A very popular phenomenon in casual speech that is words linking. Lets start to learn how the words linking to other words in quick speech.
The most familiar case is the use of linking “r”
– here are [ hɪə ə ] but hɪər ə ; four eggs [ fɔːr egz ]
BBC speaker often use “r” in a similar way to link words ending with a vowel, even when there is no “justification” from the spelling as in formula A [fɔːmjələr eɪ ] ; Australia all out [ɔstreɪlɪər ɔːl aʊt ]; media even [ miːdɪər ɪvent ].
Linking and intrusive “r” are special case of “juncture” this name refer to the relationship between one sound and the sounds that precedes immediately and follows it.
Many ingenious minimal pairs have been invented to show the significant of juncture, a few of which are given below:
– might rain [ maɪt reɪn ] ([ r ] voiced when initial in “rain”, [ aɪ ] is short) and in “my train” [ maɪ treɪn ] ( [ r ] voiceless following “t” in (train)
– all that I am after to day [ɔːl ðət aɪm ɑːftə tədeɪ ] ( [ t ] is unaspirated when final in “that”
– all the time after today [ɔːl ðə taɪm ɑːftə tədeɪ ] ( [ t ] is aspirated when initial in “time”
– he lies [ hiː laɪz ] ( clear [ l ] initial in “lies” )
– heal eyes [hiːl aɪz ( dark [ l ] final in “heal”
– keep sticking [ kiːp stɪkɪŋ ] ( [ t ] is unaspirated after “s” [ iː ] is short )
– keeps ticking [kiːps tɪkɪŋ ] ( [ t ] aspirated in “ticking” )