Connected speech

Communication.... Chat...talk...sing...

let’s string words together!

let’s string words together!

What is connected speech?

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.

Features of connected speech

Linking sounds

Consonant to vowel linking – when the first word ends with a consonant sound and the second word begins with a vowel sound. E.g. Fried egg / a box oveggs / cupov tea /doyer? We change the sounds to make it flow!

Vowel to vowel linking –when the first word ends in a vowel and the next words begins with a vowel sound. We add a ‘w’ or ‘y’ sound.E.g.’ go in’ / say it/do it/two eggs/ hiya! / cudyer?

Consonant to consonant linking – when the first word ends in a consonant and the next one begins with a consonant sound. We don’t hear both separately, we just hear one. E.g. We only hear one /t/ E.g. A bit tired /lot to do

Features of connected speechDisappearing sounds

In rapid speech the /t/ or the /g/ sound at the end of the word often disappears completely if there are consonant sounds either side. e.g. next week / can’t swim/ going for .

This also happens with the /d/ sound. e.g. sandwich – san(d)wich. Fish and chips – fish an chips/bread an cheese.

The /h/ sound is often deleted. E.g. You shouldn’t (h)ave told (h)im/ We could (h)ave.

The unstressed schwa(ɘ) is often lost. E.g. t(o)night/ got t(o)ave.

Features of connected speech Weak sounds

There are a large number of words in English which can have a ‘full’ form or a ‘weak’ form. This is because English is a stress timed language, and in trying to make the intervals between stressed syllables equal, to give us rhythm, we tend to swallow non-essential words. Thus, we lose pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions, auxiliaries and articles. E.g.

And – a table ‘n chair Can – She c/ɘ/n speak English Of – A cup ov coffee Have – Av you finished? Should – You sh/ɘ/d av told me. The verb ‘to be’ – I’m He’s

Features of connected speech

Changing Sounds

Listen to two words said individually, then listen to them in a sentence – Can you hear the difference?

Sometimes the sound at the end of the first word takes on the quality of the sound at the beginning of the second word. e.g. She’s a good girl.

This is to do with the place in the mouth where we make the sounds. E.g. When we say /b/ or /p/ we can feel that both your lips are pressed together.

When we say /t/ or /d/ or /n/ we can feel that our tongue is touching above our top teeth.

When you say /k/ or /g/ or the –ng sound, we can feel the back of our tongue touching the roof of our mouth.

Examples:

Good girl – goog girl/goob boy Ten pounds – tem pounds Good mornin – goob mornin Not quite – nok quite So..

To sum up....

Connected speech consists of:

Linking sounds Disappearing sounds Weak sounds Changing sounds

So let’s connect and chat!!!

Practice and patience!

Helpful websites to chat and practice!

www.bbclearningenglish.com www.englishcentral.com www.elllo.org/ www.cambridgeenglishonline.com/

Phonetics_Focus/

Bibliography Books

Underhill, A. (2005). Sound foundations. Oxford. Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

Internet sites

Talk about English (July 2005). Retrieved 5 June 2010 from www.bbclearningenglish.com Connected speech.(2006). Retrieved from www.eslsite.com/rd/Pronounciation/connected_speech.html Learning English – I would like to buy a hamburger. Retrieved

from www.youtube.com