Phonology and the Teaching of Pronunciation - Essay Example

Phonology and the Teaching of Pronunciation Introduction Many people are complaining that English people talk very rapidly (Roach, 2004 Steele,2005). It is because of the fact that speech is a continuous stream of sounds without specific constraints between them (Steele, 2005). This speech is called connected speech where a natural, smooth-flowing manner of speaking is used. The different features of connected speech may explain the differences between written English and spoken English which many people get surprised with. But in reality, people do not really speak in separate words for words are usually spoken in logical connected groups of words. In English, most connected speech processes are unimportant when distinguishing between speakers of all accents (Roach, 2004:1). Native speakers have many tools for dealing with unclear words and sounds that are caused by connected speech for they are already familiar within that context. But native speakers also experience stumbling over their words because of their lack of awareness of the little tricks or the rules in avoiding the difficulties in speech. Studying connected speech is important because of two essential factors (Basquille, n.d.:4). First, native speakers of the English language do not pause between each sound or word, as already mentioned, but they move effortlessly from one sound or word to the next. Second, English is considered as a malleable language, meaning not all syllables within a word are equal. There are weak syllables that disappear or not heard at all and strong syllables that are stressed and lengthened. An example is the question: "How long have you been living here" where the "how" is hardly pronounced, "have you been" contracts, and "long" and "living" expand. Because English has been described as "stress-timed as opposed to a syllable-timed language", meaning stressed and unstressed syllables may extremely vary at irregular intervals of time, sentences are quite elastic (Basquille, n.d.:4). The words expand or contract based on their importance. That is why there is a need to understand the rules in the different aspects of connected speech for word boundaries are settled in certain ways. Some words may contain a linking sound and some words may contain a sound that comes out with another and some words emerge with a complex sound. These refer to the different aspects of connected speech: 1) vowel weakening, 2) assimilation, 3) elision, 4) intrusion and linking. This paper aims to find out the rules that native speakers of English follow to string words together that brings confusion and problems to students who are learning English. Vowel weakening, assimilation, elision and intrusion and linking are the features of connected speech that are necessary for learning English, whether a native or a non-native speaker. Aspects of Connected Speech Vowel Weakening In the phonetics of English, weak forms refer to the group of words which have one pronunciation: strong when isolated and weak when not stressed within a phrase (Brett, 2007; Roach, 2004:2). Weak forms are recognized by an alteration in vowel quality from a border position on the vowel quadrilateral to a central position. The common vowel in a weak form is the schwa // and they are pronounced at a faster rate and a lower volume than stressed syllables and they are not central to changes in intonation. Weak forms can be seen in words which are necessary to construct a phrase but they do not deliver much information for they are not content words (Brett, 2007; Roach, 2004:4). An example is the sentence: I went to the hotel and booked a room for two nights for my father and his best friend (/a went t h tel n bkt ru:m f tu: nats f ma f:r n hz best frend/). In the sentence, the words that are central to the message are emphasized: went, hotel, booked room, two nights, father, and best friend. If the weak forms or the words that are not emphasized are eliminated from the sentence, the set of phrases may be a little difficult to interpret but they can still easily be predicted and understood for they are called content words. The other words that are not emphasized will be the weak forms or the words that are less important in the message. Also, the unstressed words are always pronounced with the sound //: such as in the articles a, an, and the, conjunction and, and prepositions to and for. Assimilation There is a great distinction between the way words are spoken in isolation and in the context of connected speech (Roach, 2004:9). An important distinction is assimilation-the ways the sounds that belong to one word can produce changes to the sounds that belong to the neighboring words. Assimilation varies based on speaking rate and style and is more likely to be found in rapid and casual speech and less likely in slow and cautious speech. The knowledge of the production of speech sounds is needed in order to understand the production of connected speech (Brett, 2007). The most common form of assimilation is the movement of place of articulation where it involves the alveolar stops /t/, /d/ and /n/ to a position that is closer to that of the subsequent sound. Examples are illustrated by the phrase ten cars in which the /n/ is articulated in a velar position, /te k:z/ and the organs of speech are positioned to pronounce the subsequent velar sound /k/. Before a velar /k/ and /g/, the phoneme /n/ is realized as // as shown in an example, bank (/bk/). The phoneme /d/, on the other hand, is realized as /g/ as shown in an example, good girl (/gg g:l/) and the phoneme /t/ is realized as /k/ as shown in an example, that kid (/k kd/). Before a bilabial /m/, /b/, and /p/, phoneme /n/ is comprehended as /m/ as depicted in the phrase ten men (/tem 'men/). The phoneme /d/ is represented as /b/ as shown in the phrase bad boys (/bb bz/) while the phoneme /t/ is realized as /p/ as shown in the phrase hot mushrooms (/hp mru:mz/). Another kind of assimilation is that words are barely shown in written speech but occurs in very colloquial slang oral English (Roach 2004:14). Examples are words like Betcha, which is the short term for I bet you and Gotcha which is the short term for I've got you. These words are examples of non-standard spellings that attempt to make the written language similar to the spoken language. Elision If there is variation of sound, elision is the loss of a sound (Roach, 2004:14). In some situations, certain phonemes or sounds disappear and may be comprehended as zero realization or be deleted. An example is the word handbag, where the sound of the /d/ disappears and thus, the sound of the /n/ is assimilated to /m/ because of the neighboring sound /b/. The most elided consonants are the alveolar consonants /t/ and /d/ where they are usually sandwiched between two other consonants as shown in the example, The next day (/ neks de/) or between affricates /t/ and /d / such as lunchtime (/lnttam/) and strange days (/strenddez/). The phoneme /t/ is very difficult to use for foreigners of the English language for the phoneme is the basic part of the negative word not. For example, negating the word can in the sentence I can speak (/a kn spi:k/), we add a consonant /t/ so it becomes I can't speak (/a k:n(t) spi:k/) and the consonant /t/ simply disappears. The difference with the positive and negative is that the negative has a longer and different vowel sound. But if the /t/ is followed by a vowel sound like in the sentence I can't eat (/a k:n(t) i:t/) the consonant is not elided. Another form of elision involves the slip of the schwa // before liquids /l/ and /r/ like the words camera (/km()r/), secretary (/sekrt()ri/), and memory (/mem()ri/). Moreover, the /h/ sound is also lost or often deleted as shown in the examples: You shouldn't have or Ask him. Intrusion and Linking Whenever two vowel sounds meet, an extra sound is usually exerted which is similar to either a / j /, / w / or / r / which marks transition sound between two vowels and thus called intrusion (Steele, 2005). The following sentences below are examples of intrusion: Intruding /j/ I /j/ agree. They /j/ are here! Intruding /w/ I want to /w/ eat. Please do /w/ it. Intruding /r/ The media /r/ are to blame. Law/r/ and order. People usually link words together in special ways (Roach, 2004:16). One of the most common forms of linking is the sound /r/. The phoneme /r/ is not used normally in syllable-final position in the BBC Accent but once the word's spelling proposes a final /r/ and a word beginning with a vowel follows, the phoneme /r/ has to be pronounced. An example are the words here (/hir/) and here are (/hir a:/) and the words far (/f:r/) and (/f:r we/). Linking occurs in word boundaries as well, where a consonant and a vowel are linked as final consonants are dragged to initial vowels or vice versa (Steele, 2005). Examples are the phrases Get on (geton), Not at all (Notatall), and It's no joke (snow joke). Range of Problems Arabic learners experienced various degrees of difficulty with the area of pronunciation compared to the features of their own mother tongue (Basquille, n.d.:7). There are no linking glides in Arabic and they experience vowel weakening for they use glottal stops to separate each vowel from one another and vowel from consonant in successive words. In Standard British English, the letter 'r' after a vowel sound is not often pronounced and they will reintroduced it in the next word that begins with a vowel such as in the sentence The car is here. Problems are also shown in consonants pronunciation that includes the inability to pronounce the th sounds in words such as this and thin, the swapping of the sounds /b/ and /p/ at the beginning of words and the substitution of /f/ and /v/ (Shoebottom, 2007). In Arabic, stressing words is normal that explains their difficulty in their difficulty with the outwardly random nature of English stress patterns. Elision of sounds is also very common in spoken English but it is a very big problem to Arab speakers and they will often oppose it (Shoebottom, 2007). For example, the questions What did you do or Do you know her are spoken differently in conversational English: Whatcha do or Jew know her The Arab speakers' dislike for elision and the use of glottal stops before pronouncing initial vowels in words are the reasons for the normal staccato quality of the spoken English of Arab learners. Recognition The difficulties in connected speech of an English learner can be divided into two categories: recognition and production (Basquille, n.d.:7). The most important problem that learners encounter is differentiating one word from the next in spoken English. Distinguishing how many words are there in an utterance may cause learners to panic though they may compete grammatically and lexically. Linkage is another problem for words sometimes run into each other without pause such as not at all and sounds like not a tall. Learners may have trouble distinguishing when the same consonant sound ends a word and begins the next word. An example is team meeting which sounds like tea meeting. Intrusion is also a problem as shown in an example go in where the /w/ sound is sometimes added that others mistaken it for go win. The linking-r also is also a problem to second language learners because the spelling and the pronunciation differs and most responses with the /r/ are based on spelling. Once the spelling is ignored and the sound is heard, the /r/ in those words can be heard as a linking device between vowels which is a common way to make our speech more fluent. Learners may also have been accustomed to the strong pronunciation of words which may contain weak forms. But they may have trouble recognizing these weak forms in sentences occurring in conversational speech. Production Some learners in English pay too much attention to unstressed syllables or the words that contain the schwa // (Basquille, n.d.:8). Unaware of the unstressed syllables' high frequency in English, learners are having a hard time pronouncing them. However, Arabic is stress timed compared to other languages. Teaching Strategies on Aspects of Connected Speech Research suggests that "by simply drawing learners' attention to these forms, you are giving them considerable help towards making sense of the language they hear" (Steele, 2005). Learners will need time and confidence to adjust with the features of connected speech and make them their own. Here are some example exercises on listening and speaking that can help them practice connected speech for a longer period of time. Among the features of rapid connected speech, Roach stated that it is preferable for the teacher to let the English learners practice more on elision rather than making them practice assimilation alone for it would not be useful and practical and exercising with rhythm and linking is more important (2004:19). Though assimilation also occurs in rapid casual speech and not in slow speech, learners of English must evidently discern of the difficulty they may encounter in listening to colloquial connected speech which is the everyday, ordinary version of speech and characterized as informal, slangy and full of elisions and extreme vowel reduction as well. Shoebottom (2007) also mentioned that "English has three times as many vowel sounds as Arabic" that expects beginning learners to face difficulty between some of the words they hear such as ship and sheep or bad and bed. They will also have difficulties in pronouncing these words correctly. That is why there is a need to become familiar and practice vowel weakening, assimilation, elision, and linking. Thus, teachers should need to work specifically on these features of connected speech so that the learners can work on these forms. Listening and speaking exercises One way of introducing vowel weakening exercises is by giving a paragraph full of strong and weak forms (Brett, 2007). The learners will be asked to read the whole paragraph in the work sheet that is shown in Figure 1. The learners will be asked to read the whole paragraph on their own and predict the words by writing down the words on the blanks that can be found in the paragraph. Once the blanks are filled, the teacher will let the learners hear the whole paragraph through a recording. The learners will then check their answers on the blanks. After checking, they will be asked to read the whole paragraph together and note how short and weak the weak forms are. The activities that are ideal for Arabic learners in practicing assimilation can be a set of dictation exercises because hearing the sounds first before writing it can help practice listening to other people's speech and at the same time see the visual representation of words. The class will be asked to listen to a recording and they will be given record sheets where they will fill in the blanks with words that they hear. Remind them that full and contracted forms should be used, for example: I am instead of I'm. Figure 2 shows the sample dictation exercise that may be used to practice assimilation (Brett, 2007). Figure 6, on the other hand, is a speaking and writing activity about assimilation in connected speech (Underhill, 1994:202). The learners are given work sheets. Each learner will say the phrases first as isolated words and then several times as connected speech. Then they will be asked to identify the changes they made of the sounds at the word boundaries. One way of introducing elision or sound deletions can be by presenting a set of short phrases or sentences on the board for the learners to see (Steele, 2005). As each sentence is presented, it is necessary to use the language that is already used in the classroom. Then ask the learners to count the number of sounds in each word and write them on top of each word. Then play a recording of the phrases or read them aloud and ask the students to listen again and note down how many sounds they hear per phrase. If necessary, supervision and prompting can be done in examples like, "Is the /t/ really pronounced twice in between must and tell or just once" Drilling the phrases afterwards is the next activity before letting them practice on their own. Oral drilling can be done through reading the phrases first in an elided form and then second, in a more short and emphatic manner. The learners are also asked which of the two phrases sound natural. Then they are reminded of the features of connected speech. Then they are asked to drill the phrases individually for further practice. Another listening exercise that can help Arabic learners practice elision is the Telling the Difference between Can and Can't exercise in Figure 4 where most Arabic learners had a hard time differentiating (Brett, 2007). The class will again be asked to listen to a recording and they will be asked to tell if the sound is an affirmative or a negative in order to distinguish can and can't by writing it down in a record sheet. This can also be considered as a speaking activity where they can repeat the whole sentence that they hear. Speaking and listening exercises on elision are also illustrated in Figure 7. Arabic learners can practice linking-r through dictation exercises as well. Figure 5 illustrates the activity where the students will be asked to listen to a recording and they also be given record sheets where they will fill in the blanks with the words that they hear (Brett, 2007). Full and forms such as I am rather than I'm are once again reminded to the learners. Other follow-up exercises are also shown in Figure 8 to fully practice the pronunciation of sentences with elision and assimilation (Eckert & Barry, 2002). The learners can read the sentences first using elision and then using assimilation. The teacher is ready to give feedback after the learners gave their responses. The first round of exercise should be pronounced slowly. The second round, distinctly. The third round, the normal fluent way and then the fourth round, the faster way. Exercises can also be done through dialogues where words with assimilation and elision or the linking-r are used. This can be done first by pairs where learners will read to each other and they will try to make a sense out of it. Steele (2005) stated that "it is a good idea to try and integrate work on connected speech into everyday lessons. "In studying grammar, instead of focusing on the form of the words, focus on the way they are pronounced in natural conversation. An example is the intruding sounds /r/, /w/, and /j/ which can be practiced through studying phrasal verbs. Introducing phrasal verbs with intruding sounds such as do /w/ up, lay /j/ up, go /w/ away, and go /w/ out can be drilled chorally and individually. Phrasal verbs can also be used to practice linking words such as get out (getout), put on (puton), and come out (cumout). Providing a more personalized practice activity afterwards can be done in which learners ask each other questions using the verbs that the class is focusing on. Exercises that are delivered like these practice both grammatical form and pronunciation of words and repetition assists learners to practice the features of connected speech in natural manner. Guidelines on listening To be able to speak and listen to a foreign language, English learners need more than just phonemic correctness for aspects of pronunciation such as stress, intonation, rhythm, pacing, and even gestures and body language that the different features of connected speech portray should be taken into consideration (Egbert, 2004; Brown, 2001:144). Presenting these in traditional pronunciation teaching is focused on discrete phonemic awareness and is relatively ineffective to present learners. Learners usually prefer practice which is a more effective way to exercise pronunciation. Thus, teaching speaking and listening should be a learner-centered approach where real tasks and peers and groups are used for interaction and feedback. Another effective way of teaching listening is pre-listening tasks, listening tasks, and post-listening tasks (Zhang, 2007:75). In this activity, a group-based approach is encouraged in order for learners to be capable of listening and understanding and at the same time making judgments of the words that have been said (Brown, 2001:149). As each learner compares answers with other learners, practice of listening is already being done and clues in listening will also be gathered. This approach can help learners be critical listeners and help themselves improve their errors in speech. It also increases their motivation to listen and create a purpose for listening to others. Moreover, listening to connected speech may be very hard for non-native speakers of English but learners must be convinced that not being able to understand what they hear for the first time is okay (Beare, n.d.). Learners of the English language must also be reminded that they need to listen to the language as often as possible but for short periods of time and four or five times a week. After three or four months of practicing their listening comprehension skills, they will greatly improve in their English. Intelligibility and Accountability Smit (2004:25) defined intelligibility as "the capacity to converse with people in a way that is understandable or the measure of how comprehensible a person's conversational speech is to other people." Atechi (1969:47) stated that "effective communication takes place when the speaker is intelligible to the listener or when they are both mutually intelligible." Intelligibility is a process of give and take where the speaker and listener should be tuned in to each other and they should also share understanding in the meaning of words. Grammatical structures, rapid speech, unique speech habits, noise, and accents can hinder intelligibility while knowledge of the rules of language, linguistic and situational context are aids in decoding the speaker's message. Familiarity is another major factor regarding intelligibility of the listener. If the listener is familiar with the speech habits of the speaker or exposed in varieties of English, intelligibility will be easier. As a speaker becomes familiar with one's speech, the speaker can adjust his or her speech accordingly. Conclusion There is great importance for Arabic learners to study and learn about the different aspects of connected speech: vowel weakening, assimilation, elision and linking. Regarding weak forms, there is a need for learners to not only identify and deal with the weak forms they hear but to use them when speaking English. Disregarding this will make their language sound unnatural and over-formalized, containing too many stressed forms in their words, phrases or sentences that will make it difficult for their listeners to comprehend and identify the points of focus in what they are saying. Assimilation, elision, and linking can help learners understand that not all the letters in words can be heard in spoken language and not all sounds in words have written forms. The degree to which connected speech contributes towards naturalness or intelligibility is an effective beginning from which to determine the importance to students of the different aspects of connected speech. Moreover, simply hearing a language through a tutor or a recorded tape is not an easier way to learn the language. The problem still lies: learners were not able to utilize the phonological code properly and which words were being used by the speaker and how they are formed into sentences. Thus, the methodology of teaching the English language must focused first on the different aspects of language use. Practice through repetition exercises and drills not only chorally but individually can help learners improve their English. Moreover, the purpose of making drills and exercises that show repetition and long-term practice is not to make words, phrases or sentences sound natural but to teach learners that it is also the easier to pronounce words in that way. Pronunciation should not be taught through text book alone where language is divided into isolated chunks. Speech is connected and students will benefit more on the lessons if the different aspects of connected speech such as weak forms and stress patterns of new words are taught right from the start rather than in lessons months later. Learners' awareness of these forms must be raised in order to help learners speak a little more naturally. Thus, the real goal of the tutor is to propose intelligibility to the learners rather than encourage perfection as their goal in learning English (Beare, n.d.). Even if they do not assimilate the forms of connected speech at the first lesson, it is already the first step of helping them speak more naturally. As Gerald Kelly has told in her book, "How to Teach Pronunciation," the simple awareness of the learners' existence can already help a lot in making it possible for students to understand the language that they hear. APPENDIX Vowel Weakening Try to predict which words can fill the gaps, then listen to check your choices. Note how 'short' and 'weak' the weak forms are. I learnt Russian ____ school. I never expected ______ sound like a Russian, ______ I wanted ______ get it more or less right, especially _________ passing oral exams - I actually loved those wonderful long complicated consonant sounds but I found _______ extraordinary difficult. I ________ hear _______ difference, ______ I just couldn't get my tongue round ________. There's also ________ completely different rhythm ______ I just couldn't get. The teacher just used ________ laugh ________ shrug her shoulders. Figure 1. Vowel Weakening (Brett, 2007) Assimilation Fill in the gaps with the word(s) you hear. Use full and not contracted forms (e.g. "I am" not I'm"). 1. The __________ sails to the sea. (Answer: ship) 2. _________ were involved in the road accident. (Answer: Ten cars) 3. My daughter is a very _________. (Answer: good girl) 4. __________ a nice gift for Christmas. (Answer: I have got you) 5. There were a lot of _________ in the prison. (Answer: bad boys) 6. ___________ attended the business meeting. (Answer: Ten men) 7. The _________ in the city was closed when I arrived. (Answer: bank) 8. The teacher admired ___________ in class. (Answer: that kid) 9. I _________ the ball into the glass window. (Answer: threw) 10. My sister bumped into my mother's ___________. (Answer: favorite vase) Figure 2. Dictation Exercises #1 (Brett, 2007) Elision Fill in the gaps with the word(s) you hear. Use full and not contracted forms (e.g. "I am" not I'm"). 1. The lady is carrying a _________. (Answer: handbag) 2. I __________ anything about it. (Answer: didn't know) 3. I have classes __________. (Answer: the next day) 4. The teacher said 12:00 o'clock is our ___________. (Answer: lunchtime) 5. You should be the one to ___________. (Answer: tell him) 6. The classes ended at a _________ time. (Answer: similar) 7. I bought a _________ in the cafeteria. (Answer: sandwich) 8. My life is _________ now. (Answer: different) 9. The movie was very _________. (Answer: interesting) 10. ___________ dinner with you tonight. (Answer: I can't eat) Figure 3. Dictation Exercises # 2 (Brett, 2007) Difference Between Can and Can't Listen to the sound files that you will hear. On your record sheet, encircle if it is a "+" or an affirmative, and encircle "-" if it is a negative. 1. + - (He can go out.) 2. + - (They can't come later.) 3. + - (She can help you.) 4. + - (You can't fly to London.) 5. + - (You can't call her later.) 6. + - (She can sing.) 7. + - (I can't speak German.) 8. + - (We can stay here.) 9. + - (I can hear you.) 10. + - (They can come tomorrow.) Figure 4. "Telling the Difference between Can and Can't" Exercise # 3 (Brett, 2007) Linking-R Fill in the gaps with the word(s) you hear. Use full and not contracted forms (e.g. "I am" not I'm"). 1. I ________ you. (Answer: care about) 2. The ____________ of this city must be maintained. (Answer: law and order) 3. My father said he ________________. (Answer: can't hear anything) 4. My parents said _______________ to go after graduation. (Answer: there are three places) 5. I am planning to study either at _________________. (Answer: Australia or New Zealand). 6. My sister wants to ___________________. (Answer: draw all the flowers) 7. The bag looks like ____________________. (Answer: it's made of fur and leather) 8. I am very _________. (Answer: caring) 9. __________________ did a splendid job. (Answer: The actor and playwright) 10. I think that ___________________. (Answer: it's quite far away) Figure 5. Dictation Exercises #3 (Brett, 2007) Assimilation: the modified sound A. Here are some examples of the main kinds of assimilation in English. See if you can identify them. Say the following phrases first as isolated words, then several times as connected speech. Do you change any of the sounds at the word boundaries ten pin bowling in bed good boy hit-man tin man good girl this shop these shops have to go how d'you do don't you know B. When the / t / sound meets a /d/, /p/, /b/, /g/ or /k/ at the beginning of a successive word or syllables, how does it assimilate Say these phrases as isolated words and then several times as connected speech, and discover how the sounds change: hot day that cat white Christmas cute baby what goose fat plums wet boots Figure 6. Assimilation: The modified sound. (Underhill, 1994) Elision: the missing sound When the consonant sound at the end of a word is followed by the same consonant sound at the start of the following word, the sound at the end of the first word disappears. A. Say these 6 phrases, then write down three of your own and say them: dead duck get tough smell lovely top perfumes big garden black coal pen nibs 1 ____________________ 2 _____________________ 3 ____________________ When we have three consonant sounds together, one usually disappears: B. Say the words below, crossing out the sound that disappears. Discover what two sounds are always elided; think of (& write down) 3 other words/phrases with elided sounds and say them: empty can often waistcoat Wednesday Christmas handsome friendship castle next week she acts soft music last night blind man sandwich I don't know 1 ____________________ 2 _____________________ 3 ____________________ Figure 7. Elision: the missing sound (Underhill, 1994) Pronunciation Follow-Up Exercises Say these phrases: first slowly and distinctly, then in the normal fluent way, then faster, using elision and assimilation. a. Come and get it! b. Stand back! c. What has happened d. He's a great bloke! e. I didn't find many. f. I can do it. g. This is good beer. h. This shop is open. i. Sorry, have to go now. Figure 8. Pronounciation using Assimilation and Elision (Eckert & Barry, 2002) Bibliography Atechi, H.S.N. (1969) 'The Intelligibility of Native and Non-Native English Speech: A Comparative Analysis of Cameroon English and American and British English' http://archiv.tu-chemnitz.de/pub/2004/0088/data/atechi_intelligibility.pdf [Date accessed 04/08/09] Basquille, A. (nd) Phonology: Helping Low-level Learners with Connected Speech http://www.lal.ie/ConnectedSpeech.pdf [Date accessed 04/08/09] Beare, K. (nd) The Challenge of Teaching Listening Skills http://esl.about.com/cs/ teachinglistening/a/a_tlisten.htm [Date accessed 04/09/09] Brett, D. (2007) English Phonetics and Phonology of Non-native Speakers http://davidbrett.uniss.it/phonology/aspects_of_connected_speech_inde.htm [Date accessed 03/24/09] Brown, G. (2001) Listening to Spoken Language London: Pearson Education. Eckert, H. & Barry, W. (2002) The Phonetics and Phonology of English Pronunciation Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier Egbert, J. (2004) Connected Speech http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/ article/115103428.html [Date accessed 04/09/09] Leading Learning Skills (n.d.) English Pronunciation. http://www.sflqi.org.uk/downloads/ ESOL%204.4%20Pronunciation/Session%2003%20%20Vowel%20sounds%20and%20connected%20speech.pdf [Date accessed 03/24/09] Roach, P. (2004) English Phonetics and Phonology Allama Iqbal Open University Islamabad: Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Shoebottom, Paul (2007) The Differences Between English and Arabic http://esl.fis.edu/ grammar/langdiff/arabic.htm [Date accessed 03/20/09] Smit, A.B. (2004) Articulation and Phonology United States of America: Delmar Learning Steele, V. (2005) Connected Speech http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/connected-speech-2 [Date accessed 04/03/09] Steele, V. (2005) Connected Speech 2 http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/ articles/connected-speech [Date accessed 04/03/09] Underhill, A. (1994) Sound Foundations. Oxford: Macmillan Heinemann Zhang, W. (2007) 'Teach more strategies in EFL college listening classroom'. 4:71 - 76 Read More