Function words A distinction is made between function words (also grammatical words), i.e.

words which affect meaning primarily of a grammatical kind, and lexical words which convey
meaning of a referential or pseudo-referential kind. Function words comprise principally
pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions and auxiliary verbs; while lexical words comprise
principally nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Function words frequently have weak forms.
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- A phoneme is the smallest contrastive linguistic unit which may bring about a change of
meaning. For example 'mat' and 'bat'. Phonemes are based on spoken language and recorded
by IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet). They are written beetween slashes..e.g. /p/
- Allophones are variations of phonemes. So, they are set of possible spoken sounds used to
pronounce one single phoneme. e.g. [pʰ] (as in pin) and [p] (as in spin) are allophones of the
phoneme /p/. They are written in brackets.
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DEVOICING. In PHONETICS, the process by which SPEECH sounds that are normally voiced are
made voiceless immediately after a voiceless obstruent: for example, the /r/ in cream /kriːm/
and the /w/ in twin /twɪn/. VOICE is slow to build up at the onset of speaking and fades at the
end, so that voiced obstruents (stop and fricative consonants) are partly or wholly devoiced in
initial and final position, as with the initial and final /d/ in dead /dɛd/ when spoken in isolation.
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If the L sound comes BEFORE the vowel or diphthong in a syllable, it will be a light L sound.

Remember:

vowels = a, e, i, o, u

diphthong = two vowel sounds together

When you make the light L sound, the tip of your tongue will rise up and press against the back
of your top teeth. The light L sound is a voiced sound, so your vocal cords will make the sound.

The light L sound is usually found at the beginning of a word.

Let's practice:

 like
 lip
 laugh
 long
 lay
 less
 large
 low
  learn
 flag
 slap
 black
 blog

Dark L sound
If the L sound comes AFTER the vowel or diphthong in a syllable, it will be a velar or dark L
sound. The dark L sound can be represented by the symbol ɫ.

Remember:

vowels = a, e, i, o, u

diphthong = two vowel sounds together

The dark L sound is really two sounds: a vowel sound + the L sound. After making the vowel
sound, the tip of your tongue will rise up and press against the back of your top teeth in the
same way as the light L sound. The dark L sound is a voiced sound, so your vocal cords will
make the sound.

The dark L sound is often found in the middle or at the end of a word.

Let's practice:

 circle
 pull
 milk
 help
 whole
 tall
 pool
 ball
 fall
 will
 all
 tall
 girl
 call
  puddle
 real
 deal
 detail
 e-mail
 family
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Assimilation
A sound can be pronounced in a way that is more similar to its neighbours, especially in rapid,
casual speech.
How? (in the case of consonants)
- voice
- place
- manner
In English it mainly affects place of articulation.
The alveolar consonants /t d n/, when they occur at the end of a word or syllable, can
optionally assimilate to the place of articulation of the next syllable (‘regressive assimilation’).
/n/ can become [m] before /p, b, m/ /ˌten ˈmen/ -> [ˌtʰem ˈmen] /ˈdaʊn biːt/ -> [ˈd̥aʊm biˑt]
/n/ can become [ŋ] before /k g/ /ˌfaɪn ˈgreɪd/ -> [ˌfaɪŋ ˈgreɪd̥] /ɪnˈkredəbl̩/ -> [ɪŋˈkr̥edəbl̩]
/d/ can become [b] and [ŋ] in the same way: /ˌred ˈpeɪnt/ -> [ˌreb̥ˈpʰeɪ̆nt] /ədˈmɪt/ -> [əb
ˈmɪ̆t] /ˈbæd gaɪz/ -> [ˈbæg gaɪz̥]
/t/ can become [p] and [k] in the same way, but more frequently [ʔ] (a glottal stop). /ˌeɪt ˈbɔɪz/
-> [ˌeɪ̆p ˈb̥ɔɪz̥] or, more usually -> [ˌeɪ̆ʔ ˈbɔɪz̥]
In the same way, /s/ /z/ can become [ʃ] [ʒ] before /ʃ/ or /j/ at the beginning of the next
syllable: /ˌðɪs ˈʃeɪp/ -> [ˌðɪ̆ʃ ˈʃeɪ̆p] /ˌðiːz ˈʃuːz/ -> [ˌðiːʒ ˈʃuːz̥] /ˌðɪs ˈjuːnɪt/ -> [ˌðɪ̆ʃ ˈjuːnɪ̆t]
N.B. If the following word is you, your, the /j/ may disappear. /ˌæz ju ˈsiː/ -> [ˌæʒ (j)u ˈsiː]
Assimilation can also sometimes operate in the other direction: that is, a consonant can
assimilate to the place of articulation of the consonant at the end of the preceding syllable
(‘progressive’ assimilation).
In English, this applies only to syllabic /n/ changing it into syllabic [m̩] [ŋ̍] as appropriate:
(/ˈrɪbən/ -> ) /ˈrɪbn̩/ -> [ˈrɪbm̩] (/ˈbeɪkən/ -> ) /ˈbeɪkn̩/ -> [ˈbeɪkŋ̍] (/ˌʌp ən ˈdaʊn/ -> ) /ˌʌp n̩
ˈdaʊn/ -> [ˌʌp m̩ ˈdaʊn]
This assimilation can operate only if the words are said without a phonetic [ə] between the
plosive and the nasal. Furthermore, it cannot apply if the sound after the nasal is a vowel .
(/ˈhæpənz/ -> ) /ˈhæpn̩z/ -> [ˈhæ̆ pm̩z̥] (/ˈhæpənd/ -> ) /ˈhæpn̩d/ -> [ˈhæ̆ pm̩d̥] (/ˈhæpənɪŋ/ -> )
/ˈhæpn̩ɪŋ/ (cannot assimilate further)
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Elision
Under certain circumstances sounds disappear (are deleted, or have a zero realisation),
especially in rapid, casual speech.
Elision: example 1 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. • /pəˈteɪtəʊ/ -> [pʰˈtʰeɪtəʊ] • /təˈmɑːtəʊ/ -> [tʰˈmɑːtəʊ] • /pə
ˈhæps/ -> [pʰˈhæ̆ ps] • /təˈdeɪ/ -> [tʰˈd̥eɪ]
Elision: example 2 Weak vowel + /n l r/ • Weak vowels + /n/, /l/ or /r/ becomes syllabic
consonant. • /təˈnaɪt/ -> [tn̩aɪ̆t] • /pəˈliːs/ -> [pl̩iˑs] • /kəˈrekt/ -> [kr̥̩ĕkt]
Elision: example 3 Avoidance of complex consonant clusters • It has been said that no normal
English speaker would ever pronounce all the consonants between the last two words of the
following: • ‘George the Sixth’s throan /dʒɔːdʒ ðə sɪksθs θrəʊn/ • Though this is not impossible
to pronounce, something like … [sɪ̆ksθrəʊn] is more likely.
Elision: example 4 Loss of final /v/ in ‘of’ • Loss of final /v/ in ‘of’ before consonants • /lɒts əv
ðəm/ -> [lɒ̆ts ə ðəm] • /weɪst əv ˈmʌni/ -> [weɪ̆st ə ˈmʌni]
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Coalescence is a special kind of assimilation. It’s usually either the consonant on the left or the
right that has a dominating influence on the other. In coalescence, both consonants influence
each other and fuse together to form a new one, often an affricate.
Yod-Coalescence
This type of coalescence involves a fusion of an alveolar plosive or fricative, followed by a
semi-vowel /j/ and a back vowel, either /uː/, /ʊ/ or /oː/. This is generally manifested in forms
of the pronoun you, such as in would you, could you, should you, did you or he/she knows your
name.
‘U-Coalescence’
It also involves a combination of alveolar plosive/fricative and usually a <u> in spelling, but
without a graphemic indication of an intervening semi-vowel, i.e. a <y>. It commonly occurs in
words
like tune, dune, fortune, pro-/de-/re-/induce, century, nature/natural, (un)usual, mixture, textu
re, picture, pressure, creature, opportunity, situation, actually, pleasure or treasure in the
speech of many speakers of (British) English.
Some other words or constructions, such
as assume, stupid, student, substitute, opportunity, promised yesterday or as yet often exhibit
this kind of coalescence, too, but seem to be somewhat more optional, especially the words
beginning with <st>.
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Linking and intrusive /r/
‘linking r’ • /r/ can not occur in syllable-final position in RP (and other non-rhotic accents). •
But when a word’s spelling suggests a final /r/, and a word beginning with a vowel follows, the
usual pronunciation for RP speakers is to pronounce with /r/. ‘four’ /fɔː/ but ‘four eggs’ /fɔːr
egz/ ‘far’ /fɑː/ but ‘far away’ /fɑːr əˈweɪ/
‘intrusive r’ • Many RP speakers use /r/ in a similar way to link words ending with a (weak)
vowel even when there is no "justification" from the spelling. ‘media event’ /miːdiər ɪˈvent/
‘formula A’ /ˈfɔːmjʊlər eɪ/
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The term “buttressing” refers to the use of the strong form for an unaccented preposition with
a pronoun complement, after the nucleus in sentences like
(1) I had a letter from him.
aɪ ˈhæd ə ˈletə frɒm ɪm.

Compare
(2) I had a note from him.
aɪ ˈhæd ə ˈnəʊt frəm ɪm.

The use of strong or weak form can go either way in both cases, but on the whole we tend to
use a strong form (frɒm) in (1), a weak form (frəm) in (2). The more weak syllables intervene
after the nucleus, the more likely a strong form.