Liaison Rule ～４ main rules～

Today, I wanna dwell on Liaison rule. But before mulling over this issue, we are required to have the previous lesson in mind because it is relevant to today's theme. In the lesson before, I summarized why Japanese people suffer from listening to what native speakers are getting at. In a brief, there are three causes below.

①don't speak word by word ②connect words to form sound groups ③use staircase Intonation

These are three characters of native speakers' pronunciations. We need to understand this premise because today's topic is regarding ② point. It is very crucial to figure out systematically because we are getting lost in learning forest immediately.

Anyway, Let's start today's lesson. Sounds are divided into two groups, vowel and consonant. Vowel means sounds not touching any place such as [a][i][u][e][o] etc. Consonant means sounds touching any place such as [t][d][s][z][j] etc.

There are chiefly four Liaison rules. 

１．Consonant/Vowel　２．Consonant/Consonant

３．Vowel/Vowel 　　　４．T,D,S or Z+Y

I'll explain each rule.

Liaison Rule 1：Consonant/Vowel

Words are connected when a word ends in a consonant sound and the next word starts with a vowel sound, including the semivowels W,Y and R.

This phenomena is very natural because ,if you glare at a sound, you can understand it. Let's pronounce "na". This consists of two units, first is "n" second is "a". Then how do you pronounce it? The answer is "na". For Japanese people this is crude. This rule becomes valid even if the sounds are separated by sentence.

ex) I'm interested in English speaking systematically.

Look at the emphasized parts of this sentence. "m" is consonant and "i" is vowel. This constitutes "mi". "d " is consonant and "i" is vowel. This produces connection like "di" So we can say " I'minterestedin English speaking systematically. 

Liaison Rule 2：Consonant/Consonant

Words are connected when a word ends in a consonant sound and the next word starts with a consonant that is in a similar position. There are mainly three parts of consonant pronunciation.

①Behind the teeth：The sounds are [t][d],[ch][j],[l],[n],[s][z],[sh][zh], and [y]. 

②At the lips：The sounds are [p][b],[f][v],[m],and [w].

③In the throat： The sounds are [k][g],[h],[ng],and [r].

 You should check these pronunciation signs on website if you can't pronounce.

ex) I just didn't speak English.

Pay attention to the emphasized part. "t" is along with the next "d". Of course these sounds are pronounced at each place, behind the teeth. Then we can say " I jusdin't speak English.". "t" was connected with "d" and was erased. 

Liaison rule 3：Vowel/Vowel

When a word ending in vowel sound is next to one beginning with a vowel sound, they are connected with a glide between the two vowels. A glide is either a slight [y] sound or a slight [w] sound.

I think this rule looks complicated but, you can do this automatically if you pronounce using stairecase.

ex) Do your best.

"o" is vowel and "y" is also vowel. Then that will be connected with [y]. You can say "Do(y)your best". Or 

ex) Don't go away for pastime.

"o" is vowel and "a" is vowel. This will be connected with [w]. You can say "Don't go(w)away for pastime." As I said before, you can pronounce naturally even if you are not aware of this.

Liaison Rule 4：T,D,S or Z+Y

When the letter or sound of T,D,S, or Z is followed by a word that starts with Y, or its sound, both sounds are connected.

This rule sounds slight complicated. There are some patterns about these.

①[t]+[y]→[ch]

      ex)What's your name?→"Whachrname"

②[d]+[y]→[j]

      ex)Did you study?→"dijustudy"

③[s]+[y]→[sh]

      ex)Dress yourself.→"dreshurself"

④[z]+[y]→[zh]

     ex)How's your trip?→"howzhurtrip"

These are exceptional examples so you should repeat pronouncing rather than memorizing.

Ok, we've overviewed liaison rules. They are very important to comprehend deeply once, but don't stay comprehending. Practice makes perfect. You should repeat and realize an objective of doing this automatically.