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Phonetics - Lecture 9

1. Elision is the disappearance of sounds, typically in rapid speech. Vowels may be lost after certain consonants like p, t, k, or between words. Weak vowels followed by n, l, or r may become syllabic consonants. 2. Linking refers to joining words together in connected speech. Words ending in consonants link to following words starting with vowels. Words ending in vowels link to following words starting with vowels by inserting a /j/ or /w/ sound. 3. An intrusive /r/ sound may be inserted between words ending in vowels and following words starting with vowels, even when not justified by spelling, like in "Formula A"

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70 views3 pages

Phonetics - Lecture 9

1. Elision is the disappearance of sounds, typically in rapid speech. Vowels may be lost after certain consonants like p, t, k, or between words. Weak vowels followed by n, l, or r may become syllabic consonants. 2. Linking refers to joining words together in connected speech. Words ending in consonants link to following words starting with vowels. Words ending in vowels link to following words starting with vowels by inserting a /j/ or /w/ sound. 3. An intrusive /r/ sound may be inserted between words ending in vowels and following words starting with vowels, even when not justified by spelling, like in "Formula A"

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Aspects of Connected Speech: Elision, Linking.

Elision

Elision is considered one of the aspects of connected speech. The nature of elision may
be stated quite simply: under certain circumstances sounds disappear. One might
express this in more technical language by saying that in certain circumstances a
phoneme may be realised as zero, or have zero realisation or be deleted. As with
assimilation, elision is typical of rapid, casual speech. Elision occurs both within words
and at word boundaries. To have an idea of phenomenon of elision may be of two
importance for foreign learner of English.
1. They should be aware of the fact that the “silent” letters in many English words
bear witness to historical elision. For ex.

sign /saɪn/ gnat /næt/


would /wʊd/ gnow /nɔ:/
should /ʃʊd/ write /raɪt/
know /nəʊ/ salmon /ʹsæmən/
knock /nok/ castle /ʹka:sl/

2. They should aware of the fact that producing elision is one of the
characteristic features of native speakers of English:
- Loss of weak vowel after p, t, k.
In words like potato’, ‘tomato’, canary’, ‘perhaps’, ‘today’, the vowel in the first
syllable may disappear; the aspiration of the initial plosive takes up the whole of the
middle portion of the syllable, resulting in these pronunciations (where h indicates
aspiration in the phonetic transcription):

/ph'teɪtau/ /th'ma:tau/ /kh'neəri/ /ph'hæps/ /th'deɪ/

-Weak vowel + n, 1, r becomes syllabic consonant. For example:

‘tonight’/ tnaɪt/ ‘police’ /pli:s/ ‘correct’/ krekt/

- Avoidance of complex consonant clusters.


It has been claimed that no normal English speaker would ever pronounce all
the consonants between the last two words of the following:

‘George the Sixth’s throne’ ʤɔ:ʤs ∂ə sɪksθs θrəun

In clusters of three plosives or two plosives plus a fricative, the middle plosive may
disappear, so that the following pronunciations result:
‘acts’ æks, , ‘scripts’ skrɪps, ‘friendship’ frenʃɪp, ‘handsome’ hænsəm

Elision of /t/ and /d/ sounds can happen between two words:
Last chance /la:s ʧa:ns/
hand bad /hæn bæg/
next day /neks deɪ/

Linking
When we say a sentence in English, we join or "link" words to each other. Because of
this linking, the words in a sentence do not always sound the same as when we say them
individually. Linking is very important in English. If you recognize and use linking,
two things will happen:
-you will understand other people more easily
-other people will understand you more easily

There are basically two main types of linking:


• consonant ⇔ vowel
We link words ending with a consonant sound to words beginning with a vowel sound.
For ex.: turn off /tɜ: nof/
• vowel ⇔ vowel

We link words ending with a vowel sound to words beginning with a vowel sound.
When the first word ends in a, e, i vowel sound, our lips are wide. Then we insert a /j/
sound at the beginning of the next word: ‘pay all’ /peɪyɔ:l/, ‘the end’ /∂iyend/

When the first word ends in an o, u vowel sound, our lips are round. Then we insert
a /w/ sound at the beginning of the next word: go out /gəʊwaʊt/, too often /tu:wofn/

The most familiar case is the use of linking /r/; the phoneme /r/ does not occur in
syllable-final position in the BBC accent, but when the spelling of a word suggests a
final /r/, and a word beginning with a vowel follows, the usual pronunciation is to
pronounce with /r/. For example:

‘here’ hɪə but ‘here are’ hɪər ə


‘four’ fɔ: but ‘four eggs’ fɔ:r egz

BBC speakers often use r in a similar way to link words ending with a vowel, even
when there is no “justification” from the spelling, as in:

‘Formula A’ fɔ: mjələr eɪ


‘Australia all out’ ostreɪliər ɔ:l aut
‘media event’ mi:diar ivent
This has been called intrusive r. “Linking r” and “intrusive r” are special cases of
juncture; we need to consider the relationship between one sound and the sounds that
immediately precede and follow it. If we take the two words ‘my turn’ /maɪ tɜ:n/, we
know that the sounds m and aɪ, t and ɜ:, and ɜ: and n are closely linked. But if English
speakers hear /maɪ tɜ:n/ they can usually recognise this as ‘my turn’ and not ‘might
earn’. This is where the problem of juncture becomes apparent. What is it that makes
perceptible the difference between /maɪ tɜ:n/ and /maɪt ɜ:n/ The answer is that in one
case the t is fully aspirated (initial in ‘turn’), and in the other case it is not (being final
in ‘might’). In addition to this, the aɪ diphthong is shorter in ‘might’.
Many ingenious minimal pairs have been invented to show the significance of
juncture, a few of which are given below:

• ‘might rain’ /maɪt reɪn/ (r voiced when initial in ‘rain’, eɪ shortened), vs.
‘my train’ /maɪ treɪn/ (r voiceless following t in ‘train’, eɪ longer)
• ‘all that I’m after today’ /ɔ:l ∂æt aɪm a:ftə tədeɪ/ (t relatively unaspirated when
final in ‘that’)
‘all the time after today’ /ɔ:l ∂ə taɪm a:ftə tədeɪ/ (t aspirated when initial in
‘time’)
• ‘tray lending’ /treɪ lendiŋ/ (“clear l” initial in ‘lending’)
‘trail ending’ /treɪl endiŋ/ (“dark l” final in ‘trail’)
• ‘keep sticking’ /ki:p stikiŋ/ (t unaspirated after s)
‘keeps ticking’ /ki :ps tikiŋ/ (t aspirated in ‘ticking’)

It should by now be clear that there is a great deal of difference between the way words
are pronounced in isolation and their pronunciation in the context of connected speech.

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