Chapter 7. The junction of speech-sounds.

Sounds in actual speech are pronounced together with other sounds within single words and at the junction of words in phrases and sentences. There are several types of junction in language we study.

7.1. Cluster – a typical combination of consonant sounds. It may occurs at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of a word and when words come together.
E.g.: written [ritn]           little [litl]              middle [midl]
         like candy [k]            big girl [g]             of the [ð]
Simplification of clusters may sound like a grammar mistake. If you simplify the cluster in decided to [t] to decide to, the past tense will be lost.
7.2. “Superclusters” are large consonant clusters.
E.g.:  explain [kspl]
In the sentence:  He looked strange. [ktstr]
7.3. Contractions occur where two words combine and the two are pronounced as one word, or one syllable.
E.g.: I′m [aim], you′re, he′s, she′s, we′re
I′m not [ aim not], you aren′t, we aren′t
Can′t [kɑ:nt], won′t,
Couldn′t [kʊdnt], wouldn′t
7.4. When two vowel sounds meet, speakers often link them in various ways.
1. Linking [r]. When there is a written r at the end of a word and it occurs between two vowel sounds, speakers use the phoneme [r] to link preceding vowel to a following one.
E.g.: her English, brother always, far away - [r] is pronounced
         her German, mother lives, chair in -      [r] is not pronounced
2. Intrusive [r]. Where two vowel sounds meet and there is no written r, speakers often introduce the [r] phoneme in order to ease the pronunciation of two words. It happens when the first word ends in [ə], [ɑ:], [ɔ:].
E.g.: The media are to blame. [əra:]
I saw it suddenly. [ɔ:it]
3.  Linking [j]. When a word ends in [i:], or a diphthong finishes with [i], speakers often introduce a[j] to ease the two words combination if a follow sound is a vowel.
E.g.: I agree [aijə], I am [aijæm], they are, aren’t they?[ [ðeiɑ: rɑ:nt].
4. Linking [w]. When a word ends in [u:], or diphthong which finishes with [ʊ], speakers often introduce a [w] to ease the pronunciation of two words if a follow sound is a vowel.
E.g.: Go on! [gəʊwɑn],  Go in! [gəʊwin], Who is? [hu:wiz]