As previous lessons on Connected Speech and Stress and Rhythm have already discussed, native English speakers change the way English sounds in order:

• to add rhythm and musicality to their speech; and
• to speak with more efficiency (where more can be said in a shorter amount of time).

One important way in which English speakers do this is by connecting speech with consonant + vowel sounds (C+V).

C + V

When a word that: ends in a consonant sound is followed by a word that begins with a vowel sound, you push the consonant sound forward and put it right before the vowel sound when speaking.

Example

“job interview” → jo-binterview

“take it” → [tey-kɪt]

Note that I did NOT release the [b] in “job” to say “job__interview” as two separate words. In fact, the [b] helps us say “interview” without needing to stop and take a breath in between the words.

We also do not say “take__it” as two separate and distinct words, so we do not release the [k] before saying “it”.

“job__interview” → jo-binterview
“take__it” → [tey kɪt]

The hidden [w] & [y]

When we pronounce the vowel sounds

[ow]
[uw]
[iy]

our rounded and pulled back lip positions naturally form [w] and [y] sounds. These sounds must be considered when connecting speech between consonants and vowels.

Examples

“I don’t see it” [ɑiy downt siy–yit]
“You should do it” [yuw ʃʊd DUW–wit]

Here, I pushed the [y] and [w] consonant sounds forward and attached them to the following words.

“see__it” → [SiYyit] (also see the lesson on [ɪ] vs. [iy])
“do__it” → [DUWwit] (also see the lesson in the [uw] vowel sound)

Got it?

Let’s practice.

Listen and Repeat

“Take it outside.” [TeYkɪ-dæuwt SAiYD]
“I’ll see you at three.” [ɑiyl SiYyuw-wæt θRiY]
“Can you wait a minute?” [kɪn yə weydə mɪNət]
“I messed up the big game” [ɑiy MɛSTʌP ðə BɪGEYM]

(Notice how I connected the “g” consonants).

“Have a nice day!” [HÆ və NɑiYS DeY]