Aspects of connected speech

Assimilation of place• Final alveolar/t/ + becomes bilabial /p/ before bilabials: eg.. Assimilation of place• Final alveolar/d/ + becomes bilabial /b/ before bilabials eg... Assimilation

Aspects of connected

speech

• Syllable-timed rhythm

• Stressed-timed rhythm

• Definition: Stress-timed rhythm is speech rhythm in which the stressed syllable are said to recur at equal intervals of time

• Eg

One day last week I went for a walk in the country

• Rhythm unit / foot:

from a stressed syllable up to the following stressed

syllable

• Eg

ci/ne/ma||.

• Definition.

• Types of assimilation

• Rules of assimilation

• Definition: (1) When a speech

sound changes and become more

like another sound which follows it

or precedes it, this is called

assimilation.

Rules of assimilation

• Assimilation of place

• Assimilation of manner

• Assimilation of voice

Assimilation of place

• Final alveolar/t/

+ becomes bilabial /p/ before bilabials:

eg That man : /t/  /p/

Light blue : /t/  /p/

+ becomes dental before dentals

eg Get there: /t/  dentalised

+ becomes velar /k/ before velars

eg That car : /t/  /k/

that girl : /t/  /k/

Assimilation of place

• Final alveolar/d/

+ becomes bilabial /b/ before bilabials

eg Good morning : /d/  /b/

+ becomes dental before dentals

eg Dead thief : /d/  dentalised

+ becomes velar /g/ before velars

Assimilation of place

• Final alveolar /n/:

+ becomes bilabial /m/ before bilabials

eg Ten bags : /n/  /m/

+ becomes dental before dentals

eg Main thing : /n/  /m/

+ becomes velar /ŋ/ before dentals

eg Ten cars : /n/  / ŋ/

Assimilation of manner

• Final plosive becomes a fricative or a nasal

eg That song : /t/  /s/

bad news : /d/  /n/

Assimilation of voice

• Final voiced consonants have no voicing when followed by initial voiceless

consonants

Eg /v/ in ‘have’  /f/ in ‘have to’

/z/ in ‘has’  /s/ in ‘has to’

• Definition

• Types of elision

• Definition: elision is the leaving out / disappearance of sounds or sounds in rapid speech.

Types of elision

• Disappearance of consonant

• Disappearance of vowel

Disappearance of consonant

• Disappearance of final /t/ in the cluster/st/ before an initial stop, nasal or fricative

eg best dish : /t/ disappears

best friend : /t/ disappears

first night : /t/ in ‘first’ disappears

west side : /t/ disappears

Disappearance of consonant

• Disappearance of final /d/ in cluster /md/

or /nd/ before an initial weak stop or nasal

eg Blind man : /d/ disappears

It seemed good : /d/ in ‘seemed’ disappears

Disappearance of consonant

• Avoidance of complex consonant clusters: + In clusters with 3 plosives or 2 plosive +

1 fricative, the middle plosives disappears

Eg Acts : /t/ disappears

looked back : /t/ disappears

+ final consonant cluster of a word

disappears if it is identical to initial cluster

Disappearance of vowel

• Disappearance of weak vowel after /p,t,k/:

Eg Potato : / ə / disappears

today : / ə / disappears

• Linking identical consonants

Eg This side : identical /s/

bad day : identical /d/

• Linking /r/ before initial vowels

Eg Here are four eggs

/r/ in ‘here’ and ‘four’  pronounced

• Intrusive /r/

eg Law and order: /r/  pronounced after

‘law ‘