers pronounce the /r/ sound present
on the spelling to link a vowel to another one between boundaries
Ex: “My brother always phones at the wrong time”
“My car is new”
 Natural for rothic accents

11. Intrusive /r/
• For non-rhotic accents: Speakers use the /r/ phoneme (not
present on the spelling) between two vowel sounds
/ə/ /ɑ:/ /ɔ:/
Ex: “I saw it happen” /ɔ:rɪ/
“Law and order” /ɔ:rər/

12. Linking /j/
• Words ending in /i:/ or /eɪ/ /ɔɪ/ /aɪ/ followed by a vowel sound
Ex: “I think, therefore I am”  /aɪjæm/
“I agree”  /aɪjəˈgri:/
WHY?
 Place of articulation

13. Linking /w/
• Words ending in /u:/ /əʊ/ /aʊ/ followed by a vowel sound
Ex: “Go on! Go in!”  /gəʊwɒn/ /gəʊwɪn/
“You are nice”  /ju:wɑ:/
WHY?
 Place of articulation

14. How to teach elision
Tips for teaching

15. How to teach elision
• Superlative adjectives: /t/ sound followed by a consonant
Ex: “Tallest building”  /tɔːlɪs ˈbɪldɪŋ/
“Biggest place”  /ˈbɪgɪs pleɪs/
Contrast with /t/ sound followed by a vowel.
Ex: “Biggest animal”
“Longest hour”

16. How to teach linking
Tips for teaching

17. How to teach linking
• Phrasal verbs in a to-do list
For linking /r/ For linking /j/
Ex: “Clear away” /klɪərəˈweɪ/ Ex: “Tidy away” /ˈtaɪdijəˈweɪ/
“Clear out”/klɪəraʊt/ “Tidy up” /ˈtaɪdijʌp/
For linking /w/
Ex: “Throw away” /θrəʊwəˈweɪ/
“Throw out” /θrəʊwaʊt/

18. Juncture

19. Juncture
• “I scream,you scream,we all scream for ice-cream”
• “The clock keeps ticking” /ki:ps tikin/
• “The kids keep sticking things on the wall” /ki:p stikin/
• “That's my train”
• “It might rain”

20. Juncture
• “The great apes”
• “The grey apes”
oIn the pair:
• “Can I have some more ice?”
• “Can I have some more rice?”

21. Juncture
oConsonants often seem to be attracted across word boundaries:
Ex: “You'll need an egg,an olive and an anchovy(...a negg,a nolive
and a nanchovy”)
oThe coincidence of sounds can lead to examples where listeners
may hear an unintended word:
Ex: “It's no joke (snow)”
“It's tough (stuff)”

22. Contractions

23. Contractions
• I am  I’m /aım/
• I am not  I'm not /aım not/
• Can not  Can’t /ka:nt/
• Would have  Would’ve /wudəv/
• Could not  Couldn’t /kudnt/

24. Should we teach these aspects of
connected speech?

25. Should we teach these aspects of connected
speech?
• In the same way that working on sentence stress and intonation
can help students to better understand spoken English, so can
working on the other features of connected speech.
• It depends on how teachable an item is.
• It depends on what items receive more attention in coursebooks
and which do not.

26. Should we teach these aspects of connected
speech?
• It depends on how they contribute to the intelligibility of the speech.
• It depends on how teachable an item is.
• It depends on how relevant an item is for the student.
• Every teacher has to make their own judgment based on the above
criteria, of how much attention to give to the different features of
connected speech.