Connected Speech
Phonetics and the IPA
Course 1 · Chapter 8 · Connected Speech
So far every sound has been treated as a separate item, as if each word were said slowly on its own. Real speech is not like that. Sounds lean on their neighbours, some disappear, and small words shrink. This chapter covers the three processes you most need to recognise before you transcribe anything spoken at normal speed.
Assimilation
Wikipedia defines assimilation as a sound change in which phonemes (typically consonants or vowels) become more similar to nearby sounds. It occurs within a word or between words. The page distinguishes several kinds:
| Dimension | Type | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Direction | regressive (anticipatory) | a sound changes to match the sound that follows |
| progressive (perseverative) | a sound changes to match the sound that precedes | |
| Distance | adjacent (contact) | neighbouring sounds; far more frequent |
| distant (long-distance) | sounds separated by others | |
| Extent | complete | the sound becomes identical to its trigger |
| partial | some features shared, others differ, such as place | |
| Coalescence | fusion | two adjacent sounds merge into one sharing features of both |
English examples, from the source
The page also gives imprecise, pronounced with [m] (from in- + precise) and spelled with m. It notes that it is [ɪtɪz] becomes it's [ɪts], where the vowel is elided and the final consonant devoices after a voiceless sound.
Elision
Elision (also called deletion) is the omission of one or more sounds, such as a vowel, a consonant or a whole syllable, in a word or phrase. In its narrower sense it covers two words run together by dropping a final sound. Examples from Wikipedia:
| Citation form | With elision | What is lost |
|---|---|---|
| first light | firs' light | final /t/ before a consonant |
| natural | /ˈnætʃrəl/ (from /ˈnætʃərəl/) | a vowel |
| family | /ˈfæmli/ (from /ˈfæmɪli/) | a vowel |
| fifth | /ˈfɪfθ/ → /ˈfɪθ/ | a consonant |
| him | /hɪm/ → /ɪm/ | initial /h/ |
| going to | gonna | whole segments |
| it is, I have, is not | it's, I've, isn't | contractions |
Weak and Strong Forms
Many small grammatical words have two pronunciations: a strong form used when the word is stressed, isolated, or at the end of a phrase, and a weak form used otherwise. Wikipedia lists:
| Word | Weak form | Strong form | Strong used when |
|---|---|---|---|
| and | [ən], [n̩] or [ŋ̍] (before a velar) | not given | listed as "always reduced" |
| to | [tə] (to Cambridge) | [tu] (to Oxford) | stressed at the end of a phrase |
| the | [ði] before a vowel, [ðə] before a consonant | not given | when definiteness is emphasised |
| a | reduced vowel | [eɪ] | when indefiniteness is emphasised |
| can | /kən/ | /kæn/ | when stressed, phrase-final or cited in isolation |
| them | [əm] | not given | listed as "always reduced" |
| you | /ʊ/ or [u] | not given | listed as "always reduced" |
The same page classifies English as stress-timed: speakers tend to space stressed syllables at roughly equal intervals, and the weak forms are clitics, forming "a rhythmic pattern with an adjacent word". That is why cat and dog sounds like cat'n dog.
Try It Yourself
Classify each as assimilation, elision or a weak form: handbag → [ˈhæmbæɡ]; him → [ɪm]; to Cambridge with [tə]; would you → [wʊdʒu].
📄 View solutionIn pots and pods, which sound is the suffix, what is its voicing, and what causes the difference? Is this regressive or progressive assimilation?
📄 View solutionWrite the weak and strong forms of can and say when each is used. Then use them: say "I can swim" normally and "Yes, I can" emphatically.
📄 View solutionChapter 8 Quick Reference
- Assimilation: sounds become more like neighbours (regressive, progressive; complete, partial; coalescence)
- Elision: sounds drop out (firs' light, family /ˈfæmli/, gonna)
- Weak forms: unstressed grammar words reduce (can /kən/); strong forms when stressed or phrase-final
- English is stress-timed; weak forms are clitics
- A transcription of speech records what was said, not the dictionary form