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Assimilation, Elision, Linking and Intrusion

The document discusses phonetic phenomena in English, specifically assimilation, elision, linking, and intrusion. It explains how sounds change or are omitted to facilitate smoother speech, providing examples and types for each phenomenon. The document also highlights the importance of linking sounds in fluent speech, particularly in different English accents.

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292 views24 pages

Assimilation, Elision, Linking and Intrusion

The document discusses phonetic phenomena in English, specifically assimilation, elision, linking, and intrusion. It explains how sounds change or are omitted to facilitate smoother speech, providing examples and types for each phenomenon. The document also highlights the importance of linking sounds in fluent speech, particularly in different English accents.

Uploaded by

clarinna31
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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Assimilation & Elision, and

Linking & Intrusion

By
Nik Adriana
Clarinna Lau
Assimilation
❏ The final sound in a word changes to make it EASIER
to pronounce the beginning of the next word.
Eg: Handbag = /ˈhændˌbæɡ/)
→ /ˈhæmbæɡ/

❏ “Ombre of spoken language”


Eg: “Joe is a good boy.”
2 Types of Assimilation

Anticipatory Assimilation :

❏ Modifying the sound at the end of the first word to


make it sound easier & more similar to the next
word to “join them together.”
Example:

1. /s/ + /j/ or /ʃ/ = /ʃ/


(I'm going to wear my dress /ʃ/ shoes
tonight.)

(What makes /ʃ/ you angry?)

2. /n/ → /m/
(I have ten billion=tem bɪljən.)
2 Types of Assimilation
Coalescent (bidirectional) Assimilation:

❏ Two sounds combine to form a DIFFERENT sound


Example:

1. /t/ + /j/ or /ʧ/ = /ʧ/


(Nice to meet /ʧ/ you.) = /'mi:ʧu/
(Can't /ʧ/ you come to the party?) = /kɑːnʧu/

2. /d/ + /j/ = /ʤ/


(Did /ʤ/ you go?) = /dɪdʒu/
(Would /ʤ/ you like a cup of tea?) = /'wʊdʒu/
Elision
❏ The omission(deletion) of a sound
in speech.
Eg: He leaves next week.

❏ To reduce the effort for our


articulators & to have a better or
more fluent speech rhythm &
speed
Rules for Elision
❏ The elision of /t/ & /d/ (most common).

❏ Complex consonant clusters are simplified.

❏ The /ə/ sound can disappear in unstressed syllables.

❏ The /v/ sound can disappear in of, before


consonants.
Examples
❏ The elision of /t/ & /d/ ❏ Complex consonant clusters
are simplified.
→ The parcel arrived the
next day. → He kept sending her texts
and emails.
→ We bought a
carved statue. → He acts like a little brat!
Examples
❏ The /ə/ sound can disappear ❏ The /v/ sound can disappear
in unstressed syllables. in of, before consonants.

→ Do you like vegetables? → My birthday is on the 31st


of February.
→ We should call the
police. → It’s a complete waste of
time!
1. Linking /r/
❏ Some English accents are Rhotic, meaning that the letter r appears in a
written word, and the /r/ phoneme is pronounced.
Car = /ka:r/.
❏ Other accents, such as Received Pronunciation (RP), are non-rhotic,
meaning that the /r/ phoneme is not pronounced. (Kelly, 2001).
Car = /ka:/
❏ However, when a word ends with the letter r and the next word begins
with a vowel, speakers with non-rhotic accents use the /r/ phoneme to
link the two vowels:

Car /ka:/
(no r in pronunciation)

The car is here /ðə ka:r ɪz hɪə/


(r is pronounced and links to the following vowel)
Compare:

❏ Her English is excellent. /hɜ:r ɪŋglɪʃ/


❏ Her French is bad. /hɜ: frentʃ/

❏ My sister always goes there. /sɪstər ɔ:lweɪz/


❏ My sister lives there. /sɪstə lɪvz/
Other examples:

❏ Australia or New Zealand


❏ In your eyes
❏ My mother and father
❏ I’m better off without you
❏ There’s a tour along the river
❏ This does not only occur across boundaries but also within words
(Davenport & Hannahs, 2010). For example:

Compare:
❏ ‘soar’ with ‘soaring’
❏ ‘beer’ with ‘beery’
❏ ‘meteor’ with ‘meteoric’

❏ The first word of each pair has no /r/ sound, but it is present when a
vowel-initial ending is added.
❏ Although there may be cases where speakers
omit the linking /r/, people should learn to
adopt it as it is an essential characteristic of
fluent speech in Received Pronunciation
(“Aspects of Connected Speech,” 2012).
2. Intrusive /r/
❏ One of the cardinal sins of utterance is the insertion of an r where none
exists in the spelling.
❏ When two vowel sounds meet and there is no written letter r, speakers
will often introduce the /r/ phoneme to ease the transition.
❏ This happens when the first word ends in /ə/, /a:/ or /ɔ:/. For example:

❏ I saw it yesterday. /sɔ:r ɪt/


❏ The question of law and order. /lɔ:r en/
❏ The media are to blame. /mi:dɪər a:/
Other examples:

❏ Can you draw a circle freehand?


❏ There was a flaw in the argument.
❏ I saw a good film last night.
❏ My dog hurt its paw on some broken glass.

❏ Remember that the /r/ sound is not very strong.


❏ This occurs essentially because it's a natural
phenomenon of language to have some strategy
for 'linking' words together.
❏ French has a similar phenomenon involving
'latent' consonants (principally [z]), Spanish
allows vowels to 'merge' into the same syllable,
etc.
❏ Intrusive /r/ is a bit controversial. It does not
happen in all accents and some people say that
it’s not the proper way to speak.
❏ The BBC used to receive letters of complaint on
allowing one of their speakers to use an
‘intrusive r’ in his talk. This was considered a
serious mispronunciation and people were
extremely upset (Brown, 1998).
3. Linking /j/
❏ When a word ends in /i:/, or a diphthong ending with /ɪ/, a /j/ sound is
often pronounced to ease the transition to the next vowel sound. For
example:

❏ They are in class. /ðeɪ ja:/


❏ I think, therefore I am. /aɪ jæm/
❏ I ought to be there. /aɪ jɔ:t/
❏ She arrives at six. /ʃi: jəraɪvs/
4. Linking /w/
❏ When a word ends in /u:/, or a diphthong ending with /ʊ/, a /w/ sound is
often pronounced to ease the transition to the next vowel sound. For
example:

❏ Go on! Go in! /gəʊ wɒn/ /gəʊ wɪn/


❏ He has dark blue eyes. /blu: waɪs/
❏ Hello everyone. /heləʊ wevrɪwʌn/
❏ Who is? You are! /hu: wɪz/ /ju: wa:/
Activity
1. A topic (assimilation, elision, linking, or intrusion) will be chosen at
random.
2. Two students will be chosen at random.
3. The first student has to make up a sentence according to the rules of the
topic chosen, and the second student then has to transcribe the sentence.
REFERENCES
Aspects of Connected Speech: Linking. (2012). Retrieved from https://linkingphonetics.wordpress.com

:Assimilation:. (n.d.). Retrieved July 6, 2019, from http://blogjam.name/sid/?page_id=719

Brown, A. (1988). Linking, intrusive, and rhotic /r/ in pronunciation models. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 18(2),
144-151. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/44526013

Davenport, M., & Hannahs, S. J. (2010). Introducing Phonetics and Phonology (3rd ed.). London, England: Hodder Education.

E. (2018, February 15). British Pronunciation Lesson - Assimilation. Retrieved July 2, 2019, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hSMB2cOqv0

Kelly, G. (2001). How to Teach Pronunciation. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.

MacMillan Dictionary. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.macmillandictionary.com/pronunciation/british/can-t

Nordquist, R. (2019, May 23). Elision in English: It's a Common Occurrence in Everyday Conversation. Retrieved from
https://www.thoughtco.com/elision-phonetics-term-1690638

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