Tell-im I said "hi"

Dropping and Adding Sounds with H and TH Deletion

H Deletion & TH Deletion

Speakers will use minimal effort to obtain maximum results. The addition and omission of sounds is caused by the continuous movement from one sound to the next. If you are producing the sounds correctly, these extra sounds will happen accidentally without you having to try to make them. However, when learning what is making a difference between the sound of a native speaker and your accented English, making these movements consciously is a good way to imitate the movements until they become more automatic.  

These changes happen both within words and between words because we don’t speak in individual sounds, we speak in syllables. There are no sound boundaries for individual sounds, all sounds are produced with movement from one to the next and in combination. You may not notice when this is happening, but it is very noticeable when it’s not happening because it creates a “choppy” rhythm and sounds “too correct.” 

Omitting Sounds is “Elision”

Many sounds that you see in spelling are not heard when spoken.

Pronouns that begin with “h” (that aren’t at the beginning of a sentence or being emphasized for their important meaning in a sentence) can drop the /h/ and the consonant sound before it can connect to the vowel of the h-word.

Pronouns that begin with “H”: he, his, him, himself, her, herself

Pronouns that begin with “TH” that can be connected: them, themselves

Linking - Consonant to Vowel

When a word ends in a consonant and the following word begins with a vowel it will sound connected by “linking” them together. For example, we can connect the words “did it” by not taking a pause between the words and it will sound like “dih dit.” The same thing happens with pronouns that begin with “h” and “th” when we delete them and connect words together.

Air Released - On Following Vowel

To get to the vowel, the “h” and “th” are dropped from the words and the consonant before it can connect to the vowel.

“tell him” = tell him = tell im = tel-im

“tell them” = tell them = tell em = tel-em

If these sound the same to you and you’re wondering how to tell them apart, you’re right, they do sound very similar. In fact, in my dialect I pronounce them exactly the same, both are “im” /ɪm/. Context is what will let you know if the singular “him” or plural “them” was intended. 

“I saw Jason yesterday.” - “Tell ‘im I said hi.”

“I saw Jason and David yesterday.” - “Tell ‘em I said hi.”

Linking - Vowel to Vowel

When the “h” is dropped from the word and the vowel is open, it can be linked to a word before it that ends in a vowel. This will create an intrusive sound, a sound that doesn’t look like it’s there but is created by the movement of your lips, tongue, jaw, etc.

These extra sounds will happen naturally if you are pronouncing sounds correctly that need rounded lips and the tongue in the high-front position for the vowel /i/ (“he”). It’s good to practice them on purpose to increase your awareness of what is happening that creates a connected and fluent sound, but it’s not necessary to always try to do it on purpose.

Linking to Rounded Vowels - Creates “w”

If the ending of the first word is a vowel that uses rounded lips, as the lips unround for the following vowel, a /w/ sound is created. Vowels that use rounded lips: /u/ (“who”), /ə͜ʊ/ (“home”), or /a͜ʊ/ (“how”).

“to her” = to_er = to wer

“so he” = so_e = so we 

“how his” = how_is = how wis

Linking to High Vowels - /i/ - Creates “y”

If the ending of the first word is the vowel /i/ (“he”), the tongue is in a very high position. Since /i/ is the highest position for any vowel, the tongue will lower for the following vowel and a “y” /j/ sound is created. 

“see him” = see_im = see yim

“by herself” = by_erself = by yerself

“be himself” = be_imself = be yimself

Difficult to Notice

These connections go by very quickly in speech so they are difficult to notice as you’re listening in a conversation. Here are some ways to make them easier to hear:

• Try focusing on these tiny connections when you’re not participating in the conversation, just listen to other people speaking to each other.

• Slow down the speed when watching a video on YouTube or Ted.com.

• Use Youglish.com to enter some of these words next to each other (e.g. “to him”) and slow down the speed as you listen to the videos that it finds for you with these examples (choose US English before you search).

Not Happening 100% of the Time

What you’ll notice when you start listening for these connections is that they don’t happen all the time. Especially when going through videos it chooses for you on Youglish, notice when the speakers are being more careful with their speech in a formal presentation or a narration of a video.

Also, the “h” and “th” won’t be deleted when the word is at the beginning of a sentence or is being emphasized within the sentence.

Hopefully, the more you hear examples of other people making these connections to make the transitions between words easier to do even if it changes the sound of the words, the more confident you’ll feel to try it and use it. It will make your speech sound more fluent, casual, and have a less “choppy” rhythm overall.