Connected speech

ABETYA very proud

YENOE WADA mean

ALDOO it

but AKUMP bear to watch it

ANELL come and MEEPMI at the bus stop

What language is this?

One of the biggest revelations you might have when you’re learning English is that words may sound very differently to the way they look, or sound in your head, or even the way your teacher says them.

When words are pronounced quickly in connected speech, they can change quite a bit. That’s what makes listening tricky – you know the words and the grammar, but you still can’t make out what people are saying.

Here are some common features of connected speech:

1. Assimilation (when sounds change or become similar to nearby sounds):

‘This shop’ sounds like ‘thish shop’ when pronounced quickly, and ‘in bed’ becomes ‘imbed’.

2. Elision(when sounds are dropped in fast speech):

If you say ‘next week’ quickly, it sounds like ‘neks week’. The ‘h’ in pronouns is often omitted in connected speech: ‘tell him’ -> ‘tell ‘im’.

3. Linking/intrusion (when new sounds appear between words):

‘Do /w/ it now’.

‘I saw /r/ it’. (The so-called intrusive ‘r’ is common in British English).

Have you managed to decipher the messages at the top of this post?

(They are from “Authentic Listening” by Mark Hancock and Annie McDonald).