RHYTHM: 1

This course generally focuses on rhythm, lexical and grammatical words. The rhythm of English

speech is determined by stress as well as weakenings and reductions of vowel and consonants

sounds. Words can either be grammatical or lexical. It is important to note that in English

sentences, lexical words attract stress while grammatical or function words do not carry stress.

Since grammatical words do not carry stress, they can easily weaken into the schwa /ə/. Hence,

this section will examine stress-timed and syllable-timed rhythm.

What is Rhythm?

Rhythm could be defined as the periodic repetition of an event while speech rhythm is the

periodic repetition of a particular event during speech. Every language in the world is spoken

with either one type of rhythm or the other. Two types of periodic events may happen during

speech and these events dictate the type of speech rhythm which a language has. These events

are the periodic repetition of syllables and the periodic repetition of stressed syllables.

The former occurs in syllable-timed languages and the latter in stress-timed languages. That is,

the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables gives rise to rhythm.

Syllable-timed languages

Syllable-timed languages are those in which syllables are repeated periodically as all syllables

take approximately the same amount of time during speech. For each syllable, there is a

rhythmic beat which occurs at more or less equal time intervals during each speech event.

Generally, these types of languages have two main characteristics: they have a small variety

of syllable types, and they do not have reduced vowels as each vowel sound is pronounced in
 full. These two features are responsible for the fact that syllables in syllable-timed languages

are more similar to each other in duration. Syllable-timed rhythm is also referred to as

machine-gun rhythm. French, Spanish, Italian, and Yoruba are examples of syllable-timed

languages.

Stress-timed languages

Stress-timed languages have stresses occurring at approximately equal intervals. This results in

spending roughly the same amount of time between stresses, even when there are many

intervening unstressed syllables. Stressed syllables tend to occur at roughly equal intervals of

time. This is because the unstressed syllables in between give the impression of being

compressed if there are many, and expanded if there are few. English is a stress-timed language,

thus, sentence stress is the basis of rhythm in English. Stress-timing can be seen at work in the

following example:

w x y z
‘David had ‘seen ‘helicopters at the ‘airport.

Since it is stresses that occur at approximately equal intervals, stress-timed rhythm requires that

more or less the same amount of time be spent in the pronunciation of the three syllables

between w and x, for the one syllable between x and y, for the six syllables between y and z and

for the two syllables between z and the end of the utterance. It is, therefore, necessary to

compress the duration of syllables more in the stretch between y and z: ‘helicopter at the, than in

the one between w and x: ‘David had, whereas the syllable between x and y, ‘seen and the ones
after z ‘airport will be relatively long. In the sentence below, the stressed syllables are given

numbers: 1 and 2 and are not separated by any unstressed syllables, 2 and 3 are separated by one

unstressed syllable, 3 and 4 by two and 4 and 5 by three.

1 2 3 4 5
´Walk ´down the ´path to the ´end of the ca ´nal

When there is a need to hurry over some word, it is mainly unstressed syllables that get

shortened. Therefore, stress-timing requirements are responsible for many of the phonetic

weakenings found in English, such as the reductions found in weak forms.

Lexical and grammatical words

Words classes are sub-divided into lexical and grammatical words based on their functions. The

lexical words are nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs while grammatical words are pronouns,

prepositions, conjunctions and interjection.

Words

Lexical Grammatical

Nouns Pronouns

Verbs Preposition

Adjectives Conjunction

Adverbs Interjection
Lexical and grammatical words have distinct characteristics which distinguish one group from

the other. The lexical words are considered the major parts of speech because they consist of

content words. This means that lexical words have dictionary meanings and each of them has a

specific referent that is, an object person, process, idea or state of affairs to which it refers. For

example: book, house, announcement, sleep, run, slowly, etc. Also, lexical words constitute the

class known as the “open-system” class of words. This means that these groups of words are

open in the sense that the group can be extended by creating additional members. This is why the

list of nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs can never be exhaustive as new words are constantly

being created in the language.

Grammatical words belong to the group generally known as the function words because their

main job is to create grammatical structures and express grammatical ideas. Grammatical words

belong to a group known as “closed-class” items because their group cannot be increased.

Therefore, it is possible to list all the pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections of a

language.

Lexical words can also be referred to as open-class items. In English pronunciation, lexical
words attract stress while grammatical words do not carry stress. Therefore, English is said to be
a stress-timed language. That is, stress is placed on lexical words and the time spent on stressed
syllables occurs at approximately equal intervals. The time spent on a stressed syllable is the
same not taking into consideration the unstressed syllable before the next stressed syllable. For
example:

 He ´lost the ´bag.

 ´Beat her.

 The rhythm of English speech is determined by stress as well as weakenings and

reductions of vowel and consonants sounds.

  Two types of periodic events may happen during speech and these events dictate

the type of speech rhythm which a language has. These events are the periodic

repetition of syllables and the periodic repetition of stressed syllables. The former

occurs in syllable-timed languages and the latter in stress-timed languages.

 In English sentences, lexical words attract stress while grammatical or function

words do not carry stress.

Rhythmic Stress

When an English word has more than one syllable and when it is pronounced in isolation, that is,

when it is in its citation form, one of its syllables will be more prominent and audible than the

others. This most audible syllable bears the main lexical stress or accent of the word. When

words are put together into phrases or sentences in connected speech, some words retain their

lexical stress and others lose it. In connected speech, one-syllable words can bear stress. Look at

the example below:

The ˈlives of the ˈcat and the ˈdog

In this utterance, there are three stressed syllables: fight, cat and dog.

These all happen to one-syllable words. The words of, and and the do not bear stress at all,

Moreover, a word may bear stress when it appears in connected speech on a different syllable

from that which carries the main lexical stress when the word is said in isolation.
The stresses we marked in the phrase above the cat and the dog and in afternoon tea are not

lexical stresses but sentence stresses or rhythmic stresses. As we have seen, the two types of

stress do not always coincide. In this book, when we use the term stress, we mean rhythmic

stress, unless we explicitly say otherwise. We will not use the word accent to refer to syllable

prominence at all.

Strong and Weak forms

As we have already said, when words are in isolation, that is, out of context, we use their citation

forms. In that case, all words have at least one stressed syllable. However, some words may not

be stressed in connected speech and there are words which are rarely stressed. These words

which are not usually stressed are words that have little lexical meaning (grammatical or form

words). Propositions, pronouns, auxiliary and modal verbs, conjunction and articles are

grammatical words. In the other hand, words which often keep the stress in connected speech

because they carry considerable semantic weight (lexical or content words) are nouns, main

verbs, adjectives and adverbs.

Phonetic weakenings and reductions mostly affect unstressed syllables. Sounds in unstressed

syllables are frequently weakened, for instance by shortenings, elisions etc. In English, these

processes have produced historically important changes in the pronunciation of unstressed

syllables, particularly in vowels, and are now the usual pronunciation of words. For instance,

historical /ˈɔ:fʊl/ for awful is no longer the usual pronunciation; its reduced form is much more

likely: /ˈɔ:fəl/. In some grammatical words, on the other hand, both the full and reduced
pronunciations co-exist. The choice between these pronunciations depends largely on whether

the word is stressed or unstressed in connected speech.

Because grammatical words are usually unstressed, their reduced or weak pronunciations are

very frequent, even more so than their full forms. There is, accordingly, a weak, normal

pronunciation and a full, strong one which is used when the word is stressed for some reason and

in some other circumstances which we shall see below. These pronunciations are known as the

weak form and strong form respectively.

Not all grammatical words have an alternation between weak and strong pronunciations. For

instance, only monosyllabic grammatical words have a weak form. Conversely, some words

present several different weak forms.

Changes affecting grammatical words are systematic since they follow general language rules

and properties of sounds. For instance, the more centralized a vowel, the weaker it is. The

greatest weakening for any sound is elision.

Weak form is also known as the ……………… while the strong form is known as …………..

Weak form is also known as the unaccented form while the strong is known as the accented

form.

Vowel changes

Weakening makes all vowels move to the centre of the vowel space. They will first move to the

central vowel quality nearest to their original one as in table below:

Vowel changes
STRONG VOWEL weak vowel Example

/i:/ /ɪ/, /i/ Be

/u:/ /ʊ/, /u/ Do

/e/ /ə/ Them

/ӕ/ /ə/ And

/ʌ/ /ə/ But

/ɑ:/ /ə/ Are

/ɒ/ /ə/ Of

/ɔ:/ /ə/ For

/ɜ:/ /ə/ Her

In the case of grammatical words which have the vowel /ʊ/ in their citation form, such as could,

they can stay unchanged when unstressed since this vowel is already weak, or they may be

further weakened to schwa /ə/:

/kʊd/ /kəd/ could

By the same token, grammatical words which have the vowel /u:/ in their strong form may go a

further step in weakening, which make the vowel /ʊ/ go to /ə/, for example:

/du:/ /dʊ/ /də/ do

/ju:/ /jʊ/ /jə/ you

The last pronunciation of these words (which is only possible when the following sound is a

consonant as we shall see below) is considered to be very informal in RP, but is usual in other

varieties of English
8.2.2 Consonant changes

Consonant changes are not an intrinsic part of weak forms but an optional step in a scale of

weakening which depends on the speech register that is used. Many of the consonant changes

that we will mention are not exclusive to weak forms. They can be seen to occur in lexical

words, too, depending on the phonetic context and register. Nevertheless, grammatical words are

favourable environments for these changes. The following changes are very often found in weak

forms:

 /h/ may be elided if it is not at the very beginning of the utterance (following a potential

pause):

/’tel hɪm/ /’tel ɪm/ tell him

but not in

/hi ‘keɪm/ he came

 /d/ and /t/ may be elided when at the end of a word and preceded by another consonant:

/’ӕnd/ /ənd/ /ən/ and

The table below lists the most common words which have strong and weak forms in RP English.

Notice that all these words consist of a single syllable and that they nearly all belong to one of

the four classes of auxiliary verb, conjunction, preposition or pronoun.

The symbol /ḷ/ and /ṇ/ in this table represent syllabic consonants.
Use of weak forms in RP

Grammatical words in connected speech are used in their weak form most of the time but take

note of the following restrictions:

(I). When the word is stressed because of emphasis or contrast, the strong form is

compulsory:

/ənd/ /’ӕnd/ in the sentence: I didn’t say apples or pears, I said apples and pears.

(II). When prepositions and auxiliary verbs appears in grammatical structures such as the

following, they are used in strong form:

That’s the picture I was looking at. /ӕt/ not /ət/

You were later than I was this morning. /wɒz/ not /wəz/

He can sing well, but I can too. /kӕn/ not /kən/ or /kṇ/

He’s younger than I am. /ӕm/ not /əm/

They were being looked for by the police. /fɔ:/ not /fə/

The underlined words above are not likely to bear stress, but nevertheless appear in the strong

form. The reason is that a word which normally follows the underlined preposition or auxiliary

verb has either been deleted or moved to some other position in the sentence, leaving the

auxiliary or preposition behind. The auxiliary or preposition is said to be stranded. Take the first

sentence, for example. The word at, being a preposition, is normally followed by a noun or noun

phrase which it is said to govern. The noun phrase which at governs in this sentence is the

picture. Because of the grammatical structure used, this phrase does not immediately follow the
preposition, therefore, the proposition is stranded. In the second and third sentences, the verb was

and can are not followed by an adjective or a verb, respectively. They have been deleted in order

to avoid repetition. Again, the auxiliaries are stranded. Stranding often takes place at the end of

the sentence, but not always, as you can see from some of the sentences above.

One final detail about stranding is that the auxiliary verb have in structures where it is

immediately preceded by another auxiliary, such as can’t, could, couldn’t, must, mustn’t, should,

shouldn’t, will, won’t, would, wouldn’t, is normally used in its weak form even if it is stranded.

Common Words with Strong and Weak forms in RP English

word strong form weak form Word strong form weak form

a /eɪ/ /ə/ His /hɪz/ /ɪz/

am /ӕm/ /əm/ Just /ʤʌst/ /ʤəst/

an /ӕn/ /ən/ Me /mi:/ /mɪ/, /mi/

and /ӕnd/ /ənd/, /ən/, /ṇd/, /ṇ/ Must /mʌst/ / məst/

are /ɑ:/ /ə/ Of /ɒv/ /əv/

as /ӕz/ /əz/ Shall /ʃӕl/ /ʃəl/, /ʃḷ/

at /ӕt/ /ət/ She /ʃi:/ /ʃɪ/, /ʃi/

be /bi:/ /bɪ/, /bi/ should /ʃʊd/ /ʃʊd/, / ʃəd /

been /bi:n/ / bɪn/ Some /sʌm/ /səm/, /sṃ/

but /bʌt/ /bət/ Than /ðӕn/ /ðən/, /ðṇ/

can /kӕn/ /kən/, /kṇ/ That /ðӕt/ /ðət/

could /kʊd/ /kʊd/, /kəd/ The /ði:/ /ðɪ/, /ði/, /ðə/

do /du:/ /dʊ/, /du/, /də/ Them /ðem/ / ðəm/, /əm/

does /dʌz/ /dəz/ There /ðeə/ /ðə/

for /fɔ:/ /fə/ To /tu:/ /tʊ/, /tu/, /tə/

from /frɒm/ /frəm/ Us /ʌs/ /əs/

had /hӕd/ /həd/, /əd/ Was /wɒz/ /wəz/

has / hӕz / /həz/, /əz/ We /wi:/ /wɪ/, /wi/

have / hӕv / /həv/, /əv/ Were /wɜ:/ /wə/

he /hi:/ /hɪ/, /ɪ/, /hi/, /i/ Who /hu:/ /hʊ/, /hu/

her /hɜ:/ /hə/, /ə/ would /wʊd/ /wʊd/, /wəd/

him /hɪm/ /ɪm/ You /ju:/ /jʊ/, /ju/, /jə/

CONNECTED SPEECH PROCESSES

It is important to note that when we write, we leave gaps between words so it is easy for the

reader to process the text. However, when we speak, it is unnecessary to leave pauses between

words much of the time as it would sound unnatural if we did. This is owing to the fact that

segments affect each other within individual words and this influence also operates across word

boundaries. Therefore, differences often exist between the pronunciation of words in their isolate

form and their pronunciation in connected speech because they are subject to influences from

other surrounding sounds and from larger accentual and rhythmic patterns. The differences may

affect the word as a whole, (for instance, weak forms in an accented situation) or they may

concern a word’s accentual pattern or sounds used at the word boundaries. This variation

between isolate forms and context-influenced forms depends on: (a) casual or formal nature of
speech; (b) the speed of delivery; and (c) the tendency to preserve a form near to that of the

isolate word.

8.5: TYPES OF CONNECTED SPEECH PROCESSES

We can distinguish three main types:

1. Assimilation

2. Elision

3. Liaison

Assimilation

What is assimilation?

In recent years, computer technology has led to big improvements in speech production, but the

inadequacies of ‘mechanical speech’ that is, the machines designed to join words together to

form sentences, has brought about the teaching and learning of pronunciation. This device

mentioned above that produces mechanical speech would contain all words in English, each

having been recorded in isolation. A significant difference in natural connected speech is the way

that sounds belonging to one word can cause changes in sounds belonging to neighbouring

words. Hence, assuming we know how the phonemes of a particular word would be realised

when the word is pronounced in isolation, in cases where we find a phoneme realised differently

as a result of being near some other phoneme, we call this difference an instance of assimilation.

Assimilation is a process whereby a sound segment becomes identical with or more like another

segment. It is like a process of photocopying, whereby a segment takes on the features of a

neighbour segment either on the left or on the right. Also, assimilation is a result of phonetic

conditioning where one phoneme is replaced by a second under the influence of a third.

Phonetic conditioning is a term used to cover the way in which speech segments are influenced

by adjacent or near-adjacent segments, causing phonemes to vary in their realisation according to

phonetic context. Technically, assimilation is a process whereby segments become more like the

segments which precede or follow them. Assimilation is something which varies in extent

according to speaking rate and style: it is found in rapid, casual speech and less likely in slow,

careful speech. For instance, the word broadcast, which is pronounced /ˈbrɔ:dkɑ:st/ in careful

speech but which in rapid speech may well become /ˈbrɔ:gkɑ:st/. Here, one phoneme /d/ has

been replaced by a second /g/, under the influence of a third /k/. We can distinguish here two

forms of the word broad: (1) /brɔ:d/ (2) /brɔ:g/ where form 1 can be considered as the ideal

form, which corresponds to the target that the native speakers have in their minds and it is what

is produced in the slowest and more careful style of speech. It bears a close resemblance to the

spelling representation. Form 2 is more typical of connected speech and is termed the

assimilated form. Also, good boy for example, will be pronounced /gʊdˈbɔi/ in the slowest and

careful style. However, in connected speech, it will be produced as /gʊbˈbɔi/. The ideal form of

the word good is /gʊd/ while the assimilated form is /gʊb/. Then, the phoneme /d/ has been

replaced by a second /b/ under the influence of a third /b/.

PATTERNS OF ASSIMILATION

Assimilation can be classified according to direction which is left to right or right to left. This is

referred to as the direction of influence. We have three types of assimilation based on the

direction of influence.

1. The leading, regressive, backward or anticipatory assimilation is a type of direction

of influence that can be defined as features of an articulation which leads into those of the

following segments. That is, the feature of one sound anticipated in the articulation of

the preceding sound. This is a movement from right to left. For example:

(a) English white paper: /waɪt ˈpepə/ becomes / waɪp ˈpepə/

In the example above, /t/ changes to /p/ before /p/

(b) Good pen: /gʊd ˈpen/ becomes /gʊb ˈpen/

In the example above, /d/ changes to /b/ before /p/

(c) Ten men: /ten ˈmen/ becomes /tem ˈmen/

Also, in the example above, /n/ changes to /m/ before /m/

However, there are certain order in which the regressive assimilation occurs in

English:

 /t/ changes to /p/ before /p. b, m/ (e.g. that pen /ծӕp ˈpen/)

 /t/ changes to /k/ before /k, g/ (e.g. that girl /ծӕkˈgɜ:l/)

 /d/ changes to /b/ before /p, b, m/ (e.g. good man /gʊb ˈmӕn/)

 /d/ changes to /g/ before /k, g/ (e.g. good concert / gʊg ˈkɒnsət/)

 /n/ changes to /m/ before /p, b, m/ (e.g. ten players /tem ˈpleɪəz/)
  /n/ changes to /ŋ/ before /k, g/ (e.g. ten cups /teŋ ˈkʌps/)

Say these English words and phrases, first following the transcription in

column 1 and then, in 2.

1. Ideal forms 2. Assimilated forms

headquarters /hed ˈkwɔ:təz/ /heg ˈkwɔ:təz/

main course /meɪn ˈkɔ:s/ / meɪŋ ˈkɔ:s/

matched pairs /mӕʧt ˈpɛ:z/ / mӕʧ ˈpɛ:z/

perhaps /pəˈhӕps/ /prӕps/

2. The lagging, progressive, forward or preservative assimilation is also a type of the

direction of influence that moves from the left to right. The progressive assimilation is

relatively uncommon. Here, the articulation features may be held over from a preceding

segment, so that the articulators lag in their movements. In other words, one sound

influences the following sound. For instance:

 On the house /ɒn ծə ˈhaʊs/ becomes / ɒn nə ˈhaʊs/

In the example above, /ծ/ changes to /n/ after /n/

 Organ /ˈɔ:gŋ/
 In the example above, /n/ changes to /ŋ/ after /g/

 Second chance /sekŋ ˈʧɑ:ns/

In the example above, /n/ changes to /ŋ/ after /k/

However, there are certain order in which the progressive assimilation occurs in

English:

 /n/ changes to /m/ after /p, b/ (e.g. urban /ˈɜ:bm/)

 /n/ changes to /ŋ/ after /k, g/ (e.g. second chance /sekg ˈʧaɪns/)

3. Coalescence assimilation is when two segments merge into one. It is a process where

two segments like X and Y become Z, where Z is a combination of the phonetic or

phonological features of both X and Y. For example: in connected speech, haven’t you is

likely to be pronounced / hӕvənʧu: / with the /t/ at the end of haven’t and the /j/ at the

start of you being merged to give [ʧ]. Other examples are:

(a) Would you? /wʊʤu:/

Here, /t/ + /j/ changes to /ʤ/

(b) In case you need it / ɪŋ keɪʃu: ˈni:d ɪt/

In the phrase above, /s/ + /j/ changes to /ʃ/

(c) What do you want? / wɒʧu: ˈwɒnt/

In the sentence above, /t/ + /j/ changes to /ʧ/

Transcribe the word happen in the ideal and connected forms and explain the type of

assimilation present in the connected form.

 1. Ideal form: happen /ˈhapən/

2. Connected form: happen /ˈhӕpm/

3. Lagging or progressive assimilation: /n/ changes to /m/ after /p/

In many cases, there is a two-way exchange of articulation features which is known as the

reciprocal assimilation. For example, we can have raise your glass as /ˈreɪz jɔ: ˈglɑ:s/ becomes

/ˈreɪʒ ʒɔ: ˈglɑ:s/.

Assimilation can also be classified based on the types of influence. We can identify assimilation

of place, manner and energy (voicing) in consonants. Assimilations involving a change in

place of articulation are termed place assimilation. For instance, final alveolar in ideal forms are

often replaced by bilabials (preceding /p b m/) or velars (preceding /k/) or palatals (preceding

/ʃ/), e.g. wet blanket /wet ˈblӕŋkɪt/ becomes /wep ˈblӕŋkɪt/. Place assimilation is very common

in English.

Assimilation may involve a reduction of fortis/lenis contrast which is a type known as the

energy or voicing assimilation. In stressed syllables, energy assimilations are less frequent in

English than in most other languages, but It is important to note that assimilation of different

kinds may occur simultaneously. That is, both place and manner assimilation might occur in a

word or phrases. Also, more than one phoneme may be affected by assimilation. This is known

as the co-occurrence of assimilation. For example: behind you /bəˈhaɪndju:/ becomes

/bəˈhainʤu:/. Here, both place and manner of assimilation affects /d/ and /j/ of the ideal form.

In the example above, /d/ + /j/ changes to /ʤ/

Elision

What is elision?

The nature of elision may be stated quite simply: under certain circumstances sounds disappear.

One might express this in more technical language by saying that in certain circumstances, a

phoneme may be realised as zero, or have zero realisation. Elision may be defined as the

change from ideal form in connected speech which involves the deletion of a phoneme. In rapid

speech, sounds may be left out or elided, especially when they occur as part of a cluster of

consonants or when identical segments occur in a sequence and this happens frequently. Apart

from word-internal elisions and those associated with weak forms, sounds may also be elided in

fast, colloquial speech, especially at or in the vicinity of word boundaries. In connected speech,

using the examples of next day and prime minister, the /t/ at the end of next will be lost before

day and the /m/ at the end of prime will lost before /m/ at the start of minister. Hence, the term

for the loss of a speech segment is elision.

…………..involves the deletion of a phoneme or the zero realization of a phoneme.

(a) Elision (b) Liaison (c) Assimilation

Elision involves the deletion of a phoneme or the zero realization of a phoneme.

It is difficult to know whether contractions of grammatical words should be regarded as

examples of elision or not. The fact that they are regularly represented with special

spelling forms makes them seem rather different from the above examples. The best-

known cases are:

 ‘had’, ‘would’: spelt ‘d, pronounced /d/ (after vowels), /ed/ (after consonants)
  ‘is’, ‘has’: spelt ‘s, pronounced /s/ (after fortis consonants), /z/ (after lenis

consonants), except that after /s, z, ʃ, ʧ, ʤ, ʒ/ ‘is’ is pronounced /ɪz/ and ‘has’ is

pronounced /əz/ in contracted form.

 ‘will’: spelt ‘ll, pronounced /l/ (after vowels), /l/ (after consonants)

 ‘have’: spelt ‘ve, pronounced /v/ (after vowels), /əv/ (after consonants)

 ‘not’: spelt n’t, pronounced /nt/ (after vowels), /nt/ (after consonants)

 ‘are’: spelt ‘re, pronounced /ə/ (after vowels) and contracted ‘are’ is also

pronounced as /ə/ or /ər/ when following a consonant.

8.5.3: Liaison

What is liaison?

The converse of elision is liaison. That is, liaison is the insertion of an extra sound in

order to facilitate the articulation of a sequence. Liaison is the term used for the process

where a segment is added or appears at a certain word boundary. It is the introduction of

sounds between words.

The accents of English can be divided into two groups according to /r/ distribution: (a)

rhotic accents where /r/ is pronounced in all contexts (i.e. before a consonant and at the

end of an utterance) and; (b) non-rhotic accents where /r/ is pronounced only when it

precedes a vowel. It is important to note that because RP is a non-rhotic accent, the

 phoneme /r/ is produced only when it is immediately followed by a vowel sound. Other

considerations involving the phoneme /r/ are as follows:

(i) The linking r (ii) The intrusive r

The linking /r/ is the pronunciation of the final r in a word that is immediately followed by

another word that begins with a vowel sound. It involves the restoration of orthographic r as

a link across word boundaries. See the following examples:

four / fɔ / four apes / fɔr eɪps/

father /faծə/ father and son /faծrən sʌn/

over /əʊvə/ over and above /əʊvrən əbʌv /

The /r/ at the end of four, father and over is not pronounced when the words are in

isolation but when they are followed by a vowel sound in a string of words of in

connected speech, the linking r is used.

The Intrusive /r/: Possibly due to the fact that the use of the linking r is common among

speakers of English, speakers frequently add /r/ in constructions where letter r

(orthographic r) does not appear in spelling. This type of /r/ is known as the intrusive r.

For example, America has no /r/ at the end, but if America is placed before a word

beginning with a vowel, such as in America and Canada, an intrusive/r/ emerges to give

the pronunciation: /əmerɪkər ӕnd kӕnədə/. Other examples are:

(a) idea of /aɪˈdɪər əv/

(b) Russia and China / rʌʃər ən ʧɑɪnə/

(c) area of agreement /ˈeərɪər əv ˈgri:mənt/

Intrusive r is heard after the non-high vowels /ɑ:, ɔ: and ə/ as well as the diphthongs

terminating in /ə/. Instances with other vowels hardly ever occur. For example, /ɛ:/ is

invariably spelt with r and final /ɜ:/ almost always has r in the spelling.

Also, related to liaison is epenthesis, which is the insertion of a segment which was

previously absent. In all varieties of English, speakers often insert a homorganic stop

after a nasal in examples such as the following: length /leŋkθ/. As a result, words such as

sense and scents may be pronounced identically.