Aspects of Connected Speech

1- Rhythm

The notion of rhythm involves some noticeable event happening at regular intervals of
time; one can detect the rhythm of a heartbeat, of a flashing light or of a piece of
music.
Types of Rhythm

1- Stress -timed rhythm

A theory implies that stressed syllables will tend to occur at relatively regular
intervals whether they are separated by unstressed syllables or not.

1 2 3 4 5
Walk down the path to the end of the canal

In this sentence, the stressed syllables are given numbers: syllables 1 and 2 are
not separated by any unstressed syllables, 2 and 3 are separated by one
unstressed syllable, 3 and 4 by two, and 4 and 5 by three. The stress-timed
rhythm theory states that the times from each stressed syllable to the next will
tend to be the same, irrespective of the number of intervening unstressed
syllables. It is in languages like Arabic, Russian and English.

2- Syllable-times rhythm
A theory states that all syllables, whether stressed or unstressed, tend to occur at
regular time intervals and the time between stressed syllables will be shorter or
longer in proportion to the number of unstressed syllables. It occurs in French
language.

Some writers have developed theories of English rhythm in which a unit of

rhythm, the foot begins with a stressed syllable and includes all following
unstressed syllables up to (but not including) the following stressed syllable. The
example sentence given above would be divided into feet as follows:

1 2 3 4 5
Walk down the path to the end of the ca nal

2- Assimilation
Assimilation is the situation when a sound belonging to one word can cause
changes in sounds belonging to neighboring words and become nearly alike.
Assimilation varies according to speaking rate and style. it is more likely to be
found in rapid, casual speech and less likely in slow, careful speech.

when two words are combined, the first of which ends with a single final
consonant (which we will call Cf) and the second of which starts with a single
initial consonant (which we will call C1).

Types of assimilation
1- Regressive assimilation is a type of assimilation where the phoneme that
comes first (Cf) is affected by the phoneme that comes after it (Ci) and becomes
like it in some way.

that person / dӕp p3:sn/

2- Progressive assimilation is a type of assimilation where the phoneme that

comes first (Ci) is affected by the phoneme that comes before it (Cf) and becomes
like it in some way. An example of this type what is called coalescence or
coalescent assimilation when final /t, d/ are followed by /j/ , they will combine to
form /tЅ and dȝ/.
Not yet /notЅet/
Could you /kudȝu/

What is the time? / wot s ðə taim/

In assimilation there is a consonant change and these changes or differences are

of three types:
1- differences in place of articulation
2- differences in manner of articulation
3- differences in voicing

1- Differences in place of articulation

Assimilation of place is most clearly observable in some cases where a final
consonant (Cf) with alveolar place of articulation is followed by an initial
consonant (Ci) with a place of articulation that is not alveolar.
 1- For example, the final consonant in ‘that’ /ðat/ is alveolar / t/. In rapid, casual
speech the /t/ will become /p/ before a bilabial consonant, as in:
that person / ðap p3:sn/
that man / ðap man/
meat pie /mi:p pai/

2- Before a dental consonant, /t/ will change to a dental plosive, for which the
phonetic symbol is/ t/ , as in
that thing /ðat Ɵiŋ/
get those / get ðəuz/
cut through /kᴧt Ɵru:/

3- Before a velar consonant, the /t/ will become /k/, as in:

that case / ðak keis/
bright colour / braik k ᴧlə/
quite good / kwaik gud/

In similar contexts
1- /d/ will become /b/ before bilabial as in
good boy /gub bɔi/
2- /d/ will become dental plosive /d/ before a dental consonant as in
bad thing /bad Ɵiŋ/
3- /d/ will become velar /g/ before velar consonant as in

card game /ka:g geim /

4- /n/ will become /m/ before a bilabial as in
green paper / gri:m peipə/
5- /n/ will become dental plosive /n/ before a dental consonant as in
fine thought / fain Ɵɔ:t/

Assimilation of place is only noticeable in regressive assimilation of alveolar

consonants.

2- Differences in manner of articulation

Assimilation of manner is much less noticeable, and is only found in the most
rapid and casual speech; generally speaking, the tendency is again for regressive
assimilation and the change in manner is most likely to be towards an “easier”
consonant - one which makes less obstruction to the airflow. It is thus possible to
find cases where a final plosive becomes a fricative or nasal:
that side /ðas said/
good night / gun nait/

In one particular case we find progressive assimilation of manner, when a word-

initial /ð/ follows a plosive or nasal at the end of a preceding word: it is very
common to find that the Ci becomes identical in manner to the Cf but with dental
place of articulation.
in the /in ðə/ ----- / innə/
get them / get ðəm/ ----- / get təm/

3- Differences of voicing

Assimilation of voice is also found, but again only in a limited way. Only
regressive assimilation of voice is found across word boundaries. If the final
consonant is a lenis (voiced) consonant and the initial consonants is fortis
(voiceless), then the lenis will have no voicing as in

I have to /ai hav tu:/ ---------- / ai haf tu:/

/v/ becomes /f/ because of the following /t/.

Cheesecake /tЅi:skeik/ final /z/ in cheese becomes /s/ because of the

following /k/.

3- ELISION

The nature of elision may be stated quite simply: under certain circumstances
sounds disappear. One might express this in more technical language by saying
that in certain circumstances a phoneme may be realised as zero, or have zero
realisation or be deleted. As with assimilation, elision is typical of rapid, casual
speech. Producing elisions is something which foreign learners do not need to
learn to do, but it is important for them to be aware that when native speakers of
English talk to each other, quite a number of phonemes that the foreigner might
expect to hear are not actually pronounced. We will look at some examples,
although only a small number of the many possibilities can be given here.
1- Loss of weak vowel after /p, t, k/.
 In words like 'potato', 'tomato', canary', ‘'perhaps', ‘today’, the vowel in the first
syllable may disappear; the aspiration of the initial plosive takes up the whole of
h
the middle portion of the syllable, resulting in these pronunciations (where
indicates aspiration in the phonetic transcription):

/ph'teitəu/ /th'ma:təu/ / kh'neəri / /ph'haps/ /th'dei/

2- Weak vowel + n, 1, r becomes syllabic consonant.

tonight /tnait/ police / pli:s/ correct / krekt

3- Avoidance of complex consonant clusters.

It has been claimed that no normal English speaker would ever pronounce all
the consonants between the last two words of the following:
George the Sixth’s throne / d3ɔ:id3 ðə siksѲs Ѳrəun/
Though this is not impossible to pronounce, something like /siksѲrəun/ or
/siksrəun/ is a more likely pronunciation for the last two words. In clusters of
three plosives or two plosives plus a fricative, the middle plosive may disappear,
so that the following pronunciations result:

‘ acts / aks/ looked back /luk bak/ scripts /skrips/

4- Loss of the vowel in "of" leaving /f/ in voiceless context and /v/ in voiced
context.
best of three /best f Ѳri:/
all of mine / ɔ:l v main/
4- Loss of final /v/ before consonants.
Lots of money /lots ə mᴧni/
4- Juncture
It is a mode of relation between two consecutive sounds. It is the relation
between two successive syllables in speech. Linking /r/ and intrusive /r/ are
two special cases of juncture.
The study of the relationship between one sound and the sounds that follow or
precede is important. If we take these words "my turn". How to decide the
relationship between /ai/ amd /t/? In connected speech, we don’t pause between
words, as a result there is no silence to indicate word division and to justify the
place left in the transcription. But English speakers can usually recognize it as
"my turn" not "might earn". Thiswhere the problem of juncture becomes
apparent.
There are factors that help us decide to which word a sound belongs. For
example; aspiration, the length of the vowel followed by a voiceless plosive.
voicing, darkness or clearliness of /l/ and the context in which the words
occur…etc.
might rain / mait rein/ ( /r/ is voiced when initial in rain and /ai/ is shortened)
my train / mai trein/ (/r/ is voiceless following /t/ in train and /ai/ is longer)

tray lending / trei lendiƞ/ ( clear /l/ in lending)

trail ending /treil endiƞ/ ( dark /l/ in trail)

keep sticking /ki:p stikiƞ/ ( /t/ unaspirated after /s/

keeps ticking / ki:ps tikiƞ/ ( /t/ aspirated in ticking/)