Linking Consonant to Consonant

Diana Castro

Consonant + Vowel

When a word ends in a consonant sound and is followed by a word that starts with a vowel sound, the speaker should push that consonant sound forward and connect it to the vowel in the next word.

Examples

• “Stop it” –> “Sto pit” [STA pit]
• “I need it” –> “I nee dit”  [aiy NIY dit]
• “Play a song” –> “Play ya song” [pley yə Sɑŋ]
• “Read a book” — “Rea da book” [RIY də bʊk]

Consonant + Consonant

When a word ends in a consonant sound and the following word begins in the same or similar consonant sound, you will only pronounce that sound once by lengthening or holding the sound. You do not say the consonant sound twice.

Examples

• “best time” –> “bestime” [BESTYM]
• “big grape” –> “bigrayp” [BIGRAYP]
• “good day” –> “gooday” [GƱDEY]
• “sit down” –> “sitdown” [SITDOWN]

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