Linking words together

AIM: To understand and practise how to link words together.

INTRODUCTION: Fluent speakers of English don’t pronounce each word separately in a phrase; instead, they link their words together. Linking is a way of connecting the pronunciation of two words so that they flow together smoothly. There are different ways that this happens in English:

• Consonant to vowel linking
  • This occurs when the final consonant of a word links to the beginning of a following word that begins with a vowel
    e.g. an operation -> ‘anoperation’, spinal injury -> ‘spinalinjury’
• Vowel to vowel linking
  • When a word ends in a vowel and the next word starts with another vowel, a consonant sound (usually /w/, /y/ or /r/) is inserted to make the transition
    e.g. two hours -> two(w)hours, we all -> we(y)all, yeah I -> yeah(r)I
• Sounds disappearing
  • When the sounds ‘t’ or ‘d’ occur between two consonant sounds, they will often disappear completely from the pronunciation, e.g. just wondering -> juswondering, appointment -> appoinment, hands and feet -> hansanfeet
• Sounds lengthening
  • When the last consonant of one word is the same as the first of the following word, instead of separating the two sounds, the consonant can be lengthened
    e.g. hip pain -> hippain, I’ve taken Nurofen -> I’ve takennurofen

INSTRUCTIONS:  Choose the correct answer for each of the following questions (it may help you to say the options aloud).