CONNECTED SPEECH
Why can’t we understand native speakers?
Sometimes we hear them like this:
1. /Tha tsenough/
2. /Si tona norange chair/
3. /Bri nga napple an da book/
4. /A ca ri sonly as goo da si tsengine/
Can you write what you see as transcriptions in normal sentences? If not, read the explanation.
When the last sound of a word in a rhythm group is a consonant and the first sound in the following word is a vowel, pronounce them like one word.
For example:
● “Just a moment…” is said, “Jus-tamoment…”
● “Take a…” is said, “Tay-ka…”
● “Line up…” is said, “Lie-nup…”
● “Get away…” is said, “Geta-way…”
● “Can I…” is said, “Ca-neye…”
● “But I…” is said, “Bu-teye…”
● “Come in…” is said, “C’min…”
● “Come on…” is said, “C’mon…”
Sometimes, you need to skip a consonant that goes after another consonant as some words in spoken English, such as the object pronouns, “him”, “her,” and “them” are pronounced rapidly and casually. Even though these words begin with a consonant sound, when spoken in the middle of a sentence, only their initial vowel sound is pronounced.
For example,
● “…him…” is said, “…im…”
● “…her…” is said, “…er…”
● “…them…” is said, “…em…”
Therefore, these words usually follow the consonant + vowel linking pattern.
For example,
● “Tell him…” is said, “Tellim…”
● “We gave the apple to him” is said “We gave the apple to ‘im.”
● “Give her…” is said, “Giver…”
● “Hug them…” is said, “Huggem…”
This linking pattern not only joins two words, but can also link three or more words together.
For example,
● “My dog is a…” is said, “My do-giza…”
● “Once upon a time…” is said, “Won-su-pona time….”
● “Cup of apple juice…” is said, “Cuppa-vapple juice…”
● “First of all…” is said, “Firs-te-vall…”
● “I must have forgotten …” is said,”I mu-ste-fogotten”
● “You should have gone there …” is said, “…shou-de-vgone”
Practice 1. Say these phrases
1. an email account
2. co-founder of the company
3. competitive business advantage
4. technological advantage
5. unique approach
6. business environment
7. demands are mushrooming
8. advanced intelligence
9. industry-wide initiatives
Practice 2. Pronounce the pairs of the words. Focus on their pronunciation.
minute / win it
tower / how are
pocket / lock it
goddess / got us
planet / plan it
terror / where are
letter / let her
often / off an
Practice 3
And now get back to the first four transcribed sentences and write them in the normal forms. Better? Let’s check it by doing the exercise:
Now get even better! Listen to the short sentences and write them into the boxes.
Practice 4. Short & long vowels
Read: man – men, pat -pet, bad- bed, led- lad, ten – tan, hat – het, tek – tak,
back – beck, leg – lag
Read: lid – lead, rid – read, shit – sheet, bitch – beach, feet – fit, keep – skip,
meat – mit, reach – rich, sick – seek, lip – leap
Read: cot – court, short – shot, sort – sot, top – torp, port – pot, got – gort, lort –
lot
Practice 5
TONGUE TWISTER MINUTE
● I saw Susie sitting in a shoeshine shop.
● She sells seashells by the seashore.
● If I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter will make my batter better.
