| So why do I keep talking about standard | | | | have read my previous post on final voiced |
| reductions, such as contractions and reduced | | | | consonants then you are savvy to the |
| vowels. Because this is the way to make room | | | | importance of voicing the final consonant. |
| for those pesky word endings and articles. | | | | However linking one of these two articles releases |
| Let's look at the article 'a'. This article can be | | | | you from this challenge. |
| linked to the word that comes before it. Helpful in | | | | You are probably aware that dropping articles |
| respect that now you can end the word with a | | | | causes incorrect grammar and additionally it can |
| vowel sound. For example. You may say " Call a | | | | make you sound less fluent in English then you |
| doctor." Now instead of having a final 'l' sound you | | | | are. Not a good feature when trying to promote |
| can add the article 'a' and say "calla doctor." It is | | | | yourself at work. Try to link these articles to the |
| correct, you don't drop the article and you can | | | | previous word. |
| avoid a final consonant. This is good because | | | | Write down a few sentences or pick some out of |
| many languages do not use final consonant, all of | | | | the newspaper. Draw a line linking the article to |
| their words end in vowels. | | | | the word before it. Record yourself reading the |
| Even if your first language does use final | | | | sentence using the linking. I know the first few |
| consonants it probably does not use final voiced | | | | times you record yourself, it can be strange to |
| consonants. So linking the article 'a' or the word | | | | listen to, but you need to get comfortable with it! |
| 'to' to the end of your words will help you avoid | | | | Recording and self-monitoring are key to learning |
| needing to produce that final voiced sound. If you | | | | a new accent! |