Is listening to spoken English easy for ESL students?

‘Fast speech is the norm for spoken English but gives second-language learners a great deal of trouble.’ (Brown, G.1990)

Every language has its own characteristic rhythm and one of the most difficult areas to master of the spoken form of a foreign language is that of rhythm.’ (Brown, G. 1985)

• ‘It may be said that the more rapid the delivery the greater the tendency to reduction and obscuration of unaccented words.’(Gimson & Cruttenden. 1994)

• ‘It’s certainly advisable to learn about connected speech because it will help with LISTENING COMPREHENSION. It’s easier to understand speakers if you know when to expect sounds to change,
appear or disappear.’

• ‘Connected speech phenomena are not universal. Learners have connected speech habits which are almost certainly different from English habits and that applying those patterns to English will result
in mispronunciations.’
(Carley, Mees & Collins. 2018)

What do you remember about these topics?

• English rhythm

• Stress on words

• Grammatical words / lexical words

‘It’s not easy for the learner of English to be aware of different ways of marking stress and be able to recognize stress and unstress rapidly and accurately enough to work out the structure of the
message he/she is listening to.’ (Brown, G. 1985)

‘From the point of view of the comprehension of spoken English, the ability to identify stressed syllables and make intelligent guesses about the content of the message from this information, is
absolutely essential.’ (Brown, G. 1985)

Each segment in every word that is pronounced, no matter how explicitly and clearly the word is pronounced, will be affected by this process of similitude. When words are combined in a stream of
speech their edges become available for the operation of the process of assimilation. (Brown, G. 1985)

/t/ - /p/ jet black /dZet bl{k/ / dZep bl{k/

/d/- /b/ a loud bang / @ laUd b{N/ /@ laUb b{N/

/n/ - /m/ brown paper / braUn peIp@/ / braUm peIp@/

 /t/ - /k/ quite good / kwaIt gUd/ / kwaIk gUd/

/d/ - /g/ a red gate /@ red geIt/ /@ reg geIt/

/n/ - /N/ twin girls / twIn g3:lz/ /twIN g3:lz/

/s/ - // this shop / DIs Qp/ / DI Qp/

/z/ - /Z / because she /bIkQz I/ /bIkQZ I/

Coalescent assimilation: Two phonemes influence each other and combine to form a third phoneme (learners are advised to use this form)

/t/ and /d/ combine with /j/= /t/ - /d/

• I know what you said

• Did you see it?

• Couldn’t you try?

• He said that you did

• I’ve read your book

ELISION: A phoneme present in the citation form is lost in the connected speech form. (Carley, Mees and Collins. 2018)

• The elision of /t/ and /d/ is by far the most common elision process. It’s more common for /t/ and /d/ to be elided between consonants than it is for them to be pronounced. (Brown, G)

• /t/ and /d/ can be elided when they stand between two consonants, and they belong to the same syllable as the preceding consonant.
Example:
last lesson /lA:s lesn/
facts / f{ks/
brand new / br{n nju:/
hands / h{nz/

Most common consonants to find involved in elision: /t/

first three /f3:st Tri:/ [f3:s Tri:]
interest rates /Intr@st reIts/ [Intr@s reIts]
conflict still /kQnflIkt stIl/ [kQnflIk stIl]
aspects / {spekts/ [{speks]

/d/ elides more readily than /t/ and in more environments

World Wild Life Fund / w3:ld waIld laIf fVnd/ [w3:l waIl laI fVnd]

Four thousand were / fO: TaUznd w@/ [fO: TaUzn w@]

Ireland troubles / aI@l@nd trVblz/ [aI@l@n trVblz]

Who’d been on duty / hu:d bIn Qn dju:tI/ [hu: bIn Qn dju:tI]

Elision of /l/ is very common after /O:/
Established process in words like talk and walk
Also / O:ls@U/ [O:s@U ]

Already /O:lredI/ [O:redI ]

Certainly / s3:tnlI/ [s3:tnI ]
an old mill /@n @Uld mIl/ [@n @ud mIl ]
all right /O:l raIt/ [O: raIt ]

Elision of /k/
asked him /A:skt Im/ [A:stIm]
expected /IkspektId/ [IspektId]

Forms beginning with unstressed ex- sometimes have elided /k/, especially when the word is highly predictable in the context it occurs in.

ELISION OF A VOWEL
interest /Int@r@st/ - [Intr@st]
different /dIf@r@nt/ - [dIfr@nt]
collective /k@lektIv/ - [klektIv]
cabinet /k{bIn@t/ - [k{bn@t]
minister /mInIst@/ - [mInst@]
chancellor /tA:nsIl@/ - [tA:nsl@]
similar /sImIl@/ - [sIml@]
prisoner /prIz@n@/ - [prIzn@]

Other common examples of elision (not to mimic them)

perhaps [ p{ps] particularly [p@tIklI] actually [{klI]

will have been [wIl@bIn] extraordinary [strO:nrI]
Loss of /h/ is widespread and considered standard in weak words like he, him, her and auxiliary have when connected to a preceding word.

Give him /gIvIm/ my regards

LIAISON /lieIzn/
‘It refers to the smooth linking or joining together of words in connected speech. Liaison is concerned with the way sounds are fused together at word boundaries.’ (Underhill, A.
2005)

cover up
pour out
far off
stir it
cheer up

LINKING AND INTRUSIVE SOUNDS

• her English /h@ r INglI/
• her Spanish /h@ sp{nI/
• car seat /kA: si:t/
• car engine /kA: r endZIn/
• brother and sister /brVD@ r @n sIst@/
• America and Canada /@merIk@ r @n k{n@d@/
• Law and order /lO: r @n O:d@/
• my idea of heaven /maI aIdI@ r @v hevn/
• We saw a film /wI sO: r @ fIlm/
• saw it /sO:r It/

JUNCTURE
‘It is the label given to a number of features which may occur at the boundary between two words in connected speech. This boundary is unambiguous and clear.’(Underhill, A.)

/waI tu:z/ /waIt u:z/

Why choose: Greater length in the vowel of why
white shoes: Less length and the vowel cut off by a glottal stop in white
Juncture
• The shortening or lengthening of vowel sounds on either side of the juncture.
• The delayed or advanced articulation of consonant sounds on either side.
• Variations in the degree of syllable stress on either side of the juncture.
• Other allophonic variations in the phonemes on either side of the boundary.

Let’s listen to these pairs of phrases

I scream/Ice cream
Why choose/White shoes
A name/ An aim

/t/ voicing:
Using /d/ or the tap [] which is familiar in North American pronunciation.
• At the end of short words like at, but, get, got, it, lot, not, put, that, what
• a[d]any price
• ge[d] out
• A lo[d] o