Connected Speech

Speech is a continuous stream of sounds, without clear-cut borderlines

between them, and the different aspects of connected speech help to explain
why written English is so different from spoken English.

In natural speech there are many processes that results in differences

between isolated words are the same words in occurring in connected speech.
When we speak naturally we do not pronounce a word, stop and then
continue, fluent speech flows with a rhythm and the words bump into each
other. To make speech flow smoothly the way we pronounce the end and
beginning of some word can change depending on the sounds at the beginning
and end of those words. These changes that affect the quality of sounds are
known as :

Features of Connected Speech.

Assimilation

If a speech is thought of as a string of sounds linked together, assimilation is

what happen to a sound when it its influenced by one of its neighbour. For
example, the word ‘this’ has the sound /s/ at the end if it is pronounced on its
own. But when followed by ʃ in a word such as ‘shop’ it often changes rapid in
speech through assimilation.

Types of Assimilation

Progressive : the interchange of a sound which often take place and identified
in plural form words. Example: Dogs transcription [dɒgz] Most of the time it
changes when the consonant sound /s/ is followed by the voiced consonant
such as g, d and with the vowel e.

 Regressive: when a sound influences one which precedes it; the most familiar
case of regressive assimilation in English is that of alveolar consonants, such
as t, d, s, z, n which are followed by non-alveolar consonants: assimilation
results in a change of place of articulation from alveolar to a different place
Example : Football > [fυt ] [bɔ:l] = [fυpbɔ:l]+ transcription Fruitcake > [fru:t] +
[keɪk] = [frυ:kkeik]

 Reduction

Reduction helps highlight important syllables in another way by emphasizing

unstressed syllables. • The vowel in an unstressed syllable is reduced in both
length and clarity. • The most common reduced vowel sound in English is the
“schwa” /ə/. • Though represented by many different spellings, the schwa is
always a short, completely relaxed and open sound (like second syllable in
“pizza”). • Contractions are another example of reduction. • They reduce the
number of syllables, and eliminate some vowels completely. (I am/I’m, you
are/you’re, etc.)

 Elision

Elision is used to refer to the omission of sounds in connected speech. In other

words, assimilation means the variation of a sound whereas, elision means the
loss of a sound. Both consonants and vowels may be affected, and sometimes
even whole syllables may be elided.

The term elision 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 week saying /neks wi:k/. • Again here, the reason is , putting
certain consonant sounds together while maintaining a regular rhythm and
speed.

 Examples :The modal 'will' is special. We can use it in the short form with a
subject pronoun and with questions words. • She will be late. • She'll be late. •
Who will be there? • Who'll be there?

 LIAISON Definition: LINKING’ r”

“Linking” or “joining together” of sounds is what this French word refers.

Linguistic Pronunciation of the usually silent consonant final at the end of a
word immediately before another word commencing with a vowel, in such a
way that the consonant is taken over as the initial sound of the following
word.
Examples

In English the best-known case of liaison is the “linking r” there are many
words in English (e.g. ‘car’, ‘here’, ‘tyre’) which in rhotic accent such as
General American or Scots would be pronounced with a final r but which in
BBC pronunciation end in a vowel when they try to pause or before a
consonant

Another aspect of liaison in English is the movement of a single consonant at

the end of an unstressed word to the beginning of the next if that is strongly
stressed: a well-known example is ‘not at all’, where the t of ‘at’ becomes
initial.