Rules for Linking Sounds in English

Rule 1: When a stop consonant is followed by another stop or by an affricate, the first stop is not released, which facilitates the linking:

E.g. pet_ cat. soap_ dish. big_ dipper.

good_ jury big_ church

Rule 2: When two identical consonants come together, there is one single, elongated articulation of the consonant (i.e. native speakers do not pronounce the consonant sound twice):

E.g.: stop_ pushing. Rob_ Bill. less_ serious.

Rule 3: Linking ‘ r ’. Those British speakers who don’t pronounce final ‘r’ will reintroduce it when the next word begins with a vowel.

E.g.: more_ interest.

four_ inches.

Rule 4: When a word ending in a single consonant is followed by a word beginningwith a vowel, the consonant is pronounced intervocalically as if it belonged to both syllables. For example, in the phrase ‘The dish is pretty’, ‘dish is’ sounds exactly like ‘dishes’.

E.g. dog_ eat dog

black_ and grey

Rule 5. When a word or syllable ending in a consonant cluster is followed by a word or syllable beginning with a vowel, the final consonant of the cluster is often pronounced as part of the following syllable. The phenomenon is sometimes referred to as resyllabification.

E.g. lef/t_ arm wep/t_ over

fin/d_ out push/ed_ up

Rule 6: When a word that ends in a vowelis followed by a wordthat begins with avowel,English speakers will often insert an extra sound in order to link the vowels together to make the flow of speech smoother and to avoid the ‘gap’ between the words (either a pause or unnecessary glottal stop).

Consonantal glides [w] and [j]

When two vowels meet at word-boundaries, English speakers insert very short, never articulated fully [w] or [j] glides. The choice of either [w] or [j] depends on the vowel that ends the first word. If the word final vowel is of u - type - [u], [u:], [au], [ou] — then the linking glide will be [ w ]. If the word final vowel is of i- type — [i:], [ei], [ai], [oi] — the linking glide [ j ] is inserted.

E. g. play(j) a game how ^w often

tie(j) it up throw ^w it all.

they(j) are slow ^w and steady

cre(j)ate snow ^w y