Exercise 2-6: consonant / consonant liaisons
I just didn't get the chance.
I've been late twice.
In the preceding examples you can see that because the ending [st] of just and the beginning [d] of didn't are so near each other in the mouth, it's not worth the effort to start the sound all over again, so they just flow into each other. You don't say just didn't get the chance, but do say just didn't get the chance. In the same way, it's too much work to say I've been late twice, so you say it almost as if it were a single word, I've been late twice.
The sound of TH is a special case. It is a floater between areas. The sound is sometimes created by the tongue popping out from between the teeth and other times on the back of the top teeth, combining with various letters to from a new composite sound. For instance, [s] moves forward and the [th] moves back to meet at the mid-point between the two.
I just didn't get the chance.
I've been late twice.
In the preceding examples you can see that because the ending [st] of just and the beginning [d] of didn't are so near each other in the mouth, it's not worth the effort to start the sound all over again, so they just flow into each other. You don't say just didn't get the chance, but do say just didn't get the chance. In the same way, it's too much work to say I've been late twice, so you say it almost as if it were a single word, I've been late twice.
The sound of TH is a special case. It is a floater between areas. The sound is sometimes created by the tongue popping out from between the teeth and other times on the back of the top teeth, combining with various letters to from a new composite sound. For instance, [s] moves forward and the [th] moves back to meet at the mid-point between the two.