Короткі теоретичні відомості. Elision or complete loss of sounds, both vowels and consonants, is observed in the structure of English words

Elision or complete loss of sounds, both vowels and consonants, is observed in the structure of English words. It is typical of rapid colloquial speech and marks the following sounds:

1. Loss of [h] in personal and possessive pronouns he, his, her, him and the forms of the auxiliary verb have, has, had is widespread, e.g. What has he done? ['wɔt əziˎd٨n].

2. [1] tends to be lost when preceded by [ɔ:], e.g. always ['ɔ:wiz], already [ɔ:'redi], all right [ɔ:'rait].

3. Alveolar plosives are often elided in case the cluster is followed by another consonant, e.g. next day ['neks 'dei], just one [' ʤ٨s 'w٨n], mashed potatoes ['mæʃ рə'teitəuz]. If a vowel follows, the consonant remains, e.g. first of all, passed in time. Whole syllables may be elided in rapid speech: library ['laibri], literary ['litri].

Examples of historical elision are also known. They are initial consonants in write, know, knight, the medial consonant [t] in fasten, listen, whistle, castle.

While the elision is a very common process in connected speech, we also occasionally find sounds being inserted. When a word which ends in a vowel is followed by another word beginning with a vowel, the so-called intrusive "r" is sometimes pronounced between the vowels, e.g. Asia and Africa ['ei ʃ ər ənd 'æfrikə] the idea of it [ði:ai'diər əvit] ma and pa ['mа:r ənd 'pa:] The so-called linking 'r', is a common example of insertion, e.g. clearer, a teacher of English.

When the word-final vowel is a diphthong which glides to [i] such as [ai], [ei] the palatal sonorant [j] tends to be inserted, e.g. saying ['seijiŋ]; trying ['traiiŋ]. In case of the [U]-gliding diphthongs [əu], [au] the bilabial sonorant [w] is sometimes inserted, e.g. going ['gəuwiŋ], allowing [ə'lauwiŋ].

The process of inserting the sonorants [r], [j] or [w] may seem to contradict the tendency towards the economy of articulatory efforts. The explanation for it lies in the fact that it is apparently easier from the articulatory point of view to insert those sounds than to leave them out.

The insertion of a consonant-like sound, namely a sonorant, interrupts the sequence of two vowels to make it a more optional syllable type: consonant + vowel. Thus, insertion occurs in connected speech in order to facilitate the process of articulation for the speaker, and not as a way of providing extra information for the listener.

Завдання до теми

Read the tongue-twisters

1. Bad black bran bread.

2. Bake big batches of bitter brown bread.

3. Bake big batches of brown blueberry bread.

4. Betty and Bob brought back blue balloons from the big bazaar.

5. Betty beat a bit of butter to make a better batter.

6. Betty Botter bought a bit of butter. «But»,  said she, «this butter’s bitter. If  I put it in my batter, It will make my batter bitter. But a bit of better butter – That would make my batter better». So Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter (better than her bitter butter) And she put it in her bitter batter And made her bitter batter a bit better.

7. Big bad bugs bit Bitsy’s back.

8. Big ben blew big blue bubbles.

9. Big black bugs bleed blue black blood but baby black bugs bleed blue blood.

10. Bill had a billboard. Bill also had a board bill. The board bill bored Bill, So Bill sold his billboard And paid his board bill. Then the board bill No longer bored Bill, But though he had no board bill, Neither did he have his billboard!

Контрольні питання

1. Mark sentence-stresses and underline all the content words in the sentence: ‘Isent them a photo of the children.’ What parts of speech are content words?

2. Mark sentence-stresses and underline all the form-words in the sentence: ‘They all went for a walk in the park.’ What parts of speech are form-words?

3. Are the personal and possessive pronouns generally stressed in connected speech?

4. Transcribe the following sentence, mark the stresses and tunes. Read it, make it sound rhythmically correct: ‘He told his son to wait for him.’

5. Are the auxiliary and modal verbs generally stressed in connected speech?

6. Try to remember in what positions the auxiliary and modal verbs are generally stressed in a sentence.

7. Transcribe the following sentence, mark the stresses and tunes. Read it: ‘What do you generally do in the evening?’ Mind that the verb to do is used here first as an auxiliary, then as a content verb.

8. Pronounce the correct forms of the verb can in the phrase: ‘I can do it as well.’ And now in: ‘Can you write it yourself?’ Give other examples where auxiliary and modal verbs have their strong forms.

9. In what positions are prepositions generally stressed in a sentence?

10. Transcribe, mark the stresses and tunes and read the sentence: ‘Who are you waiting for?’ Which form of the preposition for have you used? Give other examples where prepositions have their strong forms.

11. Which form-words have no weak forms?

12. Give examples of the word that as a demonstrative pronoun and as a conjunction.

13. Transcribe, mark the stresses and tunes and read the sentence: ‘He isn't away, is he? ’ Give examples where link verbs have their strong forms.

14. Transcribe, mark the stresses and tunes and read the sentences: ‘We have an elder brother.’ ‘He has left for the Urals at present.’ How have you transcribed the verb have in the first sentence, and has in the second?

Література [6, c. 74-75; 125-131].

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