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Term Paper English

The document provides examples of consonant and vowel elision in both formal and informal speech in English. Example 1-4 show /r/ being lost following a stressed syllable or in an unstressed grammatical word. Examples 1, 3, and 4 also demonstrate the loss of /n/ in final position of stressed syllables or unstressed syllables, leaving a nasalized vowel. Examples 1-4 then illustrate the common elision of an unstressed /ə/ vowel in words like "interest" and "different". The document examines further examples of elisions involving more than one sound change.

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22 views2 pages

Term Paper English

The document provides examples of consonant and vowel elision in both formal and informal speech in English. Example 1-4 show /r/ being lost following a stressed syllable or in an unstressed grammatical word. Examples 1, 3, and 4 also demonstrate the loss of /n/ in final position of stressed syllables or unstressed syllables, leaving a nasalized vowel. Examples 1-4 then illustrate the common elision of an unstressed /ə/ vowel in words like "interest" and "different". The document examines further examples of elisions involving more than one sound change.

Uploaded by

Laura Lkp
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Examples 1,2 show loss of /r/ immediately following a stressed syllable where /r/ is initial in an

unstressed syllable. Example 3 shows loss of /r/ in a grammatical word in an unstressed syllable.

The final example shows the loss of /r/ in unstressed initial position in lexical word. this is not

uncommon in words like position in a lexical word. This is not uncommon in words like remove,

resolve, require when they occur in the middle of a quite long utterance.

Let us consider some examples of /n/ elision:

Formal Informal Spelling

1 /bɪˈtwiːnðətuː/ [bɪˈtwiðətuː] between the two (ministers)

2 /ˈmitɪŋɪnˈrəʊm/ [ˈmiːtɪŋɪˈrəʊm] meeting in Rome

3 /wʌnˈwɒntstəˈmeɪk/ [wʌ’wɒntstəˈmeɪk] one wants to make

4 /ˈkɒnstəntli/ [ˈkɒstəntli] constantly

Here we see that /n/ can be elided, but leave a nasalized vowel, in final position both stressed

syllables (1,3,4), and in unstressed syllables (2,3). The only requirement seems to be that /n/ should

be followed by another consonant either in the same syllable or in the next syllable. In each case it

is the vowel preceding the elided /n/ which is nasalized.

Vowel elisions is a very frequent process and very often occurs together with other processes

involving assimilation, syllabification and the elision of consonants. We shall begin by looking at

examples of single words which simply involve elision of a vowel:

Formal Informal Spelling


/ˈɪntərəst/ [ˈɪntrəst]
1 interest
/ˈdɪfərənt/ [ˈdɪfrənt]
2 different
/kəˈlɛktɪv/ [kˈlɛktɪv]
3 collective

4 /pəˈlɪtɪkəl/ [pˈlɪtɪkl]
political

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The first two examples are typical of a large class of English words which are well known to

allow the loss of an unstressed /ə/ vowel. The second informal, pronunciation is often allowed as an

alternative pronunciation in pronouncing dictionaries. The next two examples, 3 and 4, are not

normally allowed as alternative pronunciation by pronouncing dictionaries but occur frequently

even in quite slow formal speech and very frequently in informal speech.

The next set of examples is an assortment consisting of elisions involving more than just a vowel

or just a consonant in each case. Elisions of this sort are very common and we can do no more than

exemplify some common types here:

Formal Informal Spelling


/pəˈhæps / [pæps]
1 perhaps
/pəˈtɪkjʊləli/ [pəˈtɪkli]
2 particularly
/ˈækʧʊəli/ [ˈækʧʊəli]
3 actually

4 /ˈgəʊɪŋ tə biː/ [ˈgənəbi]


going to be

Many of these examples will appear to be very undesirable types of pronunciation if they are

allowed to be at all prominent in the stream of speech. Students should certainly not be encouraged

to mimic them. What they should be encouraged to do is to study a taped news broadcast and see if

they can find similar features.

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