Rusty
11-08-2004, 05:59 PM
http://english.unitecnology.ac.nz/resources/resources/exp_lang/putting_words.html
A few days ago someone asked about "connected speech." I have found an article on this subject at the above website. This deals with sounds that are dropped, added or changed in fast speech. It deals with stressed and unstressed words and syllables in the flow of speech. I would like to comment that the changes are not uniform across native speech. For example, people in England, Australia, New Zealand and in some American cities and regions do not pronounce r at the end of words, while people in most of America, Canada, Ireland and Scotland pronounce a strong r. Likewise, in some regions an r is inserted where it is not spelled.
Example: law(r) and order. This sounds unnatural to people in other regions. There are other examples in the above article, written by a New Zealander, that do not apply to American English. The writer comments that when people speak slowly fewer of these changes occur. My advice would be to listen for these nuances when you hear native speakers, but not to worry too much about learning them from a book.
A few days ago someone asked about "connected speech." I have found an article on this subject at the above website. This deals with sounds that are dropped, added or changed in fast speech. It deals with stressed and unstressed words and syllables in the flow of speech. I would like to comment that the changes are not uniform across native speech. For example, people in England, Australia, New Zealand and in some American cities and regions do not pronounce r at the end of words, while people in most of America, Canada, Ireland and Scotland pronounce a strong r. Likewise, in some regions an r is inserted where it is not spelled.
Example: law(r) and order. This sounds unnatural to people in other regions. There are other examples in the above article, written by a New Zealander, that do not apply to American English. The writer comments that when people speak slowly fewer of these changes occur. My advice would be to listen for these nuances when you hear native speakers, but not to worry too much about learning them from a book.