“Linking Sounds in Spoken Language"

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Hello students! How are you?
Welcome to another English lesson!
Let 's start!
Do you like to listen to music?
What kind of it? How often do you listen to music in English?

One of my favourite singers is Ed Sheeran, and my preferred song is “Shape of You”.

Well, let’s hear a fragment of it… Once you hear it, pay attention to the highlighted words below.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15yw4F_qItyn_RQPS22BFiRTBv6aPD16a/view?usp=drive_link
The club isn't the best place to find a lover
So the bar is where I go

Now, repeat the words in isolated form and then do the same but imitate the song. Can you see the
difference? Is there any difference between when we say the words in isolation and when we speak
naturally?
Have you ever noticed how spoken English doesn't always sound exactly like the words you see written
on a page? In common speech, as in the songs above, English pronunciation can be quite dynamic and
fluid.

So, to make the conversations sound natural, we use “linking sounds”. They involve connecting words
and help us avoid awkward pauses. Let’s explore some examples…

● When a word ends with a consonant sound, and the following word starts with a vowel sound, the
sounds are often linked together and they are pronounced like one single word. For instance, as you
heard before. When the singer says “Find a lover” the sound /d/ is linked to /ə/ and is pronounced like

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/faɪnd‿ə ˈlʌvə/. This type of linking is called “consonant linking”.
Did you notice? Listen to the audio below
https://drive.google.com/file/d/15yw4F_qItyn_RQPS22BFiRTBv6aPD16a/view?usp=drive_link

● Also, when a word has in its spelling at the end an /r/ sound and it is followed by a consonant sound like
in /bɑː(r) ɪz/, the /r/ sound is pronounced. It links the two words together and is named “Linking /r/”.

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Remember that in British English the /r/ sounds are not pronounced and we call it “non-rhotic accent”.
Listen to the following example:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/15yw4F_qItyn_RQPS22BFiRTBv6aPD16a/view?usp=drive_link

● When one word ends in /aɪ/, /i:/, /eɪ/ ,/ɔɪ/ sound, and the next word begins with a vowel sound, we can

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link it by adding a /j/ sound. For instance, when the singer says “be afraid” /bi əˈfreɪd/ There is a /j/
sound between them. Do you hear it?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/11HY0g0y2JN9WlKatU2U4fc003EbU5LmU/view?usp=sharing

● When a word ends in /əu/ /uː/ /ʊ/ sound, and the next word begins with a vowel sound, we put a /w/
sound between these two words. Like this: /ðɪs ɪz haʊ wi dʊʷɪt/.
Listen to the next example:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ufuh4pniOmigA7y-AFCDqhTWwrhv3KgW/view?usp=sharing

● There is also a phenomenon called intrusive /r/. It occurs when an extra /r/ sound is inserted between
words, even when it's not indicated by spelling. This typically occurs when a word ends in the vowel
sounds /ə/ (schwa), /ɪə/, /ɑː/, or /ɔː/ and the next word starts with a vowel sound.
E.g: /aɪ sɔː ʳ ə fɪlm təˈdeɪ, əʊ bɔɪ/

Do you notice? Let’s hear the following dialogue recording (we didn’t find a song with this type of
linking):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JJCcmpRdqHk_uTY72SxZLGPTyRH1dZTX/view?usp=drive_link

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Activities:
Well, let's do an activity, enter the following link, put your name and start playing!
https://wordwall.net/play/61664/016/714

Listen to the following song fragments. Then identify and write down the different linking sounds that
you heard.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14LfNcfjBDxMcpX6cLHy7W8cGXyRqTWu-/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15Jr1HC5s9Kbxz_Q39IfBEE9gXO7gLqwg/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hBESSuGLhgF9b_VVGr541fLNSlO-1qHN/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-J6eNy3oi4P8ggAawNrUmtzhnIbcPi7t/view?usp=sharing

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Now,
Look for songs , conversations or audios that feature the linking sounds. Transcribe the sentence,
mark the example and then share them in the forum.

Let’s practice!😁🎤
Read the sentences of the previous task at loud and try to imitate the sounds. Then record it and send
the audio to the teacher.
It is terrible that, at this point, you still do not recognize the phonemes.
Reentregar hasta 24/10 23:59