Read the following aloud:

Patient: Doctor, Doctor, I’ve got two theik, a near rake, Now, try to write it out as it should be written:
sore rise, bruise darms a stummer cake and I far tall
the time.

Doctor: I see, perhaps you’d like to way tin the

corridor?

Practise saying it as it is written in the original.

Is it difficult? What do you notice about the words?

When you listen to native speakers speaking naturally, it sounds completely different to what you see when
those same words are written down. This is known as connected speech.

Watch the following introduction to connected speech and choose the correct option below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VnSAr9No6k

In English, meaning/grammar words are stressed.

The pitch is highest/lowest for these stressed words.

Now practise the sentence: Take a bite out of an apple.

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPCKHtQiP-
4&list=PLAMCCOulyN88fWus7Of-ysEOr0r29Iyrs and answer the questions:

What is the schwa?

How common is it in English?

In which words is it especially used?

Practise the sentences:

1. A girl I know is here

2. Let’s go to Miami.
3. Look in the mirror.
4. I’ve a bad memory
5. The data’s incorrect.
6. Mine’s bigger.
7. It’s between the chairs.
8. The other way.
9. It’s my pencil.
10. It’s about a boy.

Let’s look at a few different features together: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTSIOzGHu-k

What did you get up to on the weekend?

Elision – losing a sound in the middle of a consonant cluster, within a single word or between a few words,
especially the /t/ and /d/ sounds at the end of a word and /h/ at the beginning of a word.

e.g. fish and chips – fishnchips sandwich – sanwich medicine – medicine

left back = lef back stand by = stan by must go = mus go look at him = look at im

Catenation – when the final letter of a word is joined to the first vowel in the next word.

e.g. an apple = a napple old age = ol dage pick it up = pi ki tup what is it – wo ti zit

Intrusion – an extra sound is included between words, usually between vowels and vowel like sounds.

e.g. media event – media-R-event I always = I-Y-always go away = go-W-away

Assimilation – when a phoneme in one word changes the sound of a phoneme in another word.

e.g. ten boys = tem boys last year = last chear Hyde Park – Hybe Park did you = did jou

Watch this short clip from Forrest Gump and try to complete the
dialogue.

Compare with your partner to check what you wrote.

Watch again and listen to how the words change. Write how they words
sound as they change.

Can you find examples of the above features of connected speech in the dialogue?

Practice the ‘dialogue’. Can you try to put on his accent?

Watch this final video on the letter ‘h’ and when it’s deleted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBEEZwMj1AA

Which features of connected speech might you use in the following sentences? Indicate weak
forms and any other feature that might be appropriate. Then write the sentence how you
would pronounce it.

1. There are ten people on the list.

2. What are you doing today?

3. Do you want an apple?

4. How do you know him?

5. He should have known.

6. He always says no.

7. Did you pick it up?

8. When does it end?

9. It was last year.

10. I always tell him to go away.

11. It must be old age.

12. The tv’s on standby.

13. What is it?

14. It’s an orange.

15. I’ll take some medicine.

16. What do you do at the weekend?

17. Does he play any instruments?

18. Is it really her?

19. If you like it, then buy it!

20. Don’t believe it!

More useful videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzkzA77RMzg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7VREyOLPz0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdRCfsr8uDE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZq_tskEeqU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaCRpnW8Q2U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIEg9qBvMBc
Here is a website where you can type in words and sentences, listen to how they’re pronounced and
practice. Try recording yourself and compare it to what you hear.

Listen to some sentences and transcribe them below:

1. _____________________________________

2. _____________________________________

3. _____________________________________

4. _____________________________________

5. _____________________________________

6. _____________________________________

7. _____________________________________

8. _____________________________________

9. _____________________________________

10. _____________________________________
Student A

Forrest: Hello, my name is Forrest, Forrest Gump. ____ ______ _______ __

chocolate? I could eat about a million and a half of these. My mama always said ‘life
is like a box of chocolates, you never know ______ _______ ________ ___
______’

Forrest: Those must be comfortable shoes. I bet you can walk all day in _______
_____ ______ and not feel a thing. I wish I had shoes like that.

Nurse: My feet hurt.

Forrest: Mama always said ‘there’s an awful lot you can tell _______ a person by
their shoes’, where ______ ______, where they been. I’ve worn ______ ___
shoes. I bet if I think about it real hard, I can remember my first pair of shoes.
Mama said they’d take me ___________.

Student B

Forrest: Hello, my name is Forrest, Forrest Gump. Do you want a chocolate? I

could eat about a million and a half of these. My mama ________ _______ ‘life is
like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get’

Forrest: Those ______ ____ ________ shoes. I bet you can walk all day in
shoes like that and not feel a thing. I wish I had shoes like that.

Nurse: My _______ _______.

Forrest: Mama always said ‘there’s an awful lot you can tell about a person _____
their shoes, where they goin’, where _____ ______. I’ve worn lots of shoes. I bet
if I think about it real hard, I can remember my first pair of shoes. Mama said
_______ ______ ____ anywhere.