Linking Continuous Consonants and Vowels

When linking vowel sounds and continuous consonant sounds, the sounds briefly blend. Therefore, the linked words my seat and mice eat could both be transcribed as /mɑɪsit/.

Despite their identical transcription, there are very slight differences in the pronunciations of these linked words. Transcriptions do not include these differences because the minute detail of a sound's duration is seldom transcribed.

Compare:

	my seat
	mice eat

Continuous consonant sounds at the beginning of a word are pronounced for slightly more time than the same continuous consonant sound at the beginning of a word. The s sound in the word seat is said for more time than the s sound in the word mice.

	seat
	mice

In addition, a vowel sound at the end of a word is pronounced for more time than the same vowel sound occurring mid-word; the long i sound of the word my is pronounced for more time than the long i sound in the word mice.

	my
	mice

When these changes in sound duration are merged because of linking, a careful listener can perceive differences between my seat and mice eat, even when the words are fully linked with no pauses between words.

Practice linking from continuous consonants into vowel sounds:

1.		an exception	Can't you make an exception?
2.		give up	Alex will (Alex'll) never give up.
3.		leave after	He said he'd leave after the reception.
4.		laugh at	It's healthy to be able to laugh at yourself.
5.		because of	School was cancelled because of all the snow.
6.		those answers	Those answers won't solve the problem.
7.		press enter	Type your password, then press enter.
8.		dress up	Is it the kind of restaurant you dress up for?
9.		fix it	Pam tried to fix it, but it was too late.
10.		his uncle	His uncle is an opera singer.

Practice linking from a vowel sound into a continuous consonant:

1.		money from	Luke inherited the money from his father.
2.		issue with	There's never been an issue with it.
3.		know very much	I don't know very much about it.
4.		extra help	Thanks for all the extra help.
5.		simplify their	They're trying to simplify their lives.
6.		a look	Could you take a look at this?
7.		he never	He never finished his degree.
8.		busy man	Walter's a very busy man.
9.		revenue streams	They've diversified through multiple revenue streams.
10.		agree with/idea that	I agree with the idea that simpler is better.

Pronuncian Lessons

  

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velar l sound /ɫ/

Introduction to Stops

t sound /t/

b sound /b/

g sound /ɡ/

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