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PHONOLOGY: FEATURES OF CONNECTED SPEECH

Phonetics is a practical topic and thus the more you play and experiment with the sounds and the effects the more understanding you will achieve. Assimilation This is the influence of one sound on another to become more like itself. To illustrate, how would your pronounce the following? 1. 2. 3.

/t/ in that man → /ðæpmæn/ /n/ in ten girls → /temgɜ:lz/ /s/ in this shop → /ðɪʃɒp/

At the end of a syllable, sounds made on the ridge just behind the teeth are affected by sounds produced with the lips . In technical speak: the alveolar consonants (/t/, /d/ and /n/) become bilabial (/p/, /b/ and /m/). Other examples ground plan /graʊm plæn/ -- action planning /ækʃəmplænɪŋ/ -- brown bear /baʊmbeə/ -- Common Market /kɒməmɑ:kɪt/ -- bus shelter /bʊʃeltə/ Voicing can also be affected when the voiced consonant /v/ can become its unvoiced equivalent /f/ when followed by the unvoiced /t/ e.g. have to go /hæftəgəʊ/ The plosive /d/ and /j/ can coalesce (i.e. fuse) becoming less much less plosive. In fact it becomes the affricate /dʒ/: how d‟you do? /haʊʤədu:/ Similarly, the plosive /t/ and semi-vowel /j/ can coalesce to become the affricate /tʃ/ … don‟t y‟know /dəʊnʧəkəʊ/

Elision Elision is the complete disappearance of one or more sounds in a word or phrase, making the word or phrase easier for the speaker to pronounce. One of the most common elisions in spoken English is /t/ and /d/. e.g. next please /nekspli:z/ -- I don‟t know /aɪdəʊnəʊ/ -- post the letter /pəʊsðəletə/ -- old man /əʊlmæn/ -- you and me /ju:nmi:/ -- stand there /stænðeə/ Try to say the above word pairs without eliding the /t/ or /d/ respectively. How natural or unnatural do they sound? Apostrophes that mark missing parts of words are signalling elision (although some writers don‟t consider this contraction as elision). Examples include -- can‟t for cannot, --he‟s for he is Sometimes sounds are totally omitted: e.g. comfortable /ˈkʌɱfətəbəl/ or /ˈkʌɱftəbəl/? -- fifth /ˈfɪfθ/ or /ˈfɪθ/? -temperature /ˈtempərətʃə/ or /ˈtempətʃə/ or even /ˈtemprətʃə/? Some native speakers would argue that they never elide their speech and might go on to state that elision is a sign of, at best, lazy speech, and at worst sloppy and or degenerate speech. Should you wish to challenge their view, ask them how they might prefer to pronounce without any elision: Wednesday in Worcester Elision is the articulatory organs literally cutting corners in connected speech, mainly at word boundaries. Speakers who do not elide may sound over meticulous and overly-formal and it may not be possible for them to take advantage of the natural rhythm patterns and intonation that come with fluency. Liaison (a liaison is an intrusion) Liaison refer to the insertion of a sound between two others. In English, the most common sounds that are most usually inserted, in English, between two words are: /r, j, w/ Here –r– and there;

get to –w– it;

happy –j– or sad

Speakers of languages that don‟t have these „semi-vowels‟ will either not make the liaison, or substitute another sound from their language to make the link. Juncture The pausing (or lack of pausing) at the boundary between two sounds. This is done to prevent ambiguity. As when a consonant at the end of a word carries over to connect with a vowel at the beginning of the next word. great ape white wine ice cream

sounds like grey tape → / greɪteɪp / “ why twine → / waɪtwaɪn / “ I scream → / aɪskri:m /

Delayed Plosion is sometimes used to prevent ambiguity. Reduction The substitution of the weak central vowel (called schwa /ə/) in unstressed syllables. Two or/ə/ three; a bit of/əv/ time Double Processes What can make these distinctions difficult to classify is that often more than one of these processes happen at the same time: Elision + Assimilation bend back (1) Drop /d/ ben back (elision) (2) /n/ becomes /m/ (assimilation) Result: bem back Elision + Reduction up and down (1) drop /d/ up an down (elision) (2) /æ/ becomes /ə/ (reduction) Result: up ən down Stress Timing A quick definition: stress timed language are languages in which stressed syllables occur at roughly equal intervals of time. At the other end of the cline can be found syllable times languages in which each syllable is always given the same amount to time. One example of a syllable timed language is Italian and one possible explanation as to why it sounds so machine gun fast to English speakers‟ ears is that contrary to English, In Italian, every syllable is given the same amount of time. How to demonstrate this to learners? Firstly, I board the following: You me him her You and me and him and her You and then me and then him and then her You and then it is me and then it is him and then it is her Then come a series of questions to get learners looking at the sentences:     

How many words (or syllables) are there in the first line? [4] How many words (or syllables) are there in the second line? [7] How many words (or syllables) are there in the third line? [10] How many words (or syllables) are there in the last line? [16] Which line takes the longest to say? Do you think it would be the first or the last?

Learners generally respond that it must be the last. To put their not unreasonalbe theory to the test, I use a time measuring tool, such a metronome, or hand claps to provide an even beat. Each line is said one by one with the stressed words on the beat. This is, for me, one of the greatest dangers of treating the English language as a monolithic structure based on pedagogic grammars. Many teachers have so stressed the importance of pedagogic grammar to learners that it is now very difficult for learners to believe that grammar is not the be all and end all of the English language. Vowel Reduction Vowel reduction is a feature of stress timing. Vowel reduction refers to the way that vowels are reduced when they are not stressed. A simplified version of vowel reduction would be to say that unstressed vowels reduce to schwa. Try this experiment. Say the following sentences, putting the stress on the underlined syllables: You and me. I wish you would tell me. In the first sentence, the “you” and “me” are given full stress – but what happens to the “you” and “me” in the second sentence? Unstressed vowel in connected speech are characterised by a reduction in length and a change in quality. By change in quality, I mean that most monophthongs (single vowels) do reduce to schwa, or at the very least move towards schwa.