ASPECTS OF CONNECTED SPEECH

Weak Forms

When we talk about weak forms in the phonetics of English this regards a series of words which have one pronunciation (strong) when isolated, and another (weak) when not stressed within a phrase.                       

Weak forms are usually distinguished by a change in vowel quality from a border position on the vowel quadrilateral to a central position. The vowel in a weak form is usually the schwa (ə). Weak forms are pronounced more quickly and at lower volume in comparison to the stressed syllables.

          There is a logical explanation behind the occurrence of weak forms: they are present in words which are necessary to construct a phrase yet, at the same time, do not communicate a large quantity of information, in other words, they are not content words. For example in the following phrase:I went to the hotel and booked a room for two nights for my father and his best friend.   The most important words, those that are central to the message, can be emphasised: I went to the hotel and booked a room for two nights for my father and his best friend. if we eliminate the words that are not emphasised, can we still understand the message?    went         hotel        booked   room       two nights          father          best   friend.  Perhaps it is difficult to be certain but it is possible to predict what the missing words might be.  The words which we emphasised would bear the stress, while many of those which we eliminated would become weak forms, simply because they are less important in the conveyance of the message. Look at the sentence in transcription: /aɪ ˈwent tə ðə həʊ ˈtel ən ˈbʊkt ə ˈru:m fə ˈtu: ˈnaɪts fə maɪ ˈfɑ:ðər ən hɪz ˈbest ˈfrend/

You will notice that most of the unstressed words are pronounced with the sound /ə/: prepositions such as to and  for, articles a, an and the, and the conjunction and. Auxiliary verbs frequently have weak forms. Some of the most common examples of weak forms are:   Auxiliary Verbs   Strong

FormWeak Form Example

do du: də Where do you live?are ɑ: ə(r)* John and Mary are here.was wɒz wəz I was quite interested.were wɜ: wə(r) They were bored.would wʊd wəd She said she would be here.  Strong

FormWeak Form Example

could kʊd kəd What could I do?should ʃʊd §əd They should be here by now.can kæn kən What can you do with it?must mʌst məs(t) You must be a bit more patient.

Strong form

Weak form Example

to tu: tə I went to the market.for fɔ:(r) fə(r) Wait for me!from frɒm frəm She's from York.into ɪntu: ɪntə   Put it into the box.

Prepositions Strong form

Weak form Example

to tu: tə I went to the market.for fɔ:(r) fə(r)   Wait for me!from frɒm frəm   She's from York.into ɪntu: ɪntə Put it into the box.

Others   Strong

FormWeak Form Example

and ænd ənd, ən, n ̩ Rock 'n' roll.but bʌt bət ...but one of the main points...than ðæn ðən It's faster than mine.that (as a relative) ð¾t ðət The dog that bit me ...you (as object pronoun)

ju: jə Where do you live?

  Strong Form

Weak Form Example

your ʊə, jɔ: j\(r) Where's your jumper?her (as object pronoun)

hɜ:(r) (h)ə(r)* I'll give her a ring later.

a æ, eɪ ə* Take a good book.an æn ən He's an idiot!the ði: ðə, ði (before a

vowel)What's the time?

N.B. Remember that a word can have a weak form only when it is unstressed. In the following sentences the underlined words are stressed and so would be pronounced using the strong form.

I do like chocolate.She drove to Las Vegas, not from Las Vegas.  Where did you go to?

We were surprised when she told us her secret. (stress on ‘were’ for emphasis)Write this transcription in ordinary script.

Transcribe the following sentences using phonetic symbols:

1.     Give it to me!2.     It takes three hours to get from here to London.3.     Could you give me a light?4.     What’s that knife for?5.     The book that she bought was more expensive than mine.6.     They can walk to school tomorrow, they’re old enough.7.     He’s as good as his brother at playing cards; you should watch him some day.8.     These carrots are for my Granny. She’s really fond of boiled vegetables.9.     They were there in the corner, didn’t you see them?

Transcribe the following sentences into ordinary script:

 

Assimilation of Place of Articulation

The most common form involves the movement of place of articulation of the alveolar stops /t/, /d/ and /n/ to a position closer to that of the following sound. For instance, in the phrase  ten cars, the /n/ will usually be articulated in a velar position, /ˈteŋ ˈkɑ:z/ so that the organs of speech are ready to produce the following velar sound /k/. Similarly, in ten  boys the /n/ will be produced in a bilabial position, /ˈtem ˈbɔɪz/ to prepare for the articulation of the bilabial /b/.   

BEFORE A VELAR (/k/, /g/)Phoneme Realised as Example/n/ /ŋ/ bank /bæŋk//d/ /g/ good girl /gʊg ˈgɜ:l//t/ /k/ that kid /ðæk ˈkɪd/

 BEFORE A BILABIAL (/m/, /b/, /p/)Phoneme Realised as Example/n/ /m/ ten men /tem 'men//d/ /b/ bad boys        /bæb ˈbɔɪz//t/ /p/ hot mushrooms /ˈhɒp ˈmʌʃru:mz/

Yod CoalescenceYod is the name of the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet – it stands for the vowel /i:/ or the semi-vowel /j/. In English phonetics Yod coalescence is a form of assimilation, a phenomenon which takes place when /j/ is preceded by certain consonants most commonly /t/ and /d/:

 /t/ + /j/ = /tʃ/ What you need.           /wɒtʃu ni:d/ The ball that you brought. /ðə bɔ:l ðətʃu: brɔ:t/But use your head! /bətʃu:z jɔ: hed/Last year /lɑ:stʃɪə/ /d/ + /j/ = / dʒ/

Could you help me?       /kʊdʒu help mi:/ Would yours work? /wʊdʒɔ:z wɜ:k/She had university students    /ʃi: hædʒu:ni:vɜ:sɪti stju:dənts/

In a similar way /s/ + /j/, and /z/ + /j/ can sometimes be pronounced as /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ respectively, but this is less common and not of great interest to the foreign student of English.Yod coalescence is common in colloquial speech and is becoming ever more so. Note that it can occur within words (e.g. tube /tju:b/ = /tʃu:b/) and between word boundaries (as in the above examples). The fact that two extremely recurrent words in English, you and your, start with /j/ means that understanding of this simple mechanism is vital to the understanding of spoken English. Do you is often pronounced as /dʒə/:Do you live here?     / dʒə lɪv hɪə/  

Exercise 1. Identify places where yod coalescence may occur in the following

phrases and then listen:

1 What you need is a good job!2 You told me that you had your homework done.3 She didn’t go to France that year.4 Could you open the window please?5 You’ve already had yours!

Elision

Elision is very simply the omission of certain sounds in certain contexts. The most important occurrences of this phenomenon regard: 

1)     Alveolar consonants /t/ and /d/ when ‘sandwiched’ between two consonants (CONS – t/d – CONS), e.g.

The next day….    /ðə ˈneks ˈdeɪ/The last car…      /ðə ˈlɑ:s ˈkɑ:/Hold the dog!  /ˈhəʊl ðə ˈdɒg/Send Frank a card.     /sen ˈfræŋk ə ˈkɑ:d/ 

This can also take place within affricates /t§/ and /d½/ when preceded by a consonant, e.g. lunchtime /ˈlʌntʃtaɪm/   becom

e/ˈlʌnʃtaɪm/ 

strange days /ˈstreɪndʒˈdeɪz/    /ˈstreɪnʒˈdeɪz/ The phoneme /t/ is a fundamental part of the negative particle not, the possibility of it being elided makes the foreign students life more difficult. Consider the negative of can – if followed by a consonant the /t/ may easily disappear and the only difference between the positive and the negative is a different, longer vowel sound in the second: 

I can speak….     /aɪ kən ˈspi:k/ I can’t speak…  /aɪ ˈkɑ:n(t) ˈspi:k/ 

Note that when can’t is followed by a vowel, e.g. ‘I can’t  eat’, the /t/ is not elided.Can something similar happen to didn’t?  2)     A second form involves the omission of the schwa /\/ before liquids /l/ and /r/, e.g.secretary  /ˈsekrət(ə)ri/camera /ˈkæm(ə)rə/memory /ˈmem(ə)ri/ 

In some cases this elision may be optional (dictionaries usually represent the optional sound in italics e.g. /ˈlʌnt ʃtaɪm/ , in others it is the norm.Assimilation of Voicing

Another type of assimilation which is very important is that of voicing. The vibration of the vocal cords is not something that can be switched on and off very swiftly, as a result groups of consonants tend to be either all voiced or all voiceless. Consider the different endings of ‘dogs’/dɒgz/ and ‘cats’ /kæts/, of the past forms of the regular verbs such as ‘kissed’ / kɪst/ and ‘sneezed’ /sni:zd/. In these cases the fact of the final consonant of a word being voiced or not determines the choice of whether the suffix will be voiced or voiceless. In the case of the suffixes for plural nouns, for  the third person singular in the present simple, for regular verbs in the past simple and for the genitive the application of this rule is predictable, with only a few exceptions (e.g. leaf  leaves). However, assimilation of voicing can radically change the sound of several common constructions:1. Have tohave to  /hæv tu:/  become /hæftə/ has to   /hæz tu:/  /hæstə/ 

I have to go!    /aɪ ˈhæftə ˈgəʊ/ 2. Used toused to  /ju:zd  tu:/  becomes /ju:stə/ 

 I used to live near you.     /aɪ ju:stə ˈlɪv nɪə ˈju:/

          Here assimilation has taken place twice, first on the /d/ and then on the /z/. A common mistake that Italian speakers make in English is to use constructions like: *‘In my country we use to eat a lot on Christmas day’, intending to convey information about present habits/customs. Not only is this an inappropriate translation of an Italian construction, it is also misleading   - an English speaker will interpret it as referring to the past, as if it were /ju:stə/ . In English the simple present automatically indicates that the action is a present habit/custom – ‘In my country we eat a lot on Christmas day’ is quite sufficient.3. Supposed toSupposed to  /səˈpəʊzd tu:/  becomes  /səˈpəʊstə/  

You were supposed to leave! /ju: wə səˈpəʊstə ˈli:v/      R-linkingThe phenomenon of r-linking is based on the fact that, by default, in Standard British English (though not in many other accents of English), /r/ in syllable final position is not pronounced, e.g. car /kɑ:/. R-linking takes place when a syllable ends with one of the following vowel sounds: /ɑ:/, /ɔ:/, /ɜ:/, /ə/, or any of the diphthongs that finish with a schwa, e.g. /eə/, /ɪə/ and /ʊə/, and the next syllable starts with any vowel sound. This may take place within single words, e.g.

Care /keə/Caring /keərɪŋ/

or between word boundaries, e.g.Care about /keər əbaʊt/

Note that, while a letter 'r' often appears in the spelling of the vowel sounds listed above, this is not always the case. For example, a common orthographic realisation of /ɔ:/ is [aw], e.g. saw, draw, paw, similarly the schwa, /ə/ has spellings that don't include 'r', e.g. Australia, Austria. In these cases r-linking also takes place, even though there are those who would object to such pronunciations.

Draw all the flowers /drɔ:r ɔ:l ðə flaʊəz/There's a comma after that

/ðəz ə kɒmər ɑ:ftə θæt/

Australia or New Zealand

/ɒsˈtreɪlɪər ɔ: nju: ˈzi:ln̩d/

It's near enough /ɪts nɪər ɪˈnʌf/It's quite far away /ɪts kwaɪt fɑ:r əˈweɪ/The doctor agrees /ðə dɒktər əˈgri:z/There are three /ðər ə ˈθri: ˈpleɪsɪz/

placesThere's a tour along the river

/ðəz ə tʊər əlɒŋ ðə ˈrɪvə/

It's made of fur and leather

/ɪts meɪd əv ˈfɜ:r ən ˈleðə/

Law and order /lɔ:r ən ɔ:də/The actor and playwright

/ðɪ ˈæktər ən ˈpleɪraɪt/

I can't hear anything /aɪ kɑ:n hɪər enɪθɪŋ/The Glottal StopThe glottal stop is a plosive created by complete closure and then opening of the glottis (vocal folds). The symbol for this sound is: [ ʔ ] , a sort of question mark without a dot at the bottom.Although it is a consonant phoneme in many languages, e.g. Hebrew and Arabic, in English the glottal stop generally appears as an allophone of /t/. This is called Glottal Replacement and is most noticeable in the form that it takes in several regional accents of British English (e.g.Cockney, Glasgow), where syllable-final /t/ between two vowels is replaced by [ʔ]. For example:

Better [ˈbeʔə]Fitting [ˈfɪʔɪŋ]A bit of butter [ə ˈbɪʔ ə ˈbʌʔə]

N.b. these pronunciations are not recommended to learners of EnglishWhile the above examples are generally not considered acceptable in Standard British English, in other contexts the glottal stop is ever more frequently heard.Such contexts are: syllable final /t/ following a vowel or a voiced consonant and the following sound is:

A stop or a fricative, e.g.Football /ˈfʊtbɔ:l/ => [ˈfʊʔbɔ:l]Hit them /ˈhɪt ðəm/ => [ˈhɪʔ ðəm]Anthill /ˈænthɪl/ => [ˈænʔhɪl]A nasal e.g.Fitness /ˈfɪtnəs/ => [ˈfɪʔnəs]Utmost /ˈʌtməʊst/ => [ˈʌʔməʊst]White mice /waɪt ˈmaɪs/ => [waɪʔ ˈmaɪs]A semi-vowel or non-syllabic /l/Atlas /ˈætləs/ => [ˈæʔləs]Dauntless /ˈdɔ:ntləs/ => [ˈdɔ:nʔləs]

Quite well /kwaɪt ˈwel/ => [kwaɪʔ ˈwel]