Pronuncian Lessons
Linking Continuous Consonants in American English pronunciation
Fricative, nasal, glide, and liquid sounds are all similar types of sounds in that they are all continuous consonant sounds; they are the same from beginning to end.
(Learn more about continuous consonants.)
Linking the same continuous consonant
In American English pronunciation, when one word ends with the same continuous consonant sound as the next word begins with, the sound is only said one time and shared with both words. There should be no break or pause between the words.
Listen to the following linked phrases.
enough_food
wants_some_more
In the phrases enough_food and wants_some_more there is no pause between the words. In fact, the middle consonant sound is shared so perfectly with both the first and the second words that we cannot tell that the consonant occurs twice. Don't let different spellings for the sounds confuse you.
Listen to this dialog between Squid and Wilma. Notice the same-fricative links.
SQUID: Do we have enough_food for the party?
WILMA: yeah, but Henry wants_some_more ice. There's only enough_for each glass to be half_full.
Linking Different Continuous Consonants
When linking different continuous consonant sounds, one sound should blend into the next with no break between words and without accidentally adding an extra vowel sound between the words. Because these sounds often don't occur next to each other within words, it may take extra practice at first to smoothly join these sounds together.
Listen to the following linked phrases.
because_she
fresh_fruit
In the phrases because she and fresh fruit there is no pause between the words. The consonant sounds blend evenly and smoothly from one sound to the next.
Listen to the dialog between Squid and Wilma. Notice the continuous consonant links.
SQUID: It's_still_snowing, isn't it?
WILMA: No, it's_raining_now.
To sum up:
Because fricative, nasal, glide and liquid sounds are continuous, they can blend smoothly from one sound to the next. No silent gaps or additional vowel sounds should get added between linked continuous consonants.