University M’hamed Bougara – Boumerdes

Faculty Of Letters And Foreign Languages

Department Of English

2nd year / S3 phonetics courses

Teacher : Mr. Gourari
Lesson 3 : Elision (aspects of connected speech)
Objectives : Use elision to speak English smoothly

1- Definition :
Elision is the process whereby a sound disapears or is not clearly articulated in
certain contexts. A process in connected speech by which a sound is left out to make
articulation easier.

Elision is extremely common in spoken English. One familiar case is the contracted
form of the auxiliary verbs.
Examples : - they had gone --------- they’d gone
- phonetics are good ---------- phonetics’re good
- I will pass the exam --------- I’ll pass the exam

Unstressed parts of the spoken message tend to be reduced or deleted altogether :

Examples : - I have gone [aı hǝv ɡɒn] becomes [aı v ɡɒn]

Elision is a very clever way to save time and effort when you pronounce words in
English. Native speakers do it all the time in the following circumstances :

a)- Elision of vowels :

Unstressed vowels tend to be very weak and reduced in English.
Remember, there is normally a big difference between : strong stressed vowels and
weak unstressed vowels.

Because unstressed vowels are weak, they are sometimes left out in the following
cases :

a).1- Unstressed vowel following a stressed syllable (syncope) :

In words where the unstressed /ǝ/ or /ı/ follow a stressed syllable, the unstressed one
tend to be left out.
Examples : - int[e]resting ------ /'ın tǝ rǝstıŋ/ ------ /intrǝstıŋ/
- med[i]cine ------ /'me dı sǝn/ ------ /medsǝn/

In these words, it is very frequent that the vowel between square brackets […] is
omitted. Very frequently this vowel is the vowel /ǝ/ or /ı/. The loss of stress and
prominence affects the vowel quality and change it into a weak vowel.

a).2- Loss of unstressed initial vowel/syllable (aphesis) :

In very informal colloquial English, the initial vowel or syllable of a word may be
omitted if it is unstressed.

Examples : - « about » /ǝ 'baʊt/ ------ becomes ------ « bout » /baʊt/

- « because » /bı 'kɒz/ ------ becomes ------ « cause » /kɒz/

It is not recommended that you do this when you speak English, but you will find it
very often when hearing native speakers.

b)- Elision of consonants :

b).1- Loss of /t/ and /d/ :

When these consonants are in the middle of a cluster of three consonants, they are
normally lost.
In words that end in /nd/, /d/ is frequently omitted.

Examples : - « windmill » ------ « winmill » /wındmıl/

- « restless » ------ « resless » /restlǝs/
- « exactky » ------ « exacly » /ıɡzæktli/

b).2- Loss of a plosive in a cluster of three consonants :

When a plosive is in the middle of a cluster of three consonants formed by two

words, it is normally lost.

Examples : - « first three » ------ « firs three » /fɜ:st θri:/

- « banned for life » ------ « bann for life » /bænd fǝ laıf/
b).3- Simplification of consonant clusters :
Some consonant clusters (group of consonants) are notoriuosly difficult to
pronounce . The occurrence of two or three consonants implies cosiderable
articulatory effort. Native speakers relax their articulation when pronouncing them.
One alternative to ease this articulation is dropping one consonant, usually the one in
the middle.

Examples : - « asked » ------ /æskt/ ------ /æst/

- « lists » ------ /lısts/ ------ /lıss/

Practice

Transcribe then underline vowel or consonant sounds we may omit :

- handsome : …………………………
- particularly : …………………………
- wonderful : ………………………….
- alone : …………………………
- between : …………………………..
- second half : …………………………
- last summer : …………………………