ABSTRACT
Connected speech, i.e. an utterance consisting of more than one word, exhibits features of accentuation that are in many ways comparable with those found in the polysyllabic word. Some parts of the connected utterance will be made to stand out from their environment, in the same way that certain syllables of a polysyllabic word are more prominent than their neighbours. Accentuation in connected speech differs, however, from the usual case of a polysyllabic word in that the situation of the accent in connected speech is determined largely by the meaning which the utterance is intended to convey, in the particular circumstances in which it is uttered. So, in terms of accent and reduced vowels, She can may be like the verb insult or like the noun insult, but not like beacon (i.e. the accent can go on She or can but the vowel in can cannot be reduced to /ə/ like the second syllable of beacon).
