BBC Learning English - Talk About English

BBC Learning English - Talk about English
July 11, 2005

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Talk about English BBC Learning English
July 11, 2005 Page 1 of 6
bbclearningenglish.com

Callum: Hello and welcome to Talk about English. Im Callum Robertson.

In todays programme we are looking at the topic of pronunciation, we'll be
answering a question on spelling and pronunciation and looking at what
happens to certain sounds in words when people are speaking naturally and
fluently.

To discuss these topics Ive been joined by teacher, teacher trainer and
materials writer, Alan Stanton. Hello Alan

Alan: (brief hello)

Callum: First today, a question about spelling and pronunciation, Rohini, who's living
in the United States, emailed us and wants to know why we use the article 'a' in
front of the word European a European. European begins with the letter 'E'
which is a vowel, so he's wondering why don't we use 'an'

Alan: to recap sounds not same as letters,
although European begins with a vowel letter, it's actually pronounced as a
consonant. Elaborate with further egs if necessary. As a sound-based rule
100% - there are no exceptions. Other examples: an honest man, an MP
(contrast: a member of Parliament), an sae (contrast: a stamped addressed
envelope), an hour, a university (compare: an uncle same letter u but two
different pronunciations)


Natural tendency to join words together in the easiest, simplest and smoothest
way

(Leads on to a mention of the boundaries between words when spoken. Tend to
make them as smooth as possible to enable fluency.)

Callum: One thing that is very common in fluent speech is linking.

Brief recap of consonant to vowel and /w/ /j/ linking.
We looked at consonant vowel linking is phrases such as out of order.
Linking w between vowel sounds No entry
Linking j between vowels see it

Callum: There's another kind of linking to take a quick look at ..

Alan: This is with r. Those British speakers who don't pronounce final 'r' will
reintroduce it when the next word begins with a vowel. So for example the
word there in RP for example, no r sound at the end but if the next word
begins with a vowel then we do pronounce the r e.g. there is

(but it should be said that there are many accents which do pronounce the r
sound in the first place)

Some examples:
Four
Four eggs
Where is the car? (no r)
(but there is a linking r in where is)
The car is here


Callum: Today we're looking at some more features of natural fluent speech.

What is it that happens when native speakers are talking that makes it difficult
to catch the words, even when you know them.
One thing we've looked at is linking, which sometimes changes or adds a
sound to make it easier to say. But there are other things that also happen.

Alan: We've looked at what happens when a word ends with a consonant sounds and
the next word is a vowel sound , and when there is a vowel sound to vowel
sound link. But what happens when there are two consonant sounds the same,
one at the end of a word, one at the beginning of the next?

Callum: We have an example here of that:

INSERT EXAMPLE
I'm a bit tired

Callum: What can you highlight from this example?

Alan: Linking I'm_a, weak form 'a', but also we have the word 'bit', which ends in the
consonant sound /t/ and that's followed by the word 'tired' which begins with
the same sound. When this happens we don't pronounce both - so not, bit
tired (pronouncing both) but join the two together but we dont hear the first t
at the end of bit.)


When we say Im a bit tired we cant really hear the t sound at the end of bit.
What happens is that our tongue is in the right position to say t but we only
release this sound when we say the next word.

INSERT EXAMPLES
We have a lot to do
Tell me what to say
Sit down

Callum: This sounds quite subtle and difficult and is it really necessary for people to do
this when they talk.

Alan: Probably not important to try to do it, because by trying to do it can give
unnatural emphasis.

In fact, learners should never actually try to do this, because the whole point is
that it happens in a very natural way without making any effort at all. But
knowing that it happens can help you understand what you hear. It may help
you to work out the grammar.

Callum: Let's have a listen to some examples of that, when you listen to these examples,
can you tell what tense they are?

INSERT EXAMPLE
Ive finished it.


She's slept for 3 hours

Alan: Because I can see them written down in front of me I know that they are both
present perfect I have finished and She has slept but we have reduced have
to ve , so we dont hear it separately from the f sound at the beginning of
finished. Similarly, we have reduced has to s and we dont hear it
separately from the following s sound in slept.
This makes the present perfect sound just like the past simple.
Of course, in real life the context makes it clear which tense we are using, or
we may hear words such as yesterday or last week which we can use with
the past simple but not with the present perfect. In fact, it may not matter very
much which tense we use. That may sound a bit shocking to students who are
accustomed to doing exercises in which they have to choose the right tense, but
real language can be very messy.

Callum: There's one more feature we of fluent, connected speech that we're going to
look at today. See if you can work out what it is. You are going to hear a
number of examples in each case you'll hear the word, then you'll hear that
word in a sentence. Something will happen to that word in the sentence, can
you work out what it is? Here's a clue, concentrate on the last sound of the
word. Here are the examples.

INSERT EXAMPLES
Next I'm going next week next - next week
Worst That was the worst job I ever had! worst - worst job
Just Just one person came to the party! Just just one
Can't I can't swim can't can't swim

Callum: Did you hear the difference. Alan, what's happening there?


Alan: In rapid speech /t/ sound at the end of a word often disappears completely if
there are consonant sounds on either side. In other words, when we have three
consonant sounds in a row and the one in the middle is t, the t will often
disappear. Can hear this in individual words to like Westminster or postman

This also happens with /d/ sound.

Callum: That's all we have time for in today's programme, before we go, a quick recap
of the features we've looked at so far:

Alan: We've seen that words run together in different ways,
they can link
they can merge
and they can drop sounds

Callum: Remember you can listen to our programmes online and do a range of
exercises including pronunciation practice on our website at

Hope you can join us next time for more Talk about English. Goodbye

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July 11, 2005

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