FEATURES OF CONNECTED SPEECH [summary]

I. LINKING FEATURES

a) CC + V
d him
1. She told h to waitt outside
o and then wentt into
i m alone.
the room a
d at a big
2. They looked g ant ng along
a walking a ng a black
k and te aluminium fence.
a white
d all
3. We danced a nightt under the stars
s of an incredible
i n Alaska.
blue sky in
d and
4. He stopped d around.
a looked a

b) Linking ‘r’ [whenever you have a word ending in <-

<-r> or <-
<-re> followed by a vowel sound]

1. My motherr and
a fatherr are in
i jail. 4. Betterr alone than in bad company.
2. Herr eyes
e re amber
were a r and
a brown. re ice.
5. We need more i
3. The waterr is colderr out there. 6. It’s forr us.
u

c) Intrusive ‘r’ [whenever you have a word ending in vowels 5, 7, or 12 followed by another
vowel sound]

a of
1. That’s the idea o it. a A.
4. Formula A.
a ice
2. I want vanilla i cream. awing.
awi
5. Drawi
aw it
3. I saw i on TV. aw and
6. Law a order.
a and
4. We should buy a sofa a chairs.

II. FEATURES OF ARTICULATORY SIMPLIFICATION

1. ASSIMILATION [regressive,
[regressive, coalescent or progressive]
It can be defined as the process by which sounds are influenced by neighbouring
sounds and come to share some or all of their phonetic characteristics.
e.g. Will they play? (the / l / is articulated as a dental consonant in this context)

a) Word internal
1. presume /prɪ'zju:m/ /prɪ'ʒu:m/ z+j=ʒ
2. situation /sɪtju'eɪʃņ/ /sɪʧu'eɪʃņ/ t+j=ʧ
3. education /ˌedju'keɪʃņ/ /ˌeʤu'keɪʃņ/ d+j=ʤ
4. glacial /'gleɪsiəl/ /'gleɪʃəl/ s+j=ʃ

b) Word boundary
1. These units 3. I need you
2. I want you 4. I miss you

Regressive:
Regressive: Coalescent:
Coalescent: Progressive:
Progressive:
- This shop s+ʃ=ʃ - Put your hat on - English speaker ʃ+s=ʃ
- (see examples below) - (see examples below) - Ribbon /m/
- Bacon /ŋ/
- Up and about /m/
 i) /t, d, n/ may be assimilated to /p, b, m/ respectively under the influence of these
bilabials in different contexts.
e.g. that pen red paint ten pounds
eight boys good boy in Boston
good morning on Monday

ii) /t, d, n/ may be assimilated to /k, g, ŋ / respectively when in contact with /k, g/.
e.g. hot cakes I should go his own car
not quite good girl ten coins

Also, at word level: think, incomplete, finger, longest, admit.

2. ELISION
It consists of omitting either a vowel or a consonant.
Weak vowels [ə, ɪ, ʊ] between consonants in unaccented syllables, especially when
followed by a liquid / r, l / or a nasal / m, n, ŋ /.
Alveolar consonants /d, t/ are usually elided between consonants when the preceding
consonant is voiced or voiceless respectively, except when they are followed by /h, j,
w/ (or a vowel, obviously).
Other consonants which can also be elided are /h/, /k/, and /p/, in certain contexts.

a) Word internal

1. curtain /'kɜːtņ/ 6. classical /'klæ

klæsɪkļ/
2. student /'stϳ
stϳuːdņt/ 7. peaceful /'piːsfļ
sfļ/
3. caution /'kɔːʃņ/ 8. arrival /ə'raɪvļ/
4. vision /'vɪʒņ/ 9. official /ə'fɪʃļ/
5. moderate /'mɒdŗɪt/ 10. nasal /'neɪzļ/

Words ending in the spelling: -tary / -dary / -berry

e.g. Secretary /'sekrətri/; secondary /'sekəndri/; raspberry /'rɑːzbri/

Exceptions:
a) The sequences / -dən, -tən / preceded by any of the nasals.
- London /'lʌndən/
- Washington /'wɒʃɪŋtən/
- Camden /'kæmdən/

b) Some nouns ending in -ful

- pocketful /'pɒkɪtfʊl/
- spoonful /'spuːnfʊl/
Double vowel elision may cause two syllabic consonants in the same word:
- liberal /'lɪbŗļ/
- presentation /ˌprezņ'teɪʃņ/

Elision of consonants at word level: | b) Word boundary

- grandma /'græmmɑː/ | - most people
- sandwich /'sænwɪʤ/ | - best thing
- postcard /'pəʊskɑːd/ | - send two
- temptation /tem'teɪʃņ/* | - old man
- asked /ɑːst/ | - looked peaceful
-Christman /'krɪsməs/ | - smiled politely

Exceptions and special cases:

1. Since we moved here a year ago.

/mu:vd hɪə/

2. …on almost any topic.

/ ɔːlməʊst eni/

3. and they must have sore tongues…

/məst hæv/

4. I find humour the most difficult aspect to master.

/faɪnd hju:mə ðə məʊs dɪfɪklt æspək tə mɑːstə/

5. doctor and patient

/dɒktr əm peɪʃņt/

6. Two and a half You and I

/ən ə hɑːf/ /ju: ən aɪ/

7. I went by bus
/went baɪ/

8. A cold year My last will The loved ones

/kəʊld jɪə/ /maɪ lɑːst wɪl/ /ðə lʌvd wʌnz/

9. You shouldn’t worry I wouldn’t hesitate

/ju ʃʊdn wʌri/ /aɪ wʊdn hezɪteɪt/

10. I don’t like it I can’t tell you

/ aɪ dəʊn laɪk ɪt/ / aɪ kɑːn tel ju/
3. COMPRESSION – Making two syllables
syllables into one.
Generally, the uncompressed version is more usual in:
a) rarer words.
b) slow or deliberate speech.
c) the first time a word occurs in a discourse.

Whereas the compressed version is more usual in:

a) frequently-used words.
b) fast or casual speech.
c) words that have already been used in the discourse.

i) maddening /'mæd ņ ɪŋ/ /'mæd nɪŋ/

ii) lenient /'liːn i ənt/ /'liːn jənt/
iii) diagram /'daɪ ə græm/ /'daə græm/

Compression is said to be ‘fed’ by syllabic consonant formation:

i) passionate /'pæʃ ən ət/ /'pæʃ ņ ət/ /'pæʃ nət/
ii) national /'næʃ ən əl/ /'næʃ ņ ļ/ /'næʃ nļ/

Smoothing = making a ‘derived diphthong’

Smoothing. This is the process whereby a diphthong may lose its second element when
followed by another vowel. Thus for example fire /ˈfaɪə/ may be smoothed to [faə]. Similarly,
science /ˈsaɪəns/ may be realized as [saəns], power /paʊə/ as [paə], Howard /ˈhaʊəd/ as
[haəd], and throwing /ˈθrəʊɪŋ/ as [θrɜɪŋ]. Now sociolinguistically this is clearly part of RP,
since it is frequently to be observed in the speech of those native speakers in England who
are located towards the upper end of the social scale. From the ideal point of view, on the
other hand, it is not part of RP: one cannot imagine a school teacher correcting a child who
failed to apply smoothing in his pronunciation. For EFL, it is in my view something that the
learner should be aware of (so that he knows that [saəns] is to be interpreted as science); but
it is not something that needs to be imitated in the learner’s own speech production.

a) Word internal
Lenient /'liːniənt/ /'liːnjənt/ iə ------ jə
Lawyer /lɔɪə/ /'lɔːjə/ ɪə ------ jə
Layer /leɪə/ /leə/ eɪə ------ eə
Diagram /'daɪəgræm/ /'daəgræm/ aɪə ------ aə ------ ɑː
Power /paʊə/ /paə/ aʊə ------ paə ------ ɑː
Tourist /'tʊərɪst/ /'tɔːrɪst/ ʊə ------ ɔː

b) Word boundary
Try and eat /traɪ ən iːt/ /traən iːt/
Yellow paint /jeləʊ peɪnt/ /jelʊ peɪnt/
To ignore it /tu ɪgnɔːr ɪt/ /twɪgnɔːr ɪt/