Lecture 5: Connected Speech

1
Lecture 5Connected Speech
2
Aspects of Connected Speech

• Weak Forms
• Yod coalescence
• Elision
• Assimilation

3
Weak forms

• When we talk about weak forms in the phonetics
  of English this regards a series of words which
  have one pronunciation (strong) when isolated,
  and another (weak) when not stressed within a
  phrase.
• e.g. a car v. I bought a car

4
Look at this phrase I went to the hotel and
booked a room for two nights for my father and
his best friend. (D.Brett)
5
What are the most important words?
I went to the hotel and booked a room for two
nights for my father and his best
friend. (D.Brett)
6
If we eliminate the other words can we still
understand the message?
went hotel booked room
two nights father best
friend. (D.Brett)
7
Lets look at the phrase transcribed/ai w?n(t)
t? ?? h??t?l t? b?k ? d?bl r?m f? mai fa??r ?nd
iz b?st fr?nd/(D.Brett)
8
There is a tendency for vowels in unstressed
syllables to shift towards the schwa (central
position)
9
Weak forms are commonly used words

• Prepositions
• Auxilliary verbs
• Conjunctions

10
(No Transcript)
11
(No Transcript)
12
(No Transcript)
13
Weakunstressed

• In the following sentences the underlined words
  are stressed and so would be pronounced using the
  strong form
• I do like chocolate.
•  
• She drove to Las Vegas, not from Las Vegas.
•  
• We were surprised when she told us her secret.
  (stress on were for emphasis)

 
14
Look at these transcriptions   1. a? went t? ð?
p??st ?f?s t? ba? s?m stæmps. 2. ?i helpt mi
t? klin ?p ð? mes ð?t ð? t??ldr?n h?d
me?d. 3. wen d? j? ???k ð?t ð? k? w?l bi
redi? 4. ?i k?d spik wen ?i w?z ??nli e?t
m?n?s ??ld. 5. ?i dr??v fr?m l?ndn t?
mænt?est? ?n rek?d ta?m.
15
Yod coalescence
Yod is the name of the smallest letter in the
Hebrew alphabet it stands for the vowel /i/ or
the semi-vowel /j/. In English phonetics Yod
coalescence is a form of assimilation it is a
phenomenon which takes place when /j/ is preceded
by certain consonants most commonly /t/ and /d/
16
/t/ /j/ /?/
17
/d/ /j/ /?/
18
Yod coalescence is common in colloquial speech
and is becoming ever more so. Note that it can
occur within words (e.g. tube /tjub/ ) and at
word boundaries (as in the examples above).
19
The fact that two extremely recurrent words in
English, you and your, start with /j/ means that
understanding of this simple mechanism is vital
to the understanding of spoken English. Do you
and also did you are often pronounced as  
20
Exercise Identify places where yod coalescence
may occur in the following phrases
  What you need is a good job!   You told me that
you had your homework done.   She didnt go to
France that year.   Could you open the window
please?   Youve already had yours! (D.Brett)
21
Elision
  Elision is very simply the omission of
certain sounds in certain contexts. The most
important occurrences of this phenomenon
regard   1     Alveolar consonants /t/ and /d/
when sandwiched between two consonants (CONS
t/d CONS), e.g.
22
This can also take place within affricates /?/
and /?/ when preceded by a consonant,
e.g.   lunchtime /?/ ? / ? /   strange days
/?/ ? / ? /
23
Elision of not
The phoneme /t/ is a fundamental part of the
negative particle not, the possibility of it
being elided makes life more difficult. Consider
the negative of can if followed by a consonant,
/t/ may easily disappear and the only difference
between the positive and the negative is a
different, longer vowel sound in the second  
I can speak.   - I cant speak
24
Assimilation

• Assimilation can be
• of Place
• of Voicing
• of Manner

25
ASSIMILATION OF PLACE
The most common form involves the movement of
place of articulation of the alveolar stops /t/,
/d/ and /n/ to a position closer to that of the
following sound. For instance, in the phrase ten
cars, the /n/ will usually be articulated in a
velar position, so that the tongue will be ready
to produce the following velar sound /k/.
Similarly, in ten boys the /n/ will be produced
in a bilabial position, /tem b/ to prepare for
the articulation of the bilabial /b/. This
phenomenon is easy to find also in Italian think
of the different pronunciations of the n in
Gian Paolo, Gian Franco and Gian Carlo.
26
(No Transcript)
27
(No Transcript)
28
ASSIMILATION OF VOICING
The vibration of the vocal folds is not something
that can be switched on and off very swiftly, as
a result groups of consonants tend to be either
all voiced or all voiceless. Consider the
different endings of dogs /d?gz/ and cats
/kæts/, or the past forms of the regular verbs
such as kissed /kist/ and sneezed /snizd/.
29
(No Transcript)
30
ASSIMILATION OF MANNER

• Usually regressive
• Towards an easier consonant plosive into
  fricative/nasal that side, good night
• The case of /?/ as Ci progressive assimilation
  when preceded by a plosive/nasal it becomes
  identical in manner to Cf
• E.g. Get them /gett?m/