Tip 1 on Sound Linking

Teacher: Welcome to daily tips on learning English. Today's tip is on sound linking.

Teacher: Although in written English, there are spaces between every word. In spoken English, there almost never pauses between words. In order to understand spoken English, it is essential to understand how this linking is done.

Teacher: Today, let's concentrate on the most common sound linking situation. Whenever a word ending in a consonant sound is followed by a word beginning with a vowel sound, the consonant sound is linked to the vowel sound as if they were part of the same word.

Teacher: Let's look at some examples. I like another bowl of rice please. First, note that although there are six words in the sentence, all the words are linked together without pause. Listen again, I like another bowl of rice please. Now listen to how the words like and another are linked. Like, another, likEnother, likEnother. Like ends in a consonant sound, and another begins with a vowel sound. So the k from like is linked to the a from another to produce kEanother.

Teacher: Listen to the example sentence again. I like another bowl of rice please. In the sentence, there is another example of a consonant being linked to a vowel. A bowl of, abowlEv. It sounds like you are saying the word love. Here is another example, I love a bowl of rice. I lovE bowlEv rice.

Teacher: This sound linking is probably the biggest problem for learners of English when they try to understand native speakers talking. We will talk more about sound linking in future daily tips as this is an extremely important feature of spoken English.

Teacher: Today's tip is to link consonants to vowels which come after them. Tune in tomorrow for another daily tip.