Deletion

A radical form of adjustments in connected speech is deletion (also known as elision or omission): the process in which sounds disappear or are not clearly articulated in certain contexts.

The following are the most typical environments for deletion:

1. Loss of [t] or [d] when they occur second in a sequence or cluster of three consonants:

[t] res t less, lis t less, exac t ly

[d] kin d ness, win d mill, han d s

2. Deletion of word-final [t] or [d] in clusters of two at a word boundary when the following word begins with a consonant:

Eas t side

blin d man

wil d boar

3. Loss of initial [h] and [ð] in pronominal forms:

ask h er, help h im, tell th em

Intonation.