Aspects of Connected Speech

Connected speech: Speed is also a factor in fluency. When we speak quickly, we

speak in groups of words which are continuous and may not have pauses between
them. This causes changes to the ‘shape’ of words. Unstressed words always sound
different when used in a sentence as opposed to being said in isolation. The most
common of these are:

1. Rhythm
Rhythm, then, is a product of sentence stress and what happens to the words
and sounds between the stresses. In English there’s a strong tendency in connected
speech to make the stressed syllables occur at fairly regular intervals. This regular
reoccurrence of stressed syllable is rhythm. Generally speaking, rhythm consists of
intonation, syllables of stress and weak stress, pause and continuant. So, besides the
mastery of sentence and word stress, it is as equally important for English learners
to recognize the stress-timed rhythm.

Syllable- Timed Rhythm: time between one syllable and another is the same and the
time between one stressed syllable and another is irregular, shorter or longer.

Stressed- Timed Rhythm: the intervals of stressed- timed rhythm depends on the
number of unstressed words between the words stressed.

Stress Unit (Stress Group): is the stressed syllable(s) plus the unstressed syllable(s)
which follow it and are related to it morphologically, syntactically, semantically and
logically.

Rhythm Unit: is the stress unit plus the preceding unstressed syllable(s).
2. Elision

Elision is the omission or zero realization of a phoneme under certain

circumstances. It is a typical feature of rapid casual speech.

Gradation: is the process of change in phoneme realizations produced by changing

the speed and casualness of speech.

The Possibilities of Elision:

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 the middle portion of the syllable.
E.g. /phteɪtəʊ/, /thma:təʊ/,

2. Weak vowel+ /n,l,or r/ becomes syllabic consonant. E.g. tonight /tnaɪt/, police
/ /, correct / /.

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 throne /
/. In clusters of three or two plosives plus fricatives, the
middle plosive may disappear. Acts / /, looked back / /,
scripts / /

4. Loss of final /v/ in ‘of’ before consonants, e.g. lots of them

/ /, waste of money / /.

5. Grammatical Words
Had, would (‘d) : pronounced /d/ after vowels, /əd/ after consonants.
Is, has (‘s): pronounced /s/ after fortis consonants , /əd/ after lenis
consonants.
Have (‘ve): pronounced /v/ after vowels, /əv/ after consonants.
Not (n’t): pronounced /nt/ after vowels, /nt/ after consonants.
There are also vowel changes associated with /n’t/: can /kæn/ , can’t / ka:nt/
, do / du:/ , don’t / dəʊnt/.

Are (‘re): pronounced / ə / after vowels, usually with some changes in the
preceding vowel. E.g. you /ju:/ you’re /jʊə/
We /wi:/ we’re /wɪə/
3. Juncture

It is a suprasegmental feature which refers to the relationship between one

sound and the sounds that immediately precede and follow it.

Q- How can we distinguish between these two examples: A. I scream /aɪ skri:m/
B. Ice cream /aɪs kri:m/.

1. In terms of syntax, they are not the same because A is a clause and B is a
compound word.
2. In terms of semantics, they are not the same because A means (I shout) and B
means (a frozen edible cream).
3. In terms of segmental phonology, they are the same because each one has
phonemes.
4. In terms of suprasegmental phonology and phonetics, they are not the same
because: a. /aɪ/ in A is longer than /aɪ/ in B, because in B it is followed by a
fortis consonant /s/ which is strong, long, shortens the preceding vowel and
nasal. While /aɪ/ in A is followed by a juncture.

b. /k/ in A is non- aspirated while /k/ in B is aspirated because it is a syllable

initial.
c. /r/ in A is voiced while /r/ in B is devoiced because it is preceded by the
aspirated /k/.
d. the juncture in A is between /aɪ/ and /s/, while in B it is between /s/ and /k/.

Q- How can we distinguish between these two examples: A.

my train /maɪ treɪn / B. might rain /maɪt reɪn /.

1. In terms of syntax, they are not the same because A is a possessive pronoun
+noun while B is an auxiliary verb + noun.
2. In terms of semantics, they are not the same because each one has a
different meaning.
3. In terms of segmental phonology, they are the same.
4. In terms of suprasegmental phonology and phonetics, they are not the same
because: a. /aɪ/ in A is longer than /aɪ/ in B because in A it is followed by
 a juncture. While in B it is followed by /t/ which is strong and shortens the
preceding vowel and nasal.

b. /t/ in A is aspirated because it is a syllable initial. But in B is non- aspirated.

c. /r/ in A is devoiced because it is preceded by the aspirated /t/ while in B it
is voiced.
d. the juncture in A is between /aɪ/ and /t/, while in B it is between /t/ and /r/.
5. Assimilation

Assimilation is the change in pronunciation of a phoneme under the

influence of its surrounding sounds. E.g. news /njuz/ but newspaper / njuspeɪpə /. It
is a supresegmental feature in phonology that appears in rapid causal speech.

Assimilation is the situation when a sound belonging to one word can cause
changes in the sounds belonging to neighboring words and become nearly alike.
Assimilation varies according to speaking rate and style. Such as “that person”
/ðæp p3:sn/ .

- Assimilation can be varied or classified according to: 1. direction of change

2. The consonant change.
1. In terms of “direction of change”, assimilation can have two types:
A. Regressive assimilation: the phoneme that comes first is affected by
the one that comes after it. Or we can say that the Cf (the consonant
final) is affected by the Ci (the consonant initial) in the following word.
E.g. light blue /laɪp blu/.

B. Progressive assimilation: the phoneme that comes first affects the one
that comes after it (the opposite of the first type). E.g.
those year /ðəʊʒ jɪə/.

2. In terms of “consonant change”, assimilation can have three types:

A. Assimilation place of articulation: it can be easily observed in some
cases where a Cf with alveolar place of articulation is followed by a Ci
that is not alveolar. For example, the final /t/ is alveolar. In rapid and
casual speech, /t/ will become /p/ before a bilabial consonant, as in: that
person /ðæp p3:sn/, that man / ðæp mæn/.
- Before a dental consonant, /t/ will change to a dental plosive /t/ as in: that
thing /ðæt θɪŋ/.
- Before a velar consonant, /t/ will change to a velar /k/ as in: quite good
/kwaɪk gʊd/ .

B. Assimilation manner: assimilation of manner is less noticeable and only

founded in the most rapid and casual speech for regressive assimilation.
 The change in manner is most likely to be towards easier consonant,
one which makes less obstruction to the airflow. It is possible to find
(plosive C) becomes fricative or nasal. For example: that side /ðæs saɪd/
, good night /gʊn naɪt/.

C. Assimilation of voice: assimilation of voicing is found in a limited way,

only regressive assimilation. If Cf is a lenis (voiced) consonant and Ci
is fortis (voiceless). Then the lenis consonant will have no voicing
(becomes devoiced or voiceless). E.g. big car /bɪk ka:/.
6. Intonation: it is a suprasegmental feature of phonology in which the pitch of the
voice plays the most important part. It depends on pitch change which depends on
pitch level, and the pitch level depends on the fundamental frequency of the opening
and closing cicles of the vocal cords.

- The basic feature in intonation is pitch, being high or low. The overall behavior of
the pitch is called tone. Tones can be of levels, whether static, high (rising), or low
(falling).

- Tones: fall rise

fall-rise rise-fall

level

Functions of English Tones

1. The fall tone is regarded as quite neutral, it conveys a certain sense of finality.

2. The rise tone conveys an impression that something more is to follow, or to attract
someone’s attention.

3. The fall-rise tone is quite frequent and it conveys a limited agreement or a

response with reservations.

4. The rise-fall tone is normally used to convey strong feelings of approval,

disapproval or surprise.

5. The level tone conveys a feeling of saying something routine, uninteresting or

boring.

The Tone Unit: it is the unit of intonation and it is the unit of phonological analysis
(as compared to a sentence which is a unit of grammatical analysis). The tone unit
is composed of an obligatory element (the tonic syllable) and optional element as
(pre-head, head and tail).

The structure of tone unit: 1. The tonic syllable 2.The pre-head 3.The head 4.
The tail

1. The tonic syllable: it is the stressed syllable of the last content word. It is the
only obligatory element of a tone unit. It carries pitch change.
2. The pre-head: is the unstressed syllable(s) at the beginning of any utterance.
It is optional. The syllables are uttered with low pitch.
3. Head: it starts from the first stressed syllable in the utterance up to the tonic
syllable (the tonic syllable is not included). It is an optional element. It has
different pitch levels, in a falling tone the head is uttered with high pitch.
4. The tail: is the syllable(s) that follow the tonic syllable. It is optional. In a
falling tone the tail is uttered with low pitch, while in a rising tone, the
syllables of the tail participate the tonic syllable in rising.
Functions of Intonation

1. The Attitudinal Function

It adds a specific kind of emotional or attitudinal colouring to the
utterance. The function becomes clearer when it is related to the semantic
meaning of the utterance. A single intonation pattern may have different
meanings in different contexts and the same attitudinal meaning may be
conveyed by a range of different intonations. There is no one to one
correspondence. The attitude may be toward: the listener, what is said,
some extent or situation. It may be expressed on purpose or not. The range
of possible attitudes is hard to define. E.g. a sentence “I want to buy a
car.” may be uttered in such a way that indicates that the speaker is:
pleading, angry, happy, sad, proud, impatient, etc.

Within this function intonation is understood in the broader sense,

not only as a change in pitch, but also in: loudness, speed, voice quality,
pitch range (narrow- wide), key (neutral pitch). This may also be
accompanied by paralinguistic variables such as: gestures, facial
expressions, body movements, vocal effects (sobs, laughs, etc.)