Connected Speech and Prosody in English
Connected Speech in English
When looking at the main allophones of the phonemes in English, it’s necessary to look at sounds not only in isolation but also taking into account neighboring sounds. Sounds tend to change when they come into contact with other sounds. The main phenomena of connected speech are: weak forms, assimilation, elision, liaison, gemination, and hard attack.
Function Words
Function words, like me, you, at, to, as, and than, are words that don’t have a lexical meaning. They have two pronunciations: a strong form when they are stressed and a weak form when not stressed. Content words only have one pronunciation. Function words are usually monosyllabic, and in connected speech, they don’t receive the main stress in the utterance. Example: Janet got an SMS message from Tim. Many function words are pronounced with a schwa, such as at, from, and but. There are other weak forms of function words. He: /hi:/ — /hi/. To: /tu:/ — /tu/. The pronunciation depends on whether the words that follow them start with a vowel or a consonant. And is often pronounced as a syllabic alveolar nasal. It can be pronounced /ə/ + /nd/ or a small /e/ + /nd/. The second-person personal pronoun you has two weak forms: /ju/ and /jə/. Function words are realized using strong forms:
- When we talk about a word, the metalinguistic function.
- When we contrast words.
- When we want to emphasize a word.
- At the end of a sentence.
- In negative contractions of certain verbs (stress).
- We use the strong form for questions, but the weak form is also heard.
Assimilation
Assimilation occurs when one sound takes on the place of articulation or manner of articulation of a sound before or after it. What really happens is that the articulatory organs prepare for the second sound when pronouncing the previous one. There is assimilation of place of articulation. Assimilation of manner is much less common. Changes in voicing are also cases of assimilation, known as assimilation of voice. If the final consonant of the first word is voiced and the initial consonant of the next word is voiceless, the former consonant often has no voicing. This also affects derivational endings, plurals, genitives, the third-person singular in the present tense, and the -ed of regular verbs.
Regressive Assimilation
The alveolar /t/, /d/, and /n/ are involved. The assimilation of the alveolar when followed by the stops /p/, /b/, /k/, and /g/ and the nasal /m/. The alveolar /t/ is realized as before /k/ and /g/. Example: red paper.
Before /∫/ and /j/, /s/ can become /∫/, and /z/ may become /ʒ/ before /∫/ and /j/: less sugar.
Coalescent Assimilation
Coalescent assimilation is when two phonemes combine to become one. It can occur inside the word or between words.
Progressive Assimilation
Progressive assimilation is much less common than regressive assimilation. It is when a sound becomes more like a preceding sound.
Elision
Elision means the disappearance of a sound. It’s common in rapid speech and should not be avoided, as it’ll make your speech sound natural.
Elision of /h/ or H-Dropping
In Received Pronunciation (RP), elision of /h/ is not found in careful speech. Even in rapid speech, h-dropping is stigmatized when it’s noticeable.
Elision of Alveolar Plosives /t/ and /d/
The alveolar plosives are commonly elided when preceded by /s/, /f/, /∫/, /n/, /l/, /p/, /k/, and /t∫/. In the case of /d/, it is preceded by /z/, /n/, /l/, /b/, /g/, and /dʒ/.
Elision of Schwa After Fortis Plosives
This occurs in the syllable before the stressed or tonic syllable in words that begin with fortis plosives. When schwa is elided, its place can be taken by the aspiration from the release stage of the plosive. This elision causes /l/ and /r/ to be devoiced, and when followed by /n/, the release is nasal.
Elision of /v/ in Of
Elision of /v/ in of often occurs before consonants. (waste of time /weɪstəˈtaɪm/).
American /nt/ Reduction
The consonant cluster /nt/ is often reduced to /n/. Winter becomes /ˈwɪnər/.
Wanna and gonna are a reduction, assimilation, and elision all at once.
Liaison
Liaison involves inserting sounds between words, avoids hiatus, and can be roughly defined as a pause between two words.
Linking Sounds
Linking /r/ is found before a vowel and between vowels but not between a vowel and a consonant (farm).
Linking /w/ and /j/: /w/ is heard when the first word ends in a vowel that involves lip rounding: no idea. Linking /j/ is heard when the first word ends with a close front vowel such as /i:/, diphthongs, and the weak vowel /i/.
Intrusive /r/ and /t/
They only appear in connected speech. They don’t appear in words when they are pronounced in isolation, nor have they formed part of the pronunciation or spelling of these words in earlier stages of English.
Intrusive /r/ is found in non-rhotic accents, although in the US, some speakers have been heard to pronounce idea as /aɪˈdiːə/. Intrusive /r/ occurs in words ending in /ɔː/, /ə/, and /ɑː/.
Intrusive /t/ is sometimes inserted between /n/ and /s/, as in dance.
Repeated Consonants/Gemination
When two consonants are found together at the end and at the beginning, it’s important to pronounce both.
Hard Attack
When we wish to keep adjacent vowel sounds in successive syllables separate within a word and between words, we use a hard attack. It consists of inserting a glottal stop between the vocal folds.
Prosody in English
Prosody is a cover term to refer to sentence stress, rhythm, and intonation.
Stress
The stressed syllable in a word, when we pronounce a word in isolation, has more respiratory energy than unstressed syllables.
Primary Word Stress
English word stress is not invariable within the language system, but it’s with regard to each individual word.
Prefixes and Suffixes
There are certain unproductive prefixes, such as a- and be-, which always have stress on the second or later syllables. Some suffixes like -es, -ed, and -ing don’t alter a stem’s main stress. Some suffixes affect stress, like -aire, -ee, -eer, -ese, -ette, and -ique.
Secondary Word Stress in Disyllabic Verb-Noun Pairs
This involves a change in pronunciation.
Compound Words and Phrases
Stress can distinguish two identical sequences of words. Compounds are stressed on the first element.
Sentence Stress and Intonation
Sentence stress is intimately related to tone and intonation. It is also called a tone group or intonation group, which is a stretch or chunk of speech with a recognizable intonation. There is a tonic syllable, or the nucleus, and it carries the new information. There are different types of tonic segments:
- Tonic segments made up of single syllables.
- Tonic segments made up of tonic syllables followed by enclitic segments.
- Tonic segments preceded by proclitic segments.
- Tonic segments preceded by the first accented syllable, called the onset.
- Tonic syllables followed by an enclitic segment and preceded by a tonic segment made up of an accented syllable.
Rhythm
Rhythm is based on the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables. Stressed syllables last longer than unstressed ones. The tendency in English towards a regular alternation between stressed and unstressed syllables, or isochrony, can also affect the stress within a word.
Tones and the Function of Intonation
Intonation is a very complex concept, but it can be described as the melody of speech—how the pitch of the voice rises and falls. There are three main tones: fall, fall-rise, and rise.
- We select the proclaiming or falling tone when we give information that we think the hearer does not have.
- We select the telling tone when we think we’re giving the hearer information that we share.