Fast Speech Have you ever wondered how it is that people outside the English classroom, speak so quickly? Well, from this page, you can find out all you need to know, to finally be able to understand them!
One thing to remember: even though we have all these pronunciation changes, they are still very consistent, so usually the fast way to say something is just a change in pronunciation to one other form - that native speakers can understand - and use themselves, everyday!
There are 4 basic aspects to fast speech
1 Abbreviations 2 changes in pronunciation 3 weak forms and 4 linkage
1 Abbreviations
You are probably already familiar with abbreviations (short forms) of spoken words, for example (e.g.)
I am = I'm, You are = you're will not = won't could not = couldn't
2 changes in pronunciation
When we speak quickly, we sometimes change the pronunciation of some letters or even leave them out entirely!
"want to" = "wanna". "bottle", people often change to "boddle" or even more extreme: "bo'l" (some English, English accents are like this) "butter" becomes "budder" or even more extreme: "bu'er" "what are you doing?" can change to "whad are you doing?" or even "Wha are you doing?"
We can also add sounds
for example if the last sound of the first word is a "T", and the first sound of the second word is a "Y", then in between them we can add a "ch" so, "but you" would become "butchyou"
If the last sound of the first word is a "D", and the first sound of the second word is a "Y", then in between them we can add a "j" so, "told you" would become "toldjyou"
3 weak forms
A lot of less important words have a weaker form, or pronunciation. Words like can, you, my, that etc
you = y' can = c'n of = a' or 'v (depending on first letter of the following word)
your =y' that = th't do = d'
my = m' than = th'n them = 'em to = t' and = an an = 'n
(so "and" can become "'n" too)
the = th'"go to the movies" = "go t' th' movies" or even: "go d' th' movies"
strung together in a sentence, a lot of these smaller, 'less important' words can change so much it almost seems like a completely new word or even dialect!
4 linkage
We tend to run our words together when we speak quickly. The structure of each word in the spoken sentence changes dramatically (a lot) as we speed up. If we were to keep the same change in structure but then slow right down, the sentence would sound very strange.
How do we link words?
in a sentence, the linkage of words depends on the sounds at the beginning and ends of each word in the sentence. There are three basic ways
1 If the last sound of the first word is a consonant, and the first sound of the second word is a vowel, then the first word's last consonant will move to the front of the second word, so "cup of" becomes "cu pof"
2 If the last sound of the first word is the same as the first sound of the second word then the two sounds are just pronounced as one, so "what time" would become "wha time"
3 The sounds "S' and "Z" are very strong, if it is the last sound of one word, it will often 'cover' the first sound of the next word. So "his tie" would become "hi stie"
so altogether....
"what time would you like to have a cup of coffee?"
"but I told you what time I wanted a cup of coffee!" "wha time would jy' like t' ha' 'va cu' pa' coffee?"
"bu dI tol djy' wha' ti' mI wante da cu pa coffee!"
Even though the sounds may change radically, usually the total number of syllables won't change,
however, occasionally, we can still lose a syllable....
"can I have a look?" (5 syllables) = "ca nI ha va look?" (5) or even worse: "c'I 'va look?" (3!)
"give us a look?" = "g'i sa look?"
A lot of asian languages are actually like the fast forms of English, so that pronunciation of most words doesn't change much with speed, in asian languages. That is: most asian words don't end with consonants - they end with vowels - an open mouth - which makes pronunciation of the following word so much easier!
One thing to remember: even though we have all these pronunciation changes, they are still very consistent, so usually the fast way to say something is just a change in pronunciation to one other form - that native speakers can understand - and use themselves, everyday!
There are so many more examples of this, so if you have any questions, feel free to contact me at the address, etc, below.
You might think this is too far away from what you learnt at the English school, but rest assured that
it is very consistent
More Examples
Crazy English
any questions? email me: andrewboyd@xtra.co.nz
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