Features of Connected Speech

MRA2011
Features of Connected Speech
1. Assimilation
Place assimilation
Voicing assimilation
2. Elision
Omission
Deletion
3. Linking
Word-ending consonants attract word-initial vowels

Assimilation
Assimilation is a process in spoken or connected speech
in which a particular sound or phoneme changes to
become more like an adjacent sound
e.g. Slow speech Casual speech
i. not yet nt jet ntet
ii. Could you kud ju kudu
a. Progressive asssimilation
b. Regressive assimilation

Assimilation
Two types:
a. Progressive assimilation
Sound change to match preceding sound
e.g. get m - get tm
b. Regressive assimilation
Sound changes to match a following phoneme
e.g. mi:t pai - mi:p pai
Assimilation
Assimilation can be identified in:
i. place of articulation
ii. manner of articulation
iii. phonation (voicing)
Assimilation
1. Place assimilation
a. Bilabalisation of Alveolar sounds
e.g. Alveolar [t] changes to bilabial [p]











Others: [d] to [b] bad pain, blood bank, good morning
[n] to[m] iron man, question mark, action plan,
green pot, brown bag, fan belt

Utterance Description
that person [t p:sn] [p p:sn]
put back [pt bk] [pp bk]
Test paper [test peip] [tesp peip]
Meat pie [mi:t pai] [mi:p pai]
Assimilation
b. Velarisation of Alveolar sounds
e.g. Alveolar [t] changes to velar [k]















Others: [d] to [g] good cook, hard copy, good girl, red guitar
[n] to[] human capital, golden gate, tin can, town clerk, ground control,

Utterance Description
credit card [kredit ka:d] [kredik ka:d]
smart card [sma:t ka:d ] [sma:k ka:d
that case [t keis] [k keis]
bright colour [brait kl] [braik kl]
Assimilation
c. Palatalisation of Alveolar sounds
e.g. Alveolar [s] & [z] changes to palatal [] & [] before [] & [j]












Others: [z] to [] before [j] this young man

Utterance Description
bus shelter [bs elt] [b elt]
dress shop [dres p] [dre p]
space shuttle [speis tl] [spei tl]
this year [iz ji] [i ji]
Assimilation
2. Manner assimilation (very few)

e.g. Final plosive becomes a fricative or nasal
that side [s saId]
good night [gn naIt]

Assimilation
3. Voicing assimilation
A phoneme changes to match the phonation of a
previous or following sound.

a. Plural morpheme realised as voiceless [s] or voiced
[z] according to preceding sound (progressive
assimilation)












[s] [z]
cats [kts] pads [pdz]
packs [pks] bags [bgz]
taps [tps] labs [lbz]
Assimilation
3. Voicing assimilation
b. Past tense morphemes realised as
voiceless [t] or voiced [d] (progressive
assimilation)













[t] [d]
washed [wt] pulled [pld]
missed [mist] robbed [rbd]
sipped [sipt] lived [livd]
Elision
Elision occurs when a sound is omitted and it is a
typical feature of connected speech.
This kind of reduction occurs mainly in words ending
with /t/ and /d/ and particularly when they are
between two other consonants:
(a) omission of /t/:
next please /neks pli:z/
I dont know /a dn n /
post the letter /ps let/

Elision
(b) omission of /d/:
old man /l mn/
you and me /ju: n mi:/
sandwich /snwt /
stand there /stn e/

Linking /r/
In connected speech, the sound r at the end of a
word may be pronounced if the following word begins
with a vowel.
Example:
her English /hr gl/
far away /fa:r we/
car alarm /kr lm

*car keys /k kiz/
Intrusive r
The insertion of an r is between two words in
connected speech.
It appears between two words in situations where
the first word ends with // or /:/ and the next word
begins with a vowel.
Example:
Formula A /f:mjl e/ /f:mjl r e/
here and there /h nd e/ /h rn e/



Intrusive /w/ and /j/
Occur when we face a vowel-vowel word junction:
i. Intrusive /w/:
you are /ju: w:/
go off /g wf/
Sue always wants to eat /su: w :lwez wnts t w i:t/
ii. Intrusive /j/:
he is /hi: j z/
they are /e j:/
she always takes my arm /i: j :lwez teks ma j:m/

Liason
Liaison is a common feature of continuity and natural
flow of speech. To link the
words means to join them together and it often entails
different types of fusing sounds at word boundaries
(Underhill,1994; p 65).
The other version of the term liaison is a smooth
linking:
final consonant is linked to following initial vowel
initial consonant is merged in preceding final vowel

Juncture
Juncture is a special situation when it is really hard for
foreign learners to distinguish between two phrases
that sound nearly the same. The pause between the
two words is the juncture that differentiates the
phrases.
Example:
might rain my train
keep sticking keeps ticking
the way to pour it the waiter pour it
I scream ice cream

Contractions
A process when a weak form occurs with or next to
another word and they together go through another
reduction. Then, the two words are pronounced as
one.
Examples:
Hes, Its, Im, theyre , Ive, theyve, hell, theyll,
shed, cant, couldnt, dont, doesnt, havent, hasnt,
wasnt, werent