'Liaison' in English

I am having a difference of opinion in another About forum concerning what in French is known as liaison, namely the smoothing out of syllable boundaries in speech.

Unfortunately, 'liaison' does not appear to be the correct technical term in English, as for example there is no reference to this feature in Peter Ladefoged's 'Course in Phonetics' Third Edition.

I am maintaining that not only is 'liaison' in English speech achieved by attaching a final consonant to a succeeding vowel:

*the vase is full of red orchids => [the va Ziz fu Lov re Dorchids]*

but that where no final consonant is available an intrusive semi-vowel or consonant is used, which has no correspondence in the written language:

* no apples => [no Wapples]*
* the exercise => [thi Yexercise]*
* Himalaya adventure => [Himalaya Radventure]

I would be most interested to hear your views on this, regardless of which variety of English you use or are being taught, and particularly if you have experience with speech synthesis.

With thanks
Harzer

In the song 'A Day In The Life' John Lennon sings: I saw a film today.

But you can hear this as: I sore a film today.

In the Dire Straits song "So Far Away", you can hear:
[sOu fa: .. wei]
without the linking 'r' between [fa:] and [..].

"far away" is normally pronounced ['fa: r.. wei]

This is something opposite to the 'liaison' phenomenon.

Harzer, I hope you're still here. Here's my late reply:

<<<<
I am maintaining that not only is 'liaison' in English speech achieved by attaching a final consonant to a succeeding vowel:
*the vase is full of red orchids => [the va Ziz fu Lov re Dorchids]*
>>>>

First, I'm not sure this is an example of liaison. I know what "liaison" means in French. It happens when a word ends in a consonant which is usually silent -- it is only articulated when the following word begins with a vowel.

In the phrase you gave ("the vase..."), words don't end in SILENT consonants. The consonants are normally articulated: [va:z], [ful].

A better example (I think) would be "number eight" in RP:
"number" ['n^m b..] //the "r" is silent
"number eight" [,n^m b.. 'reit] //the "r" is articulated)

Second, I'm not sure what is the difference in pronunciation between:
[the va Ziz fu Lov re Dorchids]
and
[the vaz iz ful ov red orchids]


> * no apples => [no Wapples]*

I'm not sure why you can't simply transcribe it like this: [nOu '@p.lz]

> * the exercise => [thi Yexercise]*

Yeah, there is a smooth transition between the final [i:] in "the" and the initial [e] in "exercise". I think you can model it as though there was a [j] sound there.

* Himalaya adventure => [Himalaya Radventure]

Ah, this is the so-called "intrusive r". The "r" is not present in spelling, but still appears between two vowels.

"law and order" [lo: 'r..nd 'o:d..]
"Africa and Asia" ['@f ri k.. r..nd 'ei Z..]
"the idea of" [THi: ai 'di: ..r ..v]

This is how most English people speak, but AFAIK this is not "officially" allowed in the RP standard. Also, the intrusive r does not exist in American English.