Syllable elision in contraction (2-3)

 

Alveolar consonant elision

Syllable elision

Syllable elision means the drop of a schwa in an unstressed syllable, which results in the loss of a syllable. Some long words that are stressed on the first syllable squeeze weak syllables right out. So some words that appear to have three or more syllables actually have fewer syllables. For example, consider these words: camera and family. They are three-syllable words when spoken carefully: ‘ca.me.ra,’ ‘fa.mi.ly. But in actual everyday speech situations, these words are pronounced as two syllable words: ‘camera, family.’ These are more examples of syllable elision:

library (library)

probably (probably)

/ə/ can also easily disappear at word boundaries when it comes at the start of a word and is positioned between two stressed syllables. For example,

go away (go away /goʊˈweɪ/)

go about (go about)

schwa elision

Elision in consonant clusters

Ellison also happens in consonant clusters; in this way the clusters are easy to say. We examined the deletion of a consonant in a cluster when we discussed voicing.

/t, d/ elision

When a word ending in a consonant cluster has final /t/ or /d/ and the next word begins with a consonant, the /t/ or /d/ can be dropped. 

next day (next day)

first day (first day)

mashed potatoes (mashed potatoes)

the last car (the last car)

kept going (kept going)

must be (must be)

most common (most common)

best friend (best friend)

interest rates (interest rates)

I left France (I left France)

hold the dog (hold the dog)

smiled gently (smiled gently) 

-nt, -nd ending in word boundary

When a word ending in /nt/ links into a word beginning with a vowel sound, the final /t/ is often deleted. For example,

convenient excuses (convenient excuses)

independent idea (independent idea)

percent of voters (percent of voters)

patient asked (patient asked)

apartment in the city (apartment in the city)

accident occurred (accident occurred)

  

The /d/ is often deleted when a word ending in /nd/ links into a word that begins with a consonant sound. When the /d/ is deleted, the /n/ must link smoothly to the beginning consonant sound of the following word. These are examples:

and then (anthen) 

diamond ring (diamonring) 

and said (ansaid)

hand me (hanme)