Words in Connected Speech 291

/ scream /ai skrim/ : long /ai/, strong Is/, little devoicing of /r/
ice cream /ais krim/ : reduced /ai/, weak /s/, devoiced /r/

choose /wai tjuz/ : long /ai/, short [J] as element of /t|V

iv/z/fe s/zoes /wait Juz/ : reduced /ai/, long /J/

a «a/ne /a neim/ : relatively long /n/ (beginning accent)

an aim /sn eim/ : relatively short /n/ (accent onset on /ei/),
possibility of glottal stop before /ei/

It must be noted that the glottal stop before a vowel beginning an accented sylla-
ble in the last example is optional, and generally not used unless emphasis is
required (see §9.2.8). Overuse of glottal stop in such positions is typical of some
foreign learners of English.
Similarly, simple word entities may be distinguished from words composed of
separable morphemes:

nitrate /naitreit/ : devoiced /r/

night-rate /nait reit/ : little devoicing of /r/

¡Ilegal /ili:gl/ : clear [1] before vowel

/// eagle /il i:gl/ : dark [i] in word-final position
possibility of glottal stop before /i:/

It is to be noted, however, that such junctural cues are only potentially distinc-
tive and, in any case, merely provide cues to word Identification additional to
the large number provided by the context. Junctural oppositions are, in fact,
frequently neutralized in connected speech or may have such slight phonetic j
valué as to be difficult for a listener to perceive.

12.5 Frequency of Occurrence of Monosyllabic and

Polysyllabic Words

In a running text of a conversational kind, the following approximate percent-

ages of occurrence of words containing different numbers of syllables are to be
expected: one syllable—81%; two syllables—15%; three syllables—3%. The
remaining 1 % of words have four syllables or more, those with five or more sylla-
bles accounting for a minute proportion of the total word list. If the 1,000 most
common words used are examined,10 it has been calculated that some 15% admit
of the kind of phonemic variability mentioned in §10.9. Half of such words
permitting phonemic variation are monosyllables whose phonemic structure
depends upon the degree of accent placed upon them.

Gimson (1969)