Discovery activity 12 (61) Elision

It is mainly /t/ and /d/ that are elided in English, particularly when they are between two other consonants. Experiment yourself with the possible omissions in these phrases:

Omission of /t/

Next please /neks pli:z/

I don’t know /aɪ dəʊ nəʊ/

Post the letter /pəʊs ðə letə/

Omission of /d/

Old man /əʊl mæn/

You and me /ju: ən mi:/

Sandwhich /sænwɪtʃ/

Stand there /stæn ðeə/

The elided versions have been given in phonemic spelling above. But now say each phrase again without eliding any of the sounds. How different does it feel? What impression do you get?

Like assimilation, elision is a natural result of speech organs ‘cutting corners’ in connected speech mainly at word boundaries. It applies particularly to consonant sound, and as with assimilation, speakers who do not elide may sound over-meticulous and rather crisp in their articulation. It may also be more difficult for them to use intonation and rhythm patterns with fluency. When you become aware that a number of phonemes you might expect to hear are not actually produced, and when you discover you can make these sounds disappear in your own speech, you begin to gain an insight (понимание) which helps you when you listen to rapid connected English.

Elision and assimilation together

Learners of English often remark on the way English speakers seem to ‘swallow’ the sounds. Usually what they are observing is the combined action of assimilation, elision and vowel reduction.

Vowel reduction

Unaccented vowels in the stream of speech are characterized by a reduction in length, and a change in quality towards a less distinct, more central vowel sound. Most monophthongs reduce towards /ə/. This process is sometimes called centralization since the /ə/ sound is produced with the lips and jaw relaxed and the tongue in a central, neutral position. However, the two monophthongs are only partially centralized, /i:/ reducing towards /ɪ/ and /u:/ reducing towards /ʊ/.

Say these two sentences rapidly, stressing the underlined syllables and unstressing the others:

You and me

I wish you would tell me

Discovery activity 13 (36) Plosives and affricates: /_______________/

Voice and breath

For the sake of completeness, here is a diagrammatic summary of the first row in terms of voice and breath force variables.

+ voiced and lenis (weaker aspiration)

- unvoiced and fortis (stronger aspiration)

Manner of articulation

This concerns the way in which the air flow is restricted to make the characteristic sound of a consonant. The next activity will help you to focus on this and to identify how you make each sound.

5) Take each of the consonants in the first row, and choose a vowel to follow it. You could use these words: pie, by, too, do, cheer, jeer, course, gorse /_______________/

Say each one aloud slowly, and try to notice the first audible signal of each of the consonants. What are you doing in your mouth at that point? What internal movement coincides with the very beginning of the consonant sound? Try this several times until you can focus on the precise point. You need to ignore the following vowel, perhaps even omit it, in order to focus on the consonant.

6) Do the same again but this time whisper and notice two things: what happens in your mouth immediately prior to the onset of the consonants, and what happens immediately at the onset of the audible consonant?

You may notice that there is a build-up of air just before the sound starts, and that there is a sort of pop as the air is released and the consonant sound too is released. Sounds made by such a build-up and release, like a mini-explosion, are called plosives. For plosives, the air stream is completely blocked by the tongue or lips, held momentarily, then the pressure is released explosively. A plosive in a final position is called a stop when the air pressure is stopped but not released. For example, you can say stop either releasing or not releasing the air pressure after /p/. All of the eight consonants you tried in the first row are produced in this way, with a slight variation on the fifth and sixth sounds /__/ and /__/. These two sounds also begin with a build-up of pressure, but the release stage is a little slower, producing a more fricative noise. Hence these two sounds are termed affricates, which we can treat as a subdivision of plosives. Try the next activity just to clarify this.

Discovery activity 14 (37) Contrasting plosives and affricates

On the left are words beginning with plosive sounds and on the right the words beginning with the two affricate sounds.

tease cheese

pin chin

boy joy

dump jump

7) Say each of the pairs aloud and slowly, savouring the first sound of each word. Notice the build-up of air pressure before the sound is released, which is the same for both plosives and affricates, and also the release itself. Immediately after the release, however, the plosive sound is finished, while the affricate sound still has a short audible friction to follow.

8) Try whispering the pairs. What other contrasts can you notice?

9) Try miming the words. If you exaggerate slightly, is there a purely visual difference?

You can see from the phonemic symbols of the affricates that they are composed of two consonants merged together, /__/= /t/+/__/ and /__/= /d/ + /__/. However, these are not glides between two sounds as with vowel diphthongs, but mergers of two sounds so that they happen almost at the same time. In each case the first symbol represents the plosive part and the second the fricative part.

Constrictive consonants are those in the production of which the air stream meets an incomplete obstruction in the resonator, so the air passage is constricted. Both noise consonants and sonorants may be constrictive. Constrictive noise consonants are called fricatives, i.e. the consonant sounds in the articulation of which the air passage is constricted and the air escapes through the narrowing with friction. The English fricatives: /f, v, _, _, _, s, z,_,_, h/; the Russian fricatives: /ф, в, с, з, ш, щ, ж, х/.

Occlusive-constrictiveconsonants or affricates are noise consonant sounds produced with a complete obstruction which is slowly released and the air escapes from the mouth with some friction. There are only two occlusive-constrictives in English: /__, __/ and in Russian /ч, ц/. The English /__/ is voiced (in certain positions) and weak (lenis); /__/ is voiceless and strong (fortis).

The Arrow and the Song

H.W. Longfellow

I shot an arrow into the air,

It fell to earth, I knew not where;

For, so swiftly it flew, the sight

Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,

It fell to earth I knew not where;

For who has sight so keen and strong,

That it can follow the flight of a song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak

I found the arrow, still unbroke;

And the song, from beginning to end,

I found again in the heart of a friend.

Twilight

G.G Byron

It is the hour when from the boughs

The nightingale’s high note is heard;

It is the hour when lovers’ vows

Seem sweet in every whispered word;

And gentle winds and waters near,

Make music to the lovely ear.

Each flower the dews have lightly wet,

And in the sky the stars are met,

And on the wave is deeper blue,

And on the leaf a browner hue,

And in the heaven that clear obscure,

So softly dark, and darkly pure,

Which follows the decline of day,

As twilight melts beneath the moon away.

Song

A. Tennyson

Sweet and low, sweet and low,

Wind of the western sea,

Low, low, breathe and blow,

Wind of the western sea!

Over the rolling waters go,

Come from the dying moon and blow,

Blow him again to me;

While my little one, while my pretty one sleeps.

Sleep and rest, sleep and rest,

Father will come to thee soon;

Rest, rest, on mother’s breast,

Father will come to thee soon.

Father will come to his babe in the nest

Silver sails all out of the West,

Under the silver moon.

Sleep, my little one, sleep, my pretty one, sleep …

Evening

P.B. Shelley

The sun is set; the swallows are asleep;

The bats are flitting fast in the gray air;

The slow soft toads out of damp corners creep,

And evening’s breath, wandering here and there

Over the quivering surface of the stream,

Wakes not one ripple from its silent dream.

There are no dews on the dry grass tonight,

Nor damp within the shadow of the trees;

The wind is intermitting, dry and light;

And in the inconstant motion of the breeze

The dust and straws are driven up and down,

And whirled about the pavement of the town.

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