Linking

Even to the linguistically naïve learner, a prominent characteristic of much of nonnative English speech is its “choppy” quality. In connected speech native speakers normally link words together smoothly and naturally.

The ability to speak English “smoothly”, to utter words or syllables that are appropriately connected, involves the use of linking (also liaison or link-up), which is the connecting of the final sound of one word or syllable to the initial sound of the next.

The processes of linking are common to all languages but the rules of connecting sounds are different.

Rules for Linking Sounds in English

Rule 1: When a stop consonant is followed by another stop or by an affricate, the first stop is not released, which facilitates the linking:

E.g. pet_ cat. soap_ dish. big_ dipper.

good_ jury big_ church

Rule 2: When two identical consonants come together, there is one single, elongated articulation of the consonant (i.e. native speakers do not pronounce the consonant sound twice):

E.g.: stop_ pushing. Rob_ Bill. less_ serious.

Rule 3: Linking ‘r’. Those British speakers who don’t pronounce final ‘r’ will reintroduce it when the next word begins with a vowel.

E.g.: more_ interest.

four_ inches.

Rule 4: When a word ending in a single consonant is followed by a word beginning with a vowel, the consonant is pronounced intervocalically as if it belonged to both syllables. For example, in the phrase ‘The dish is pretty’, ‘dish is’ sounds exactly like ‘dishes’.

E.g. dog_ eat dog

black_ and grey

Rule 5. When a word or syllable ending in a consonant cluster is followed by a word or syllable beginning with a vowel, the final consonant of the cluster is often pronounced as part of the following syllable. The phenomenon is sometimes referred to as resyllabification.

E.g. lef/t_ arm wep/t_ over

fin/d_ out push/ed_ up

Rule 6: When a word that ends in a vowel is followed by a word that begins with a vowel, English speakers will often insert an extra sound in order to link the vowels together to make the flow of speech smoother and to avoid the ‘gap’ between the words (either a pause or unnecessary glottal stop).

Consonantal glides [w] and [j]

When two vowels meet at word-boundaries, English speakers insert very short, never articulated fully [w] or [j] glides. The choice of either [w] or [j] depends on the vowel that ends the first word. If the word final vowel is of u-type - [u], [u:], [au], [ou] — then the linking glide will be [w]. If the word final vowel is of i-type — [i:], [ei], [ai], [oi] — the linking glide [j] is inserted.

E. g. play(j) a game how^w often

tie(j) it up throw^w it all.

they(j) are slow^w and steady

cre(j)ate snow^wy

Deletion

A radical form of adjustments in connected speech is deletion (also known as elision or omission): the process in which sounds disappear or are not clearly articulated in certain contexts.

The following are the most typical environments for deletion:

1. Loss of [t] or [d] when they occur second in a sequence or cluster of three consonants:

[t] restless, listless, exactly

[d] kindness, windmill, hands

2. Deletion of word-final [t] or [d] in clusters of two at a word boundary when the following word begins with a consonant:

East side

blind man

wild boar

3. Loss of initial [h] and [ð] in pronominal forms:

ask her, help him, tell them