American English Phonetics

Another American English Faculty Project

13.8.3 Other Elisions

Here is a list of some elisions that may occur in informal speech. You are not expected to apply these in your own speech.

  1. Elision of pre-consonantal /v/ is common in the weak forms of of and have, as in (I can take) care of myself /ˈkɛr ə maɪˈsɛlf/, (in my) neck of the woods /ˈnɛk ə ðə ˈwʊdz/, (You) should have seen (her) /ˈʃʊd ə ˈsiːn/. In informal writing, spellings like kinda, shoulda for kind of, should have are sometimes used to reflect this type of elision.

    care of myself

    neck of the woods

    should have seen

  2. In rapid styles, /ð/ may be realized as a dental nasal [n̪] after /m/, as in from there, from this: /frəmˈn̪ɛr, frəmˈn̪ɪs/.

    from there

    from this

  3. Elision of /f/ is common in fifth, twelfth.

    fifth

    twelfth

  4. Before unstressed me, the verbs let, give lose their final consonant in informal styles: /lɛmi, gɪmi/.

    let me

    give me

  5. In very rapid styles, flap deletion may occur, as in better /bɛər/, greatest /ˈgreɪəst/.

    better

    greatest

  6. Finally, note that /k/ is normally elided in asked and /g/ frequently in recognize.

    asked

    recognize