Be afraid, be very afraid - intrusive /j/ in connected speech

Welcome back to season 3 of English Sound Building! Today, we're looking at how /j/ is heard between sounds in connected speech.

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Transcript

So, this week we’re returning to the /j/ sound we looked at last week – do go and listen to that one first if you haven’t already. This week, though, we’re not thinking about how the sound appears in individual words, but how it ‘steps in’ in faster speech. I’m going to read the title of the podcast once, slowly, word by word:

Be afraid, be very afraid

And then once again, linking between each sound as I would in faster speech:

Be afraid, be very afraid.

You should have noticed that the second time, the /j/ sound crept in to link between the long vowel /i:/ in “be”, or the long vowel /i:/ in “very”, and the following schwa /ə/ in “afraid”. I’m using the words “step in” and “creep in” very intentionally: I don’t consciously insert the /j/ sound in those places, it’s just a natural consequence of my mouth moving seamlessly from one sound to the other. This is a feature of connected speech called intrusion: a sound which would not normally be present intrudes between two others. It can also happen with the /w/ and /r/ sounds, as we’ll see in future episodes.

So, when does this /j/ intrusion happen? We find it after a word ends with the vowel sound /i:/, or any dipthong ending /ɪ/, so /ɒɪ/, /aɪ/, or /eɪ/, and before any other vowel sound. Vowel sound is key here, rather than letter – as we saw in the example above, the letter ‘y’ is represented by a vowel sound at the ends of words. As I’ve said, you may well find that this happens naturally as your mouth moves from one sound to the next. If you don’t, then it’s something which is really interesting to notice, as it can be an indication that you pause slightly between sounds, affecting the perceived fluency of your speech. I wouldn’t ever advise a learner to force the /j/ in, but sometimes raising awareness of intrusive /j/’s existence is enough to give your mouth permission to do the same.

So, we’re not practising any individual words today, because we need more than one word to see this feature of connected speech coming through. Instead, we’ll start with some common chunks of language which contain this intrusive /j/, so the sorts of groups of words you might say on a daily basis in one context or another – 

Listen, and repeat. The first time, try not to force anything, just close your eyes and see if you can feel whether or not that /j/ sound comes in naturally for you.  I’ve put these in alphabetical order, which means we don’t see the easiest first! 

1. especially important 
2. He isn’t
3. I understand
4. my office
5. only a few
6. see if
7. the end
8. the other 
9. they always
10. three or four

..And now some example sentences with these phrases.

1. Their last email was especially important 
2. He isn’t coming later.
3. I understand what you’re saying, but I have to disagree.
4. My office is closed next week, so I’ll be working from home.
5. There are only a few tickets left!
6. Can you see if she’s in?
7. I liked the film, but the end was a bit disappointing.
8. Did I see you driving home the other day? 
9. They always send great gifts.
10. I read three or four books a month.

So, this intrusive /j/ happens so frequently that there is an endless supply of example sentences. For ours, we’re going in a different direction to our usual rhymes and tongue twisters, back in time to a writer who had a huge influence on the English language: Shakespeare. How many of these quotes have you heard before? This time, I’ll read each quote twice. As you listen the first time, try to spot the intrusion. As you listen again, repeat after me. 

1. Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.
2. I am one that loved not wisely but too well.
3. Many a true word has been spoken in jest.
4. We know what we are, but know not what we may be.
5. To be or not to be: that is the question (this one is a great example of where the intrusion comes in where there is no pause between the words, but if it’s read with a pause, as Shakespeare wrote it with a comma, the intrusion wouldn’t step in).
6. Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.
7. I am not bound to please thee with my answer.
8. If we are true to ourselves, we cannot be false to anyone.
9. Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows
10. There’s many a man has more hair than wit

I’ll put a few more in the script.

Your task this week is to pay attention (ahem, pay attention) to where you hear this intrusive /j/ when you listen to English this week. I hope that you’ll find that you notice it now when you hear it, and notice it happening when you speak. If you do, it’s a great sign that your mouth is moving between the sounds of English well.