Linking and Intonation
Let’s read the following conversation. Pay attention to the natural linking among the words in the text. Keep in mind that words in blue are pronounced with tense “u” and the words in green are pronounced with upsilon /ʊ/.
| Michiko | Do you know anything about Luke – the the fellow who was in the restaurant tonight? |
| Thomas | Luke? He’s the cook! |
| Michiko | Luke’s the cook? I couldn’t be more surprised. He’s pretty young, and he’s also pretty good! I think the food was superb –really very, very good. |
| Thomas | That’s true. Why do you think I took you there? I wanted to please you. |
| Michiko | Well, you did please me very much. I had a wonderful time. Thank you! |
| Thomas | Thank you! It was my pleasure. Do you think we could go out again soon? |
| Michiko | I’d like to. I could call you next week. I’m going home to visit my parents and younger brother for a few days. He’s going back to school on Tuesday. |
| Thomas | Could I call you at your parents’ home before Tuesday? We could make a date then. |
| Michiko | All right. Good. Here’s the phone number. Thank you again, and good night. |
| Thomas | Good night. |
