Linking /r/ /j/ w/
Here's a festive way to draw your students' attention to the sounds used to link words.
1. First get them to listen to the three short recordings and ask them to write down the word they hear:
2. After they have compared their answers, show them the following short text and ask them to try and find the words they heard. This will be tricky, they're probably looking for the words 'tweet' 'your' and 'rover' or something similar.
When you roast a turkey to eat on Christmas Day, you need to think about the accompaniments as the bird alone can be a little bland. For sauces, cranberry or bread work best. As for something more savoury, a good homemade gravy is a must! When you carve the bird and plate it up, pour over the gravy to keep the meat warm and juicy.
3. Next, play them the full recording and see if they hear their three words now.
4. Then give them the completed copy with underlined links and ask them to listen again.
When you roast a turkey to eat on Christmas Day, you need to think about the accompaniments as the bird alone can be a little bland. For sauces, cranberry or bread work best. As for something more savoury, a good homemade gravy is a must! When you carve the bird and plate it up, pour over the gravy to keep the meat warm and juicy.
- Linking /r/ is the inclusion of post-vocalic /r/ before a vowel. This can be over word boundaries (1a) or before a suffix (1b). When we talk about linking /r/ we mean that the 'r' is present in the spelling.
- 1a) Your older brother.
- 1b) It's much dearer.
- Intrusive /r/ is also an inclusion of post-vocalic /r/ before a vowel in the following word. We call it 'intrusive' because there's no 'r' present in the spelling.
- China and India.
- Linking yod /j/ is not as full as /r/, so when transcribing it's best to use the superscript / ʲ /. It is found between two vowels when the first in the sequence is /iː ɪ eɪ aɪ ɔɪ/.
- The only one I like.
- I play every day.
- Boy or girl?
- For linking /w/ follow the same transcription rule as for yod, but use / ʷ /. This slight /w/ is found between two vowels when the first in the sequence is /uː əʊ aʊ/
- Stew or curry?
- Go in quickly.
- I went to England.
Practice conversation
I found this practice dialogue and, as it happened to be about a tree, and this post is quite festive, I thought I'd include it. Get your students to read in pairs and decide which sound links the underlined parts /w/ /j/ or /r/:
A: That tree ought to go. We can't see anything for it.
B: Surely you don't want to destroy our ancient tree?
A: We can't see in here, and yet the sun's shining.
B: Anyway, I adore it.
A: I only say it spoils the view.
B: And that tree always remind me of mother.
A: It's the tree I'm discussing. Don't bring your mother into it!
Another fun exercise that you can use to review this is the Link Maze pp.76-77 in Pronunciation Games by Mark Hancock. Here students have to get out of a maze by identifying which sound links the words given.
Student handouts and answers
- Can you find your three words in the text below?
When you roast a
turkey to eat on Christmas Day, you need to think about the accompaniments as
the bird alone can be a little bland. For sauces, cranberry or bread work best.
As for something more savoury, a good homemade gravy is a must! When you carve the
bird and plate it up, pour over the gravy to keep the meat warm and juicy.
- Listen again and look at the underlined words. Why did you hear those three words before?
When you roast a
turkey to eat on Christmas Day, you need to think about the accompaniments as
the bird alone can be a little bland. For sauces, cranberry or bread work best. As for something more savoury, a good homemade
gravy is a must! When you carve the bird and plate it up, pour over the gravy to keep the meat warm and juicy.
Practice Conversation
- Read the conversation a few times with your partner.
- Now try to add the linking sounds / w j r /
A: That tree ought to go. We can't see anything for
it.
B: Surely you don't want
to destroy our ancient tree?
A: We can't see in here,
and yet the sun's shining.
B: Anyway, I adore it.
A: I only say it spoils the view.
B: And that tree always remind me of mother.
A: It's the tree I'm discussing. Don't bring your mother into it!
Practice Conversation – Answers
A: That tree ought to go. We can't see anything for
it. / j w j r /
B: Surely you don't want
to destroy our ancient tree? / j r /
A: We can't see in here,
and yet the sun's shining. / j r /
B: Anyway, I adore it.
/ j r /
A: I only say it spoils the view. / j j /
B: And that tree always remind me of mother. / j j /
A: It's the tree I'm discussing. Don't bring your mother into it! / j r w/
