The linking of sounds together in speech, such as the grouping of phonemes into syllables and words through assimilation, elision, and juncture is called what?

• A. Catenation
• B. Fricative consonant
• C. Determiner
• D. Cognate

Answer: (A)

Connecting sounds that flow across word boundaries is called catenation. This is the broad process that turns individual phonemes into a seamless spoken sequence, grouping them into syllables and words as you speak. It happens through various connected-speech phenomena like assimilation (one sound changing to be more like a neighboring sound), elision (omitting a sound), and juncture (how the boundary between words is joined or audible). These processes together explain how speech sounds link together naturally in fluent talk.

The other terms don’t fit this idea. A fricative consonant is a type of consonant produced with turbulent airflow, not the act of linking sounds. A determiner is a word that introduces a noun (like this or that), unrelated to how sounds connect in speech. A cognate is a word that shares an origin with a word in another language, again not about linking sounds.