Connected Speech

Connected Speech
Speech is a continuous stream of sounds without a definite borderline between each word. When we communicate with each others, we adapt our pronunciation to our audience and tend to speak at a pace which is convenient for us, rather than speaking clearly. This causes changes to the ‘shape’ of words. As a result, certain words are lost, and some phonemes are linked together while speaking. These changes are described as features of connected speech.
Among the phonological processes that affect connected speech are:
• assimilation
(changing sounds)
• elision
(losing sounds)
• intrusion and linking
(adding or joining sounds between words)
These features preserve rhythm and make the language sound natural.
Features of Connected Speech
Weak Forms: Some English words can occur in a full and a weak form, because English exhibits qualities of a stress-timed language. That means that, while we try to keep an equal interval between stressed syllables and give the phrase rhythm, we tend to leave out non-essential words. Consequently, conjunctions, pronouns and articles (i.e. function words) are often reduced or even lost.
Examples of words which have weak forms are:
- and: fish and chips. (fish´n chips)
- can: She can dance better than I can. (1st “can”= weak, 2nd “can” = full)
- of: A cup of tea.
- have: Have you eaten? (weak)/ Yes, I have. (full)
- should: Well, you should have told me. (”should” and “have” are weak)
Assimilation: This process alters sounds so that they becomes similar (partial assimilation) or identical (total assimilation) to a neighboring or nearby sound.
There are different types of assimilation: regressive/ anticipatory, progressive and reciprocal.
• regressive/ anticipatory: articulation of the following sound will be anticipated. In most cases assimilation is regressive
• progressive: articulation of a sound continues in the next sound, which means it will be maintained. Progressive assimilation is rare.
• reciprocal: two sounds that produces a third one. (Example: don’t you)
Elision: Sounds disappear completely in this process. Usually the vowels from unstressed syllables are elided first.
Examples:
Common sound deletions
- int(e)rest, sim(i)lar, lib(a)ry, diff(e)rent, t(o)night.
/ t / and / d / = consonants often elided
- chris(t)mas, san(d)wich
/ h /= this sound is often left out
- you shouldn´t (h)ave
Phrasal verbs can show how we link closing consonants and beginning vowels across word boundaries, e.g. Get out ( getout ), Come out ( cumout )
Intrusion and Linking:
We often put an extra sound (/j/, /w/, /r/) between two vowel sounds, because it marks the transition sound between the two vowels. This is regarded as intrusion.
Examples:
/ j /
- I / j / agree, They / j /are here!
/ w /
- I want to/ w/eat,
Do/ w/it!
/ r /
- The media / r /are to blame, Law(r)and order.
A lot of times we drag final consonants to initial vowels or vice versa, therefore consonants and vowels can be linked also.
Examples:
- Get on. (geton ), Not at all. (notatall ), Come on. (comon)

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سناء احمد


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