When a word that ends with a plosive is followed by a word that begins with aconsonant,the plosive is usually not released. That is,the tongue or lips will move tothe place of articulation of the plosive and then move immediately to the place ofarticulati...[继续阅读]

    When a word ends in a vowel and the following word also starts with a vowel,anadditional semivowel (/w/ or /j/) may be inserted to link the two words together. Linking froma rounded vowel tends to create an intensive [w]. Sound whereas linking from a spre...[继续阅读]

    It is common for a vowel in a weak syllable to be reduced to schwa andsometimes this weak vowel disappears altogether,as in the following examples:potato/p&712;te&618;t&601;&650;/perhaps/p&712;r&230;ps/Im afraid so/&712;fre&618;d s&601;&650;/because/b&712...[继续阅读]

    Native speakers typically simplify complex consonant clusters,generally byeliding the middle consonant (typically /t/ or /d/) in a cluster of three. For example:acts/&230;k(t)s/he looked back/hi:l&650;k(t)b&230;k/scripts/skr&618;p(t)s/three fifths/θri:f&6...[继续阅读]

    /h/ is regularly elided from the weak forms of function words such as (h)is,(h)er,(h)im. This is heard even in formal registers of all varieties of L1 English speech.Silent letters in words like comb,knee,talk,provide evidence of elisions that haveoccurre...[继续阅读]

    Elisions frequently occur between weak forms,producing contracted forms orcontractions,for example,he + will → hell,do + not → dont. Such contractedforms can be stressed, unlike weak forms, for example: &712;Well, &712;Ill &712;do it then. All suchcontrac...[继续阅读]

    By "historical assimilation" we mean an assimilation which has taken placein the course of development of a language and by which a word which wasonce pronounced in a certain way comes to be pronounced subsequently inanother way.Historical assimilation ca...[继续阅读]

    By contextual assimilation we mean one which is occasional when words are juxtaposed in a sentence or in the formation of compounds,and by which a word comes to have a pronunciation different from that which it has when said by itself.Contextual assimilat...[继续阅读]

    The nature of stress is simple enough - practically everyone would agree that thefirst syllable of words like father,open,camera is stressed,that the middle syllable isstressed in potato,apartment,relation and that the final syllable is stressed in about,...[继续阅读]

    The breath in articulation may be of various degrees of strength. It may be very strong,less strong,weak,very weak,etc. For phonetic purposes,however,it is sufficient to distinguish three principal degrees:1) Primary Stress - the strongest degree of stres...[继续阅读]