connected speech
Connected speech
What is connected speech?
When we speak naturally we do not pronounce a word, stop, then say the next word in the sentence. Fluent speech flows with a rhythm and the words bump into each other. To make speech flow smoothly the way we pronounce the end and beginning of some words can change depending on the sounds at the beginning and end of those words.
These changes are described as features of connected speech.
Various features contribute to characterise natural connected speech: o linking (C+C, C+V, V+V) o weak forms ( reductions) o changing sounds o disappearing sounds
LINKING
-English speakers try to say as much as they can in the shortest amount of time (being efficient) therefore they combine and join words. It means they say the same or similar sound once not twice with a breath in between.
Consonant + consonant linking
No pauses in words in a phrase:
Big green monster
Bigreenmonster (no stopping between n and m)
Where there are similar or the same consonants touching one another you can combine words with connected speech. You can refer to it as C + C.
He drives a blackcar Black car
Baddog or badog Bad dog
He took the nightrain to London. Night train
I lovefries. Love fries
What a beautiful, stillake that is. Still lake
I’ll have some plumpie please. Plum pie
A bitired. Bit tired
Loto do. Lot to do.
Stress in connected speech
In stress-timed languages such as English, stresses occur at regular intervals. The words which are most important for communication of the message, that is, nouns, main verbs, adjectives and adverbs, are normally stressed in connected speech. Grammar words such as auxiliary verbs, pronouns, articles, linkers and prepositions are not usually stressed, and are reduced to keep the stress pattern regular. This means that they are said faster and at a lower volume than stressed syllables, and the vowel sounds lose their purity, often
What is connected speech?
When we speak naturally we do not pronounce a word, stop, then say the next word in the sentence. Fluent speech flows with a rhythm and the words bump into each other. To make speech flow smoothly the way we pronounce the end and beginning of some words can change depending on the sounds at the beginning and end of those words.
These changes are described as features of connected speech.
Various features contribute to characterise natural connected speech: o linking (C+C, C+V, V+V) o weak forms ( reductions) o changing sounds o disappearing sounds
LINKING
-English speakers try to say as much as they can in the shortest amount of time (being efficient) therefore they combine and join words. It means they say the same or similar sound once not twice with a breath in between.
Consonant + consonant linking
No pauses in words in a phrase:
Big green monster
Bigreenmonster (no stopping between n and m)
Where there are similar or the same consonants touching one another you can combine words with connected speech. You can refer to it as C + C.
He drives a blackcar Black car
Baddog or badog Bad dog
He took the nightrain to London. Night train
I lovefries. Love fries
What a beautiful, stillake that is. Still lake
I’ll have some plumpie please. Plum pie
A bitired. Bit tired
Loto do. Lot to do.
Stress in connected speech
In stress-timed languages such as English, stresses occur at regular intervals. The words which are most important for communication of the message, that is, nouns, main verbs, adjectives and adverbs, are normally stressed in connected speech. Grammar words such as auxiliary verbs, pronouns, articles, linkers and prepositions are not usually stressed, and are reduced to keep the stress pattern regular. This means that they are said faster and at a lower volume than stressed syllables, and the vowel sounds lose their purity, often