2.1. Pronunciation tips: Connected speech

Focus on

phonetics and phonology title
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CONNECTED SPEECH

   Connected speech In order to sound natural, we have to take into account the different aspects of connected speech:

Weak and Strong Forms

In English speech, not all words sound the same. Lexical words (nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs) are stressed normally. Function words (pronouns, auxiliary verbs, prepositions) have 2 forms, one pronounced weakly, which changes pronunciation (the most typical form) and strongly (less common).

And

fish and chips (fish´n chips)
a chair and a table (a chair ´n a table)
Can

She can speak Spanish better than I can (The first "can" is the weak form, the second the full form.)
Of

A pint of beer


That´s the last of the wine!
Have

Have you finished? (weak)


Yes, I have. (strong)
Should

Well, you should have told me. (Both "should" and "have" are weak here)
 

Click on the following links to listen to three BBC radio programmes on pronunciation:

Moving on

You can learn some features of connected speech and linking in American English on the following video:

Reading activity

Listen to the following statements and read the phrases below at the same time. The phrases are written wrongly. Rewrite them correctly. 

 a child and adult speaking

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1. a cup a tea an a biscuit

2. one a two bags are ice

3. try a neat a bitter fruit

4. a pine to milk an a loafer bread

5. as coal does a block a vice

6. a piece a cake an a nice cream

 

Source: http://hancockmcdonald.com/materials/pronunciation-listeners

 

Listen to the 5 sentences below and count the number of words in each sentence. Count contractions as two words.

Pronunciation

 Imagen de Sanickels en Flickr. Licencia CC

Sentence 1

Sentence 2

Sentence 3

Sentence 4

Sentence 5

Source: www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/getting-know-wales

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