Learn English – Linking sounds

american-englishdialectspronunciation

When one word ends in a consonant sound and the next begins with a vowel sound, can you tell me how you say these words in American English?

  • can I..? (Can nai or Ca nai?)
  • take it (teɪ kit or teɪk kit?)
  • push it (pu shit or push shit?)
  • find out (fain-dout?)
  • bridge is (brid- ʒ iz or bri-dʒ iz?)
  • Put it in (put tit tin or pud dit din?)
  • like a (laiy-ka or laik-ka?)

Should the final sound always be shared between two words or should the final sound jump to the next word? What is the basic rule about that? Or does it depend on the accent? When I hear linking sounds in a long sentence, it’s difficult for me to understand. And is it strange if I say them without linking sound?

Best Answer

We very seldom create explicit separation between the last phoneme of the first word and the first phoneme in the second. In the cases where we do, it's usually if the sounds are the same and we want to make sure the distinction is clear. For example, someone giving his name as Bob Bridger over the phone might put a glottal stop after the first name so that the person on the other end doesn't think he said Bob Ridger.

The words you say above are all spoken fluidly, without stops. In order they would be (sorry, no IPA here)

Canai, taykit, pushit, findout, bridges, pudditin, lyka

Note that the t sounds usually get vocalized except for the final one: "put it in" becomes pudditin.

The sentence "Ed had edited it" sounds like "Eddədeddədədit." Really.

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