Modification of English sounds in connected speech. Elision. Accommodation. Vowel reduction.

The modification in the articulation of a consonant under the influence of an adjacent vowel is called accommodation. In accommodation the accommodated sound does not change its main phonemic features and is pronounced slightly modified under the influence of a neighboring sound.
In modern English there are three main types of accommodation.
1. An unrounded variant of a consonant phoneme is replaced by its rounded variant under the influence of a following rounded vowel phoneme as at the beginning of the following words:
E.g.: unrounded variant of consonant phoneme:
tea [ti:] less [les] none [nΛn].
E.g.: rounded variant of consonant phoneme:
too [tu:] loose [lu:s] noon [nu:].
2. A fully back variant of a back vowel phoneme is replaced by its slightly fronted variant under the influence of the preceding mediolingual phoneme [j].
E.g.: f ully back variant of [u:]:
booty [bu:ti] moon [mu:n]
E.g.: fronted variant of [u:]:
beauty [bju:ti] music [mju:zic]
3. A vowel phoneme is represented by its slightly more open variant before the consonant [l].
E.g.: bed [bed] – bell [bel] ten [ten] - tell [tel]
6.3. In rapid colloquial speech certain words may lose some of their sounds (vowels and consonants). This phenomenon is called ELISION. Elision takes place both in words and at the boundaries.
E.g.: phonetics [founetiks] [f|netiks]
mostly [moustli] [mousli]
all right [ο:l rait] [o:rait]
next day [nekst dei] [neksdei]
Some rules for elision.
1. Elision occurs when [t], [d] appear in a consonant cluster.
E.g.: nex t d ay [nekst dei] – [t] is elided between [ks] and [d] "[neksdei]
E.g.: sto pped f or a lunch [stopt fɔ:] – [t] is elided between [p] and [f] " [stopfɔ:]
E.g.: rea ched Paris [rit∫t Pæris] – [t] is elided between [t∫] and [p]
E.g.: car ved st atuette [kɑ:vd stætʊ′et] – [d] is elidedbetween [v] and [st].
2. Complex consonant clusters are simplified.
E.g.: acts [ækts] can be simplified to [æks]
texts [teksts] " [teks]
the Si xth′s th rone [sikθs θr] " [siks θr]

3. [ə] – can disappear in unstressed syllables.
E.g.: po lice, ton ight, coll ective – [ə] is omitted in the first syllable
E.g.: int e resting, veg e tables – [ə] is not pronounced by many speakers, reducing the number of syllables in the word.
4. [v] is omitted in of, before consonants
E.g.: o f N ovember, o f t ime, o f m y.
The students must know all the forms of assimilation, accommodation and elision described above but must aim at careful colloquial style in his own speech and avoid using assimilations and elisions typical of rapid colloquial English.

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