One way that you can immediately improve the fluency and overall
flow of your speech is by paying attention to how you link your words
together. Although it's important to finish your words, not drop word
endings, and speak clearly, in everyday speech we normally do tie our
words together. When you fail to link your words, you end up sounding
(at best) staccato, and (at worst) jarring.
In this short article, I'd like to talk about the two primary ways we link our words together: from vowel sound to vowel sound, and from consonant sound to vowel sound.
1. Linking vowel sound to vowel sound
This type of linking refers to words that end in a vowel followed by words that begin with a vowel. When this happens, we tie the two words together by inserting a 'w' or 'y' sound.
Let's look at a few examples. Say this sentence out loud:
You always do that!
'You' ends in a vowel sound and is followed by 'always', beginning with a vowel. If you say this sentence several times, faster and faster, you'll notice that 'you' and 'always' tend to run together. The sound that links them is a 'w'.
You-walways
How about this example?
Why is the sky blue?
Assuming you are placing a little bit of stress on 'is' and not forming a contraction 'why's', you'll notice that a 'y' sound links 'why' and 'is' together.
Why-yis
2. Linking consonant sound to vowel sound
When a word ends in a consonant sound and is followed by a word starting with a vowel, the final consonant links onto the front of the vowel sound.
For example:
The black and white house is an example of colonial architecture.
In speech, this sentence sounds a bit more like:
The bla-k-and white hou-s-i-s-a-n-examp-l-of colonia-l-architecture.
The dashes indicate the connection of sound between the words. Wherever there is a dash, you want to run the words together, linking the sounds. You shouldn't take a breath or stop between these words. Notice that we aren't mumbling or dropping any sounds. Each sound is still articulated correctly. It is just linked onto the next sound without a break.
In international environments, it has been argued that linking does not improve intelligibility, but could in fact, make you harder to understand. I don't always agree with this argument.
If you are speaking to a non-native English speaker with less than advanced fluency, and you tend to mumble, yes, linking could be a problem.
But for people who have a tendency to drop word endings and have trouble pronouncing final consonant sounds, consonant to vowel linking basically solves this problem.
Instead of seeing the sounds as the word endings you have trouble with, you can turn them into word beginnings. This makes final consonant sounds easier to pronounce, and it ensures that you don't lose these sounds which play a huge role in whether others understand you.
In this short article, I'd like to talk about the two primary ways we link our words together: from vowel sound to vowel sound, and from consonant sound to vowel sound.
1. Linking vowel sound to vowel sound
This type of linking refers to words that end in a vowel followed by words that begin with a vowel. When this happens, we tie the two words together by inserting a 'w' or 'y' sound.
Let's look at a few examples. Say this sentence out loud:
You always do that!
'You' ends in a vowel sound and is followed by 'always', beginning with a vowel. If you say this sentence several times, faster and faster, you'll notice that 'you' and 'always' tend to run together. The sound that links them is a 'w'.
You-walways
How about this example?
Why is the sky blue?
Assuming you are placing a little bit of stress on 'is' and not forming a contraction 'why's', you'll notice that a 'y' sound links 'why' and 'is' together.
Why-yis
2. Linking consonant sound to vowel sound
When a word ends in a consonant sound and is followed by a word starting with a vowel, the final consonant links onto the front of the vowel sound.
For example:
The black and white house is an example of colonial architecture.
In speech, this sentence sounds a bit more like:
The bla-k-and white hou-s-i-s-a-n-examp-l-of colonia-l-architecture.
The dashes indicate the connection of sound between the words. Wherever there is a dash, you want to run the words together, linking the sounds. You shouldn't take a breath or stop between these words. Notice that we aren't mumbling or dropping any sounds. Each sound is still articulated correctly. It is just linked onto the next sound without a break.
In international environments, it has been argued that linking does not improve intelligibility, but could in fact, make you harder to understand. I don't always agree with this argument.
If you are speaking to a non-native English speaker with less than advanced fluency, and you tend to mumble, yes, linking could be a problem.
But for people who have a tendency to drop word endings and have trouble pronouncing final consonant sounds, consonant to vowel linking basically solves this problem.
Instead of seeing the sounds as the word endings you have trouble with, you can turn them into word beginnings. This makes final consonant sounds easier to pronounce, and it ensures that you don't lose these sounds which play a huge role in whether others understand you.
For more on this topic, and other great tips to speaking clearly
and confidently, visit the English Pronunciation Lab and sign up for the
FREE English Pronunciation Short Course.
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