UNIVERSIDAD PROFESORADO UNIVERSITARIO de INGLÉS

NACIONAL DE CURSO INTENSIVO DE FONÉTICA SEGMENTAL

HURLINGHAM HEIT, MASSARO, SUÁREZ, VINCENTI

ELISION
ACTIVITY 1: What is the process of elision about? Is it a compulsory process?

Some Class Files ago, it was mentioned that, to keep its rhythm right, English has weak forms, neutral vowels and
many cases of elision. In this lesson, since we’ve already discussed weak forms and neutral vowels, we’ll deal with
the feature of connected speech called elision. This is a process in which, under certain conditions, sounds might
disappear1. In this sense, there are two things we need to keep in mind. The first one is that we need to learn
when elision is possible so as to not drop sounds just because. The second one is that this is not an obligatory
process. Speakers have the freedom to choose when to produce elision. However, it’s very important to learn
about it because 1) it’s very common and 2) it’s needed at least for comprehension purposes since listeners might
be expecting to hear sounds which are not actually produced. For organization purposes, we’ll divide the
explanation into two subsections: consonant elision and vowel elision.

ACTIVITY CHECKING: Now check your answer to the previous question.

ACTIVITY 2: What consonants are the most unstable? And what vowel is the most likely to be elided?

As regards consonant elision, it must be said that there are many consonants that can be elided. In fact, if there’s
a large consonant cluster, probably one of those sounds will be dropped. However, we’ll focus on the cases that
are more predictable and recurrent. The first one concerns the alveolar plosives /t/ and /d/. These two can be
omitted in consonant clusters of at least three sounds and they must be 1) in the coda of the syllable, 2) preceded
by a consonant of the same voicing and 3) followed by a consonant other than the glottal fricative /h/. It must also
be mentioned that there are some exceptions to these rules: the word <and> and negative contractions (e.g.:
can’t, don’t, didn’t, wasn’t, etc) trigger alveolar plosive elision even if the process would violate the previously
stated rules.

Another common case of consonant elision is related to the glottal fricative /h/. This sound can be dropped when
it is the initial consonant in the weak form of function words like <had>, <has>, <have>, <he>, <her>, <herself>,
<himself> and <he> provided that it is not at the beginning of the utterance. For example, in the phrase “he was
playing, wasn’t he?”, we would probably have two intonation phrases: the first goes from the beginning up to the
comma, and the second comprises what comes after the comma. The /h/ in the first <he> cannot be dropped
since it’s at the beginning of the first intonation phrase. As opposed to this, the second <he> is not initiating the
intonation phrase. For this reason, the glottal fricative /h/ can be dropped: / ˈwɒzn̩t i /.

1
Source: Roach, Peter (2008). English Phonetics and Phonology: A Practical Course. Cambridge University Press.
1
 UNIVERSIDAD PROFESORADO UNIVERSITARIO de INGLÉS
NACIONAL DE CURSO INTENSIVO DE FONÉTICA SEGMENTAL
HURLINGHAM HEIT, MASSARO, SUÁREZ, VINCENTI

When it comes to vowel elision, schwa /ə/ is the main protagonist. This sound can be elided when it’s followed by
/n/, /l/ or /r/ and there’s an unstressed syllable coming after it in the same word. As a result, a word that has, for
example, three syllables ends up having two. For instance, the word <history> / ˈhɪs tə ri / becomes /ˈhɪs tri /.
There are other contexts in which schwa /ə/ can be elided, but we will deal with them in the next section.

ACTIVITY CHECKING: Now check your answer to the previous question.

ACTIVITY 3: Check the following sentences and spot the sound that could be elided: /t/, /d/, /h/ or /ə/.
Sometimes, more than one sound could be elided. The first one is done for you.2

1. He's travelling far. → /ə/ could be ellided in <travelling>

2. Send her my love.
3. Send the letters now.
4. Perfectly well for her wife.
5. His family is coming!
6. Don’t shout at him!
7. I didn’t dare calling him.
8. My memory is so bad.
→ _____________________________
→ _____________________________
→ _____________________________
→ _____________________________
→ _____________________________
→ _____________________________
→ _____________________________

2
Key to Activity 3: 2. /h/ in <her>; 3. /d/ in <send>; 4. /t/ in <perfectly> and /h/ in <her>; 5. /ə/ in <family>; 6. /t/ in <don't>
and /h/ in <him>; 7. /t/ in <didn't> and /h/ in <him>; 8. /ə/ in <memory>
2
 UNIVERSIDAD PROFESORADO UNIVERSITARIO de INGLÉS
NACIONAL DE CURSO INTENSIVO DE FONÉTICA SEGMENTAL
HURLINGHAM HEIT, MASSARO, SUÁREZ, VINCENTI

SYLLABICITY
ACTIVITY 1: Is there any consonant that can occupy the peak of a syllable? If so, which consonant(s)?

As stated before, a syllable is a unit of pronunciation that contains at least one sound at its peak. The peak is a
place mostly reserved for vowels and, for this reason, they are sometimes called syllabic. However, in English,
there are some consonants that can take the position of the peak and thus become syllabic. This process is called
syllabicity or syllabic consonant formation, and it gives the consonants /n/ and /l/ the possibility of occupying the
peak of a syllable when preceded by a schwa /ə/ in certain contexts. Syllabicity is marked with the diacritic [ ̩]
under the consonant that has become syllabic.

ACTIVITY CHECKING: Now check your answer to the previous question.

For the alveolar nasal /n/ to become syllabic [n̩], the sequence /ən/ must take place in the same syllable and it
must be preceded by an obstruent (plosive, fricative or affricate). For example, the word <listen> / ˈlɪsən / would
become [ ˈlɪsn̩ ]. Notice that if there’s another nasal preceding the obstruents, that will stop syllabic consonant
formation from happening. For this reason, the word <London> cannot take a syllabic [n̩].

As regards the alveolar lateral approximant /l/, the sequence /əl/ must take place in the same syllable too and it
must be preceded by a consonant other than an approximant. For instance, the word <people> / ˈpiːpəl / would
become [ ˈpʰiːpl̩ ]

There are three other consonants that could be syllabic too. The voiceless postalveolar fricative /ʃ/ can be syllabic
when asking for silence as in <shh!>. The velar nasal /ŋ/ and the bilabial nasal /m/ can be syllabic as a result of
assimilation (our next topic). The postalveolar approximant /r/ is a very common syllabic consonant in American
English.

ACTIVITY 2: Check the following sentences and spot the syllabic consonants.3

1. Listen to the people in London!

2. Passion and vision are necessary for success.
3. It’s a special occasion.
4. His nasal sounds are wonderful!
5. The arrival of exams makes students cry.
6. Cancel culture is out of control!

3
Key to Activity 2: 1. [n̩] in <listen> and [l̩] in <people>; 2. [n̩] in <passion> and <vision>; 3. [l̩] in <special> and [n̩] in
<occasion>; 4. [l̩] in <nasal> and <wonderful>; 5. [l̩] in <arrival> and [n̩] in <students>; 6. [l̩] in <cancel>
3