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LIAISON
Liaison is a French word meaning
“Linking” or “Joining together”.
Liaison is the process of linking of
sounds in a connected speech. In
DEFINITION pronunciation, words belonging to
the same sense group should be said
in a united manner rather than
pronounced separately as if they
were isolated. (Giegerich, 1999)
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Liaison deals with the linking of sounds, not the
letters. Often the letter and the sound are the
same but not always.
IMPORTANT NOTE THOUGH KNOW
Ends with the letter h w
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TYPES
OF Basically, there are three types of
liaison in English:
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When a word ends with a consonant sound, we
often move the consonant sound to the beginning
of the next word if it starts with a vowel sound.
CONSONANT
+
VOWEL We write Pick it Light off Keep on
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When one word ends with a vowel sound and the next word begins
with a vowel sound, we link the words with a sort of J[Y] or W
sound. It depends on the shape of our mouth at the end of the first
VOWEL word.
Lips are wide: When the first word ends in an a, e, i vowel sound [ eɪ
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VOWEL When the first word ends in an o, u vowel sound [ əʊ / u:
+ ], our lips are round. Then we insert a W sound at the
beginning of the next word:
VOWEL We write Go out Too often Do all
CONTINUES
We pronounce Go-w-out To-w-often Do-w-all
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When two consonants appear in two different
words, we usually link the sounds.
CONSONANT
+ We write Red dress That time Chief fellow
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One of the most common liaisons in English is the
present/absence of linking /r/ in speech. A rhotic speaker
will pronounce /r/ before a consonant, whereas a non-
LINKING
rhotic speaker does not pronounce /r/ at all unless
followed by a vowel.
/R/
Port Far Stirring
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Intrusive /r/ is another liaison which is
used only among the non-rhotic speakers.
Intrusive /r/ is found ending of a sound
/R/
Law and order The idea of it I saw it
Non-rhotic [lɔːr ənd ɔːdə] [ði aɪdɪər əv ɪt] [aI sɔːr It]
speaker
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Juncture is a pause or a slight delay in a
continuous flow of speech. It is a
phonotactic unit which refers to the
boundaries between phonological entities.
JUNCTURE
Juncture is " the relationship between one
sound and the sounds that immediately
precede and follow it” ( Roach , 1988 )
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Mainly 2 types of juncture in English-
1. Close juncture: Movement from sound to
sound which has no intervening pauses or delay.
For example TRAIN, BLAME, NIGHT,
BRIGHT.
SYMBOL Double bar juncture (//) : Indicates the need for a longer
pause between two thought groups in a sentence.
Mr. Rahman// known as a renowned poet// teaches us
English.
IMPORTANCE
My friend says/ the doctor is going to die.
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References :
Giegerich, H. (1999). Lexical strata in English. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from
https://www.
Cambridge_university.org/publications_download.
php
Learn English liaison. (2016). English Club. Retrieved
from https://www.englishclub_liaion
Roach, P.(1988). English Phonetics and Phonology.
London: Cambridge University Press.
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