The Reduction of Consonants Clusters

(Elision)

The reduction of some consonant clusters was established long ago.

1) The initial [w, k, g] may be dropped.

e.g. write [raIt], know [nqu], gnat [nxt]

2) The medial [t] or [d] are dropped in a cluster of three consonants.

e.g. listen [ lIsn], soften [ sOfn], Wednesday [ wenzdI]

3) The final [b] is dropped in the cluster [mb].

e.g. lamb [lxm], dumb [dAm]

In other cases of recent formation the elided forms are typical only of rapid colloquial speech. In the following examples the elided sound is still pronounced in careful, precise speech, cf. often [Ofn] or [ Oftqn].

In present-day English the reduction of clusters continues to take place.

The plosives [t] or [d] in the clusters [st, ft, St, nd, ld, rd, Dd, vd] in final position when followed by a word with an initial consonant are often reduced in rapid speech.

e.g. last time [ la:s taIm], mashed potatoes [ mxSt pqteItqP, next day [ neks deI], old man [ qul mxn]

Word final clusters of plosives or affricates + [t] or [d], [pt, kt, Ct, bd, gd, dG] may lose the final alveolar plosive when the following word begins with a consonant.

e.g. kept quiet [ kep kwaIqt], lagged behind [ lxg bIhaInd]

The alveolar [t] of the negative -n’t is often reduced before a consonant.

e.g. You mustn’t do it. [ju mAsn du: It]

When [t] or [d] occur between two other plosives they are never heard.

e.g. locked gate [ lOk geIt], strict teacher [ strIk ti:tSq]

[h] may be dropped in the following monosyllabes when non-initial and unstressed: have, has, had; he, him, his, her; who.

e.g. Tell him he is wanted. [ tel Im Iz wOntId]

but: He's wanted. [hIz wOntId]

Exercises

Weak Forms

Rhythm Units

Practise the following examples, beating the rhythm of the stressed syllables as you go and varying the lengths of the syllables so as to keep the stress groups equal in length. Mark a stress group with a straight line and a rhythm unit with a wavy line first acccording to semantic tendency and then according to enclitic tendency:

Assimilation

I. Practise saying the following:

II. Transcribe the following passage phonetically and find the words which might have assimilation.

I have needed some new bookshelves for a long time. So during my holiday I decided to tackle the job myself. Not that I am very clever with my hands but it did not seem too difficult and as I had already said that we could not afford to go away I thought it would be prudent not to spend money having it done professionally. I bought the wood at the local handicraft shop and I had plenty of screws, but I found that my old saw, which had been left behind by the previous owner of the house, was not good enough and I decided to buy a new one. That was my first mistake, my second was to go to the biggest ironmonger in London and ask for a saw. You would think it was simple, wouldn’t you, to buy a saw. But it is not. I said to the man behind the counter, “I want a saw.” He was a nice man and did his best for me. “Yes, sir, what kind of saw?” “Oh, a saw for cutting wood.” “Yes, sir, but we have fifteen different kinds for different jobs. What did you want it for?” I explained about my bookshelves and felt like an ignorant fool in a world of experts, which was true. He saw that I was a novice and was very kind. He told me what I should need and advised me to have a ladies’ size. “Easier to manage for the beginner, sir.” He was not being nasty just helpful and I was grateful to him. He also sold me a book on woodwork for schoolboys and I've been reading it with great interest. The next time I am on holiday I shall start on the shelves.

III. Find the place of assimilation in the following words and word clusters and state the type of assimilation and what it affects.

Small; twenty; did you; give me; handkerchief; does she; swop; could you; about them; I have to; kind man; last time.

Elision

I. Practise saying the following examples:

friends just now

Westminster next day

sounds last chance

exactly just one

mostly cold lunch

kindness first light

friendship cold smile

last night old man

next stop

II. Drop [t], [d] in consonant clusters and [h] from unstressed pronouns and auxiliaries within an utterance:

1. He looks too old for his age.

2. Did he lift his handbag by himself?

3. When I just saw him he was a handsome man.

4. What did he take for breakfast?

5. I’ll cut some sandwiches for us.

6. How long did it take him to reach the station?

7. What did his wife do when he entered the kitchen?

8. His wife gave him his breakfast.

9. Is he going with us?

10. Don’t you think she might have gone home?

11. Both her father and mother are teachers.

12. The landscape doesn’t change much in winter.

13. I saw her grandmother last night.

14. The old man is keen on gardening.

15. I rang him up last night but there wasn’t anyone in.

INTONATION

Every language has melody in it; no language is spoken on the same musical note all the time. The voice goes up and down and the different notes of the voice combine to make tunes. In English the tune belongs to the word group. We can say a word group definitely or we can say it hesitantly, we can say it angrily or kindly, we can say it with interest or without interest, and these differences are largely made by the tunes we use: the words do not change their meaning but the tune we use adds something to the words, and what it adds is the speaker’s feelings at that moment; this way of using tunes is called intonation.

Intonation is a complex unity of speech melody, sentence-stress, voice quality (timbre), speech tempo, rhythm.

These features vary in their relevance. Speech melody remains the most central component of intonation but all the other components are included into the definition of intonation too.

English intonation is English; it is not the same as the intonation of any other language. Some people imagine that intonation is the same for all languages, but this is not true. You must learn the shapes of the English tunes, and these may be quite different from the normal tunes of your own language; and you must learn the meanings of the English tunes too, because they are important.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 3304