1. Advanced Spoken English
Phonology Session
Linking & Elision

2. Speaking Portfolio: reminder
My feedback on task two is ready for you on Moodle.
Don’t forget to respond to my feedback, especially if I ask you to re-record a few sentences.
We will do Task 3 this week.

3. Outcomes
Understand the concept and significance of linking and elision
Identify and practise different kinds of linking
Identify and practise elision
Start work on next Speaking Task

4. Speech Unit We don’t talk in ‘words’ We talk in ‘pause groups’
Also called ‘phrasal units’
Or ‘speech units’
Can be one word, (‘oh’) can be 3 words ‘How are you?’, can be many words. ‘So I was talking with my mum the other day…’

5. What happens inside speech units / pause groups?
A speech unit is pronounced as if it were
ONE BIG WORD
How do we achieve this?
Intonation over the unit
Linking : C-V, V-V, C-C
Elision of consonants

6. Why use Linking?
Linking helps make the rhythm of speech smooth and flowing
When we link correctly we are better understood – we indicate which words belong together
When we don’t link we may suggest that we are upset or angry
(English speakers can express this by saying each word separately, slowly & distinctly)

7. C-V Linking – How would you pronounce these words?
Came in
Dish out
Laugh about
Grab it
March in
Carves up
Not at all
An old dog

8. C-V Linking When does it happen? ___C V___ What happens?
We ‘move’ the final consonant over to the beginning of the next word.
For example:
An old dog = “a nold dog”
March in = “mar chin”

9. C-V Linking – Now try to pronounce these words
Came in
Dish out
Laugh about
Grab it
March in
Carves up
Not at all
An old dog

10. V-V Linking – Say these words.
How often
We ought
For better or for worse
They are here
Far away
You and me

11. V-V Linking When does it happen? ___V V___ What happens?
When the first word finishes with round lips, we add /w/
When the first word finishes with spread lips, we add /j/
When the first word has an unpronounced ‘r’, we pronounce the /r/
Otherwise we can add an /r/
(Do NOT use a glottal stop between words)

12. V-V Linking – Now say these words.
How often
We ought
For better or for worse
They are here
Far away
You and me

13. C-C Linking – Say these phrases
Good boy
Hit man
In bed
This shop
Good girl
Tin man
Have to go
Did you?
Don’t you know?
(Adrian Underhill, Sound Foundations (1998), MacMillan: Oxford, p.60)

14. C-C Linking (= assimilation)
When does it happen? ___C C___
What happens?
Your mouth gets ready to say the sound across the word boundary:
The sound at the end of the first word may change its place of articulation to that of the next sound
Or it may change its voicing
The sounds may fuse into a new one

15. C-C Linking – Now say these phrases
Good boy
Hit man
In bed
This shop
Good girl
Tin man
Have to go
Did you?
Don’t you know?
(Adrian Underhill, Sound Foundations (1998), MacMillan: Oxford, p.60)

16. Elision of consonants – Try!
A dustbin was thrown through the window.
We distinguish between dialects and accents.
…well and then they said…
I’ve always wanted to tell you that.
This must be her!

17. Elision of consonants When does it happen? CCC What happens?
We delete the middle consonant
(not the first or last!)

18. Elision of consonants – Now try
A dustbin was thrown through the window.
We distinguish between dialects and accents.
…well and then they said…
I’ve always wanted to tell you that.
This must be her!

19. We don’t link - Where there is a pause – ie between Pause Groups!
- Linking works inside Pause Groups, pauses separate phrases.
Before a word we want to emphasize – we focus on a word by stressing it and making it stand out from the other words.

20. Practice Use the ‘Linking Worksheet’ handout.
See if you can work out what the words are from the pronunciation
Which rules of linking/ assimilation/ elision have been used?

21. Now it’s your time
You may like to read through the ‘tutorial’ notes in Connected Speech. Start with Level 1, then level 2, then level 3.
Practice linking using Connected Speech (see handout to record your notes/progress).

22. Speaking Task 3
Practise saying the poem from Vaughan-Rees (2010), p. 13.
Practise with the sound recording, if it helps.
Make sure you pronounce all of the links.
Record yourself saying this text, and post as your next speaking task.
Remember to answer the reflection questions.