Reduction of Vowels and Consonants in Connected Speech

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2014 im Fachbereich Englisch - Pädagogik, Didaktik, Sprachwissenschaft, Note: 1,0, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: In connected speech, speakers of all languages typically try to articulate in the most efficient manner. Thus, they reduce any articulatory gesture that is not necessary for the understanding of the message and several simplification processes take place. These processes systematically cause changes in the segmental structure of words in relation to their citation form. As a result, the realization of words in connected speech differs a lot from the pronunciation of the words‘ citation form. Even though native speakers are unaware of the simplification processes that naturally occur in connected speech and may even deny making them, the structure simplification that occurs in the English language is well documented in linguistic literature (Brown 1979, Giegerich 1998, Gimson 2001). Based on this literature, the paper will focus on the question which simplification processes occur in English and how vowels and consonants are reduced and modified in connected speech. The structure simplification of segments in fluent speech is depended on phonetic, phonological, prosodic, grammatical, and discourse patterns of the language. As the structure simplification of function words is strongly connected to some of these factors, the weak form of function words and the most important factors of structure simplification will shortly be presented in the first part. In connected speech segments lose their phonological information through different types of simplification processes that affect speech production. These are vowel reduction, elision of vowels and consonants, assimilation of consonants and liaison. All of these processes will be explained in detail and with many examples. In the end, the most important findings of the paper will be summarized.