A. Review
In order to understand this unit you will need to be fully familiar with the
work on individual sounds which has been covered in other articles in the
Notebook. In particular, you should :
- be able to write phonemic script accurately without reference to a phoneme chart
- understand the voice-place-manner description for each of the consonants of English
You may therefore like to take some time to review the following posts before you go on.
- Teaching Individual Sounds : Part One and Part Two
- English Consonant Sounds
- Learning the Phonemic Script
B. Features of Connected Speech
Look at the following eight sentences.
a) Transcribe each of them into phonemic script using the citation
form of each word - ie how it would be pronounced slowly and clearly in
isolation.
1. Put a red apron
on.
2. We all saw Ann
do it.
3. He should not
have been here in the first place.
4. I have to find
Alan.
5. He was supposed
to be in America.
6. You can put the
black bag away.
7. What you said
was interesting.
8. How did you
know?
b) Now say each of the sentences out loud, in fairly rapid speech, as you might say it in the middle of an informal conversation. What differences do you notice in the pronunciation? Transcribe them again, this time exactly as you said them.
Now click on the link below (not the photo) to watch the presentation (approx 37 mins), which analyses the connected speech features in the sentences.
C. Follow Up Reading
Steele, Connected Speech Part
One and Part
Two, Teaching English
Morley, Teaching the Schwa, Teaching English
Tench, Transcribing English Phrases
a) Check your understanding of weak forms, catenation, elision, assimilation and other features of connected speech in this activity: Sounds in Combination
