Any Recommendation of Learning Material on Phonological Reduction in Connected Speech

Question

In connected speech there occur various phonological reductions and the distribution of those processes varies as the spoken style varies in the degree of formality. I am looking for such learning material as teaches phonological reductions in accordance to different styles of speech formality. Does anyone have any recommendation on this?

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Many linguistic textbooks present facts of phonological reduction in connected speech but do not deliver instruction on their usage. Those textbooks do not specify in which type of communication circumstances should some type of reduction be used or avoided. Hence I am looking for something really pedagogical, not purely theoretical.

Answer 1

I know it probably does not really help you because it is not a book reference, nor instruction, but here are some quite typical examples of phonological reduction in informal speech in German:

Wennse wolln könnse gehn (for: Wenn Sie wollen, können Sie gehen)

Tschullijung! (for: Entschuldigung bitte!)

Naahmd! (for: Guten Abend)

Hasse ma ne Maak? (for: Hast du mir mal eine Mark?)

Könnse mal... (for: Könnten Sie mal...)

sozagn (for: sozusagen)

Bunsreblik (for: Bundesrepublik - quite common in politicians' utterances)

Note however that there are strong dialects in Germany, so that these contractions are not universal. They are in use where oral communication follows more or less standard German.

As for the actual question, I wonder if giving "instructions" (in the sense of: general rules to be applied) is possible at all. The only really useful instruction I can imagine would be: collect examples, and add information in what situations (level of formality of speech) they are appropriate.

Knowing these things would be a marker for real command of the language, as over-exact pronunciation is clearly a marker for non-naturalised users.