Elision: who could provide some examples

Question

Hi everyone! Could you help me? I'll be very gladful

I've had a really hard time trying to understand this point. Could you tell me if these sounds are correct? Take into account that I'm talking about fast speech.

1) There are few trees in the wood. /ð?r? fju 'tri:z ?nð? 'w?d/

2) She'd have told him /?i? ? 'to?ld ?m/ = linking flao

3) I don't know what to say / /ai do?n(t) no? w?:? ? se?/ =flapped /t/

4) I would like to travel a lot /a?d 'laikt? 'tr?:v?l ?lot/

5) I must have asked it before /a? m?st ?v 'æskt ?t b?f?:r/

6) These are mine /ði:z ? 'ma?n/

8) what happened? / w?:? 'æp?n/

9) I gave her the book /a? 'ge?v? ð? 'b?k/

Thanks in advance

Kooyeen · Accepted Answer

Ok, but I am not sure about this:

jossx3) I don't know what to say / /ai do?n(t) no? w?:? ? se?/ =flapped /t/

I would say /w?t t? se?/
The same goes for the other "what". /w?t/.
And you forgot a /d/ at the end of "happened". And there would be some other interesting things to discuss in your examples, but I have no time now. Maybe another time.

Zerox · Answer

I doubt I'd say 'I' as /ai/ in fast speech. More like just /?/.

Kooyeen · Answer

ZeroxI doubt I'd say 'I' as /ai/ in fast speech. More like just /?/.

That's a good point too, but it's not a schwa in my opinion. For me, it's the first vowel in the diphthong /a?/, as in "eye". In other words, "I" becomes a monophthong (I don't even know how to spell it, and don't even know if that word exists, lol). But this doesn't always happen... it's only more common in some structures I think, otherwise if you always use the monophthong you'll sound southern or something. I don't know.
Another thing I noticed is the vowel in "travel". I think it should be /æ/ instead of the /?/.
And another comment... is that in really fast speech, very weird things can happen. So weird that maybe IPA wouldn't be enough. One thing that came to mind is that "must have" might turn into "mussa", /m?s?/. She mussa seen a ghost.

I think a lot of features in fast speech vary from person to person and from place to place. You are learning American English, right?

CalifJim · Answer

1) There are few trees in the wood /ð?r? fju 'tri:z ?nð? 'w?d/

2) She'd have told him /?i? ? 'to?ld ?m/ or /... ?m/

3) I don't know what to say /ai do?n(t) no? w?:? ? se?/ /a? ... w?t t? se?/ No flap here.

4) I would like to travel a lot /a?d 'laikt? 'tr?:v?l ?lot/ /'træv?l/

5) I must have asked it before /a? m?st ?v 'æskt ?t b?f?:r/

6) These are mine /ði:z ? 'ma?n/

8) what happened? / w?:? 'æp?n/ /w?t 'hæp?nd/ or /... ?nd/ No flap.

9) I gave her the book /a? 'ge?v? ð? 'b?k/

OK, except as shown in blue.

CJ

You should note that unstressed endings written "et", "ed", "en", and "es" have a schwa so high that it is really better transcribed as /?/ "ticket", "wicked", "oven", "wishes" > /'t?k?t, 'w?k?d, '?v?n, 'w???z/

Zerox · Answer

Kooyeen
ZeroxI doubt I'd say 'I' as /ai/ in fast speech. More like just /?/.
That's a good point too, but it's not a schwa in my opinion. For me, it's the first vowel in the diphthong /a?/, as in "eye". In other words, "I" becomes a monophthong (I don't even know how to spell it, and don't even know if that word exists, lol). But this doesn't always happen... it's only more common in some structures I think, otherwise if you always use the monophthong you'll sound southern or something. I don't know.
Another thing I noticed is the vowel in "travel". I think it should be /æ/ instead of the /?/.
And another comment... is that in really fast speech, very weird things can happen. So weird that maybe IPA wouldn't be enough. One thing that came to mind is that "must have" might turn into "mussa", /m?s?/. She mussa seen a ghost.

I think a lot of features in fast speech vary from person to person and from place to place. You are learning American English, right?

Actually, I'm learning British English, or RP English to be exact; and that might have an influence on it. Since fast speech uses weak forms, and schwa is a 'weak' vowel, I'd use the mere schwa (as I've been taught).

And I believe you're quite right in saying that the use of weak forms vary from person to person and from place to place. In BrE, at least, the mere schwa sound may mean 'I', 'a', 'are', 'her', 'of', 'or' and 'have' in very rapid speech. Naturally, the confusion is not a problem since context normally tells what is meant, but this still attests to your suggestion.

Jossx · Answer

thanks a lot <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/2.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/2.gif' alt='Emotion: big smile'/>

Elision: who could provide some examples

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