This week several of my clients asked me about the rules for using reduced speech.

This is an important question!

First of all, what is reduced speech?

In spoken American English, reduced speech is the way that native speakers compact words together. This often involves linking and using the schwa vowel sound.

Native speakers like to save energy when they speak by connecting sounds together.

This connected or reduced speech is not necessarily sloppy or informal, it’s the way most Americans speak English in everyday situations.✔

We link smaller words together, use contractions and stress the key syllables in important (focus) words.

Reduced or connected speech may include:

• contractions
• linking sounds together
• sound assimilation
• epenthesis or addtion of certain sounds
• deletion of certain sounds

There are rules and patterns you can learn that will help you understand and use American English reduced speech forms.

Using reduced speech forms will make your spoken English sound more natural and melodic to native speakers.

If you learn to use these forms correctly, along with using syllable stress and focus words you will be able to speak English quickly and still be understood.♬

Teachers of American English pronunciation can learn all of the technical details of assimilation, epenthesis and deletion by reading Celcia-Murcia and Brinton’s classic book, Teaching Pronunciation.
Teaching Pronunciation: A Reference for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages

If you want to play a GAME with reduced speech forms….click on the link below. I think you’ll LIKE this!

Reduced Speech Forms in American English

To read related information on this topic, click on one of the links below.

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