LINKING SOUNDS IN SPOKEN ENGLISH
English speakers connect their sounds by linking words. This makes their spoken English
different from their written English. For example, read the sentence, “Do you want a cup of
coffee?” Every word is separate and clear. Your American friend may say, however, “D’ya
wanna cuppa coffee?” This may confuse you.
Today I talk about three common patterns of linking words in spoken English:
a) Consonant-to-vowel (CTV)
b) Consonant-to-consonant (CTC)
c) Vowel to vowel (VTV)
d) Adding the y sound in linking words
e) Adding the w sound in linking words
f) Linking words with informal contractions
a) Linking words, consonant-to-vowel (CTV)
The CTV pattern is the most common pattern for linking words in spoken English. When we use
the CTV pattern to link words, we don’t pronounce each word separately. Instead, we take the
ending consonant sound from the first word and put it in front of the beginning vowel sound of
the second word. Here are some examples:
Wake up - /waykup/
Stop eating - /stopeating/
Move over - /moovover/
Come in - cuhmin
But I – /Burai/ (burai don’t like it)
And I - /andai (Angy andaI’re going to Miami)
Eat it – ea tit (íret) (take that cake endiret)
b) Linking words consonant-to-consonant (CTC)
The CTC pattern is another way of linking words in spoken English. We use this pattern when
the first word ends with a consonant sound and the next word begins with the same consonant,
or one that has a very similar sound. When this happens, it is difficult to pronounce both
consonants sound together. Because of that, we drop one of the consonant sounds and
pronounce only one of them. Here are some examples:
hot tea - hotea (hoti)
stop playing - stoplaying
pet turtle - peturtle
move forward - mooforward (the “v” sound in move is similar to the “f” sound in forward).
iced tea - ice tea (aisti) (the “d” sound in iced is very similar to the “t” sound in tea).
c) Linking words, vowel-to-vowel (VTV)
The VTV pattern is the final common way of linking words in spoken English. We use this pattern
when first word ends with a vowel sound and the second word begins with one. When this
happens, we add either a “y” or “w” sound between the two words. Here are some examples:
d) Adding the y sound in linking words
When linking words with the VTV pattern add a very light “y” sound between the two words when
the first word ends with any of the following sounds and the second word begins with any vowel.
The long i as in hide
The ee sound as in seed
The ay sound as in day
The oy sound as in soy
Here are some examples:
I answered - I yanswered
enjoy it - enjoyit
he asked - he yasked
stay in - stay yin
the boy is - the boy yis
e) Adding the w sound in linking words
When linking words using the VTV pattern, add a light “w” sound between the two words if the
first word ends with any of the following sounds and the second word begins with any vowel.
The “oo” sound as in school.
The “oa” sound as in soap
The “ow” sound as in how
Here are some examples:
Snow is cold – snow wis cold / how is your mother? – how wis your mother?
Go in - go win
Do it - do wit
How old - how wold are you?
f) Linking words with informal contractions.
A final way of linking words in spoken English is with informal contractions. These are words
where the sounds have been run together to make new words. Almost everybody uses them,
even though they aren’t real words. You can feel free to use them in speaking with almost
anyone. Do not use them in writing however, unless you are sending an e-mail or a text to a
close friend or family member. Below, there is a list of common informal contractions, their
meanings, and example sentences.
1. Gonna (going to) - I’m gonna go to a movie tonight. (light - lite)
2. Wanna (want to, or want a) - Do you (d’ya) wanna meet me tomorrow? / Do
you wanna hamburger or a hotog?
3. Gotta (got to / have to) - I gotta do my laundry today.
4. Kinda, Sorta (kind of / sort of) (a little bit) - It’s kinda cold today (col today)/ It was sorta hot
yesterday.
5. Lemme - let me - Lemme take a glass of water, please.
6. Gimme - give me - Please gimme a hamburger with fries and a coke.
7. Watcha - what are you - Whatcha doing today?
8. Betcha - bet you, (I’m really sure about this) - I betcha it will rain today.
Here are some additional ways of pronouncing the words you and of. In informal English, we
often pronounce you as ya
9. Do ya like action movies? or D’ya like action movies?
We often pronounce of as uh
10. I’ll see you in a couple uh minutes.
Linking Words Lesson Activity
The following sentences are not written in standard English. They are written in spoken English.
Read them aloud. Then check them against the same sentences below written in standard
English.
It snowing, so we hafta stay yinside. It’s snowing, so we have to stay inside
My brother’s gonna travel ta Africa next week. _____________________________
D’ya wanna a bottle uh water? _____________________________
My siste rizza very fashionable dresser. _____________________________
I don’t like t’attrac tattention. _____________________________
A Toyota may cos ta bit more tha na Chevy. _____________________________
Consonant To Consonant Linking (pronunciation exercise)
red dress [redress] – at the promo party my sister used a redress
big gorilla [bigorilla] –There is a bigorilla in the zoo
hot tomato [hotomato] – The cost of hotomato is expensive
feel lucky [feelucky] – I feelucky today
quiet town [quietown] – Detroit isn’t a quietown
pink car [pinkar] – my neighbor’s pinkar is very exotic
nice scarf [niscarf] – a niscarf is a good accesory
Similar Consonant Sound Linking
need to [neeto] – I neeto go to the dentist
sleep better [sleebetter] – I wish I can sleebetter
dark gray = [dargray] – I like that dargray elegandress
cheese sandwich = [cheesandwich] – Would you like a cheesandwich?
breathe through = [breathrough]
Consonant To Vowel Linking Examples
an elephant [anelephant]
an apple [anapple]
these are [theezare]
Michael bought an apple
