Many of my students say they want to sound just like a native English speaker. I understand the desire, but
my answer to them is always the same. The goal is not to be perfect, but to progress; to be understood
when speaking and to be able to understand English when spoken naturally.
One of the most important aspects of pronunciation and listening is to understand that Americans don’t
just speak fast–as many students believe–but that they connect their words and change the sounds of
words. Example: What are you going to do?” –> “Whaddya gonna do?”
Connected speech allows us to speak: Efficiently (say the most in the shortest amount of time),With flow
and music (rhythm)
In this lesson, we will focus on how Americans link words together.
**Remember, understanding the rules of connected speech will not only help you to speak better, but will
also help you understand native English speakers.
Consonant + Vowel
When a word ends in a consonant sound and is followed by a word that starts with a vowel sound, the
speaker should push that consonant sound forward and connect it to the vowel in the next word.
Examples
“Stop it” –> “Sto pit” [STA pit]
“I need it” –> “I nee dit” [aiy NIY dit]
“Play a song” –> “Play ya song” [pley y? S??]
“Read a book” — “Rea da book” [RIY d? b?k]
Consonant + Consonant
When a word ends in a consonant sound and the following word begins in the same or similar consonant
sound, you will only pronounce that sound once by lengthening or holding the sound. You do not say the
consonant sound twice.
Examples
“best time” –> “bestime” [BESTYM]
“big grape” –> “bigrayp” [BIGRAYP]
“good day” –> “gooday” [G?DEY]
“sit down” –> “sitdown” [SITDOWN]
Listen and Repeat
“You need to stop it right now.” (C+V)
“I need it more than you do.” (C+V)
“Play a song for us on your guitar!” (C+V)
“Read a book for me, mommy.” (C+V)
“I had the best time ever!” (C+C)
“That was a big grape I just ate!” (C+C)
“Thanks for coming. Have a good day.” (C+C)
“Please sit down until I call you.” (C+C)
Using these rules of connected speech, along with adding rhythm and musicality to Your Speech will help
you to be understood by native English speakers.
As we’ve already discussed in the introductory lesson on connected speech, native English speakers
connect words in their sentences in order to add: musicality; flow; and efficiency to their English.
Connected speech helps English speakers speak with rhythm by stressing content words and de-stressing
function words, which creates music in their sentences.
In connected speech, English speakers connect:
[c+v] | Consonant + vowels
[c+c] | Consonant + consonants
How to Improve your Pronunciation and Connected Speech
Students always ask me how to improve their English pronunciation. One of the keys is to practice. The
more you consciously practice and become an active English speaker, listener and self-monitor, the more
these rules can become a part of your natural language.
Practice
A great sentence to practice connected speech (and other pronunciation rules) with is the line from the
movie Forrest Gump:
“Life is like a box of chocolates.”
[l?iyf ?z laiyk ? b?ks ? t??k l?ts]
Part 1) “Life is” [l?iy f?z]
“Life” [l?iyf] ends in the consonant sound [f] and is followed by the vowel sound [?] in “is” [?z]. Because
we connect (C+V), we don’t say “life — is” [l?iyf ?z] as two separate and distinct words. But we push
forward that consonant sound [f] and connect it to the vowel sound [?] to say “life is” [l?iy f?z].
So, to review, instead of saying ”life is” [l?iyf ?z] — with a breath in between words — we say ”life is” [l?iy
f?z], because we connected the [f] in “life” to the [?] in “is”. [l?iy f?z].
Do you hear how much more musical and efficient that is?
“life is” [laiy f?z]
Part 2) “like a” [laiyk ?]
“Like” [laiyk] ends in the consonant sound [k] and is followed by the de-stressed vowel sound [?] “a”.
Because we connect (C+V), we don’t release the “k” [k] in “like” and say “like - a” [laiyk ?] as two
separate and distinct words. But we push forward that consonant sound [k] and connect it to the vowel
sound [?] “a” to say “like a” [laiy k?].
Once again, instead of saying “like – a” [laiyk ?] — with a breath in between words — we say “like a” [laiy
k?], because we connected the [k] in “like” to the [?] “a”.
So far, we’ve changed “life – is – like – a” [l?iyf ?z laiyk ?] to:
“life is like a” [LAIYF f?z LAIY k?].
Notice how the content words (“life” and “like”) are stressed, and the function words (“is” and “a”) are
de-stressed and shorter in duration.
”life is like a” [l?iy f?z laiy k?]
Part 3) “box of” [b?ks ?]
“box” [b?ks] ends in two consonant sounds [ks] and is followed by the de-stressed vowel sound [?] from
“of” (note: “of” is de-stressed, so we delete the [v] sound for efficiency). Because we connect (C+V), we
don’t release the “x” [ks] in “box” and say “box of” as two separate and distinct words. But we push
forward those two consonant sounds [ks] and connect them to the vowel sound [?] (from “of”) to say
“box of” [b?ks?].
Part 4) “chocolates.” [t??k l?ts]
The second syllable in “chocolates” [t??k l?ts] is de-stressed so much that it disappears. So, even
though ”chocolates” looks like a 3-syllable word, “cho-co-lates”, there are only two syllables: ”chocolates”
[t??k l?ts].
Putting this all together, without connected speech, the phrase would sound like:
“Life is like a box of chocolates.”
[l?iyf ?z laiyk ? b?ks ?v t??k l?ts]
but with connected speech, we say the much more musical version:
“Life is like a box of chocolates.”
[LAIYF f?z LAIY k? BAKS? t?AK l?ts]
Remember, to improve your English pronunciation, you just need to become aware of the rules of how
English is spoken, and then practice them.
For more advice on how to improve your English pronunciation, check ou