Connected Speech Adjustments. by Jorge Silva

Definition Of Connected Speech Adjustments

jvsl12 — 2016-03-07 02:17:06 UTC

When a word occurs in a sentence, its pronunciation may sometimes vary from the pronunciation used when it's said in isolation, this is a connected speech adjustments and it is what helps us speak in an efficient manner, that is, to say the most in the least amount of time and to speak with rhythm.

1. Assimilation

jvsl12 — 2016-03-07 02:33:33 UTC

It's a process in which one or more segments become adapted in one or more aspects to a neighbouring segment, In other words, it "assimilates" a close phone.

Some of the assimilation processes in the English Language are:

/ t / changes to / p / before / m / / b / or / p /    e.g.: Basket Mark, Cat Burglar, Flight Plan.
 / d / changes to / b / before / m / / b / or / p /     e.g.: Good Morning, Good Boy, United Party.
/ n / changes to / m / before / m / / b / or / p /    e.g.: Action man, Cotton belt, Brown paper.
/ t / changes to / k / before / k / or /g/     e.g.: Cigarette Card, Fat Girl.
/ d / changes to / g / before / k / or / g /     e.g.: Sand Castle, Field Glasses.
/ n / changes to / ŋ / before / k / or / g /     e.g.: Open Court, Action Group.
/ s / changes to / ʃ / before / ʃ / or / j /     e.g.: Bus Shelter, Nice Yacht.
/ z / changes to / ʒ / before / ʃ / or / j /    e.g.: Cheese Shop, Feels Yogurts
 /θ/ changes to / s / before / s /    e.g.: Bath salts.

3.. Double Consonant Sounds

jvsl12 — 2016-03-07 03:15:13 UTC

Double consonant sounds (“geminates”) in English phonetic are found only across grammatical boundaries: where two words occur next to one another in connected speech, or in the two parts of a compound word, or a stem and an affix. They are always found in a syllable boundary, too.

e.g.:

That time /ðæt taɪm/
Rich Choice /rɪʧ ʧɔɪs/

Although cases like these consist of two identical phonemes in succession, they are not usually pronounced like two distinct complete sounds. The details depend upon their manner of ARTICULATION.

Fricatives, nasal, liquids: a geminate is pronounced like a single sound, except that it lasts longer

Plosives: a geminate is pronounces like a single sound, with just one sequence of approach-hold-release; but the hold is longer in a geminate.

Affricates are the only case where two successive complete consonant sounds are pronounced independently, one after the other

Double consonant letters: In English spelling, double consonant letters (e.g.: Ass /æs/) correspond to ONE consonant sound in pronunciation.

E.g: Happy is pronounced /ˈhæ.pi/ instead of /ˈhæp.pi/

The main exception arises in a few words with cc before i or e,
for example succeed /sək’si:d/

The other import exception is where the two consonant letters in question belong to two different parts of a compound word, or one to a stem and one to an affix.

E.g.: unnamed /ʌnˈneɪmd/

2. Compounds and Phrases

jvsl12 — 2016-03-07 03:19:21 UTC

A two-element compound is typically pronounced with early stress: that is to say, its first element has more stress than its second. E.g:

Lifetime /'laɪfˌtaɪm/
Sunflower /'sʌnˌflaʊr/
Railroad /'reɪlˌroʊd/

It's also worth noting that while those compound words are written as a single word, that isn't always the case:

Christmas card
Visitors’ book
Music lessons
Beauty o contest

A two-word phrase is usually pronounce with a late stress:

Many Times /meni 'taɪmz/
Next Time /nekst 'taɪm/

These, and all stress patterns, can be changed if the speaker wants to emphasize a particular contrast:

Not a school boy, a school girl! /nɑːt ə skuːl 'bɔɪ ə skuːl 'gɜːrl/

Sometimes a compound has a different meaning from the corresponding phrase.:

A darkroom /'dɑːrk ruːm/ (a room developing photographs)
A dark room /,dɑːrk 'ruːm/(a room which is dark because there is little light in it)

Some expression, which are grammatically compounds, are nevertheless pronounced with late stress (as if they were phrases).
There is no firm rule; that is why many compounds and phrases are listed separately with their stress patterns.
One group of expressions of this type comprises those where the first element names the material or ingredient out of which a thing is made:

A ,rubber ’duck /ə rʌbər 'dʌk/
,Paper ’plates /peɪpər 'pleɪts/
,Cheese ’sandwiches /ʧiːz ˈsændwɪʧɪz/

Finally, in names of English places, note that all take late stress except streets, which takes early stress:

Madison 'Square /mædɪsən 'skwer/
'Wall street /'wɔːl striːt/

4. Ellision

jvsl12 — 2016-03-07 03:32:32 UTC

It is the omission or loss of a vowel, a consonant, a syllable, a segment, or segments in oral speech.

Loss of weak vowel after p, t, k.

In words like ‘potato’, ‘today’, the vowel in the first syllable may disappear; the aspiration of the initial plosive takes up the whole of the middle portion of the syllable, resulting in these pronunciations, where h indicates aspiration:
/pʰˈteɪtoʊ/ /tʰ deɪ/

Avoidance of complex consonant clusters: Deletion of one consonant sound in a cluster to make pronunciation easier.

‘acts’ / æks/
‘looked back’ /’lʊk bæk/
scripts / ‘skrɪps/

Loss of final v in "of" before consonants.

Bunch of beans /bʌntʃ ə biːnz/

5. R Liasion

jvsl12 — 2016-03-07 03:46:15 UTC

In Received Pronunciation or RP and other non-rhotic accents, a word said in isolation never ends in r. A rhotic speaker will pronounce words like far as /fɑːr/, whereas a non-rhotic speaker won't pronounce /r/ at all unless followed by a vowel.

E.g: Near is pronounce /nɪə/ in isolation but in a sentence, say: Near me, it is pronounce /nɪr ˈmiː/

In RP (standard english), as in other non-rhotic accents, the insertion is frequently made even if there is no r in the spelling. This intrusive /r/ does not correspond to historical r, and there is no corresponding r in AmE.

e.g.:

Thaw /θɑː/ In isolation, RP thaw is /θɔː:/. In the phrase thaw out, intrusive r may be added, giving /θɔːraʊt/ (In Gem Am there is no r).

7. Stress Shift

jvsl12 — 2016-03-07 04:00:14 UTC

Some words seem to change their stress patterns in connected speech, this phenomenon is known as stress shift.
A phrase usually receives late stress. The placing of primary stress on the last element means that the basic stress of the first element is weakened by one degree.

e.g:

The word Japanese usually has it's primary stress on the syllable 'nese', however in some cases the stress may shift to the syllable 'jap'

8. T- Voicing

jvsl12 — 2016-03-07 04:05:04 UTC

For most Americans and Canadians the phoneme t is sometimes pronounced as a voiced sound. Where this is the usual AmE pronunciation it is shown by the symbol /t/.

Phonetically, t is a voiced alveolar tap (flap). It sounds like a quick English d, and also like the r of some languages. For many Americans, it is actually identical with their d in the same environment, so that AmE shutter /ˈʃʌtər/ may sound identical with shudder /ˈʃʌdər/

After n, AmE t can optionally be elided (omitted). Accordingly, it is shown in italics, as ţ. Thus AmE winter /ˈwɪntər/ can sound identical to winner /ˈwɪn ər/.

8. Weak Forms

jvsl12 — 2016-03-07 04:12:39 UTC

Many English function words (grammatical words) have more than one pronunciation. A strong one and a weak one, depending of the vowel sound.
The weak form is generally used if the word is unstressed. The strong form is used only when the word is stressed.

For Example:
In the sentence she can play better than I can, the first can is unstressed /kən/ where as the second 'can' /kæn/ is stresssed. This is due to the 'importance' the speaker gives to both words and the context they have.