HOW TO HAVE A NATIVE LIKE-SPEAKING FOR NON-

NATIVE SPEAKERS?

INTRODUCTION•In spoken discourse, native speakers adapt their pronunciation the audience and articulate with maximal economy of movement rather than maximal clarity. •Thus, certain words are lost, and certain phonemes linked together as their attempt to get their message across. •However, non-native speakers can’t speak with correct pronunciation due the interference of mother tongue.

Several research studies have shown that connected speech instruction can help non-native to more easily comprehend rapid speech used by native speakers.

AssimilationDefinition : the phonetics of a speech segment becomes more like another segment in a word.

: sound of the ending of one word blends into the sound of the beginning of the following word.

it varies based on speaking rate and style. likely to be found in rapid and casual speech.

1. /t/changes to /p/ before /m/ /b/ or /p/eg. that man / dæt mæn / → /dæp mæn/ put back / pʊt bæk / → / pʊp bæk / unit price / juːnɪt praɪs / → / juːnɪp praɪs /

2. /d/ changes to /b/ before /m/ /b/ or /p/eg. good morning / ɡʊd mɔːnɪŋ / → / ɡʊb mɔːnɪŋ / old boy / əʊld bɔɪ / → / əʊlb bɔɪ / blood pressure / blʌd preʃə / → / blʌb preʃə /

3. /n/ changes to /m/ before /m/ /b/ or /p/eg. open market / əʊpən mɑːkɪt / → / əʊpəm mɑːkɪt / green belt / ɡriːn belt / → / ɡriːm belt / one pair / wʌn peə / → / wʌm peə /

4. /t/changes to /k/ before /k/ or /g/eg. credit card / kredɪt kɑːd / → / kredɪk kɑːd / fat girl / fæt ɡɜːl / → / fæk ɡɜːl /

5. /d/ changes to /g/ before /k/ or /g/eg. good cook / ɡʊd kʊk / → / ɡʊg kʊk / bad girl / bæd ɡɜːl / → / bæg ɡɜːl /

6. /n/ changes to /ŋ/ before /k/ or /g/eg. town clerk / taʊn klɑːk / → / taʊŋ klɑːk / action group / ækʃn̩ ɡruːp / → / ækʃŋ ɡruːp /

7. /s/changes to /ʃ/ before /ʃ/ or /j/eg. dress shop / dres ʃɒp / → / dreʃ ʃɒp / nice yacht / naɪs jɒt / → / naɪʃ jɒt /

8. /z/ changes to /ʒ/ before /ʃ/ or /j/eg. these sheep / ðiːz ʃiːp / → / ðiːʒ ʃiːp / where’s yours? / weəz jɔːz / → / weəʒ jɔːz /

9. /θ/ changes to /s/ before /s/eg. both sides / bəʊθ saɪdz / → / bəʊs saɪdz / earth science / ɜːθ saɪəns / → / ɜːs saɪəns /

Omission or deletion of certain phonemes in speech under certain circumstances. (sounds disappear.

E.g.:omission of an unstressed vowel, consonant or syllable.

This is common in casual conversation.

Elision

1) /t/ and /d/- /t/ and /d/ are often omitted, especially

when they appear in a consonant cluster. - E.g: christmas = / krɪstməs/ next month= /nekst mʌnθ/ sandwich= / sændwɪtʃ / you and me= /juː ənd mi:/2) /h/- omitted when it occurs in an unstressed

function word and it is not at the beginning of the utterance.

- E.g: his = /hɪz/- you shouldn’t have= /juː ʃʊdnt hæv/

Examples of elision:

3) /ə/ schwa- omitted when it occurs between two

consonants in the middle of a word, and in syllabic consonants

- E.g: potato= /pəteɪtəʊ/ today = /tədeɪ/4) /v/- Deleted in ‘of’ before consonants- E.g: lots of them /lɒts əv ðəm/ waste of money /weɪst əv mʌni/

Solution 3:

RHYTHM

Rhythm is an ordered recurrent alternation of strong and weak elements in the flow of sound and

silence in speech. The pattern of strong and weak stress and short and long

pronunciation gives English its rhythm.

Strong – Usually content words.

E.g:   Nouns: Terry, car, dinner        Verbs: eat, study, drive

        Adjectives: blue, large, oval        Adverbs: quietly, smoothly, equally

         Pronouns: that, theirs, himself, what

Weak- Usually Function words.       

E.g: Auxiliary verbs: may, do, have (if not the main verb)         Prepositions: under, around, near

        Conjunctions: but, not,         Determiners: the, some, each

         Possessive adjectives: my, your, our

Strong and Weak Stress

Words

• It is important for non-native speakers to understand and master the rhythm of English. If the wrong words are stressed in a sentence or if all words are pronounced with the same length or loudness, the speech will be difficult to understand.

• Stresses made on wrong words will caused misinterpretation of information and emotions intended to send by the speaker.

•  English speakers appear to store vocabulary with stress patterns, so a stress mistake can throw a conversation off track, especially if the speaker’s control of English vowel sounds is uncertain. Therefore, the more frequently speakers misuse stress, the more effort listeners have to make to understand what they say.

Why rhythm is important??

CONTRACTIONSThere are a number of phonological contraction processes in which a sequence of words is contracted, or reduced, to a shorter sequence.Contractions (two words forming one) are an extreme example of the way we connect speech.In order to be able to speak second language like native speaker, we must learn to understand contractions.

It is important for us to be aware that when native speakers speak, they use quite a number of contractions.

They use formal contractions and informal contractions.

For EXAMPLES:

‘had’ ‘would’ : spelt ‘d

‘have’: spelt ‘ve

‘are’ spelt ‘re, pronounced ə after vowels, usually with some change in the proceeding vowel.eg:

‘you’ ju: - ‘you’re’ jʊə or jɔː

Contractions ‘are’ is also pronounced as ə or ər when following consonants.

They're coming. (They are coming.)

‘not’: spelt n’t I haven't seen him. (I have not seen

him.)

Therefore, use of connected speech features can make learners sound more comprehensible and natural with less marked foreign accent.

CONCLUSION