Connected Speech

What is connected speech?

When we speak naturally we do not pronounce a word, stop, then say the next word in the sentence. Fluent speech flows with a rhythm and the words bump into each other. To make speech flow smoothly the way we pronounce the end and beginning of some words can change depending on the sounds at the beginning and end of those words.

These changes are described as features of connected speech.

Taken from 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/features/connected.shtml

Elision

This is when a sound gets left out/omitted in connected speech. It often happens with the sounds /t/ or /d/ or other plosives before following consonants

Plosive sounds /t/ and /d/ occurring at the end of words before a following consonant tend to disappear

I don’t know /aɪ dəʊ nəʊ/

great time

red berries

largest lake

inched towards  

Also: H sound in weak forms (Unless it’s the beginning of a sentence)

Assimilation

This is when a sound changes to become closer/ more similar to a neighbouring sound. It can occur both  in words and at word boundaries and mainly affects consonants, particularly  alveolar consonants /t/, /d/, /n/, /s/, /ʃ/ and /z

Alveolar consonants /t/, /d/, /n/, at the end of a word often assimilate to the pkace of articulation of the consonant at the beginning of the next word. Before /p/, /b/ and /m/ for example, they become bilabial.

In bed   /ɪm bed/

Good boy /gʊb bɔɪ/

/d/ can change to /g/

Good girl /gʊg gɜ:l/

Voicing can change too Here /v/ becomes an unvoiced /f/ under the influence of

the following unvoiced /t/:

Have to go    /hæf tə gəʊ/

/d/ and /j/ can fuse, or coalesce, to make a less plosive sound, the affricate /ʤ/:

how d’you do   /haʊ ʤʊ du:/

And similarly /t/ and /j/ can coalesce to give the unvoiced affricate //ʧ/ /:

/dəʊnʧə nəʊ/

Intrusion

This happens when we add a sound/phoneme. It usually happens at word  boundaries especially between two  vowels. The sounds that are introduced are /j/, /w/ or /r/.

These occur between a word ending in a vowel sound and the subsequent word beginning with a vowel sound.

b. why I’ve (intrusive /j/);

d. never ever (intrusive/ linking /r/);

e. saw it (intrusive /r/);

h. you order (intrusive /w/)

Linking /r/

In RP the letter ‘r’ in the spelling of a word is not pronounced unless it is followed

by a vowel sound. But in connected speech the final spelling ‘r’ of a word may be

pronounced or not, depending on whether the first sound of the next word is a

consonant or a vowel.

never ever (intrusive/ linking /r/);

Intrusive /r/

This refers to the /r/ sound an English speaker may insert between two words

where the first ends in /􀔥/ or / / and the following word begins with a vowel

sound.

saw it (intrusive /r/);  

Intrusive /w/ and /j/

These are also used to link certain vowel-vowel combinations at word junctions.

The intrusive sound may not be distinctly heard especially where the overall

vowel sequence is fairly relaxed. Nevertheless you will find it noticeable in all

sorts of recorded material, and it has great value as a learning device when

helping learners towards a smooth linking of words in continuous speech.

You are /jʊ w ɑ:/

Vowel reduction, weak and strong forms

Some vowels become shortened and less clear when they are not stressed. This happens particularly with /i/ which gets reduced to /ɪ/, and /u:/ which gets reduced to /ʊ/. In English, some monosyllabic words also have weak and strong forms depending on whether they are stressed or not. An example is the strong form of the definite article /θi/ and its weak form /θə/.

What do you want to do tomorrow?

I don’t know why I’ve decided to go away so soon 

Taken from Cambridge Resources for teachers: TKT KAL (teachers,cambridgeesol.org)  and "Sound Foundations, Learning and teaching pronunciation", Adrian Underhill, Macmillan, 2005.

I strongly suggest you go to this website to see some examples 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/features/connected.shtml

There are radio programmes that you can download (in mp3 format)  about the different features of connected speech such as:

-Consonant sound to vowel sound linking or Linking /r/, Intrusive /r/ and Intrusive /w/ and /j/

-The linking that takes place when a word ends in a consonant sound and the next word beging with the same or a very similar consonant sound or Elision (when a sound disappears) and Assimilation (when a sound changes)
-Sounds that change in connected speech: Weak and Strong forms


http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/progs/prog2.shtml#ellision
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/progs/prog3.shtml#assimilation
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/pronunciation/mp3/tae_pronunciation3.mp3