Aspects of connected speech

Aspects of connected speech

By Lorena Alvarado Dávila

​Among the main aspects of connected speech we can find

-Assimilation

-Elision

-Linking and intrusion

-Juncture

-Contractions​

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​Let´s check each one of them.....

Assimilation

Describes how sounds modify each other when they meet, it means, within words.

​If we take as examples the words that and book, we will notice phonemes involved. So, if we place these words into a sentence (for example, Could you pass me that book please?), we notice that the /t/ phoneme at the end of "that" does not sound like it does in the word said on its own. So, it is an alveolar sound.

Main rules for assimilation

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1) The Phonemes /t/, /d/ and /n/ often become bilabial before bilabial consonants /p/, /b/ and /m/

-He is a very good boy ​( /d/ assimilates to /b/)​

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2) /t/ assimilates to /k/ before /k/ or /g/. /d/ assimilates to /g/ before /k/ or /g/

-Can you see that girl over there?​

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3)​ /n/ can assimilate to /ŋ / before /g/ or /k/

-He is bringing his own car​

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4)​ /z/ can assimilate to /ʒ/ before /ʃ/

-We found this lovely little cheese shop in Paris​

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Elision

This term describes the disappearance of a sound.

For example, in the utterance

-He leaves next week speakers would generally elide (leave out) the /t/ in next saying /neks wik​/

Some rules for elision

1) The most common elisions in English are /t/ and /d/, when they appear within consonant cluster.

-When we reached Paris, we stopped for lunch. (/t/ elided between ​/tʃ/ and /p/, and between /p/ and /f/

2)Complex consonant clusters are simplified.

-She acts like she owns the place! (​/ækts/ can be simplified to //æks/)

Linking and Intrusion

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When two vowel sounds meet, speakers often link them in various ways.

Linking /r/ ​

-My brother lives in London (/r/ is not pronunced)

-My brother always phones at the wrong time (/r/ is pronunced

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Intrusive​ /r/

Where two vowel sounds meet and there is no written letter r, speakers with non-rhotic​ accents will still often introduce the /r/ phoneme en order to ease the transition

Speakers with rhotic accents tend not to ​ do this:

Princess Diana was a victim of media explotation. ​/əre/

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Juncture

We found some differencesin the use of phonemes, as for example:

-The clock keeps ticking.

-The kids keeps sticking things on the wall.

You can notice the differences in the pronunciation of the underlined words, despite the fact that the phonemes are the same, are differences of juncture​.

Contractions

It occurs when two words combine to the extent that the two are pronunced as one word, or one syllable.

For example:

-I am / I'm, you are you're​, she is she's etc............

There are some restrictions, however we can say:

1) You're not....

2) You aren´t....​

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