（零）总纲

What am I saying? (Warm up)

So we’re going to play a game. I’m going to say something very slowly, syllable by syllable. You
guys can say it with me. And I want you to listen and try to figure out what I’m saying.
1. wi lef dɪ dæ də res trɑn
2. teɪ kə lə kæ dæn diz web sɑɪt
So what do you think? What am I saying? =\

The Golden Rules

[Golden Rule #1] Every syllable begins with a consonant

[Golden Rule #2] Maintain the correct number of syllables.

The 5 kinds of Linking Techniques

A. Vowel to Consonant

1. It’s a big animal!

2. I’ve been asking for a week
3. He’s in a bigger office on the top floor.

B. Geminates

1. Same: It takes two to tango.

2. Similar: I made Tim do it.

C. Omission

1. T dropping: What? / I wasn’t sent here as a punishment

2. D dropping:
3. H Silencing: He’s in his office
 D. Transformation

1. Don’t you
2. Didn’t you
3. Want to
4. Going to
5. Got to

E. Insertion (Watch video online)

1. Idea
2. Situation
Today’s Focus

（一）Vowel to Consonant:
If a syllable or a word begins with a vowel, then it needs to link to the consonant in front of
it. We do this because of Golden Rule #1.

1. …come on in…

e.g. When I saw him at the door, I told him to come on in.

2. …get out of…

e.g. I have to get out of the house.

3. …middle of (sth)…

e.g. He called me in the middle of the night

4. …end of…

e.g. At the end of the day, nothing really matters.

 5. …as a…

e.g. As a teacher, I should have more patience.

6. …in a…

e.g. We’ll leave in a minute.

7. …on a…

e.g. I left on a plane to Beijing.

8. …at a…

e.g. We left it at a restaurant.

9. …of a…

e.g. It’s hard to understand the mind of a student.

10. …take a look at (sth)…

e.g. Take a look at Andy’s website.

（二）Geminates
What am I saying? (Warmup)
1. wi gɑ də ge dɑʊ də hiər.
2. le mi si ðæ bʊk.
3. lʊ kɪ mi we nɑim tɔ kɪ nə ju

1. We got to get out of here

2. Let me see that book
3.Look at me when I'm talking to you
 （三）Omission

Hi Henry，

So glad to write to you again！During my daily learning，I came

across a great many pronunciation questions. With your help, I solved
most of them. However there's still some questions I'd like to ask you.
Please give me a hand, thanks a lot!

A:Weak form:
 1. In American English，sometimes I heard the unimportant [i] was
pronounced [ə]. Like him, business, homeless and so on. Does it work for
"it"?

2. Also, I found Americans pronounce [ʌ] as [ə] in some cases.Like

worry, love, hurry and etc.

3. And in the same way, [aʊ] was pronounced [əʊ]，like out，

about and stuff.

I guess this is so-called weak form, right? And I think mastering it is

quite important for speaking native English. Do you think so?

B.Linking:

1. We often run into some words like: going on，thinking

about，ring up，bring into and something like that. We usually pronunce
it ['gəʊɪ ŋɑn]，while I heard some Americans pronounce them as ['gəʊɪ
nɑn]. Could u show us the right way to link them?

I totally agree what you said in your VIP class, speaking English is
pretty like singing songs. It's full of rhythms. Thank you!

Sincerely，

JackyWu

What am I saying? (Warmup)

1. gɪ vɪ mə kɔl we nju ge doʊm.

2. te lɪ mɑɪ mɑn mɑɪ weɪ.

3. te lər rɑɪ toʊl dɪm tə goʊ hoʊm.

1. Omission

Some sounds give us trouble. They slow us down when we

pronounce them and they make it difficult to increase our speed. So we
just drop the sound. These sounds are called omission.

1. T-dropping:
 This is the most common form of omission. We drop the T sound
when it’s the end of a syllable and the next syllable begins with a
consonant.

A. What do you think about this?

B. I just want to go home.

C. I wasn’t going to eat today.

D. I don’t care.

E. I can’t do it tonight, how about tomorrow?

2. D-dropping:

We drop the D sound when it’s the end of a syllable and the next
syllable begins with a consonant.

A. I had to go to Taiwan for Chinese New year.

B. I need to buy some Chinese children’s books to read.

3. H Silencing:

We drop the H sound when it’s the beginning of a syllable and the
syllable before it ends in a consonant.

A. She handed in her assignment to the teacher.

B. I asked him to do it tomorrow.

C. Caller?! I barely know her!

（四）Transformation
What am I saying? (Warmup)
1. hi dəv dʌ nɪ’dɪ frɪn’li
 2. ɑɪ wʊ də nəv bɪn tɔ kɪnɪ fɑɪniu wi wʌz gʌ nə ge dʌp se’
So what do you think? What am I saying? =\
He would have done it differently
I wouldn’t have been talking if I knew he was going to get upset

1.Transformation:

This is one of the harder aspects of linking. It’s much harder to

predict and there are less rules that govern it. Transformation linking is a
big change in pronunciation. The change is so different that the sound of
the words completely transform from their original pronunciation.
Sometimes, the best way to learn transformation is to hone your listening
skills and mimic the language that you hear. But there are three kinds of
Transformation that we can discuss.
Note: This is the only Linking Rule that may violate the 2nd Golden
Rule. The number of syllables will change in most kinds of
transformation.

2. Contractions 省略

These are easier to understand and far more systematized. It is also

taught in schools and recognized by everyone.

• Recognized

• Can not = Can’t

• Do not = Don’t
• Will not = Won’t
• Have not = Haven’t
• They have = They’ve

• Partly Recognized

• There is = There’s
• That is = That’s
• this is = This’s

• Unrecognized

• They would have = They’d’ve = They’d’ve called me earlier but they

were busy.
• They have a = They’ve’a = They’ve’a nice house in New York City.
 3. G-dropping:

Words that end in “-ing,”turn into “in.”

A. Talking about = I don’t know what you’re talkin’about
B. Having a good time = I’m havin’a good time
C. Teaching a student = I’m teachin’a student after this show.

4. (T->U = tʃəu ) & (D->U = dʒəu)

A. Did you = dɪdʒəu Did you watch the new episode of Game of

Thrones?
B. Couldn’t you = kʊdən tʃəu Couldn’t you just wait until next week?

5. Commonly-used word combinations:

The most commonly heard English is the least clear. Over time, it
will have its own kind of pronunciation. These transformations of the
English language defy all logical reasoning and are extremely hard to
predict. As a teacher, I believe that it’s wrong to answer a student’s
question with “That’s just the way it is,”but unfortunately, this is the only
answer I can give when students ask about this type of transformation.
And so, I hate this type of linking the most.
• Got to = gotta
• Kind of = kinda
• Sort of = sorta
• a lot of = lotta
e.g. In Beijing, you gotta drink a lot of water.
• “Could of, would of, should of,”= “coulda, woulda, shoulda”
• Going to = gonna
• Want to = wanna
e.g. You’re gonna wanna wear a tie tomorrow
• What are you doing? = watcha doin’?
e.g. Watcha doin’tomorrow morning?

（五）Insertion

What am I saying? (Warmup)

1. jʊl si mi jɪnəmʌnθ
2. ʃi jɪnɑɪsdɑər dɪdəfɑɪjər bɑɪjæk sɪdən’
So what do you think? What am I saying? =\
You'll see me in a month.
She and I started a fire by accident.

Insertion:

Sometimes when we cut a dialogue into syllables, we have a

problem. The problem is that we will end up with two vowel
sounds and no consonant between them. Remember that we can’t
have any syllables begin with a vowel. All syllables MUST begin
with a consonant.

Here is an example:

Idea = ɑɪ di ə

Situation = sɪtʃəu eɪʃɪn

In this situation, we have a problem. There isn’t a consonant

that we can put between these two syllables. So in this situation,
we will actually “insert,”our own consonant between them.

Idea = ɑɪdi jə

Situation = sɪtʃəu weɪʃɪn

Intra-word Insertion:

That means it happens inside of a word. Here are some other

examples.
 Serious = siər ri jəs
Furious = fiər ri jəs
Quiet = kwɑɪjɪt
Graduation = grædʒəu weɪʃɪn
Visual = vɪʒəu wəl
So how come sometimes we add a “j,”sound and sometimes we add a
“w,”sound? When do we add which sound? Well usually, in American
English, consecutive vowel syllables only happen when the first vowel
syllable is a long vowel. Let’s take a look at the long vowels then.

Inter-word Insertion

Insertion can also happen between words. It still goes by the same
principles.Here are some examples:
He sent me an email about the account
h s m j n m l b t j k
i en’ i ə i eɪl ə ɑ ʊ’ hi ə ɑ ʊn’
You and I can talk about this later
j w n kə t k bɑʊ ð l d
u ə ɑɪ n ɔ ə ’ ɪs eɪ ər
We’re all going out tonight, are you in? =
w r g w n t n ɑ j w n r
iər ɔl oʊ ɪ ɑ ʊ’ ə ɑ ɪt ər u ɪ ər ɑ ʊ’?